There are so many kinds of food that exist all around us. All types of food are not very healthy for your body. It is advisable to add those food items in your daily diet which are nutritious as well as beneficial to the body.

This is beneficial to not only your health but would also add glow to your skin. This article is aimed at helping to give you some information on some of the healthiest food items that you can ingest. Eating these foods is also a safe and sure way to keep many diseases at bay.

The fruits which you should definitely eat are apricots, avocados, raspberries, cranberry, tomato, rains, cantaloupe, figs and lemons. These fruits keep you away from different types of cancers, lowering cholesterol, reducing fat, heart diseases, skin dehydration, bladder problems, reduction in hemoglobin, prevents water retention problem, and flu.

Just like fruits, vegetables are also one of the best nutritious food items that you must have in order to save your body from getting damage. The vegetables beneficial for your health are onions, artichokes, ginger, broccoli, spinach, garlic, watercress and arugula.

The advantages of eating these vegetables are too many. They also help you in the same fruits do and keep your body full of nutrition instead of chemicals and toxins.

There are also some grains, nuts and beans that you should also consume besides fruits and vegetables. Brown rice is a good source of protein, iron and magnesium, wheat gram would prevent muscular pain, lentils keeps away breast cancer and heart diseases, peanuts also fight heart problems

Another food category that is beneficial as it contains good amounts of iron and magnesium is seafood, which is also known as white meat. Your brain and nerves are protected by shellfish, fatty acids from salmon preserves your heart from disease and when you take crabs, it helps to enhance your immunity in addition to providing safety from external and internal germs.

However, these were some of the food items you should eat but it does not mean that you do not eat the rest of fruits and vegetables. All of them have something good to offer to your body so you should not ignore their benefits and should add them to yours and your family diet.

Paulo Princer has been writing articles for several months and has just published his latest work on how to cook eggplant and also his new site on how to bake eggplant.

Almost daily in the news we see reports of chocolate’s health benefits. It’s a potent antioxidant, and is chock-full of chemicals and nutrients that have been attributed to making us happy. Yet many of us remain skeptical; eating lots of chocolate doesn’t seem to make us feel better, and in fact can lower energy levels for awhile. So what gives? If chocolate is such a miracle food, shouldn’t we be able to eat it all the time, without guilt and feel great? Well, yes, we can, but the way chocolate is prepared is crucial to unlocking its true potential as a health food. If you’d like to learn how to have a healthy dose of chocolate daily, read on…

It happens that the somewhat controversial ‘raw foodists’ are right on the mark with this one: it’s raw, unroasted, unprocessed chocolate that’s the real health food. Really, it’s not even called chocolate, but Cacao — chocolate is the name for the roasted, fat and sugar added product that Willy Wonka makes. (But for the fun of it, we’ll keep calling it chocolate. In the long run, it’s cool to think you’ve added ‘eating chocolate’ to the list of things you do daily that are good for you.) One needs to be careful, too, as raw chocolate is relatively hard to come by. Pricey organic hot cocoa is still roasted and alkalized, changing chocolate’s chemistry significantly enough to warrant limiting its intake. You can get raw chocolate online, and it’s slowly finding its way onto store shelves. Make sure it says ‘raw’ or ‘cacao’ (pronounce ‘Ka-’, as in cat, ‘cow’) and not ‘cocoa’, and should have no other ingredients (though some actual raw chocolate ‘candy’ can be found in very hip health food stores). Got it? If you still need a little convincing, here’s a quick look at the difference between raw and processed chocolates to help you make the switch — then on to a few recipes.

For lots of folks, and, there’s the question of caffeine. Many are sensitive to caffeine’s effect on their nervous system. And many people find chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, has enough caffeine to make them uncomfortable or keep them awake. Yet research has shown a significant difference in the stimulating effects of chocolate depending on whether it’s been roasted. A drink of roasted chocolate powder caused excitation of the nervous system whereas the raw chocolate powder drink did not. Scientists find that many molecules change shape when heat is applied, and roasting is a pretty hot, lengthy process. Alteration of chemical structure through heat is common, and very likely to occur in the case of chocolate. The roasting process involves heating the beans between two hundred fifty and three hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit for thirty minutes to two hours. Anecdotal reports of individuals moving from coffee or yerba mate as their morning drink to a cup of hot chocolate report gentle stimulating effects without anxiety, as their other drinks had produced. Even very sensitive people who do not do well with any form of caffeine report positive results with raw chocolate; nothing at all like the effects produced by coffee or caffeinated teas.

The really big news about chocolate has been it’s antioxidant profile. Chocolate contains significant amounts of polyphenols — the same important antioxidants found in green tea, red wine and green apples — but in greater amounts. Dark chocolate contains an impressive 5% of these compounds, yet raw chocolate is made up of an incredible 10% concentration of these possibly life-extending molecules. Both roasting and processing with alkali (to make Dutch cocoa) reduce antioxidant concentration. Further, the increased absorbability of powdered raw cacao (perhaps the most versatile form of raw chocolate) over cacao nibs give them an edge in ORAC value, a measure of Oxidative Radical Absorbance Capacity.

Maybe the most intriguing constituents of chocolate are it’s mood-altering chemicals besides its stimulation. Many users of raw chocolate find and even greater boost than from commercial chocolates. Like caffeine, some of the molecules attributed to mood-enhancement are also heat sensitive. Tryptophan, a precursor to serotonin, is present in significant amounts and is known to be broken down by heat (and apparently it’s not the Tryptophan in the turkey dinners that makes one tired, it’s the three servings followed by pie and ice cream!). Other natural constituents are dopamine and precursors to dopamine, one molecule called the ‘love chemical’ and another called the ‘bliss chemical’. Add to these monoamine oxidase inhibitors which actually enhance the activity of all of the above mood brighteners. Finally, there’s lots of easily absorbed magnesium in raw chocolate, a mineral associated with serotonin production (many pharmaceutical antidepressants increase serotonin activity), and the ability to relax. Raw chocolate offers the healthiest and most effective means of adding these happy-making nutrients to your daily diet.

Need more be said? Ready for some recipes? The simplest means of eating raw chocolate is snacking on cacao nibs. These are small pieces of cacao beans that mix well with natural granolas or dried fruit. To really get the most benefits, and for the most delicious raw chocolate creations, find yourself a source of raw organic cacao powder. The powder can be added to any drink, or easily made into bars, drops or other shaped candies. The hands-down most common preparation of cacao powder is the hot chocolate drink: Put one heaping tablespoon raw cacao powder, one teaspoon raw agave nectar, and one teaspoon high quality coconut oil in a blender (note that coconut oil quality varies greatly – a good coconut oil should taste pleasant by itself and have no chemical or rancid flavor which would otherwise be noticed in your chocolate drink). Add eight to twelve ounces of hot (but not boiling water) and blend at low speed for about ten seconds. That’s it; Chocolate magic that’s easily adjusted to your tastes — experimenting in whatever way comes to mind is highly encouraged.

There are many, many recipes available online and in books about raw chocolate. Some favorite additions to the drink are Maca, cinnamon, tocopherols (a form of Vitamin E), and for the truly hard core, blue green algae and spirulina. Your own raw chocolate bars are very easy to make, really just by omitting the water and adjusting the oil and sweetener ratios to make a thick chocolate paste. Add some chopped nuts if you like, press into a casserole dish and put it in the refrigerator long enough to make it firm. Experiment; it’s chocolate! You’re supposed to have fun. And with raw chocolate, it might be the most fun you can have eating while positively benefiting your health.

The author, manager of The Ananda Apothecary, regularly employs Pure Essential Oils and flower essences in her professional wellness practice.