Olive Oil
This mono unsaturated oil is regarded as a longevity food. Its use is considered more beneficial for the heart than low-fat diet, which is generally advocated by health experts. Typically, the Mediterranean people eat more fat than Americans, but about three-quarters of all their fat come from monounsaturated fat, mostly from olive oil.
They also eat very little saturated animal fat. For example, residents of the island of Crete sometimes drink olive oil by the glass, deriving their quota of calories from fat to over 40 per cent. Dr. Keys, professor at the University of Minnesota, found in his remarkable “Seven Countries Study”, that Cretans rarely succumbed to heart disease. In a 15-year period only 38 out of 10000 Cretans died of heart disease compared with 773 Americans, giving the United States 20 times as much deadly heart disease as Crete. Other Mediterranean populations also had low rates.
It has been observed that those Mediterranean people who consume olive-oil-type fat liberally were least to die of cancer or any other disease. Using mono unsaturated fat, as the major source of fat was the only dietary factor, according to Dr. Keys, that warded off death from all causes. It can thus be said that a relatively high-fat diet does not seem hazardous to the heart if it is very low in animal fat and high in olive-oil-type fat. Olive oil thus helps build up health and prolongs life.
Onion
Onion has been described by some one as the dynamite of natural foods. Compared with other fresh vegetables, it is relatively high in food value, moderate in protein content and is rich in calcium and riboflavin. It is considered as one of civilizations oldest medicines, which the ancient Mesopo-tamians believed as a cure for virtually every health problem.
Onion is a powerful antioxidant food and contains numerous anticancer compounds. It thins the blood, lowers blood cholesterol, raises good-type HDL cholesterol, wards off blood clots, fights asthma, chronic bronchitis, hay fever, diabetes, atherosclerosis and infections. It also increases libido and strengthens the reproductory organs. This vegetable thus helps in maintaining good health and in preventing and curing several serious diseases, thereby prolonging life.
Pollen
Pollen is a fine powder, usually yellow in colour, found inside the blossoms of herbs and flowers. It has been mentioned in texts of Babylon, Egypt, Persia and China that this outstanding plant substance was highly beneficial in giving strength to the body, in maintaining good health and in prolonging life. Even today, several primitive tribes who live a more natural life, use it as a valuable remedy for several ailments and for staying young. In 1945, Nicolai Titsin, a Russian Biologist, questioned 50 people in Russia who claimed to be over 100 years of age.
He discovered that a large number of them were bee keepers and all of them ate waste matter in the bottom of the beehive, a large part of which was almost pure pollen. Scientists in different countries have carried out experiments with pollen. They agree that hardly a foodstuff exists in either the vegetable or animal kingdom in which so many varied essentials of digestive needs are so completely united as in the case of pollen.
Researchers in Switzerland have shown that it contains protein, free amino acids, various forms of sugar, mucilage, fats, minerals, trace elements, large amounts of of the vitamin B Complex and also vitamins A, D, E and C. It also contains numerous diastase, hormone components and antibiotics, besides other active ingredients not yet specified. They conclude that various elements contained in pollen work together to keep a person more youthful even in old age.
Raw Foods
Raw foods promote health and longevity. Before the discovery of fire, man’s evolution and development depended on the consumption of natural, raw foods, as provided by nature. After fire came into existence, man started cooking natural foods without much thought. Cooking of natural foods led to their debasement and destruction of most of their essential nutrients needed for the maintenance of good health.
The nutritive constituents of raw foods serve as building material for the construction and renewal of cells. They produce energy to put these cells into motion and give warmth to the body and supply the raw materials to the specialised cells needed for their productive activities. Those who eat raw foods make use of the digestive organs at about one-fourth of their potential capacity.
As a result, their organs are never overloaded or fatigued. Because of the large quantities of mineral salts they contain, in a form most suitable to the needs of the system, fresh fruits and raw vegetables are known as purifying foods. They possess eliminating, cleansing and healing properties. The adoption of raw eating can thus free mankind from all diseases. Raw foods contain all the essential vitamins, minerals, trace elements and other constituents, which help maintain good health, prevent disease and prolong life.
Rice (brown)
Brown rice has always been considered a marvelous healer in the East. In many ancient writings of the Orients, it is said that natural, whole-grain brown rice is a “perfect” healing food because it is so delicately balanced by Nature. Many ancient physicians of India believed that.abstaining from most foods and subsisting on brown rice for a few days would create a balanced condition, which would promote better health and longevity. Similar evidences of the importance of rice as a source of health have been found in the early literature of Thailand, Burma, Malaya and Indochina. The Orientals have always recognized that rice could promote a feeling of well being and youthful health.
The health benefits of brown rice, as described by the ancient folk physicians, have been confirmed by modern scientists. Eating brown rice helps create serenity and tranquility. It contains all the elements needed to help create better health. Rice protein, which comprises up to eight per cent of the grain, has eight of the essential amino acids, out of about eleven, in a delicate balance. A complete internal rejuvenation takes place, when rice protein is metabolized into health-building amino acids.
These amino acids build flexible muscles, healthy skin and hair and clearer eyesight. They also nourish the heart and lungs, tendons and ligaments, brain, nervous system and glandular network. Natural brown rice is a prime source of the healthy B-complex vitamins. In particular, rice offers thaimine, riboflavin and niacin, which are needed to promote youthful energy and to nourish the skin and blood vessels.
An abundance of minerals in natural brown rice helps nourish the hormonal system, heal wounds, create a healthy heartbeat and regulate blood pressure. In particular, rice has a high amount of calcium, which soothes and relaxes the nervous system and helps relieve symptoms of hypertension. Further, iron contained in rice, enriches the bloodstream. Rice offers phosphorus and potassium to work with other nutrients and maintain internal water balance. Brown rice thus helps maintain good health, wards off diseases and prolongs life.
Sage
This important culinary herb possesses many health-building properties. The Chinese saying ‘sage for old age’ sums up its healthful qualities. It has a reputation to retard old age, restore energy and aid digestion. Sage has centuries-old reputation as a sacred plant capable of exerting a beneficial influence on the brain, nerves, eyes and glands.
Gerard, the famous herbalist, wrote that he found sage effective for “quickening the senses and memory, strengthening the sinews and resorting health to those suffering from palsies of moist cause, removing, shaking and trembling of limbs”. This herbal food is thus of great value as a promoter of health and longevity. Sage is generally used as a flavouring agent. Dried and powdered leaves can be mixed with cooked vegetables. Fresh sage leaves can be used in salads and sandwiches. The young leaves are pickled, and used for making tea.
Soyabean
The soyabean is esteemed for its high food value. It is a very valuable source of protein, vitamins, minerals and other food ingredients. Its protein is of high biological value and is considered ‘complete’, as it contains all the essential amino acids. It is the best of all-vegetable proteins and ranks in this respect with protein of milk, eggs and meat. But soyabean contains by far more protein than these articles.
The soyabean contains many medicinal virtues. While most of the proteins are acid in their ash, soyabean is rich in alkaline-bearing salts and hence regarded as a corrective diet. The high quality protein contained in soyabean helps build vigour, vitality and a feeling of youthful health. The Chinese who consume soyabeans liberally, believe that it makes the body plump, improves the complexion, stimulates the growth and removes constipation and many other physical ailments.
Modern researches carried out in the laboratories in Europe and America has corroborated much of these claims. The Chinese and Japanese often enjoy youthful living well beyond the century mark because they consume a large amount of soyabean in their diet. The soyabean is one of the richest known sources of lecithin which is considered an amazing youth element. With sufficient intake of lecithin, cholesterol cannot build up against the walls of the arteries and veins.
Besides reducing the cholesterol level in the blood, there is mounting scientific evidence to suggest several other benefits from lecithin. It has been suggested that its intake in sufficient amounts can help rebuild those cells and organs, which need it. Lecithin helps maintain their health once they are repaired. It may mean that a deficiency of lecithin in the diet may be one of the causes of ageing and that its use may be beneficial in retarding the ageing process and prolonging life.