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grow goji berriesSuperfoods - Natural Nutrition For Great Health And Vitality

It's not too hard figuring out how to achieve optimum health. It's just common sense really, although some might say this is the least common of all the senses! A positive outlook, appropriate exercise, plenty of pure, unadulterated water and first class nutrition are surefire contributors to good health.

As for nutrition, the top link of the chain are the Superfoods. These are nature's superheroes, bringing health and vitality to the afflicted, like vibrantly coloured berries, the microscopic algae, Chlorella and Spirulina to more common foods such as cabbage, broccoli and nuts etc.

Natures superfoods contain perfect packages of nutrients in the correct ratio's, including many yet to be discovered and studied. These nutrients include enzymes, phytonutrients, anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals for example.

The saddest sight is seeing these foods overprocessed and passed off as healthy in some of our popular breakfast cereals and drinks. It's always best to eat these foods in their natural state, as nature intended. It's odd that added sugar is the number one ingredient in juice drinks when fruit is sweet already. Juicing your own drinks will not only produce a healthier, more natural product, it will also save money.

Lets introduce some of these nutritional titans. Cabbage has been unfairly maligned, but did you know it was considered a cure all by ancient Egyptians? The use of food for medicinal purposes stretches back to antiquity and cruciferous vegetables like kale, cabbage, sprouts and broccoli have been the subject of an impressive amount of research showing their effectiveness in fighting and preventing disease, including cancer. Avocado, apart from being great for the skin, contain high levels of glutathione, the livers most potent antioxidant. Glutathione enhances the elimination of carcinogens and toxins. It is also found in useful quantities in garlic, onions and leeks.

Most superfoods are increasingly easy to find in your local health store or on the Internet. Quinoa, pronounced keen-wah, was a staple food of the Incas, known by them as the mother grain. This grain is rich in essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals as well as an excellent source of complete protein. If this grain helped the Incas run up and down mountains it is sure to do us some good. Why not grab yourself some Goji berries. These special little berries contain 500 times more vitamin C than oranges by weight, and contain a mindblowing array of minerals, vitamins and amino acids. They make a wonderful addition to your superfood arsenal and can be used in smoothies or eaten in an energy packed trail mix with other powerful foods such as cacao nibs and seeds etc

Beetroot is another food offering health benefits. Like all vegetables, try to buy it fresh from a farmers market and avoid the ones saturated in vinegar. In its natural state beetroot is an excellent health enhancer. Also, just two or three Brazil nuts a day will supply your daily requirement of Selenium, a mineral sadly depleted from the soil most of our fruit and vegetables are grown in.

If you desire excellent health, bags of energy and insurance against disease, healthy nutrition offers so much! Be honest, when was the last time you tucked into a bowl of mixed berries or consumed a wholefood meal that actually made you feel great after eating it? Consider including a varied mix of superfoods in your daily diet to benefit from their many health enhancing properties. Variety is the key as each food has its own special properties and no single food has everything your body needs. Eat a rainbow, red, orange, yellow, green and blue and you can't go far wrong, unless they are artificial colours of course!!

Eating a variety of whole, natural foods will far surpass the benefits of even the most potent multivitamin tablet and may include many, as yet undiscovered, nutrients and phytonutrients. Yes, that's right, natural foods include everything, leaving man made tablets, which cannot match God's bounty, in the dust. With this in mind doesn't it make perfect sense to make nutrition and superfoods a cornerstone in your quest for great health.

Visit www.healthandwellnessportal.co.uk for other interesting articles about nutrition and natural health related subjects.

Colin Bell is the owner of http://www.healthandwellnessportal.co.uk, a UK natural health website with articles, news, health experts and a Discussion Forum.

Old Tea Traditions

Tea has been consumed in China for centuries, but other cultures are rich in history of this popular beverage as well. Two of those countries, Russia and England have developed decidedly different traditions over the years.

It is said that drinking tea began in China where over 5000 years ago, leaves from the plant accidentally fell into water being boiled for drinking. Needless to say, it was found to be very refreshing and it's use became widespread. Tea was introduced to Europe through the Portuguese in the early 1500�s and it didn�t take long for this beverage to become popular in many countries and traditions for English tea parties and Russian tea were formed.

This drink became so popular in both countries the each developed certain traditions as well as pots, vessels and cups to drink it from. Although the introduction of tea is centuries old, the popularity of it and the traditions associated with it remain in these cultures to this day.

In the early 1600�s, tea made it�s way to Russia. Of course, it was only the wealthy that could afford tea at first but by the end of the 1700's the price was dropping and it's popularity was spreading throughout the country.

In Russia, tea is never taken with meals. Traditionally it is taken after the meal or as a mid afternoon snack. For centuries, Russians have used a device called a Samovar to make tea. The samovar is usually put in the center of the table after dinner and everyone gathers round and takes tea which they can dilute or sweeten as they like. Russians traditionally sip tea in glasses set in silver holders and favor their tea as strong and highly sweetened � some recipes even call for tang or lemonade added to tea!

Tea was introducted to England in the mid 1600's and it's popularity spread so quickly that it was soon as popular a drink as ale! In the late 1700�s to well known tradition of afternoon tea was started by the Duchess of Bedford.

Prior to that, the English enjoyed only 2 meals � a breakfast and a dinner. The dinner was served at the end of the day and by mid afternoon you can imagine how hungry and energy depleted many felt. So, the tradition of afternoon tea was begun where tea would be served along with little cakes and sandwiches. Of course, this proved to be immensely popular and still is today!

One of the great benefits of the afternoon tea was that it necessitated fancy pieces to for service and drinking. The main pot that heated the water was usually made of silver (still a very popular item today) and this was kept over a flame so that it would be hot at all times. In addition, small porcelain tea pots were used to pour at the table and they were refreshed with the hot water from the silver pot when needed. Of course the tradition included fancy porcelain tea cups to drink from as well. These pieces are still made and used today, and the antiques are highly collectible.

Lee Dobbins is a writer for Online Gourmet Foods where you can find out more about gourmet foods and tea.

Becoming a Home Beer Maker Is Easy And Fun

When those weekends with your beer drinking buddies become a little bit expensive, but you and your friends would like to keep the beer parties coming. Then you probably have considered becoming a home beer maker at one point. It is really not as complicated as you might think, becoming a home beer maker is in fact a lot of fun. You need some time and some patience but after that you can have a great quality home made beer and can be proud at yourself. If you prefer you can get some friends involved, it is a great activity and you will probably have a lot of fun as a home beer maker. At the end of the day you and your helping buddies will have enough beer to trow a party.

It all starts with a good home brew store

The local home brew supplier will become your best friend in the near future, you can find everything you need in one store and you will have the expertise of an experienced home beer maker. Home brew suppliers are most often home beer makers them self and they can help you to get started. Most of them started their business out of passion for beer and just saw an opportunity and jumped in. Finding yourself a good home brew supplier is your first big step in becoming a home beer maker.

It Takes time to build experience

We said it before, you need some time and some patience, when you brew your first beer it will probably take you two, tree times longer then when you have build some experience. For your first beer making experience make sure that you don't have to do anything else for about four, five hours.

You need to find a space in or around your house, where you can put the fermenter. This means a room without carpeting and where a little spilling can't do any damage, most home beer makers use the basement, garage or some place like that. When an airlock comes out just a little of the fermentation's can leak, for your brew that is no problem, but when you do it in the living room, and you do get some water damage, your partner won't be that happy. So make sure that you set your brewing equipment up where a little mess doesn't matter and is easy to clean. A little mess should not put you of in becoming a home beer maker.

We advised you to let your friends give you a hand, well now is the time you really need them, when your done brewing, you end up with five gallons of beer that needs to ferment, and so it needs to be moved, and five gallons of beer is really heavy. Because you don't wont to spill your not fermented beer, you need to ask a friend to help you.

Becoming a home beer maker is fun, and remember after you are done brewing, you can have a party with your friends. The ones that helped you but of course also the ones that didn't.

Drew Brown has one hobby and he loves to share it with the world. He just loves to brew his own beverages. http://www.brewingyourown.com