Health benefits of grapes (bonus: fun facts)

     

Grapes are known for containing proteins, carbohydrates, dietary fibers, vitamins, minerals, calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, riboflavin, thiamin, folic acid and amino acids. They contain high amounts of caffeic acid, which is a strong cancer-fighting substance. Grapes contain flavonoids, which are powerful antioxidants. That’s awesome! Go grapes!

Health benefits of Grapes                              

 Studies have proved that grapes are capable of reducing the LDL cholesterol from the body. Grape pulp as well as skin have chemical resveratrol, which is known to reduce the cholesterol content. Hence grapes can be helpful for losing weight.

Grapes prevent old age related problems like loss of vision

The iron content which is high in dark-colored grapes helps to overcome the problem of fatigue

It is also known for its anti-aging and longevity benefits.

 Grapes are very effective in digestive problems, they are laxative, don’t eat too much though! (unless you need it 🙂

 They are very helpful in curing kidney problems/ disorders

   
Fun facts about, you’ve guessed it, GRAPES!                           

1.) Grapes consist of about 80% of water, which make them a low-calorie snack or dessert.

2.) There are more than 60 species and 8000 varieties of grapes. Grapes come in black, blue, blue-black, golden, red, green, purple, and white colors
3.) One grape vine can grow up to 15½ metres (50 feet long) and can have about 40 clusters of grapes; each grape cluster has an average of 75 grapes
4.) Grape growing is the largest food industry in the world.
5.) Grapes are actually berries!
6.)  One acre of grapes can produce an average of about 15,000 glasses of wine.
7.) Grapes are extremely good for your health; they can help to cure problems such as Alzheimer’s disease, asthma, constipation, heart diseases, indigestion, kidney diseases and migraine. Eating grapes will also minimize the risk of having a heart attack.
8.) Eating too many grapes can give a laxative effect– too many as in 10 kg in one sitting 🙂

Quotation of the day

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

– Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

      Guys, don’t give up because you failed once, or even twice. Learn from your mistakes, and keep on going! If you just sigh and give up when you fail, then you’ll never accomplish anything. Keep on going, and never give up. If you’ve found 10,000 ways that doesn’t work, what about that 10,001th way? Life is a game, there are many failures you will go through, but you’ve got to learn from them, get up, and keep on going!
Yup, that’s what I’m going to say today! 🙂 Keep on going! Never give up… or you’ll regret it.

Tomato facts! :)

Some tomato facts…
– The heaviest tomato weighed 3.51 kg, and was grown by Gordon Graham of Edmond, Oklahoma in 1986. He sliced the tomato to make sandwiches for 21 family members.
–  The state of New Jersey has designated the tomato as the official state vegetable. But in 2009, the tomato was made the official state fruit of Ohio. Come on! Is it a vegetable or a fruit?????
–  More than 60 million tons of tomatoes are produced each year (that’s a lot!)
–  There are at least 10,000 varieties of tomatoes (from the small cherry to the Ponderosa, which can weigh over 3 pounds)
–  The early American colonists regarded tomato as poison, because it’s related to the deadly nightshade plant (but so is the potato!!). In 1820, Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson stood on the steps of Salem, New Jersey courthouse and at a few tomatoes without dying, to the town’s amazement.
–  It was introduced to Europe in the 1500s, the French called it “the apple of love”, and the Germans called it ” the apple of paradise
–  The Britains and its colonies thought that tomatoes were poisonous until the 1700s, when they accepted tomatoes as health and not poisonous, and tomato became a popular food. 
–  Tomatoes are thought to originate in Peru. The name comes from the Aztec “xitomatl,” which means “plump thing with a navel”.
–  The largest worldwide producer of tomatoes is China, followed by USA, Turkey, India and Egypt.
–  California produces 96% of the tomatoes processed in the U.S.
–  Tomato is a very useful source for Vitamin C, folate, beta carotene, and potassiom. Tomato is also discovered to be a very good source of lycopene, and antioxidant that is responsible for protecting the eater from some cancers. Lycopene is found in the skin part of the tomato.
–  Cooked tomatoes have higher concentrations of lycopene than non-cooked tomatoes.

Banana fun facts

(Bananas! Today, I’m going to post some banana facts that I learned over the past few days… Don’t go bananas though!)
-In Eastern Africa you can buy banana beer (the beer is brewed from bananas). Have you ever tried that? 

– In 2001, there were more than 300 banana-related accidents in Britain (most involved people slipping on skins). Beware of the banana!

– Eating bananas can cheer you up! Seriously! Bananas are the only fruit that contains tryptophan and Vitamin B6, which when added together can help your body produce serotonin.



– Bananas, as we know them, are a human invention (from 5000 B.C.). The real banana had lots of huge seeds in them, and humans didn’t like the seeds. So they made hybrids until they got away with the seeds. There are still tiny little seeds in the banana (you’ve probably noticed that), but they don’t work anymore.

– Extracting juice from bananas is awfully hard (even though they ARE 80% water) Ever tried squeezing one?  A banana’s molecular structure is not very squeezable. The banana juice that you drink is blended banana, not squeezed banana! Atomic scientists are still working on how to extract juice from bananas. Atomic scientists! Go figure…

– The strings that go up and down the banana are called phloem bundles. They help distribute nutrients to every part of the banana. 

– The name banana originates from the Arabic word “banan”, which means finger.

– Banana “trees” are actually not trees. They are actually giant herbs, and bananas are the fruit of the herb.

– You probably know this, but India is the no.1 banana producer in the world. Banana lovers, go there.

– Bananas consists of 3/4 water, and almost one quarter sugar and starch (with a little fat and protein)

– In some poor regions of the planet, bananas account for 70% of the dietary consumption. In Uganda, bananas are such a big part of the diet that the same word, matooke, is used for both “food” and “banana.”

– The trunk of a banana plant is made out of sheaths of overlapping leaves (NOT wood) that are tightly wrapped around each other like celery stalks.

Apple Facts!

Today, for no particular reason, I just wanted to write about apples. Here are some cool facts about apples!
-Don’t peel your apple before eating it! Quercetin is found only in the apple skin. The skin also contains more antioxidants and fiber than the flesh– 2/3 of the antiozidants and fiber found in an apple is found in the skin.
– The original name for apple is aeppel.
-There are more than 7500 varieties of apples grown in the world– ranging from the size of a cherry to the size of a grapefruit.
-The science of apple-growing is known as pomology
-China produces the most apples in the world
-Did you know that apples are a part of the rose family? Woah! (Malus domestica is the species apples are)
–Fresh apples float because 25% of their volume is air
-There is evidence that apples were eaten as far back as 6,500 B.C.  (that’s a long time ago!)
–The old saying “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away” comes from am old English adage, “To eat an apple before going to bed, will make the doctor beg his bread.” (by the way, it is true! Don’t peel the peel though!)
Here are some health benefits of eating apples…
Neurological–> Prevents dementia
Cardiovasculia–> Decreases cholesterol level
Lungs–>decreased cancer risk
Colon–>decreased cancer risk
Systemic–> prevention of overweight
Prostate–> prevention of cancer

-Why are apples healthy? Apples are low calorie and high in fiber. There are close to 5 grams of fiber in each apple. Apples are fat free, low sodiun, cholesterol free. Oh, and they are delicious!
-It requires about 36 apples to produce one gallon of apple cider.
-Researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong discovered that fruit flies who were fed an apple extract lived 10% longer than other flies who were fed a normal diet.
-Oh, and REMEMBER, October is National Apple Month!!!!

Haha!! Apples are awesome!

Knowledge is power.

“If a man empties his purse on his head, no man can take it away from him, and investment in knowledge always pays the best interest” -Benjamin Franklin

Hey guys, start learning today! Start filling yourself with knowledge; no one can take knowledge away from you. A man can only take away your money, but you can earn it back with knowledge. “Knowledge is power”, Francis Bacon says. Knowledge is a power that no one can take away from you.  If you have the ability to do some thing, and someone doesn’t have the ability. They can’t take it away from you for themselves! They can only take away your money, but not what you can do– not your knowledge. My dear friend, empty your purse on your head, so that no man can take it away from you.