Smorgasbord Health Column – Food Therapy Rewind- #Watercress – More Iron than Spinach by Sally Cronin
There are certain foods that bring more than taste to your diet, rich in nutrients and energy they are worth including in your weekly shopping.
Food therapy is a broad term for the benefits to the body of a healthy, varied and nutritional diet of fresh foods.
Most of us walk through the fresh produce departments of our supermarkets without really paying much attention to the individual fruits and vegetables. This is a great pity because the vast majority of these foods have been cultivated for thousands of years, not only for their nutritional value but also for their medicinal properties. If you eat a healthy diet you are effectively practicing preventative medicine. A robust immune system, not only attacks external opportunistic pathogens, but also works to prevent rogue cells in the body from developing into serious disease.
NOTE – If you are on any prescribed medication do not take yourself off it without consultation with your doctor. If you follow a healthy eating programme and lose weight and are exercising you may not need the same dose and with your doctor’s agreement you may be able to reduce or come off the medication all together.
Watercress – More iron than spinach
First… what is so good about Watercress.
Its Latin name is Nasturtium officinale and it is part of the mustard family
Watercress history goes back over three thousand years to the Persians, Greeks and Romans. In the past it has been used as a breath freshener and palate cleanser as well as for its medicinal properties. Apparently Captain Cook included it in his sailors’ diet to combat scurvy and there are rumours that it is an aphrodisiac. But, before you all rush out to get your packet of watercress we better cover some of this lovely green vegetable’s other health benefits.
