Nutrition
Goji Berries: Mother Nature’s Vine-Grown Vitamins
For centuries on end, herbalists in Tibet and Mongolia have recommended small red berries called ‘Goji’ as a remedy for those suffering from a variety of problems. In fact, the people of Tibet and Mongolia hold a two-week annual festival in honor of the goji berry. Many of them have nicknamed the goji berry “happy berry” because in common folklore “to eat goji in the morning will lead to smiles all day”.
But respect for the goji berry isn’t confined to the foothills of Tibet and Mongolia. The goji berry has been used for hundreds of years as a tonic in Chinese medicine. During the Tang dynasty (A.D. 772-842), poet Liu Yuxi wrote a poem celebrating the nourishment of “body and spirit” brought about by the goji berry. Without a doubt, the people of this region of the world love the goji berry. But the goji berry’s introduction to the Western world is still fairly recent, so the berry remains a relatively unknown fruit for a large fraction of the world’s population. So what is a goji berry? And why is it so loved?
What is a goji berry?
The term goji berry technically refers to the Tibetan goji berry, also known as Lycium Barbarum (its Latin name). It is a member of a family of flowering plants known as the Solanaceae, a plant family which also includes within its ranks potatoes, tobacco, and tomatoes. Roughly eighty different varieties of lycium berry exist, including the Chinese Wolfberry (often touted by Chinese healers as a cure for male sexual dysfunction). However, the Chinese Wolfberry is only considered a genetic cousin of Lycium Barbarum and not a true goji berry.
Goji berries grow on small green-leafed vines that yield a bright red fruit with a shape most resembling a raisin. The berries are extremely delicate, and during harvest, they are shaken from the vine rather than being picked. To avoid spoiling, they are slowly dried in the shade. The texture of a goji berry is very chewy, and its taste is often described as a cross between a raisin and a cranberry. Several additional names are used to describe the goji berry, such as happy berry, gouqi, and gou qi zi.
What makes the goji berry so potent?
Goji berries are believed to be a rich source of vitamins and nutrients with each goji berry purported to contain 18 different amino acids and vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, and E. It is believed that goji berries contain more beta carotene than is found in carrots of equal size. And the goji berry is touted as one of the richest sources of vitamin C in the world, trailing only the Australian billygoat plum and the South American camu camu. Goji berries are also believed to contain zinc, iron, calcium, phosphorus, selenium, and germanium in varying quantities. As a rich source of many of the vitamins and minerals essential to nutrition, goji berries are filled with antioxidants.
The unique properties endemic to the Tibetan goji berry make it one of the more fascinating fruits on Earth. As consumption of the goji berry grows in popularity in other parts of the world, our knowledge of the plant itself is certain to increase. Until then, do yourself a favor and enjoy a delicious goji berry!
Healthy Hair Vitamins
There a number of different specific hair vitamins and minerals that can play a major role in helping a person have a healthy head of hair. If a person does not have sufficient hair vitamins then the deficiencies can lead to thinning hair or even total baldness in the most severe cases. The fact is that the state of a person’s hair reflects the overall condition of their body. Extra hair vitamins are likely to be needed if a person is generally unwell or is undernourished as their hair will show damage too and may even stop growing.
Some of the most important hair vitamins that a person needs to have healthy hair include B6, biotin, inositol and folic acid. The best way to ensure that a person receives enough of these essential hair vitamins are for them to be taken as vitamin supplements. It is not just hair vitamins that are necessary for healthy hair though as there are a number of minerals that are essential, including magnesium, sulphur, silica and zinc.
The most essential hair vitamin is vitamin a but the best form of this is to include in the diet is beta-carotene. This is because the hair vitamin A can be toxic if consumed in large quantities but beta-carotene has no such problems and is converted by the body into vitamin A that can be used to promote healthy hair. Of course, vitamin A is not just a hair vitamin, it is also needed for a number of other functions including normal growth of bones, skin, nails and the protective sheath surrounding nerve fibres.
Protein is another essential hair vitamin. This is because hair itself is essentially protein. The amount of this hair vitamin that a person consumes in their diet can affect the hair directly. If a lot of protein is included in a person’s diet then this hair vitamin will lead to improved hair growth and a far fuller head of hair. However, a person who has a diet that is lacking in this hair vitamin will suffer from thinning hair and slow hair growth.
Of course, it is not just hair vitamins and minerals that are needed to ensure that a person has healthy, strong hair. There are a number of researchers who have found that there are direct links between the overall health of a person and the condition of their hair. If a person is under a lot of stress or suffers from a lack of sleep then their hair is also likely to suffer and it is likely that their diet will not provide enough hair vitamins to counter these effects. Hair vitamin and mineral supplements can be the solution to weak and damaged hair.
All About Protein
Proteins are very important to our bodies. It isn’t just for bodybuilders who use them to gain muscle mass. Those who are sick use them to rebuild damaged tissue and even in normal states, our body uses protein for many different tasks.
Proteins are made of amino acids that are folded together. There are essential amino acids – those that our body cannot make, and non essential amino acids – those that our body can make. Proteins that are made up of all the essential amino acids are said to be complete while those that lack in one or more essential amino acid are incomplete. Complete proteins come from sources such as meat, eggs, cheese, dairy and soy. Incomplete proteins come mainly from vegetable sources with the one exception being soy.
The ideal source should be complete proteins. For most people that isn’t a problem. If you are worried about fat intake, try lean cuts of beef, chicken and turkey. For vegetarians whose main source comes from incomplete proteins, getting a variety of vegetables and whole grains throughout the day will ensure that all essential amino acids are consumed. Also, using soy protein (which is the only complete vegetable source of protein) is very beneficial.