It’s YUMMMM Wednesday!
Three important new reasons to love the pomegranate was reported by Abigail Klein Leichman on Israel21c.org, 29 August 2018.
“The juice from the seeds is very rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals,” says Esther Frumkin, a Traditional Chinese Medicine herbalist, nutritional counselor and macrobiotic cooking teacher in Israel.
GI distress, hot flashes, hemorrhoids, conjunctivitis, osteoarthritis, hypertension and high cholesterol are some of the ailments pomegranate seeds can ease. They guard against disease – even cancer and heart disease — by boosting immunity and reducing chronic inflammation. Frumkin says pomegranate rind tea can treat diarrhea, dysentery, mouth sores and throat irritation, while pomegranate bark tea kills intestinal parasites.
And now, three important new reasons why the pomegranate is the crown jewel of all fruits.
1. A food supplement inspired by face cream
Experimental neurologist Ruth Gabizon from Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem bought a pomegranate-seed-oil face cream from Israeli cosmetics maker Lavido. She loved its effect on her skin and found out the active ingredient in the oil is punicic acid, an exceptionally powerful antioxidant.
She wondered how this polyunsaturated fatty acid (also known as Omega 5) might help her lab mice, engineered to be predisposed to developing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a fatal neurodegenerative disorder.
2. Pomegranate juice may protect fetal brains
Drinking pomegranate juice appears to reduce the risk of embryos developing brain damage, according to a new joint study by researchers from Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, just published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
A significant proportion of premature births occur due to infection and/or inflammation in the uterus, which previous studies have shown to be a risk factor linked to brain injury and the development of neurological deficits soon after birth or later in the child’s life. Therefore, scientists have been trying to find harmless ways to reduce these risks during pregnancy.
3. Growing better pomegranates
Agronomists from many countries turn to Israeli experts for advice on pomegranates, says Doron Holland, head of fruit tree sciences at the Volcani Center-Agricultural Research Organization’s Newe Ya’ar Research Center.
“Our cultivars are being grown all over the world. They are highly valued in Europe and there is growing interest in our cultivars in North America,” Holland tells ISRAEL21c.
What makes the Israeli cultivars so special?
“The metabolites in pomegranates are anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant, and highly beneficial for humans. These metabolites are mostly produced in the skin rather than the arils. We look for ways to produce more of these metabolites in the arils,” explains Holland.
“We also identify cultivars that are enriched with these metabolites. We are very advanced with respect to using genetic analysis for breeding pomegranates.”
Read more: Three important new reasons to love the pomegranate
90 Second Microwave Bread with Almond flour or Coconut Flour comes from Jennifer Banz on Low Carb with Jennifer, 9 October 2017. I haven’t tried it … if you do, please let me know!
The ingredients we need for this microwave bread are:
- almond flour or coconut flour
- eggs
- oil (melted butter, melted coconut oil, avocado oil)
- baking powder
- salt
That’s all you need to make this coconut flour or almond flour bread!
Here are some tips I have found for this 90 second bread (keto bread):
- Tap the container on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles before you cook it
- I found that a 4×4 microwave safe container made the perfect size piece of low carb bread that could be cut in half and stuffed with all the things
- You could also use a ramekin that is 4 inches in diameter. This would be more like a keto mug bread.
- If you would rather bake this low carb bread in t he oven, you can use a ramekin and bake at 375 for 10 minutes
- Toasting this 90 second bread makes it have a much better texture. you could also use a skillet to toast it in some butter. Yum!
For more low carb recipes: Low Carb with Jennifer
How to Make Low-Carb Waffles in Under 7 Minutes by Adam Brown, diaTribe Learn, 15 August 2018.
“Almond and coconut flours have a lower impact on blood sugar, since they have 3-4 times fewer carbs and more fiber than traditional flours. For example, 1/4 cup of almond flour has 6 grams of carbs, with 50% of those from fiber. Meanwhile, 1/4 cup of white flour has 25 grams of carbs, but only 4% from fiber. Whole wheat flour does have slightly more fiber than white flour, but it has just as many carbs; that’s why I highly recommend almond or coconut flour.”
Recently, I’ve been loving these low-carb waffles made with almond flour and an awesome Dash mini waffle maker ($15).
Almond Flour Coconut Waffles
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup almond flour/meal
- 2 eggs, whisked
- 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder or coconut flour
- 1 tablespoonraw honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
- Plug in your waffle iron. You don’t have a waffle iron? Why? Because it’s the most pointless tool in the kitchen and is only useful for one kind of food. True. But buy one. Waffles are awesome.
- Whisk your eggs in a medium-large sized bowl.
- Add your coconut milk and whisk together with eggs.
- Next add your almond flour and mix together.
- Then add your shredded coconut, arrowroot powder, baking soda and mix together.
- Lastly, add in your honey, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Mix together thoroughly.
- Pour into your waffle iron and cooking until cooked through. It took about 4 minutes for mine to cook through and crisp up.
Hey, I tried this … and it is really surprisingly good! You can use only egg whites if you prefer … and I added a little (I mean, very little) stevia which took away the eggy smell. Yummmm, considering LOW CARB!