insideKENT Magazine Issue 81 - December 2018 | Page 102

CHRISTMAS
Go On…Indulge cont.
• High cholesterol is one of the biggest factors
causing heart disease, so it’s important to
reduce your cholesterol where possible.
Eating carrots makes that a much easier task
because they lower your cholesterol
automatically. It’s better if they’re raw for this
particular job, but cooked carrots can still
help to a lesser extent.
• Carrots can help you to control your blood
sugar, and by extension your risk of
developing type II diabetes. If you already
have the disease, the carotenoids within
carrots can still help. Carotenoids lower blood
sugar and improve insulin resistance.
• Ever been told you have high blood pressure?
Many of us do from time to time, especially
if we go through stressful periods. This is
perfectly normal and it tends to settle down
again after a short time. Chronic high blood
pressure is not normal and it can lead to heart
attacks, heart disease and strokes. If you have
chronic high blood pressure you need to
control it, and if you want to do this naturally,
potassium is what you should be looking out
for. Rather brilliantly, carrots contain lots of
this, and can help you lower your blood
pressure quickly and safely.
• And yes, carrots are good for your eyes. This
is because they are full of vitamin A, which
is directly linked to healthy eyes and good
eyesight. As we get older, our night vision
starts to fade (we lose this before any other
vision problems in most cases), and for those
who really suffer night blindness can set in.
Consuming more vitamin A can help – so,
it seems, carrots really can help you to see
in the dark.
CHESTNUTS
Is it chestnut stuffing that matches perfectly
with your turkey at Christmas? Or do you
prefer them roasting on an open fire? Either
way, they are the ideal accompaniment to
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your meal, especially since they have some
health benefits too.
• Nuts are notorious for being high in fat, but
the chestnut bucks the trend, and is in fact
the only known nut that is low in fat – there
are only around 70 calories and just one
gram of fat in each ounce of roasted
chestnuts.
• Chestnuts differ from their other nutty
neighbours because they are also the only
nut to contain vitamin C which we need to
keep our immune systems healthy. We can
get around 45 percent of all the vitamin C
we need per day from a tiny three ounces of
chestnuts.
• And then there’s that all-important fibre
again; chestnuts contain a lot of fibre which
improves the health of the gut and lowers
cholesterol.
PARSNIPS
Pop some ‘snips on your plate this Christmas
Day and you can indulge in their lovely
sweetness whilst feeling good about that fact
that they are so healthy too.
• We’re talking fibre again. Most of us just don’t
get enough of it in our diets which is why
we can easily – and often – suffer from
stomach complaints. It’s vital to improve the
amount of fibre we consume on a daily basis,
and if sweet and tasty parsnips can be part
of that, we’re glad.
• Parsnips also contain folate, which is part of
the B family of vitamins. Folate is great
because it keeps our metabolism working
speedily (so we use food’s energy rather than
letting it go to waste – and go to our waist).
It also keeps our nervous system working as
it should, and can even promote the
production of red blood cells. Plus, if you’re
pregnant, folate can help to keep your baby
healthy too.
• Potassium also features heavily in the make
up of parsnips. Potassium keeps our
skeletons and muscles functioning, and
keeps our brains active, so it’s hugely
important.
CRANBERRY SAUCE
If you’re adding cranberry sauce to your
Christmas table make sure it’s the real stuff –
with real cranberries in it – because really,
nothing else will do in terms of taste and,
luckily enough, in terms of health benefits too.
• Cranberries contain a type of antioxidant
known as polyphenols and, more than that,
they contain a rather rare polyphenol subtype
called B-type proanthocyanidin. What this
means is that cranberries have an almost
unique ability to protect the urinary tract,
reducing or even eliminating the effects of
UTIs.
• The antioxidants in cranberries have also
been shown to keep the heart healthy, even
helping arteries to run more smoothly.
• Cranberries, unlike many other fruits, are
low in sugar too.
PURPLE CABBAGE
Is your go to veggie for Christmas the vibrant
purple cabbage? If not, why not? It’s delicious,
and it’s packed full of health-giving nutrients.
If you’ve never included it on your festive table
before, this year might be the one to start.
• Purple cabbage contains plenty of good
things including fibre, potassium, vitamin A
and vitamin C. As we’ve noted above,
some of each of these can assist in making
your body healthy and hearty, keeping
everything running smoothly and exactly as
it is meant to.