7 Foods That Are Healthier When Eaten Together

Many of us turn to whole, unprocessed foods to ensure we’re getting enough vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients. However, there’s a way to make already healthy foods even better for you. The secret? Combine two good-for-you foods, and their nutritional benefits work together, creating one vitamin-packed, antioxidant-enriched superfood. Ready to bring out the best in your healthy foods? Here are seven pairings that can provide you with amazing benefits, including weight loss, heart health, and an improved immune system. 

1. BEET GREENS AND CHICKPEAS

Beet greens are packed with magnesium, a mineral that is key for a mellow and happy mood. In fact, according to MindBodyGreen, magnesium helps you sleep better, relaxes your nervous system, builds bigger and stronger muscles, and improves your flexibility. In short, your body needs magnesium to function properly. So when you combine the magnesium in beet greens with the heavy dose of B6 in chickpeas, you’ve got a recipe for awesome health benefits. Rodale News writes that the B6 works with the magnesium, allowing your body to absorb as much magnesium as it can. The benefit here? Eating beet greens and chickpeas together will give you a natural mood boost.

If you’re ready to jump on the beet green and chickpea bandwagon, look for local, organic beet greens at your supermarket or a farmer’s market. Instead of opting for canned chickpeas, which can contain hormone-disrupting chemicals, Rodale News suggests soaking and cooking dried, organic chickpeas for the best results. 

2. GREEN TEA AND LEMON

Lemon helps preserve the amazing antioxidants that are found in green tea, ensuring your body can use them all. “Just a splash of lemon contains enough vitamin C to help reduce the breakdown of catechins in the digestive system,” Jennifer McDaniel, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, tellsPrevention.

What’s so great about green tea? Plenty! It is rich in catechins, an antioxidant that fights and may even prevent cell damage, per Web MD. This super healthy drink has also been shown to improve your blood flow, lower your cholesterol, and can help prevent several heart-related problems, including high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. Its benefits don’t stop there, either. Web MD writes that a Swiss study showed that people who drank tea had greater activity in the working-memory area of their brain, and it’s also been shown to help block the formation of plaques that are linked with Alzheimer’s disease.

See why it’s important for your body to absorb all of green tea’s amazing antioxidants? To create the perfect cup of green tea, make sure you don’t add green tea to boiling water (it’s bad for catechins). Be sure to add lemon, so your body can easily absorb the catechins, and avoid dairy while sipping (it makes it harder for your body to absorb antioxidants). 

3. BREAD AND VINEGAR

Fear not, carb lovers! There is a way you can still eat bread, pasta, and potatoes without packing on the pounds. Family Circle writes that by sprinkling carbs with a little vinegar, it can actually make losing weight easier. Here’s how: “In most instances, when we eat high-carb foods like bread, the amount of glucose in our blood rises rapidly. But very quickly it plummets, triggering feelings of hunger that cause us to eat even more,” Carol S. Johnston, PhD, RD, tells Family Circle. “The good news is that vinegar moderates that spike in glucose, so you feel full longer.”

A recent study was even able to prove that vinegar works wonders. The study showed that people who consumed 4 teaspoons of apple-cider vinegar, in addition to some bagels and juice, ate 200 fewer calories throughout the entire day, compared with those who ate the exact same meal without the vinegar. You may not think 200 calories is a big deal, but it actually can make a huge difference! Cutting out 200 calories a day will amount to you losing 21 pounds in a year, according to Family Circle. 

4. BEANS AND RAW PEPPERS

Non-heme iron is found in many plant foods, such as beans, whole grains, and spinach. When you eat non-heme iron on its own, the body absorbs 33 percent less non-heme iron than it would heme iron, which is found in animal products, including beef, fish, and poultry. However, Care2 writes that you can increase your bodies non-heme iron absorption “two- to threefold by consuming it with the vitamin C in whole fruits and vegetables.”

Your brain may instantly think of citrus fruits when it comes to vitamin C, but red peppers also offer plenty of the nutrient. According to Good Housekeeping, one-half cup of pepper has 142 milligrams of vitamin C. To compare, one orange has 70 milligrams of vitamin C.

Wondering how vitamin C allows for more non-heme iron absorption? The nutrient helps in the production of an enzyme responsible for changing non-heme iron to a form of iron that’s more easily absorbed, according toCare2. It’s important to monitor your iron intake, too. Low levels can lead to fatigue, weakness, and poor concentration. Since vegans and vegetarians typically only consume non-heme iron, this food combination is a must-try! 

5. ONIONS AND GRAPES

This killer combo can fight allergies, cancer, and weight gain. According to Men’s Fitness, quercetin is a plant-derived antioxidant, which has been shown to relieve allergy symptoms and offer cardiovascular protection, and is found in a lot of fruits and vegetables. It is, however, especially concentrated in onions.

On the other hand, black grapes contain high levels of the antioxidant catechin, which assists with helping cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurological disorders, and weight loss. Pair these two foods together, and you’ve got the perfect combination for inhibiting blood clots and boosting your overall health. Wondering how to eat the two together? Men’s Fitness recommends adding sliced red grapes and diced onion to a chicken salad or combining them with a few other tasty ingredients to make chutney.

This unlikely pair tastes surprisingly delicious and packs a powerful nutrient punch! 

6. RED WINE AND ALMONDS

Red wine has long been listed as a healthy alcoholic drink (in moderation). It has been shown to help lower cholesterol levels, protect your heart, help regulate blood sugar, and keep your brain sharp, Prevention writes. Almonds, on the other hand, are a great source of vitamin E, B vitamins, essential minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium, and healthy fat. That means that almonds can help your muscles recover faster, protects against sun damage, helps energy production, protects the heart, and ensures you have strong, healthy bones, according to Fox News.

The combination of the two is great because the antioxidant resveratrol, found in red wine, works with the vitamin E in almonds to thin the blood and improve blood vessel health, per Rodale News. Simply put, it keeps your heart running great. Rodale News suggests opting for organic wine and almonds, because the conventional versions can harbor pesticide residues. 

7. BROWN RICE AND PEAS

When they work together, brown rice and peas can do wonders for your metabolism. As we age, we begin to lose lean muscle, which helps keep our metabolism running efficiently. The best way to combat this is by lifting weights and making sure that between 25 to 35 percent of your calories comes from protein, according to Family Circle. You could get all of this protein from red meat and poultry, but they often contain a lot of saturated fat. A better option is plant foods, such as rice, which are packed with protein.

However, you won’t see the result you’d like if you eat rice by itself. When it’s eaten alone, many of these plant-based protein sources lack a few essential amino acids that are needed for it to be a complete protein. That’s where peas come in. While rice is low in the amino acid lysine, peas contain plenty of it. Pair the two together, and you’ve got the perfect protein pair, per Family Circle. The next time you’re considering what to make for dinner, make sure to load up on this tasty, protein-packed combination.

Beware these 10 Health Food Imposters!

If you're trying to avoid foods with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), you probably already keep a sharp eye out for foods made from corn, canola, and soy, all of which have had bacteria or genes inserted into their DNA to either produce or resist toxic pesticides. A lot of GMO foods are obvious—corn chips, corn tortillas, soy sauce, and canola oil, for instance, are pretty likely to fall into the 80 percent of processed foods that contain GMOs.

But thanks to the wonders of modern-day food processing, ingredients derived from those same GMO crops are turning up in some really strange places that you wouldn't immediately associate with corn, canola, or soy. Additives—think "natural flavors" or "maltodextrin"—are never labeled as being derived from corn or soy, and some of the most wholesome-sounding foods, like bread, are now filled with those very same GMO ingredients. 

We dug up these 9 sneaky foods with GMOs during a recent stroll through an average grocery store:

#1: Fruit Juice
Don't let the "fruit" in "fruit juice" lull you into thinking these sugary beverages are any better for you than sodas. Many sugary fruit drinks are loaded with sugar, whether from genetically engineered sugar beets or high-fructose (genetically modified) corn syrup. Then companies try to replace the fiber you'd get from eating a whole fruit by adding maltodextrins, fiber-like carbohydrates that are derived from corn. Top that off with artificial flavors that, according to the Non-GMO Project, are at "high risk" of being contaminated with GMO ingredients.

Better Bet: Eat whole fruits so you can get natural fiber, not stuff created in a lab.  

#2: Chewing Gum
It may feel like overkill to seek out "organic" gum (organic, by definition, prohibits foods from containing GMOs), but your chewing gum likely harbors a wide variety of ingredients derived from genetically engineered corn or soy: maltodextrin, aspartame, natural or artificial flavors, and xylitol, just to name a few.

Better Bet: Glee Gum is a GMO-free alternative that contains xylitol (a zero-calorie sweetener) derived from birch and beech trees. Or opt for crunchy fruits and vegetables, such as carrots and apples. Research has found these can keep plaque and bad-beath-producing bacteria away. 

#3: Canned Fish
There's a lot more in canned tuna than you might realize! Most major brands packaged "in oil" are, in fact, packed in soybean oil, which is likely made from GMO soy, and even those packed in water may contain "vegetable broth" that contains soy ingredients. 

Better bet: Look for brands of canned fish that contain fish…and nothing else. We like Wild Planet and Vital Choice brands.

#4: Bread
High-fructose corn syrup, sugar derived from genetically engineered sugar beets, soy flour, soybean oil, soy lecithin, even "natural flavors"—this list is just a smattering of the ingredients derived from genetically engineered (GE) crops that wind up in your average loaf of commercial bread. And don't be fooled by "natural" breads, either. Since the term isn't regulated, those foods contain many of the same GE-derived additives.

Better bet: Opt for organic breads or bake your own, except that…

#5: Your Homemade Baked Goods
Homemade bread isn't totally protected from sneaky GMOs. Baking powder, a leavening agent required to make some types of bread is a mixture of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), cream of tartar (a by-product of wine-making) or some other acid, such as aluminum or phosphate salts, and cornstarch, which is used to prevent clumping. Cornstarch can be derived from GMO corn. It's also an ingredient in "self-rising" flours.

Better bet: Organic baking powder is available from Frontier Natural Products Co-op, but you can make your own by mixing two parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda, leaving the GMO cornstarch out.

#6: Your Produce Bin
Thankfully, the GMOs that currently exist on the market are mostly limited to processed foods—except in the case of squash, sweet corn, and papayas. Six varieties of GMO zucchini and yellow summer squash engineered to resist viruses that can destroy the crops are sold in the U.S. Because of this, the nonprofit Non-GMO Project monitors acorn squash, delicata squash, and patty pan, which can become contaminated by pollen drift from GMO varieties. Likewise, papayas grown in Hawaii (at least, 77 percent of them) have been genetically engineered to resist a virus that decimated the crop in 1990. Finally, a Monsanto variety of genetically modified sweet corn was approved in 2012 and is now being sold at national grocery chains, with the exception of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, who responded to consumer pressure and refuse to sell it.

Better bet: Stick with certified-organic squash, corn, and papayas, since GMO varieties are never labeled as such.

#7: Dairy Alternatives
For people who can't tolerate cow's milk or just want a little variety, the sheer number of certified-organic dairy alternatives made from soy, rice, coconut, and almonds is a welcome relief. Just be sure to stick with organic. Some nonorganic brands contain "natural flavors" and thickeners like canola oil, both of which can be derived from GMO crops.

Better bet: Look for certified-organic brands or products bearing the "Non-GMO Project Verified" seal. You can find a complete listing of those on nongmoproject.org. 

#8: "Healthier" Dairy Products
Same goes for things like low-fat half-and-half and the growing number of non-dairy creamers on the market. Regular half-and-half is half whole milk and half cream, but to get the same creaminess, low-fat or fat-free half-and-half contains a mixture of skim milk, corn starch and other artificial thickeners derived from soy and canola. Non-dairy creamers are heavy on the soybean oil and corn syrup solids, as well—so don't pollute your morning coffee!   

Better bet: Organic Valley offers a low-fat, dairy-free coffee creamer made from organic soy that contains just 1 gram of fat and 15 calories per tablespoon.

#9: Dried Fruits & Vegetables
And to conclude the list of healthy foods gone bad, always read the ingredients list on packages of dried fruits or vegetables. In order to keep dried fruits shelf-stable, soft, and moist, they need to be infused with sugar, and in most cases, that sugar is cheap, genetically modified high-fructose corn syrup. Likewise, dehydrated vegetables, the kind you might see as snacks in your grocer's bulk foods section, are frequently coated with canola oil to prevent sticking.

Better bet: Look for freeze-dried fruits and veggies, preferably those that are organic; freeze-drying retains more nutrients and can be done without processing aids like sugar and oil.

#10: Your Salad & Sandwich Toppers
GMO soybean oil, a go-to ingredient in nonorganic condiments and salad dressings, is being touted as healthier because it has no trans fat. But in mouse studies, GMO soybean oil has just as many unhealthy ramifications as regular soybean oil, including obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver. The only benefit that the researchers were able to discover was that this oil does not lead to insulin resistance.

And get this: More than 90 percent of American soybeans comes from genetically modified crops, most of which are doused in glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup). Roundup has been associated with lymphoma, gut bacteria imbalance, and cell death, and it's been detected at "extreme" levels in crops.

Better bet: Choose organic salad dressings and mayo, since nonorganic versions are notorious for harboring GMO soybean oil. And work more coconut oil into the mix. The study investigating soybean oil found mice eating coconut oil instead of soybean oil enjoyed lower rates of obesity and other health problems.

15 Reasons You Should Be Drinking Lemon Water Every Morning

If you are looking for an easy trick to improve your life and overall health, than look no further. Drinking lemon water first thing in the morning is a pretty simple routine to get into and will have tremendous effects on your overall health. 

According to the Ayurvedic philosophy, choices you make regarding your daily routine either build up resistance to diseases or tear it down.

So what are you waiting for to jump start your day with this incredible easy morning routine. Its benefits are endless and I listed the 15 most important ones for you in this article.

1.    Improves Digestion

Lemon juice has a similar structure to your stomach’s juices and helps to loosen and flush out toxins from the digestive tract. Lemon juice can help ease indigestion, heartburn, and bloating. It also helps to move your bowels in the morning, hydrates your colon, stimulate bile production, and infuses water in your stool.

2.    Boost Immune System.

Lemon juice is rich in vitamin C, which helps strengthen the immunes system and fights cold and flu. But not only vitamin C is important for a good working immune system, iron is another important nutrient, and lemons improve the ability to absorb more iron from the food you eat.

3.    Hydrates Your Body

It is important to stay hydrated. Especially during the summer months. Plain water is best, but many people find this boring and are not drinking enough of it. That’s where lemon comes into play to make things more interesting. So feel free to not only start your day with lemon water, but drink as many glasses as you wish during the day to stay hydrated.

4.    Boost Energy

Lemon water gives you an instant boost of energy and improves your mood right at the start of your day.

5.    Promote Healthy And Rejuvenated Skin

Lemons are a rich sources of antioxidants that prevent free radical damage. These free radicals are responsible for pre-mature aging of your skin. Vitamin C helps to maintain your skin’s elasticity to prevent the formation of wrinkles and decrease blemishes.

6.    Reduce Inflammation

Lemons have the ability to remove uric acid from your joints. Uric acid built-ups are one of the major causes of inflammation.

7.    Weight Loss Aid

Although lemon water on its own is no weight loss miracle, it can definitely help you to achieve faster and long term results. Lemons assist in fighting hunger cravings, boost metabolism, and give you a stuffed feeling, making it less likely to snack in between meals.

8.    Alkalize Your Body

Although lemons have a sour taste, they are one of the most alkalizing food sources on Earth. Too much acids can cause inflammation, obesity, and major diseases like cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Click here to learn more about the importance of alkalizing your body.

9.    Cleansing Properties

Lemons help your entire body to flush out more toxins to prevent built-ups and damage to your cells, tissues, and organs. It stimulates your liver to produce more enzymes and work more efficiently. Lemon juice works as a diuretic to keep your urinary tract toxin-free and can also change the pH levels which discourage bacterial growth. This is very helpful for people who often suffer from UTI (urinary tract infection). And like mentioned before, lemons loosen and flush out waste from your digestive tract and cleanse your colon.

10.Antibacterial and Antiviral Properties

Lemons have antibacterial and antiviral properties. They help fight the flu, cold, and soothe a sore throat. Although people who drink their daily lemon water every day are less likely to get these in the first place.

11.Reduce Mucus And Phlegm

Lemon water helps to reduce mucus and phlegm formation. People who drink cow’s milk are often more sensitive for mucus production. So starting your day with lemon water can definitely help to lessen mucus if you’re not ready to go dairy-free.

12.Freshen Breath

Lemons freshen your breath and fight mouth bacteria. Although lemons are great for your overall oral health, avoid drinking or using it undiluted. The citric acid can erode tooth enamel, so don’t brush your teeth with it, but have a glass of lemon water instead.

13.Boost Brain Power

The high levels of potassium and magnesium show beneficial effects on our brain and nerve health. Lemon water can give you the boost you need to fight depression and stress. It creates mental clarity and more focus, making it a great drink for students or people with busy and stressful jobs.

14.Anti-cancer

Lemon’s antioxidants not only protect your skin from ageing, but also reduce the risk of several types of cancer. They are great in neutralizing acids as well. Cancer loves to grow in an acidic environment. Alkalizing your body may stop cancer cells to grow and may reduce the risk of getting cancer in the first place.

15.Get Of Caffeine

Many people are able to get off caffeine by replacing their morning coffee by lukewarm lemon water. It gives a similar energy boost to wake your body and boost energy as one cup of coffee would.

HOW TO MAKE LEMON WATER

Making lemon water is super simple. It takes less than 5 minutes of your precious morning time. Just squeeze half a lemon in lukewarm water. If you weigh more than 150 pounds, use a whole lemon.

Why use lukewarm (or room temperature) instead of cold or hot water to make this healing morning drink? Well, hot or cold water takes more energy to process, so your first glass in the morning should be lukewarm or at room temperature to slowly wake your body and kick start digestion.

If you love the taste feel free to add more lemon water to your diet during the rest of the day, cold or hot. It adds up to your daily water need, is less boring than plain water, and adds tons of benefits for body and mind.

NASA observatory detects mysterious cosmic explosion

A mysterious flash of X-rays probably resulting from a "completely new type of cataclysmic event" in space has been discovered by NASA`s Chandra X-ray Observatory, a study says.

While the scientists believe the flash of X-rays, which stemmed from a faint, small galaxy about 10.7 billion light years from Earth, likely comes from some sort of destructive event, they are not sure what caused it.

"We may have observed a completely new type of cataclysmic event," said study co-author Kevin Schawinski, of ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich) in Switzerland. 

"Whatever it is, a lot more observations are needed to work out what we`re seeing," Schawinski added.

The X-ray source, located in a region of the sky known as the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S), has remarkable properties. 

Prior to October 2014, this source was not detected in X-rays, but then it erupted and became at least a factor of 1,000 brighter in a few hours. 

After about a day, the source had faded completely below the sensitivity of Chandra.

Thousands of hours of legacy data from the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes helped determine that the event likely came from a faint, small galaxy about 10.7 billion light years from Earth. 

For a few minutes, the X-ray source produced a thousand times more energy than all the stars in this galaxy, said the study published online in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

"Ever since discovering this source, we`ve been struggling to understand its origin," said Franz Bauer of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. 

"It`s like we have a jigsaw puzzle but we don`t have all of the pieces," Bauer added.

There are three main possibilities to explain the X-ray source, according to scientists.

Two of them invoke gamma-ray burst (GRB) events which are jetted explosions triggered either by the collapse of a massive star or by the merger of a neutron star with another neutron star or a black hole. 

If the jet is pointing towards the Earth, a burst of gamma rays is detected. As the jet expands, it loses energy and produces weaker, more isotropic radiation at X-ray and other wavelengths.

Possible explanations for the CDF-S X-ray source, according to the researchers, are a GRB that is not pointed toward Earth, or a GRB that lies beyond the small galaxy. 

A third possibility is that a medium-sized black hole shredded a white dwarf star.

"None of these ideas fits the data perfectly, but then again, we`ve rarely if ever seen any of the proposed possibilities in actual data, so we don`t understand them well at all," study co-author Ezequiel Treister, also of the Pontifical Catholic University, noted.

April Fool's Day comet set to make closest approach to Earth in more than 100 years

A comet, being called the April Fool`s Day comet, is set to make its closest approach to Earth in more than 100 years, claim NASA officials.

Officially named 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák to honor its three discoverers, the comet is being playfully called the April Fool`s Day comet on this pass, NASA said in a statement. 

On this approach, the comet will pass our planet at a distance of about 13 million miles (0.14 astronomical units), or about 55 times the distance from Earth to the moon

"This is the comet`s closest approach to Earth in more than 50 years and perhaps more than a century," NASA said.

A member of the Jupiter family of comets, 41P makes a trip around the Sun every 5.4 years, coming relatively close to Earth on some of those trips. 

For scientists, 41P`s visit is an opportunity to fill in details about the comet`s composition, coma and nucleus.

"An important aspect of Jupiter-family comets is that fewer of them have been studied, especially in terms of the composition of ices in their nuclei, compared with comets from the Oort cloud," said Michael DiSanti of NASA`s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. 

DiSanti and his team will be observing 41P on April 1 using NASA`s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii.

The comet`s close approach to Earth will also give observers with binoculars or a telescope a special viewing opportunity.

Donald Trump admin says human rights issues to be raised privately

In a departure from the previous government, the Trump administration has said it will raise human rights issues with the countries concerned privately as it is "the most effective way" to deal with it.

"Human rights are always an issue of concern to the United States and they're first and foremost in our discussions," a senior White House official said.

"Our approach is to handle these types of sensitive issues in a private, more discrete way. We believe it's the most effective way to advance those issues to a favourable outcome," the official said yesterday.

The official was responding to a question if human rights would be an issue that could be raised during the visit of the leaders from Egypt and Jordan next week.

The answer from the administration official was general in nature reflecting the policy of the Trump administration.

But this was a departure from the administration of Barack Obama which had on several occasions made human rights the most potent vehicle of America's public diplomacy and at times even publicly mentioned a country to name and shame it.

Under the Obama administration, the US had often expressed concern over rights violations in China. Obama and his two Secretaries of States Hillary Clinton and John Kerry included this in their public remarks every time they met a Chinese leader.

The remarks from the White House come ahead of the first meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida next week.

Under Obama administration India was also targeted on rights situation. Obama had mentioned the issue when he made his second visit to India in January 2015 as the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade that year. 

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