7 of the Worst Fruits and Vegetables You Can Eat

Most people don’t need much convincing in the way of the many health benefits of produce. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, you know a wide array of goods are delivered more times than not. But few things in life can be 100% perfect, 100% of the time, and fruits and veggies are no different. While upping your intake of fresh, whole foods is certainly recommended, there are a few you may want to steer clear of, or at least not overindulge in too often. While we’re not recommending you cross these seven fruits and veggies off your grocery list, we’re simply suggesting keeping an eye out for times you’re tempted to finish an entire bowl.

1. Pineapple 

The relaxing sounds of Hawaiian music begin to lull in the back of your mind every time you take a bite of this sweet, succulent fruit. The sweetness can be chalked up to its sugar content — one cup of solid chunks contains 16.2 grams of sugar. Available year-round, pineapples can be tough to stay away from (pineapple pizza, anyone?). Thankfully, they’re only ripest during a few months a year. Phew. After all, there’s a reason pineapple upside-down cake is a thing.

2. Cherries 

Cherries might be the perfect accompaniment to your cocktail, but we recommend you don’t eat too many. While a bag of cherries definitely makes for a great midday snack, just keep in mind that their addicting nature exists for good reason. In just one cup of cherries with pits, you’re getting 17 grams of sugar.

3. Pomegranate 

Figuring out the best way to crack open a pomegranate is hard enough, so once you’re in there, it’s likely you’ll want to fully enjoy the fruits of your labor (pun very much intended). But did you know that a whole pomegranate has 39 grams of sugar? This is why it’s sometimes better to retrieve the seeds and eat them as is, or as a topping in your yogurt.

4. Mango

  

A common ingredient in smoothies, sushi rolls, and guacamole (and pretty much anything else you’d want to eat), this juicy fruit sure is tough to stay away from. Mangoes are full of sweet, sweet goodness, so it’s no surprise one cup of sliced mango has 23 grams of sugar, making them the perfect addition to most tasty things in life.

5. Potato

  

You guessed it — potatoes are probably the most cautioned of all veggies. While they’re an absolute necessity (in any form) on Thanksgiving, the starchy vegetable isn’t exactly the most revered when it comes to your choice of a healthy side. The main deterrent is the 36 grams of carbs that are packed into one potato. So, eat these starchy veggies in moderation.

6. Winter squash 

Winter squash, which includes butternut, acorn, and spaghetti, comes with its fair share of health benefits, but in the grand scheme of the vegetable world, it might not top the charts. Averaging around 21 grams of carbs per cup of winter squash, the entire veggie packs a seriously carb-heavy punch.

7. Jicama 

A farmer’s market favorite, jicama is a sometimes undiscovered root vegetable. But in the overall scheme of things, it’s also one that ranks high in the carbohydrate department: One cup of slices has 10.6 grams of carbs. Its crunch is alluring, and its juicy consistency is similar to that of a savory apple. It’s yummy, but also worth noting it’s not the best veggie to go overboard on if you’re counting carbs.

8 Health Benefits and Uses for Garlic

Garlic lovers already know how good this food tastes, but they might not know just how amazing it is for their health. Here are some of my favorite health benefits and uses for garlic.

ANTI-VIRAL AID

According to James Duke, PhD, botanist and author of The Green Pharmacy, several compounds found in garlic, including allicin, have antiviral activity against colds and flu.

SYSTEMIC INFECTION SOLUTION

Countless studies over the last few decades have demonstrated the antibacterial activity of garlic against both gram positive and gram negative strains of bacteria. New research in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology found that garlic is one of the most potent antibacterial herbs. Of the 83 herbs tested, compounds in garlic and juniper showed the highest antibacterial action, including against drug-resistant infections like S. aureus and E. coli. S. Aureus (the bacteria that is involved in MRSA infections) can cause systemic infections of the blood, heart, spinal cord or bones. 

ULCER AID

Garlic is such a superb antibacterial agent, it is of little surprise that more and more research links it to destroying infections that even antibiotics cannot address. Recent research in the Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine found that raw garlic showed potency against H. pylori—the antibiotic-resistant bacteria linked to conditions like stomach ulcers.

URINARY TRACT INFECTION ALLEVIATOR

Anyone who has ever had a urinary tract infection knows how difficult they can be to treat. The Journal of Parasitic Diseases concluded that garlic was effective against bacteria linked to urinary tract infections, even when antibiotics failed.

TUBERCULOSIS TAMER

Research in the International Journal of Mycobacteriology found that garlic was one of fifteen plants that showed effectiveness against tuberculosis.

CANCER FIGHTER

Allicin is not only a natural antibiotic, it is also an antioxidant that helps to prevent the cell damage that can be a precursor of cancer. Researchers have concluded that garlic has the ability to inhibit different types of tumors and lower the risks of esophageal, stomach and prostate cancer. Research has also shown that allicin can not only slow the proliferation of human gastric cancer cells, but also cause cancer cell death.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART DISEASE REMEDY

Many studies have demonstrated garlic’s heart-healing ability over the last few decades. A recent study similarly concluded that garlic can help reduce high blood pressure and the risk for heart disease. The researchers also found that garlic supplements did not interfere with medications used to treat these conditions. Other research found that garlic significantly reduced triglycerides, high levels of which are linked to heart disease.

DIABETES AID

Exciting new research in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research found that aged garlic extract was effective at reducing some markers for diabetes and may offer hope in the treatment of diabetes.

Using Garlic

There are very few savory dishes that don’t benefit from the addition of garlic. You can add it to soups, stews, stir-fries, curries, sauces and pastas.

• 5 Recipes for Garlic Lovers
• 16 Creative Ways to Use Garlic
• Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup
• Lemon Garlic Quinoa with White Beans
• Garlic, Cilantro and Bread Soup

When supplementing with garlic, follow package directions as there is a large variation in dosages and active ingredients between products.

The Healthy Fat You Should Eat Daily. It fights cancer and diabetes

The deeper one looks into nutrition, the more complex it becomes.  Balancing the numerous priorities we are told we should have, such as eating foods that are high in antioxidant levels, they need to have the right fats in the right amounts, they need to provide us with energy but also help us recover from workouts, etc.  It is very hard to pinpoint the right foods to cover all these bases, however, there are a couple of basic principles you should ask yourself in order to determine if a particular food should be consumed; does it have a TV commercial and/or would my great-great grandmother recognize it? 

 

If the answer to either of these questions is yes, stay away!  If you apply this test to Lard, it passes!  But haven’t we all heard it’s bad?  The name itself sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen.  Why?  It’s a interesting story.  In the early 1900’s the major U.S. company Procter & Gamble was in the business of growing cotton… it was very profitable for them.  However, there was a bothersome by-product, cottonseed.  Procter & Gamble made the smart business decision to investigate if they could do anything with cottonseed to turn this by-product into a revenue stream.  They found that after intense processing they could extract an oil from the seed (it easily turned rancid and was a very unstable fat)… so they hydrogenated it and found that it now had a long shelf life and when it cooled it looked and acted like lard.  They decided to call it Crisco.  Unfortunately, Crisco is not lard but got lumped into it an became synonymous (very undeserved). 

Lard is simply pig fat taken from any area of the pig that has a high concentration of fatty tissue.  Lard (in its natural form) has no trans fats, is high (50%) in mono-saturated fat and contains (40%) saturated fat.  Saturated fat was once the enemy of nutritionists, however, more recent study’s have turned that on its head with modern research pointing out that saturated fat (when combined with a low carb and sugar diet) can raise HDL cholesterol.  If cholesterol is still a concern of yours, the amount of cholesterol in lard should be put into perspective; lard contains about one third the amount of cholesterol as butter.  You would need to consume a whole cup of lard to equal the cholesterol from just one egg.

  

The below chart compares the level of Saturated fat, Mono-saturated fat and poly-saturated fat in Olive oil, Lard, Butter and Coconut oil.  You will notice that two of the most fashionable oils right now in nutrition are polar opposites. Olive oil is almost all saturated fat with almost no mono-saturated fat.  Conversely, Coconut oil is almost all mono-saturated fat with almost no saturated fat.  Lard is the only one to offer both of these healthy fats in moderation.

  

One of the biggest benefits of lard verses other oils is its high smoke point, creating lower levels of aldehydes (which are a concentration of chemicals that are produced when oil is heated up an starts to break down).  This high smoke point results in less free-radicals being consumed into our body.  Lard is also a good source of vitamin D, which about 42% of U.S. adults are deficient in.

One important thing to remember is how to identify real lard from the imitations: Lard that is solid a room temperature and/or does not need to be refrigerated DOES have trans fat and does NOT have vitamin D.

Most farmers who raise pigs can help you get lard, but if you don’t happen to live next to pig farm, lard is easy to make!  Ask your butcher for some back fat, leaf lard or simply use any pork bacon or pork belly, cut off the fat and render it by cooking it slow over the stove (very low temperature) or in a 250 degree oven for about 6-7 hours.  Strain and chill.  You now have lard!

US carrier Carl Vinson stages war drills with South Korean Navy

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier on Saturday started a joint naval drill with the South Korean Navy in the East Sea amid heightened tensions from North Korea`s failed ballistic missile launch earlier in the morning, defence officials here said.

"South Korea and US strike forces began a drill in the East Sea from 6 p.m. today against the backdrop of the current security situation," the South Korean Navy said.

No specific schedule for the rendezvous was released to the media yet, but the exercise is expected to continue until sometime next week, Yonhap news agency reported.

At the core of the naval exercise lies the missile warning informational link exercise (LINKEX) that monitors, traces and intercepts any intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) from North Korea.

"The exercise is the follow-up of the naval exercise in the Yellow Sea between the two navies on Tuesday. It is aimed at deterring North Korea`s provocations and strengthening the military readiness of the Korea-US alliance," the Navy said.

It would mark the Vinson`s second operation in South Korean waters in less than two months, an unusual move that comes amid military tensions in Korea.

The nuclear-powered flattop reportedly carries almost 100 aircraft. Its strike group also includes guided-missile destroyers and cruisers.

Earlier this week, the Vinson had joint drills with Japan`s naval forces.

North Korea is said to be fearing the powerful US strike group but its state media publicly claimed the Communist nation`s troops are ready to sink the aircraft carrier with a single strike.

Antarctica's 'Blood-falls': Scientists finally decode more than century-old mystery!

One of the oldest mysteries that has kept scientists completely baffled is more than a century old – the Antarctica's famous 'blood-falls'.

The blood-red waterfall was first discovered by an Australian geologist who theorized that it was made up of red algae.

In 2003, this theory was overlapped with one that believed that the water was coloured red by oxidized iron and perhaps the last remnants of a five million year old salt water lake.

Now, however, a new study carried out by the University of Alaska and Colorado College has questioned any previous theories made on the blood-falls, arguing that the water flows from a large lake of salty water that has been trapped under ice for one million years.

According to The Sun, scientists were able to track the path of the water under the glacier using echolocation technology.

As per the Fox News, much like the echolocation used by bats, the technique the scientists used to send and receive electrical signals in "grid-like patterns" through the glacier's ice led them to a find previously thought impossible: flowing liquid water existing in a frozen glacier.

‘We moved the antennae around the glacier in grid-like patterns so that we could ‘see’ what was underneath us inside the ice, kind of like a bat uses echolocation to ‘see’ things around it,’ co-author Christina Carr wrote.

While confirming that the glacier has its own water system, the researchers were nonplussed to find that the lake hadn't frozen despite being enveloped in a layer of ice for so long.

As water releases heat when it freezes the surrounding water continued to flow.

The discovery now opens the doors to "understanding the role of liquid water—salty or fresh—in other extremely cold glaciers or permafrost environments," co-author Jessica Badgeley adds, per a Colorado College press release, Fox News reported.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet captures the rising moon in all its stunning glory from the ISS! - See pic

 French astronaut Thomas Pesquet totally needs to take up photography as a side business. The photographs adorning his Twitter feed are all no less than stunning and we can't wait for more!

Although, the view that presents itself to him everyday is worth capturing, so we can't really blame him for getting tempted. We love the images, anyway.

In his first stint in space as a part of Expedition 51, Pesquet has been enjoying his role as a flight engineer for the International Space Station (ISS).

His excitement is pretty much credible as much as it is palpable to be gliding 250 kilometres above the Earth and that comes forth through the lens of his camera.

Even though, all the images he has shared till now have been absolutely mesmerising, his latest post is truly one of a kind and no, this time it is not the Earth.

Because, according to Pesquet, sometimes you need to 'look away from the Earth' to admire the beauty that is the universe.

Thomas Pesquet has captured the rising moon in all its glory and the end result is incredibly stunning!

He wrote: “The moon rising! Sometimes I look away from earth to admire the beauties space has to offer.”

Donald Trump says he's avoided New York City because it's expensive for US

President Donald Trump says he hasn't returned to his New York City home because "going back is very expensive for the country."

Trump tells Fox News in an interview Friday that he feels "guilty" when he returns to Trump Tower because authorities close surrounding streets and "I hate to see the New Yorkers with streets closed."

He says he goes to his clubs instead because they have "hundreds of acres" and streets stay open.

But Trump says he's always accused of "having fun" or playing golf at his clubs; he says he's always working.

The White House rarely acknowledges when Trump plays golf. 

Photos on social media sites are often the only clue that Trump has hit the links.

Trump is scheduled to visit New York City on Thursday.