Depressed - Eat More Sweet Peppers

Depression is one of the first symptoms of a Vitamin C deficiency. You can keep up your C level by eating plenty of sweet peppers. Both red and green peppers are loaded with vitamin C. Red pepper have more vitamin C than about anything else you can eat. Your brain needs vitamin C to produce serotonin, a chemical that makes you feel good and help you sleep. Without enough serotonin, you may feel tired and sluggish. Lack of iron can also make you feel the same way, and vitamin C also helps you absorb iron better.

Vitamin C Supplements

If you take vitamin C supplements, it is best to take it in the form of ascorbic acid with added bioflavonoids. Your body can absorb only a limited vitamin C at one time, so take it in small doses like 250 mg at a time twice a day rather than 500 mg once a day.

1,000 mg of supplemental vitamin C is more than enough to optimize health benefits from this vitamin.

Vitamin C of Bell Peppers

One cup of fresh bell peppers supplies even more vitamin C than 1 cup of fresh orange juice. For maximinzing the benefits of vitamin C, eat uncooked peppers, since this vitamin is easily destroyed by heat.

A study in California found that women who consumed large quantities of bell peppers, had the lowest incidence of a type of brain tumor called glioma.

Iron Absorption

Iron uptake from eggs can be improved by eating them with vitamin C-rich foods such as oranges and watercress and avoiding large amounts of calcium at the same meal.

Kidney Stones

Taking vitamin supplements with massive amounts of vitamin C, may cause kidney stones. I stress that your primary source of vitamins and minerals should be a balanced diet instead.

The New Super Berry: Acai

The acai berry is gaining in popularity daily, largerly because world is spreading that it is rich in antioxidants like vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium. It is also a good source of omega-3s, fiber, protein, carbohyrdates, and minerals. But topping the headlines is a report published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry in 2007, which stated that of all fruits and vegetables tested to date, freeze-dried acai, had the highest activity against superoxide in the superoxide scavenging (SOD) assay.

Citrus Bioflavonoids

Oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, yellow grapefruit, papaya, pineapple, and nectarines are rich in vitamin C and citrus bioflavonoids and protect us against free-radical damage.

Citrus bioflavonoids increase intracellular levels of vitamin C, strengthen blood vessels, and maintain the collagen that forms tendons, cartilage, and ligaments.

They prevent allergies and inflammation and have also been used to prevent and treat bruising, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, and spider veins.

Kiwi for Heart Health

Kiwi is low in sodium and calories and high in potassium. Ripe kiwi contains the proteolytic enzyme actinidin, which aids digestion. Ounce for ounce, kiwifruit contains more vitamin C than an orange. It’s also a good source for two of the most important fat-soluble antioxidants: vitamin E and vitamin A. This combination of both water- and fat-soluble antioxidants has been shown to improve cardiovascular health.

In fact, a 2004 University of Oslo study shows that daily consumption of two or three kiwifruit has similar effects as the daily dosage of aspirin some physicians recommend to improve heart health.

Pineapple

Pineapple is a tropical fruit.

Pineapples provide an ample supply of vitamin C too and high in anti-oxidants.

Pineapple contains a mixture of enzymes called bromelain. Bromelain breaks down proteins in flesh.

Pineapple is low in fat and cholesterol and is also a good source of calcium, potassium, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, copper and dietary fiber.

Pineapple is an excellent source of mineral manganese.

Carrots - Gold Mine of Nutrients

Carrot juice is said to be a gold mine of nutrients.

Carrot juice is very high in beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is a pigment substance found in plants that can often form into vitamin A.

(Did you know that if you eat a carrot raw, you only get access to about 1% of the available beta carotene? But, when you or your child has a glass of carrot juice, you your system absorbs almost 100% or the beta carotene!)

Another vitamin contained in carrot juice is vitamin E. This vitamin appears in three forms, commonly known as the vitamin E complex.

Carrots also carry other vitamins such as B, C, D, and K, and minerals like calcium, phosphorous, potassium, sodium, and traces of protein.

Juicing a carrot removes the indigestible fiber. Thus, the nutrients in it are available to the body in much larger quantities than if the carrot was eaten whole. This is because many of the nutrients are trapped in the fibre, and while fibre aids digestion, some part of the fibre is indigestible. Thus, you don't get the benefits of the nutrients that are trapped in the indigestible fibre.

Eating just one small carrot every day may help protect you from cancer.