A Health Blog

Cinnamon comes from the bark of a small Southeast Asian evergreen tree (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) and is available as an oil, extract, dried powder or sticks. It’s closely related to cassia (C. cassia) and contains many of the same components, but the bark and oils from C. zeyleanicum are thought to have a better flavor.

Cinnamon was used in ancient Egypt for it’s medicinal properties, flavoring, and as an embalming agent. In traditional Chinese herbal medicine cinnamon is one of the oldest remedies, prescribed for everything from diarrhea and chills to influenza and parasitic worms, and is mentioned in one of the earliest books on Chinese botanical medicine.

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written by admin \\ tags: anti fungal, antioxidant, cancer, candida, cassia, cinnamon, diabetes, Nutrition

Oranges are classified into sweet and bitter categories, and popular sweet varieties are Valencia, navel, Jaffa and the hybrid blood orange. The bitter oranges are utilized in jams, marmalades, preserves, and liqueurs such as Cointreau.

Oranges are indigenous to China and the south Asian subcontinent, and were first cultivated in the Middle East around the 9th century, and it was Christopher Columbus who introduced orange seeds to North America in the 16th century.

The word orange comes from an old Sanskrit word nagarunga, which means “fruit beloved by elephants”. Later on, the word became narandj in Arabic, and then naranja via the Moorish conquests in Spain. The first recorded use of the word in the form orange is in a Middle English text from somewhere around 1380.
Today Brazil is the world’s largest producer of oranges, and in the United States oranges are the biggest fruit crop.

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written by admin \\ tags: arthritis, cancer, cholesterol, citrus, fruit, glycemic index, hesperidin, kidney stones, naringenin, navel, Nutrition, oranges, valencia

Grab two dumbbells and sit on a bench. Now put the dumbbells face up towards the ceiling on your upper thighs while keeping your elbows slightly bent. Now move the barbells, not up, but around as if you are drawing an angel in the snow. Bring them behind your head so that they touch each other and return to the original position. This movement is great for getting a pump in the chest.

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written by admin \\ tags: Chest, dumbbell, Exercise, fitness, Isolation, muscle, Pectoralis Major, Upper Body

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have unraveled how a horse tranquilizer and hallucinogenic night club drug known as “Special K” can ease depression, researchers said on Friday.

Ketamine, which can also cause feelings of detachment, could pave the way for new treatments for people suffering from depression, the researchers added.

Their study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found ketamine restores to normal the orbifrontal cortex, an area of the brain located above the eyes that is overactive in depressed people.

The area is believed to be responsible for feelings of guilt, dread, apprehension and physical reactions such as a racing heart, said Bill Deakin, who led the study.

“The study results have given us a completely novel way of treating depression and a new avenue of understanding depression,” said Deakin, a neuroscientist at the University of Manchester.

Depression is a leading cause of suicide and affects about 121 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation.

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written by admin \\ tags: depression, ketamine

There are almost 400 hundred varieties of sweet potato, including what is commonly known in the US as a yam. A true yam is the root of the Dioscorea genus of plants, and the word yam is derived from the African term for the root, nyami.

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written by admin \\ tags: bete carotene, diabetes, glycemic index, Nutrition, sweet potato