Food Feature Friday #22: Secret Health Foods and a Common Misconception!

In today's society healthy living is a much more frequent component in eateries across the world, along with households united. Between having kids and simply wanting a better feeling throughout our bodies, people are constantly researching the best foods/dishes to provide filling yet healthy meals. Sometimes however, we miss out on some common yet unknown healthy foods that we don't usually add onto our grocery lists for some reason or another. 

After talking to nutritionists and researching unique ways to help organs - inevitably helping your body as a whole - I've found that while spinach and carrots are fantastic, you may be surpassing key components to a complete nutritional cleanse. 

To help better your experience in the health food world, I devised a mini list of ingredients to up the ante when it comes to getting the most bang for your buck!

Tamarind
These are pod-like fruits that you can find in many common grocery stores.You may have heard of "tamarindo", a drink at most Mexican eateries, which is made from this sweet fruit. Something you may not know is that they are excellent for rejuvenating and cleansing the liver. It's been known to help treat your liver and make it "20 years younger". There are reports that it's "cured" fatty livers as well. 

Prickly Pear Cactus
This is also found at many grocery stores (Mexican grocers seem to be your best bet) and is the only fruit to have all 24 known betalains (powerful antioxidants). You can drink it in a smoothie (or a juice), cook it, or even directly apply it to your skin. Obviously applying it to your skin isn't an "eating thing", but many beauty gurus on YouTube have even attested to the amazing properties healing acne scars and replenishing dry skin. One food, many uses. 

These two foods have given me tremendous health benefits that I've physically felt within just a few days of using, including detoxing. They are also easily accessible and way more affordable than the high priced vitamins and cleaning products sold in stores. 

One thing I've also learned during my road to recovery (health wise), is that a very common health food isn't as healthy or beneficial as we've all been led to believe!

Kale
It's no secret that kale has been added to a huge portion of menu items to try and combat the unhealthy eating habits we've [unfortunately] become accustomed to. Something you may not know however, is that kale isn't as amazing as everyone makes it out to be. 

Don't get me wrong, it can provide a bunch of healthy nutrients and vitamins, but too much (of anything really) isn't a good thing. You see, kale is a high fibrous food which doesn't always break down easily for some people. Raw kale is "worse" in this sense, often causing your body to work overtime to break down the kale. 

Like I said, kale is a wonderful green food that [when taken in small quantities] can truly transform your eating habits and give you loads of beneficial properties, but if you feel bloated or weighed down in a sense after eating kale, you may want to slow your roll and rethink adding it in such high quantities. 

The key point should be that every health food can be great for you, but in appropriate portions. Anything in multiple high quantities can give you a negative adverse affect, but adding the two new foods I've provided (again within reason) you should be able to add a few new items to your healthy meals throughout the week. 

Perhaps make a smoothie with cactus one day and tamarinds the next, giving you variety as well! Because let's face it, you don't want to drink one type of drink every day. It gets repetitive and boring.