The Extraordinary Powers of Papaya

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Thursday December 9, 2010
In This Issue: The Extraordinary Powers of Papaya 90% of All Heart Attacks Can Be Avoided The Magic Number for Weight Loss Say Good-bye to Dieting for Good! Featured Recipe: Greek Spinach, Egg, and Lemon Soup The Extraordinary Powers of Papaya "It's like butter." That's how many people describe the consistency of papaya, a tropical fruit that is world renowned for it's medicinal properties. Christopher Columbus called this wonder fruit, "the fruit of the angels." If you haven't yet discovered the luxurious taste of papaya, it's time to get adventurous! This exotic fruit has a ton of health and beauty benefits, and is available year round in most grocery stores. Papaya are usually pear-shaped, but they are the size of a large melon, often 8 to 20 inches long. While the rind is often green or pale yellow, the flesh inside is typically a rich orange color. Like a cantaloupe, you usually slice a papaya in half, scoop out the seeds and fiber from the middle, and eat the flesh. It can be eaten unripe or ripe, and the taste and consistency differ from firm and slightly bitter (great when sliced into savory salads) to tender and succulently sweet (great all on it's own). One of papaya's most celebrated nutrients is papain, an enzyme that helps digest proteins. It's commonly used as a digestive aid in both its fruit form, and in capsules sold over the counter. The next time you have indigestion, reach for a few cubes of papaya instead of over-the-counter antacids. More relevant to people with diabetes is the extraordinarily high antioxidant levels in papaya. This fruit is particularly rich in vitamins E and C and carotenoids (nutrients most abundantly found in yellow and orange produce). These antioxidants neutralize unstable, cell-damaging molecules called free radicals. Research suggest that people with diabetes have more free radicals than people without the disease. Free radicals may play a role both in causing diabetes and in exacerbating its long-term effects, such as clogged arteries and blood vessel and nerve damage. Want specifics? In a Finnish study of more than 4,300 nondiabetic men and women whom researchers followed for 23 years, those who ate the most carotenoids found in papaya and similar fruit cut their risk of getting diabetes by 42 percent. There's more. Papaya is chock full of fiber and folate. This combination actually binds to cancer-causing toxins in the colon, separating them from the healthy colon cells, and lowering your risk of colon cancer. Now that's a super fruit! Papaya has a medium to high glycemic index, because it contains a fair amount natural sugars. However, its glycemic load, a more holistic measure of a food's impact on blood sugar, is low, because of its high water and fiber content. Nonetheless, keep your portion sizes sensible—about one cup per serving. SPECIAL OFFER 90% of All Heart Attacks Can Be Avoided A renowned heart specialist reveals his special treatment that scours out arteries and reduces the risk of heart attack in one week without medicine.  In fact, some of his ideas are so powerful; they actually improve your heart health in 24 hours.  His phenomenal ideas show you pain relievers that can harm your heart... how to cut your cholesterol by 30% and how low-carb diets may be clogging your arteries.  Get the full story... The Magic Number for Weight Loss It's a statistic that should be locked and secure in your brain: One pound equals 3,500 calories. So to lose a pound, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you consume. Your body naturally burns lots of calories (roughly 1,500 to 2,500 per day, depending on your size and activity level). There are calculators that will help determine that number for you, but if your weight is stable, then you know that what you typically eat in a day is roughly what you need to function. So, as you attempt to lose weight, think of it as saving up uneaten calories. For example, having a glass of seltzer rather than a sugary soda saves you about 200 calories. Having a chicken sandwich rather than a large cheeseburger can save you 400 calories or more calories. A cup of black coffee saves you as much as 400 calories when compared to a frothy, fatty cappuccino. Get to 3,500 calories saved, and you've just trimmed a pound! The best ways to save calories? Here are several that could save you at least 100 calories each time you do them: • Substitute lean meats for fatty ones. That means no salami or processed meats on your sandwich, but just sliced turkey, ham, or roast beef; and choose lean chicken over fatty steaks at dinner. • Skip fried foods, and go instead for baked or broiled versions. Fried foods absorb an enormous amount of oil, which can double the calorie counts of some foods. • Have fruit for dessert, rather than cake or other baked treats. • Evolve to the point where you don't drink any calories in a day. That means just water, tea, coffee, or no-calorie soft drinks. • Eat foods that are packed with water, like fruits and vegetables. The greater the water density, the fewer the calories. For example: An entire cucumber is under 50 calories; a single chocolate truffle is more than 100 calories.     SPECIAL OFFER Say Good-bye to Dieting for Good! Anyone who's ever tried following a strict diet knows: they just don't work. And, it's not surprising either. Most diets want you to do too much, too quickly, for reasons that are too complicated to explain. The GOOD NEWS – according to the country's leading doctors, nutritionists and weight loss authorities – is that you can now say good-bye to dieting for good! You don't have to follow strict food regimens, do crazy workout routines, pop pills or ditch the foods you love. Instead, all it takes is for you to stick to a set of tried-and-tested weight loss skills. Weight loss tricks you can easily match with your lifestyle, personality and eating preferences. What's more, the research shows that you can enjoy mastering all the necessary skills in just 12 short weeks. Lose weight and keep it off – without dieting – by reading more here. Greek Spinach, Egg, and Lemon Soup This Greek-style "cream of spinach" soup has no cream—and hardly any fat, but the flavors are rich and warm, and will take you away to the Mediterranean. Ingredients 3 scallions, thinly sliced 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 cups reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach 1/2 teaspoon oregano 1 cup cooked brown rice 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 large egg plus 2 egg whites Serves 4 Preparation 1    Combine the scallions, the garlic, and 1/4 cup of the broth in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until scallions are tender, about 2 minutes. 2    Add the spinach, oregano, and remaining 2 3/4 cups of broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until spinach is tender, about 5 minutes. 3    Stir in rice, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt, and return to a simmer. Remove 1/2 cup of the liquid, and whisk into the egg and egg whites in a medium bowl. Whisking constantly, add the egg mixture back into the soup.  Per serving: 115 cal, 2 g fat (1 g sat), 17 g carbs, 8 g protein, 3 g fiber, 53 mg chol, 728 mg sodium Until next issue, here's to good health! Neil Wertheimer Editor in Chief, Reverse Diabetes In the Next Issue: Can Optimism Lower Blood Sugar? "How Could Your Blood Sugar Drop 25% After All That Pizza and Pasta?" 3 Reasons to Eat Wheat Berries "Why Are You Rubbing CHOCOLATE on Your Face?" Featured Recipe: Homemade Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream
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