Kidney Cleanser - Barley

Good for Diabetics as well as colon cleansing.....


High in fibre, barley is also a kidney cleanser . Better yet, regular intake of it helps prevent heart disease .

BARLEY water was always a regular drink when we were still living at home. Whenever we had to go for a medical exam that included a urine test, my mum would make us drink barley water a day before it to make sure we got a positive result!

My mother was a wise woman. I later found out from an Australian naturopath that barley is known to be a kidney cleanser, and he happily downed glasses of it at a meal we had in a coffeeshop here.

Barley is good for your intestinal health too. Try to eat the barley grains you find in your drink or sweet broth with fu chook (beancurd skin) and ginkgo nuts.

It's high in fibre which feeds the friendly bacteria in the colon and helps speed up the transit of fecal matter in it. In this way it helps prevent haemorrhoids and colon cancer. The propionic acid and beta glucan from barley's insoluble fibre also help lower cholesterol and prevent the formation of gallstones.

Eating barley regularly is a preventive step against heart disease as, besides the fibre content, it is also high in niacin, a B vitamin good for lowering cholesterol.

Diabetics should eat more barley as the fibre will prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. It also provides relief from constipation or diarrhoea for those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Barley is rich in selenium which prevents cancer and relieves symptoms of asthma and arthritis. It is a good source of manganese, copper and phosphorous. Malt sugar comes from sprouted barley which, when fermented, is an ingredient in beer and other alcoholic beverages.

Barley, whose Latin name is Hordeum vulgare, has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years. Since ancient times, barley has been used for healing purposes and has been known to the Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Athletes in Greece and Rome in those days were known to eat barley bread to give them strength.

Besides the usual things we do with barley, I enjoy having it in a western soup. The larger pearl barley is used and I love the sticky bite of it.

Here's a recipe for barley soup:-

Barley soup with roasted garlic
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1 cup pearl barley
5 cloves whole garlic, roasted
2 litres chicken stock, steeped from 1 chicken breasts simmered in 3 litres water
2 tbsps vegetable oil
2 large onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
150g turkey ham, cut up
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsps sea salt or to taste
1 tbsp chopped parsley

Method
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1. Wash barley and soak it in a bowl of water for three hours. Drain.

2. Heat oil in pan & fry onions. Add carrots & celery, then the barley & fry for 3 minutes.

3.. Add chicken stock, pepper & roasted garlic, simmer over low heat for at least 1 hour, or until barley is soft.

4. Add salt to taste and serve the soup garnished with chopped parsley.

Something2share:

Barley with lime is my favourite drink (No ice and no sugar).

Low Cholesterol Levels Increase Cancer Risk

Low Cholesterol Levels Increase Cancer Risk- American College of Cardiology

For years, I've been telling my patients that the medical establishment' s obsession with lowering cholesterol to prevent heart disease is causing more harm than good.

If your doctor continues to get you worried about your high cholesterol levels, here's a bit of news for you...

In fact, your high cholesterol may be protecting you from cancer.

Today, I'll explain the truth behind the myth of cholesterol, and show you how to achieve heart health naturally.

A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology revealed that driving down cholesterol levels actually increases the risk of cancer.

Researchers at the Tufts University School of Medicine found that among people taking "statin" drugs - like Lipitor and Zocor - there was a higher rate of cancer. Although the link between the drugs and cancer wasn't clear, there was no doubt that drastically low cholesterol levels correlated to cancer risk.

The big drug makers continue to sell the notion that the best way to fight heart disease is to lower LDL levels, the so-called "bad" cholesterol.

Yet 75 percent of people who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels.

It makes sense that low cholesterol levels are linked to cancer because cholesterol is one of your body's basic building blocks.. You need it to produce testosterone, to build and repair cell membranes, and to preserve your nerve cells through the formation of the protective "sheaths" that cover them.

Starving your body of this critical substance will lead to other health problems. We already know that extremely low cholesterol levels result in muscle weakness, fatigue, depression, decreased sex drive, and "brain fog."

This new research shows that there may be even more deadly consequences.

What really matters is not low "bad" cholesterol, but high levels of HDL, the so-called "good" cholesterol. As long as you have a high HDL count - 75 to 80, for example - it doesn't matter whether your total cholesterol is 150 or 350. A high HDL will always keep your risk of heart disease extremely low.

So why haven't you heard this already? It may be because there's no drug that effectively raises good cholesterol levels. You can only effectively do it naturally.

Consume natural fats. Avoid processed or fast foods containing "trans" fats - these man-made substances were never meant for consumption, and your body doesn't know what to do with them. They wind up clogging your arteries and putting you on the fast track to heart disease.

Instead, get your fat from free-range or grass-fed animals, eggs, nuts, and unprocessed vegetable oils. These are some of the healthiest foods you can eat.. (As with all foods, look for organic or minimally processed options whenever possible.)

The health benefit of these natural fats comes from their balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Your body needs both but, as with cholesterol, they have to be in balance. Omega-3s are great for your heart. They've been shown to prevent irregular heartbeat, reduce clogging of the arteries, lower blood pressure, and decrease inflammation in body tissues.

If you stick to eating natural fats, you'll automatically get the right ratio of Omega-6 and Omega-3, which is about 2:1. As an added bonus, you'll automatically raise your "good" cholesterol levels and you'll reduce your risk of cancer.