Hippocrates said it well:
"Let Food be Thy Medicine & Thy Medicine be Thy Food"
The food industry knows that we as consumers are more and more aware of our health and worried about consequences of bad choices in our shopping list. That´s why the functional foods started trending a few years ago.
What is a Functional Food?
They are scientifically proven ingredients and foods that help our health. So, i.e: Cholesterol lowering margarine is a functional food, and we are all familiar with Benecol and Pro.Activ
New Year = January Detox (at least for the first week...)
So what can we do to help our body recover from too much salt, alcohol, fat, sugar and too many parties?
Adding certain functional foods to your shopping list could benefit your health during this month.
1-Stanols and Plant Sterols> Spreadable margarines that contain stanols have successfully lowered Total and LDL cholesterol (up to 10%) in blood. This is a good option if you know you have saturated your body with not very healthy fats . Flora Pro.Activ and Benecol are the most popular functional margarines.
2-Prebiotics>They are non digestible food ingredients that promote the growth of particular bacteria in the gut that are
beneficial to intestinal health (for example Lactobacillus sp.,
Bifidobacteria sp. and Lactococcus sp). The most popular ones FOS (Fructooligosacharides). Fruits and vegetables like leeks, chicory, asparagus, bananas, artichokes, garlic, onion, wheat, soybean and oats
3- Probiotics> They are healthy bacterias. Our gut flora is probably altered after consumption of many foods that our body is not accustomed to during the rest of the year. A little help with probiotics such as Live Probiotic Yogurt, Kefir or Sauerkraut will restore good bacteria and improve our immune system.
