CONNECTIONS to HEALTH

Honeymoon Cabbage Salad Seven reasons why cabbage is good for you As you can imagine cabbage is a pretty good weight loss food. It's a green leafy vegetable after all, one of the best kinds of whole food you can eat. And a cup's worth of it contains only 15 calories. Better still, it contains: Phytonutrients, these help protect you from free radicals (cancer causing agents) that can damage your cell walls. Lactic acid, this can help disinfect your colon. Sulforaphane, a substance that stimulates the production of glutathione. This is an antioxidant which can help clean your liver of impurities. Vitamin E, an anti-oxidant that helps your skin stay glowing and healthy. You can even keep wrinkles at bay. Just mix 30 ml of cabbage juice with a teaspoon of honey. Dab this on your face every evening and leave for 20 minutes. Vitamin C many believe that this helps your cells to burn fat. Vitamin A, this is important for your eye health. Also, if you eat red cabbage, you get a dose of anthocyanin, which is responsible for its red colour. This antioxidant helps protect your brain cells. Many scientists now believe it could have a role in the fight against Alzheimer's. Anthocyanins also have potential as 'fat-fighters'. So claims a Japanese study carried out in February 2008. According to the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, these antioxidants in red cabbage could help tackle metabolic syndrome (MetS). This can cause obesity, hypertension, insulin problems. How to get your cabbage - the easy way, or the TASTY easy way The quickest way to get the benefits of cabbage is to drink 25-50 ml of fresh, raw cabbage juice each day. During the early 1950s, Dr Garnett Cheney found that peptic ulcer patients who drank 4 glasses of raw cabbage juice daily quickened the healing process and relieved the pain. A juicer and a cabbage is all you need. It's pretty simple. However, I like to find ways that you can enjoy really GENUINELY tasty meals and STILL get all the benefits of something like cabbage. After all, good health is about enjoyment and adventure, not just chucking down medicine! Introducing the health boosting 'Honeymoon Cabbage Salad' A reader writes: "My Mum and Dad got married in 1954 in Johannesburg South Africa. They spent their honeymoon at a tiny country hotel called the Sleepy Hollow where they were served the most amazing cabbage salad. They persuaded the chef to part with the recipe and to this day I have not come across this particular combination. It is delicious! And that comes from someone who is not that keen on cabbage. Even more unusual is that children like it too!! I have dubbed it: 'HONEYMOON CABBAGE SALAD'" Here's our reader's recipe: Half a head of cabbage (+-1k) - very finely shredded 1 1/2 cups (+-300g) celery leaves - finely chopped 1/2 large onion or one small onion (+-80g) - very finely chopped (Part of the secret is shredding all the vege very finely. The results are well worth the effort.) Place this into large bowl. Next prepare the dressing: 50ml good quality vinegar 200ml sunflower oil (you can use olive oil but it does change the taste a little) 15ml (1 tablespoon) fine white sugar 10ml fine white salt (more or less to taste if desired) 5ml fine white pepper this is also part of the integral taste of the salad: using ground black pepper alters the taste try it another time as a variation! 2 1/2 ml mustard powder Combine all the dressing ingredients in a 500ml bottle with a tightly fitting lid. Vigorously shake the bottle until mixture is completely blended and has the consistency of warm honey. Pour this over the cabbage salad. Toss and allow the mixture to stand for at least 10 minutes in the fridge. Now serve and eat! Why this could also help relieve insomnia and stress What I like about this recipe is that it also contains celery leaves. Celery can help suppress your appetite, helping you slim. It also has a calming effect on the central nervous system. Some early studies on animals link celery to low blood pressure. This is because it contains 'pthalides', compounds which can help relax your artery muscles. These compounds also reduce your levels of stress hormone, which help keep your blood vessels relaxed and open. And it's the leaves that have the highest concentration of the good stuff, so the Honeymoon Cabbage Salad is a perfect way to eat your leaves! How to protect yourself against gastric ulcers While I'm talking about cabbage, you may be interested in this - a specific type of cabbage that could do wonders for your insides. The Coallis Lombarda cabbage contains high doses of a powerful vitamin called S-Methylmethionine. This is one of nature's strongest weapons against gastric and intestinal disorders. Dr. GarnettCheney, professor of medicine at Stanford Medical School, published a report about the use of S-Methylmethionine in the treatment of gastric ulcer. Of 65 cases reported, 62 were cured at the end of three weeks. No wonder this small, red cabbage has been a natural medicine since times of the Mayan civilization. It's hard to find this cabbage, but don't worry. Ordinary raw cabbage also some S-Methylmethionine. So my advice is to try out the Honeymoon Cabbage Salad or juice some cabbage and see how it could improve your stomach health.

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