3 Juice Recipes To Help You Enjoy Heart-Healthy Pomegranate

The pomegranate is one of the oldest fruits in recorded history. Native to the area of modern-day Iran and Iraq, the pomegranate has been cultivated since ancient times and has spread through the world. The fruit is about the size of an orange, with a rind ranging from yellow-orange to deep reddish-purple. Inside the fruit, there are a multitude of...

The pomegranate is one of the oldest fruits in recorded history. Native to the area of modern-day Iran and Iraq, the pomegranate has been cultivated since ancient times and has spread through the world. The fruit is about the size of an orange, with a rind ranging from yellow-orange to deep reddish-purple. Inside the fruit, there are a multitude of seed pips yielding a tangy, sweet, rich, and flavorful juice.

Lately, there’s been a parade of products featuring this exceptionally healthy fruit, from juices and teas to energy bars and syrups. But many people have no idea how to prepare pomegranate, and are intimidated by all those little seeds. My answer? Juice it.

Health Benefits:

Pomegranate juice (240 mL/day) appears to be particularly useful in improving heart health. It’s remarkably rich in antioxidants, such as soluble polyphenols, tannins, and anthocyanins. Animal research has indicated that components of pomegranate juice can retard atherosclerosis, reduce plaque formation, and improve arterial health. A review of pomegranate research stated that consumption of pomegranate juice may help reduce systolic blood pressure by inhibiting an enzyme (serum angiotensin-converting enzyme) that causes vascular contraction. Pomegranate juice improved the lipid profiles (cholesterol) of people with diabetes. And clinical studies have shown that pomegranate juice also has anticancer properties.

How to Juice Pomegranate:

With all these health benefits, it’s time to get over our fear of this wonderful fruit. Juicing is an easy way to use pomegranates. The first step involves cutting off the crown of the pomegranate. This is the part with the stem at the top. Once the crown is removed, cut the pomegranate into four sections. Place the sections into a bowl of water and, using your fingers, gently roll the pips out from the membrane. Once the seed pips have been separated, drain out the water and you are ready to place them in the juice extractor.

3 Pomegranate Juice Recipes:

Here are three recipes that use pomegranate. Once you get comfortable using pomegranate, you can make up your own juice recipes:

1. Berry Happy:
This juice is super healthy because it combines flavonoid-rich berries with pomegranate.

• 1 cup mixed berries (such as blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries)
• 1/4 cup pomegranate pips
• 1 apple or ripe pear, cut into wedges
• Juice the berries, then the pomegranate pips. Flush through with the apple.

2. Red and Fruity:
This juice is great for finicky kids, and takes advantage of the red pigments in berries, cherries, and pomegranate to cover up the beet taste.

• 1/2 cup strawberries
• 1/2 cup pitted cherries
• 1 beet
• 1/4 cup pomegranate pips
• 1 apple, cut into wedges
• Juice the strawberries and cherries, followed by the beet, pomegranate, and apple.

3. Pommy Blue Juice: 
This refreshing purple juice is as beautiful as it is healthy.

• 1 cup pomegranate pips
• 2 cups blueberries

Juice the fruits all at once and enjoy.

Read More ..... »

7 Powerful Health Benefits of Pomegranate

Health Benefits of Pomegranate

Pomegranate is one of the native fruits form Iran to the Himalayas of northern India that is cultivated over the wide range of climatic conditions, and the fruits of this neat rounded shrub or the small tree, has a tough leathery rind skin, which is typically yellow to bright red or deep pink to rich red.
The interior of the fruit in separated by some white spongy tissue and is divided into compartments by these bitter tissue, that are sweetly sacs covering the seeds embedded into these tissues and are filled with sweet acid, juicy, red, whitish or pink pulp. The seeds could be hard and softer depending on the variety of the fruit.
Talking of the health benefits of pomegranate, the wonder fruit, that has a place in the Holy Book in one of the prominent religions, The Bible for Christianity, is an area of many researchers for finding active ingredients that might be used to treat ailments and increase the pomegranate health benefits.

Disease Fighting Antioxidants

One of the major pomegranate health benefits is the presence of antioxidants that are thrice more than that of green tea and red wine. This makes them stand ahead in front of these drinks and is also much cheaper and is easily available for layman to experience one of most important health benefits of pomegranate. This is because antioxidants are effective in fighting against free radicals and are quite unstable and are high oxidative capable of damaging DNA, that is responsible for aging process and cancer initiation.

Heart Health Benefits of Pomegranate

Pomegranate health benefits is not restricted to the whole body, and this is a news to me also, that the fruit I love and relish the most has one of the most important health benefits of making your heart good and safe.  A study has been reported in National Academy of Sciences that pomegranate health benefits will aid in fighting the hardening of arteries and related diseases like heart attacks and strokes, and therefore, prevents many of the coronary heart diseases. They reduce the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, which causes plaque formation.

Pomegranate to Fight Osteoarthritis

The pomegranate extracts has the ability to fight osteoarthritis, has been found to control the inflammation responses by cutting down the levels of interleukin-1b,    and stops the synthesis of the enzymes that has been identified to reduce and erode cartilage.  They also aid in maintaining the integrity and function of the joints and inflammatory responses.

Pomegranate to Prevent Prostate Cancer

One of the most important pomegranate health benefits for men, for which many of them will be grateful is in reducing the risk of fighting against cancer, by either having surgery done, and has been found to prevent the spread of cancer beyond prostate and lengthen the time for spread, giving time to find the most appropriate treatment. This, in fact in the end can reduce the cancer fighting cells in the initial stages. Thanks, to the antioxidant properties of the fruits!

Daily Nutrient Supplements

One of the important health benefits of pomegranate that makes this fruit to be essential part of the diet for leading normal healthy life is that because they can fulfill most of the daily recommended dietary requirements.
Some of the important nutrient components that can be obtained from this fruit are potassium, vitamin A, B vitamins like niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5) and folic acid (B9). Other vitamins will include vitamin C, vitamin E and iron.  In addition, the seeds contain enough fiber that can help you in pacifying your appetite.
Moreover, as mentioned elsewhere they are rich in antioxidants, of which, the main ones are vitamin C and vitamin E, while some of the other antioxidants are polyphenols, anthocyanins, tannins, punicalagin and ellagic acid all this can prevent the oxidation of the free radicals oxidation.

Breast Cancer and Pregnancy

Pomegranate health benefits has been found to be helpful in preventing the occurrence of breast cancer as in the case of prostate cancer, and here in this case, researchers from Israel have found them to aid in reducing the cancerous cells in the breast region. Meanwhile, these active ingredients in the pomegranate juice extracts leave the healthy cells unharmed and further research is quite promising in aiding to reduce radiation and chemotherapies that can destroy the healthy cells as well.
When a woman has been forced to face trauma, the juice has been found in aiding to keep the baby safe, especially the brain of the newborns.

Pomegranate Reduces High Blood Pressure

High BP has become a common scenario with the fastly moving world, and the best way to keep the blood pressure under control is by drinking a glassful of pomegranate juice, which seems to alleviate the problem of hypertension effectively.
From the above discussion, I believe, the best way to eat this fruit is to eat the fruit as such, that is the consumable juicy sacs containing the seeds, leaving the hardy outer rind and the spongy bitter tissue, while extracts prepared with the seeds are better options.

Read More ..... »