Primo Health Blog

A portal for functional health topics and news.

Posts about whole foods (3):

The Health Benefits Of Pastured Eggs

The Health Benefits Of Pastured Eggs

No nutrient rich food I can think of has been given a worse reputation than chicken eggs. Well, maybe raw milk is getting the boot now, but eggs are right there with them. The poor chicken egg has been blamed for high cholesterol, high fat and bacterial poisoning. But this stigma is rightfully and hopefully disappearing while the truth about eggs prevails.

Eggs are a storehouse of nutrients all contained in a built-in protective package. Unless you've chosen a vegan/vegetarian approach to food, I highly recommend incorporating eggs into healthy diet. But not just any eggs, as you will see below, but the highest quality eggs you can find. And let me explain why.

Finding Your Optimal Nutritional Needs

Finding Your Optimal Nutritional Needs

As humans we share many commonalities, starting with our genetic code found tangled up in our DNA. It is common for us to try to prescribe practical measures towards things like health and nutrition that we try to apply to everyone. However, the concept of biochemical individuality has taught us that in spite of our many similarities, each one of use has a uniqueness that deserves a less general approach to our health and well being. We each are biochemically unique and have unique health requirements.

The Health Benefits Of Quinoa

The Health Benefits Of Quinoa

You may be surprised to see an article about quinoa by a grain-free guy like me. But in actuality quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is not a grain but a seed. It is one of the least problem-causing "grains," can be  tolerated by most gluten sensitive individuals and is even accepted by some Paleo eaters (those who stretch the rules). It is a gluten-free grain that is versatile and has many health benefits with its strong nutrition status.

Quinoa is actually the seed of an herbaceous plant related to spinach and Swiss chard. The most popular seeds are a tan or yellow color. But several varieties and colors exist from black, to red, orange purple and pink. It has a rich nutty flavor with a tasty crunch.

Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health, Part 4

Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health, Part 4

This week I've dedicated my blogging to the health practice of juicing vegetables for optimal health. If you've missed Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3 of Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health, I suggest you back up and read those first.

By now I hope you're convinced you want to try juicing and you're pretty comfortable with knowing what you need to make a delicious, nutritious high quality juice. I only have a couple tips left and mostly want to help you with choosing the right equipment. If you've ever shopped for a juicer, I'm sure you know that the options are endless as are the price differences. Hopefully I can make the process of selecting the right juicer a little less daunting. But first I want to discuss something that always comes up when we discuss juicing vegetables.

Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health, Part 3

Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health, Part 3

I hope by now you are realizing the many health benefits of drinking nutritious fresh raw juice. I hope you've either dusted off your old juicer or are considering buying one to boost your nutrition. If you don't have a juicer yet, I will discuss choosing the best juicer in Part 4 of Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health. If you missed Part 2 or Part 1 of the series, please go back and read those first.

Juicing does not cancel out a bad diet. It is important to build a diet around whole foods that are clean (organic), unadulterated (non-GMO) and fresh! Juicing organic vegetables is a way to augment that diet and be able to incorporate even more healthy nutritious disease preventative nutrients found in our rainbow of vegetables. Here I'm presenting a few more tips to make your juicing experience most palatable and beneficial.

Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health, Part 2

Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health, Part 2

I've received a lot of interesting feedback on Part 1 of Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health. Mostly great feedback from people who love to juice as a part of their healthy diet. Then there are some who don't believe that juicing is a natural way to consume vegetables. The way I see it is if I can get people to eat more vegetables by juicing or by "hiding" vegetables in some of their foods (i.e., add spinach to spaghetti sauce), then I've done a great job of encouraging a healthier diet. Here is Part 2 of this series.

In Part 1 of this series I discussed what vegetables are good to start with. As you get accustomed to juicing and drinking liquid that is not sweetened, you can start to incorporate other nutrient dense vegetables.  The following are the vegetables recommended by Dr. Joseph Mercola in progressive order:

Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health, Part 1

Tips For Juicing For Optimal Health, Part 1

One of my favorite things to show my clients is how I juice my vegetables. Juicing is an excellent way to get more of the five to nine recommended servings of vegetables we should have every day. Juicing helps to clear the skin, improves vitality, cleanses the organs and is preventive of cancer and other disease. I highly recommend everyone to incorporate raw juicing into their health promoting diet.

Why Juice?

  • Juicing helps you absorb all of the beneficial nutrients from the vegetables
  • Juicing allows you to consume optimal amounts of vegetables in an efficient manner
  • Juicing allows you to incorporate a larger variety of vegetables than you would normally eat

Drink Vegetable Juice

The Health Benefits Of Guava

The Health Benefits Of Guava

For many years I was confused about the guava fruit. My family always ate foods and sweets made from guayaba, which I always thought was a different fruit from guava. Come to find out that they are the same fruit. Guava is the American take on the name guayaba, which is the Spanish way to say it. However, they are the same fruit.

Part of my confusion is that there are different varieties of guava. Pictured above is the red fleshed variety. But like most fruits and vegetables, there are several varities with their own unique colors, shapes and characteristics. I had become accustomed to the red fleshed guava as it is used in many juice drinks. However, if you taste an actual fruit you will notice it's not as sweet as those juice bottles make us think. But it is a tasty fruit nonetheless.

Tomatoes Nutritional Value And Health Benefits

Tomatoes Nutritional Value And Health Benefits

I just came in from tending to my heirloom tomato plants in my garden. They've grown as tall as me (5ft 6in) and are filling up with their tasty sweet fruit. These tomatoes nutritional value and health benefits are numerous. So before tomato season is heavy upon us, let's discuss these benefits and even potential problems with consuming this fruit.

In the botanical sense, a tomato is considered a fruit. Because the tomato is not as sweet as other fruit, it is most often considered a vegetable. In fact the United States Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that the tomato is officially a vegetable. You say tomato, I say to-mah-tow... it doesn't really matter how you classify it when we are looking at the nutritional value of this roundish bright colored fleshy food. I can't even specify the color or the size because there are so many different varieties of tomatoes with varying colors, shapes and sizes that I would be misleading you. The most common color, of course, is the red tomato.