Are Pickles Healthy for You?

Are pickles good for you? Well, it all depends on the method used in making pickles. The following article elaborates on the traditional and modern pickling method and how they influence the nutritional content of the final product.




Did You Know?
Dill pickles are the most frequently consumed pickles in the United States. They are often served along with sandwiches, burgers, and other snacks.

l

Pickles have long been the first choice when it comes to adding a dash of tangy spice to daily meals. They are a terrific flavor enhancer that can certainly make the dish more exciting. However, from a health standpoint, do these pickles have any nutritional value? Does the pickled taste provide more, other than making the meals tastier? The following Buzzle article discusses whether having pickles can be beneficial to your health.

Are Pickles Good for Health?

As aforementioned, it all depends on the pickling method of food preservation. The vegetable cucumber or fruits such as apples, peaches, and pears used in making pickles are no doubt nutritious but the process of pickling determines nutritional content of the final product. They are discussed below:

Natural Fermentation
The traditional method of fermentation used in making pickles is found to preserve the nutrition of the vegetable or the fruit used for pickling. This is because the traditional way of fermenting does not use any heat or canning. Only unrefined sea salt or pickling salt is used for fermenting and brining. This way of naturally fermenting pickles makes them a good source of beneficial bacteria that are known to improve digestion.

So having these pickles in small amounts is an easy way to increase beneficial bacteria in the gut. The good gut bacteria also help enhance immunity as well as play a key role in the synthesis of B and K vitamins. Moreover, heat-sensitive vitamins and minerals are also not lost when pickles are naturally fermented. This is one of the most important benefits of traditionally fermented pickles.

Modern Pickling Methods
The vinegar-based pasteurized pickles, the most common way of pickling, are heat-treated. Although this pickling process increases shelf life, it kills the rich enzymes, beneficial bacteria, as well as vitamins that are heat-labile. The heating process reduces the nutritional value of the final product. So these heat processed pickles have lesser nutrition than the traditional salt-based pickles.

Watch your Portion Size
No doubt traditionally fermented pickles are healthy and flavorful, but certainly, one should avoid excess consumption. The reason is simple; because of their high salt content. Extra addition of salt in pickles is necessary so as to preserve them for a longer duration. So having too much of pickles is like adding too much salt on a regular basis.

For instance, just a spear of dill pickle delivers a whopping 306 mg of sodium, which is 13% of daily dietary intake. So if you have a couple of spears on a daily basis, your sodium intake may well go beyond the prescribed limit (2,300 mg per day). This increased salt intake has been one of the primary factors in the development of high blood pressure (HBP). Too much sodium intake can also cause dehydration and increase the risk of kidney damage, heart attack, and stroke. Keeping these health risks in mind, it is essential that you have pickles in moderation.

Pickle Juice
Drinking pickle juice in small amounts may also provide a few health benefits. Due to its high sodium content, taking the juice may help relieve muscle cramps and hangover symptoms. Quite a few athletes take pickle juice and have reported that it provides much-needed relief from sports-related cramps. Consuming the juice of vinegar-based pickles may also contribute to alleviate heartburn symptoms.

Pickles During Pregnancy

It is commonly observed that women tend to develop a craving for pickles during pregnancy. Although pregnant women consuming these salt-based pickles is not a cause for concern, one has to be careful about the portion size so that excess sodium is not consumed during pregnancy.

On the whole, natural fermentation is the original pickling procedure and the pickles obtained in this manner have been an integral part of healthy meals for quite some time. So avoid pickle products on which vinegar is listed as an ingredient, as they are not a good source of beneficial bacteria.

Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/are-pickles-healthy-for-you.html

Simple Steps to Start Eating Healthy

Eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle is one of the things that many people are ignoring these days as life tends to become too busy with goals, chasing dreams and of course, dealing with day to day stress and challenges. If you are one of those trying to start living a healthy life, read on for some steps to help you start eating healthy as well.

Indeed, eating healthy is one of the biggest steps to help you start living a healthy life. Aside from that, you also need to start an active lifestyle which is also one of the most ignored elements of living healthy as well.

- Assess your daily routine. This will help you assess how much calories you will also need to get you going through your daily activities. To start eating healthy, you need to balanced your diet as well as your metabolism as well. If you are someone who does a lot of physical activities during the day, then you may be someone who needs more calories, but of course, this does not mean that if you are sitting all day in your office table you can already cut down on your food to stay on your ideal weight. One purpose of this is to avoid overeating, which is one of the rules you have to keep in mind to start eating healthy and maintaining a healthy life as well.

Health Foods - Eat Healthy, Stay Healthy

Foods are a source of energy and life. Eating is the most important event in everyone's life. The food which we eat gives us the energy and nutrition. We know much about eating but have a little knowledge on how the foods that we eat everyday affect our health.

Health foods industry is rising high. Though it is a bit expensive, it is better than the usual artificial diet one generally consumes. The detrimental eating patterns has become the major reason for obesity amongst the grown ups and teens as well. Consumption of the calories which are more than required results in weight gain. If this thing is not taken care of, one becomes obese in no time.

Happiness is not only achieved if you are wealthy, have a family got satisfying job or you have a great life. The happiness which is caused as a result of the healthy nutrition cannot be overlooked. The happiness attained by healthy nutrition is essential for a person and it can be made easier for them to achieve the other happiness also. As soon as the diet intake becomes nutritional and healthy, the body becomes active and operates at a higher level. The increased metabolism helps in losing weight and the immune system is also strengthened making the body healthy.

Eat Healthy, Sleep Healthy

Just as eating healthy foods is good for one's body, bad sleeping habits can lead to a toll on your body and overall health, according to Deborah Pedrik, sleep expert and founder of the Family Sleep Institute at Stamford, Conn.

According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), sleep is absolutely necessary to a person's well-being. The problem, however, is that surveys conducted by the NSF between 1999 through 2004 show there are at least 40 million Americans who suffer from more than 70 different sleep disorders. Furthermore, between 50% to 60% of adults report having sleep problems on average about a few nights a week.

Another problem we face in America is that most of these "sleep problems" people have, go undiagnosed and untreated. And over 40% of adults experience daytime sleepiness! Unfortunately, this feeling of falling asleep interfered with usual daily activities, minimally a few days each month