Food Facts-Healthiest Foods

4.DATES:- 
         Dates are such an amazing source of nutrients,you can't get anywhere else.Well,most of us love sweets,and if we are going to eat sweets,they might as well come in a package that does minimal harm and actually might do some good.Dates are full of sugar,but also full of NUTRIENTS.


 Dates are not a low calorie food ,nor are they a low sugar good.A single large pitted date has a whopping 66 calories,not bad if you eat just one,which unfortunately,almost nobody does.But the same single date has CALCIUM and MAGNESIUM in an almost perfect ratio 1:1 ratio (15mg to 14 mg, 1 1/2 g of FIBER,and more than  160 mg of heart healthy POTASSIUM.There is even a smidgen of VITAMIN A ,plus a trace amounts of a half dozen other vitamins and minerals.You can't say that about a lot of commercial candy bars!!


Dates come in various states of "dryness".The most common of the "semi dry" dates is the Deglet Noor: Six Deglet Noor dates provide a reasonable 140 calories plus a very respectable 4 g of  fiber,a bit of calcium,magnesium and a really nice 327 mg of potassium.The royalty of dates is the Medjool,which most people regard a the best tasting one.


In a comprehensive study published in the Journal of American college of Nutrition,Dr. Harold Miller and his colleagues analyzed the ANTI OXIDANT content of various foods using a method that scores the foods in units called TEs (Trolox Equivalents),and of the dried fruits ,the winner was... DATES! on the TE score dates beat the nearest competitor RAISINS with a score of 6600 ! (Of the fruits red plums had the highest TE score of 2200.Of the berries, black berries won handily with 5500).


WHO SHOULD AVOID EATING DATES?
                     If you have got blood sugar issues,including metabolic syndrome or diabetes,or if you are trying to loose weight and control sugar,you might want to pass on this one.But if you are an athlete looking for natural healthy food to provide sugar and calories or to help replace glycogen after a work out,dates might have a place in your kitchen.Chopped up and mixed with some higher fat ,low sugar food like organic almonds and other nuts,dates make the perfect trail mix for a long hike.


Source:-Healthiest foods on Earth.