Health Benefits of Pickle Juice

Posted on July 26, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

Pickles seem to be one of those foods that either you absolutely love or you hate with a passion. I personally LOVE pickles. In fact, every time my family and I go to a burger joint, I always get a couple sides of pickles just to eat plain. And, we always have a gallon jar of the giant whole pickles in our fridge as well. Something that I recently learned about pickles is that their juice can actually be pretty healthy for you.

According to registered dietician Matthew Black, pickle juice can benefit our health in two different ways. First, is that certain pickle juice is a good source of gut-healthy probiotics. Certain pickles are made sour by fermentation rather than just being soaked in a vinegar solution. These pickles and the resulting pickle juice are full of gut-healthy bacteria.

The other way that pickle juice can benefit our health is more so for those who engage in sports or other strenuous physical activity. According to Black, pickle juice relieves muscle cramps by inhibiting the firing of alpha motor neurons. Additionally, the high sodium and electrolyte content of pickle juice also helps to alleviate cramping muscles.

Who knew that the juice that these crunchy, sour little cucumbers float in could actually have some health benefits! So next time that you finish a jar of pickles, you might consider saving the juice and drinking a little every now and then!

For more health-related articles, check out the Fill Your Plate blog!

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A Few of the Benefits of Raw Honey

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

We’ve all heard the importance of consuming “raw” foods, or in other words, foods that are completely or mostly unprocessed. Consuming foods in tier raw or natural state means that they maintain most of if not all of their nutritional benefits.  One food that is especially important to consume in its raw state is honey.

Raw honey is honey that has come straight from the honeycomb. Besides being filtered and bottled, there is no processing that raw honey undergoes. According to registered dietician Amber Gorin, this allows the honey to retain most of its naturally occurring probiotics, antioxidants, iron, zinc, and potassium.

Due to its nutrient content, raw honey is:

  • Good for your gut
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Antibacterial
  • A nutritive alternative to table sugar

Another benefit to raw honey is that it is free from any additives such as added sugars, preservatives, and excess water which is added to change the consistency. And, if local raw honey is purchased, it also contains bee pollen, which can help to alleviate seasonal allergies.

While raw honey can be purchased at your local grocery store, there are also many local beekeepers here in Arizona who produce and sell their own raw honey. Check out this page from Fill Your Plate for a list of places you can get local raw honey. Or check out my personal favorite here!

 

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Sugar Intake Impacts Alzheimer’s Risk

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

 

For some people, there is nothing like having something sweet to finish off a meal. For others, they’d rather consume sugary snacks and beverages all day long. And then there’s a minority of people like me who don’t really care for sweet foods at all. Regardless of your sugar preferences, an interesting study recently published in JCI Insight found that our sugar intakes impact our Alzheimer’s risk.

The study found that increased blood sugar levels caused an increase in the amount of beta-amyloid in the brain. This subsequently increased the amount of amyloid plaque in the brain, which is a known contributing factor to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

Besides the higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s,  many other risks exist that come from regularly consuming a diet high in sugar. So, it’s important to monitor how much we are consuming in our daily diets, and to consider areas where we could cut back. Adding more fresh fruits to your diet is a great place to start!

Arizona agriculture grows lots of delicious fruits such as citrus, apples, peaches, apricots, plums, melons, and more! Check them out at your local farmer’s market or grocery store!

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Sweet Corn: A Nutritious Summer Staple!

Posted on July 15, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

No summer is complete without having corn on the cob with at least a few meals. Luckily for us, getting fresh sweet corn is so easy here in Arizona, as we grow lots of it from as early as May to as late as September! Besides being incredibly delicious, corn offers some pretty great nutritional benefits as well!

One cup of sweet corn kernels, which is about the same as one large ear of corn has around 125 calories. It also offers a good amount of fiber, which is an important nutrient that many people don’t get enough of in their diets. Corn also is a good source of potassium which helps to regulate blood pressure. Additionally, it is also a good source of vitamins A and C, thiamine, and certain phytonutrients, and is high in antioxidants.

In addition to those nutritional facts about sweet corn, here are a few other fun facts about this amazing crop:

  • Sweet corn is the 3rd most important crop in the world
  • There is one strand of silk per kernel on an ear of corn
  • The average ear of corn has anywhere from 500 to 1000 kernels
  • There are many family farms here in Arizona that grow lots of sweet corn each year!

Since we grow so much sweet corn here in Arizona, its easy to get your hands on some of this delicious summer staple! For some great recipes that use sweet corn, or for more information on where to find locally grown sweet corn, check out all of the resources available on the Fill Your Plate website!

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Omega-3 Potential Benefit to Those with ALS

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

 

A recent Drink One For Dane Event at Dutch Bros.

For the past two years, I’ve been working at a Dutch Bros coffee shop. One thing that is unique about Dutch Bros aside from its incredibly huge menu is that they frequently do “Give-Back Days” where a certain amount of money from each drink sold goes to a particular charity. The largest Give-Back Day that they do is called Drink One for Dane, in honor of one of the founders who died of the disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), formerly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This neurological disorder affects motor neurons, the nerve cells in the brain, and the spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement and breathing.

On Dutch Bros Give Back Days, all of the money made at every stand within the company is donated to further the research for a cure for ALS.

As mentioned earlier, ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerves and spinal cord, reducing the ability to control muscle movements over time. Patients diagnosed with ALS typically don’t live very long following diagnosis. While a cure still has yet to be found, a recent study found that a greater blood concentration of omega-3 fatty acids was linked to a slower progression of ALS in patients afflicted with the disease. Specifically, of the patients observed, there were fewer deaths and less worsening of symptoms in those who consumed the most omega-3s compared to those who consumed the least.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in foods such as walnuts, flaxseed, fish, pumpkin seeds, and canola oil to name a few. Fish oil supplements are also a good way to get more omega-3s in your body. In addition to the benefits that omega-3s have on ALS, they also benefit our health in many other ways. Check out the following articles from Fill Your Plate to read more!

 

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