Functional Foods by Kariellen

Hi, my name is Kariellen and I'll write about the functional foods, but what are functional foods?

                 The functional foods are foods that have specific components that provide wellness and health for us. These foods, besides providing health and wellness, they can reduce or minimize the risk of certain diseases such as heart attack and diabetes. 

                Now, I'll show you, three types of foods that you can include in your diet to improve your life and health. But, you can research more and ask me about them in the comments, ok?

Lycopene  

It's a component  in a tomato and processed tomato products, grapefruit, guava, papaya, cherry and watermelon. This component prevents the main types of cancers, like the prostate and breast cancers and prevents the premature aging. However, the lycopene is better absorved from a meal containing some oil or when you take the tomato on the warmth. So, if you love tomatoes, you can eat every day or put a small quantity of  tomatosauce in your dish, if you don't like it, you can eat watermelon, papaya and guava or drink a big cup of grapefruit's juice. 

Calcium

It's a substance present in milk and processed milk as yogurt, all types of cheese and milk drinks, sardines, green leafy vegetables such as spinach, fortified foods and beverages. This component is important to our teeth and bones, and also  reduces the risk of osteoporosis,  but some scientific studies say that calcium helps losing weight, however this argument isn't concluded, yet  . The Brazilian pyramid shows that we should drink milk or eat processed milk products once or twice  a day. For you include this mineral in your diet, you can drink milk, but use skim milk or semi skimmed milk because they have less fat, if you dislike milk, you can make a fruit smoothie and drink for breakfast and supper. 

Omega-3 fatty acids

It's a oil in fish (that live in deep and ice water) such as sardine, salmon, tuna and some oil fish, in walnuts, Brazilian nut, cashew nut, flaxseeds, flaxseeds oil, olive and canola oils. This fatty acid, supports the maintenance of the heart and eye health, mental function and it can also reduce the cholesterol levels and heart attack. For you  to include this oil in your dishes, when you cook you can substitute the common oil for the canola one or put  olive oil in your salad or eat once a day a little portion of walnuts or cashew nut or Brazilian nut for breakfast or after lunch. 

I hope you enjoy it!!!!