Well we got back to the healthy food kick in the last post here that was entitled: Healthy Eating Part 2, where we looked at the incredible health giving properties of broccoli. Now I’ll continue this series by taking another top health giving vegetable and give you the lowdown on… Onions.

Onions are well known for their blood cleansing properties. They have been used for centuries to liven up what would otherwise be bland tasting food with their strong flavor. From the top chefs to family cooks of Italy, France, Greece and Spain as well as many countries in the Far East they have been used as the base for countless popular and tasty dishes. They have also had a hand in the renowned longevity of people with Mediterranean diets and those who eat generally health giving diets which makes them a must have ingredient in your cooking.

Scientists have recently discovered many more health giving properties of onions.

One of these is their ability to give our brains a real boost by enabling them to fight off debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

These diseases exist because toxins enter the bloodstream from many sources, such as car exhaust fumes, tobacco smoke as well as industrial pollution. These toxins find their way to the brain where they can cause much damage to the sensitive tissue. This in turn can cause problems related to cognitive functions.

Onions have sulfur compounds which actually “cleanse” the brain of these damaging toxins by binding with them, then clearing them away via a process that is known as chelation. This cleaning process has also been found to have the potential to prevent memory impairment.

The down-side is that these delicate compounds are destroyed by high temperature cooking. That includes frying – one of the most common methods of preparing cooked onions in so many dishes. To obtain the full health giving benefits of onion’s properties, they should be eaten raw.

Which is good news for lovers of salads – just add extra sliced or chopped raw onion to add zest and flavor to any salad and enjoy a healthy life!

I’ll be looking at more healthy foods in future posts here as there are plenty to choose from, so don’t be a stranger…

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