Nuts about Brazil Nuts

Simple lifestyle changes for optimal health:  One Brazil Nut a Day

I take a brazil nut once a day if I remember -maybe more gingko would helpJ  Why because brazil nuts are loaded with selenium, crucial for proper functioning of the body and excellent for the health of the skin.

Selenium is a trace mineral and antioxidant, and is required for the proper activity of a group of enzymes collectively called glutathione peroxidase. These enzymes each help turn toxic hydrogen peroxide into harmless water.   Of the eight known glutathione peroxidase enzymes, five of them require selenium.   Well, I am don’t completely understand that, but if we did not get rid of the hydrogen peroxide produced from the many reactions that takes place to keep us alive, we would die.  What I better understand is selenium is involved in recycling of vitamin C from its spent form back to its active one, allowing for greater antioxidant protection.  Wow, that is what I am interested in!

The selenium content in foods depends on the concentration of selenium in the soil where the crops were grown, but unfortunately nearly all trace minerals are widely depleted in the soils that grow our food including Selenium.   That's because conventional agriculture extracts these minerals from the soils, year after year, while replenishing none of them.  Besides the brazil nut, other foods are  Besides the Brazil nut which has the highest amount of selenium,  other good sources of selenium: Sunflower Seeds, Fish (tuna, halibut, sardines, flounder, salmon), Poultry (chicken, turkey), Eggs, Mushrooms (button, crimini, shiitake),Grains (wheat germ, barley, brown rice, oats), and onions.

Horsetail

Selenium is very important for healthy skin.  In addition to Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Beta-carotene, Omega 3, Selenium, a strong antioxidant helps protect the skin from sun damage and maintain firmness and elasticity.   Other plant sources of selenium are chickweed and horsetail.  Well right now in the spring, you can go out on most paths and find chickweed growing along the path.  Take a nibble, your body will love it!   Another plant is horsetail.  Besides being high in silica, horsetail is also sooths and tightens tissue.  If you ever get the chance to look at horsetail, look at the various joints-natures signature telling youthat it is good for your joints.  Because of horsetail's excellent support for the skin, I include it in my botanical complex in  my Vitamin A Night Crème-Nutrition from Mother Earth.