The Health Benefits Found in Yellow Fruits & Vegetables

Last issue we looked at the red fruits and vegetables and saw the wealth of health benefits they provide; now let’s take a look at the yellows, this color makes its own unique contribution to our on-going health giving us energy, strengthening our bones, controlling our blood pressure, and protecting us against free-radical damage to name just a few.

Yellow Fruits & Vegetables:

Bananas
What are the health benefits? Bananas contribute to heart health, strengthen our bones, helps to control our blood pressure, quiets a cough, and helps to control diarrhea, to name just a few.
Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose - combined with fiber, so it will give an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Bananas have beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and other phytochemicals, as well as vitamins & minerals, vitamin C, B6, folate, potassium, and magnesium. A banana can help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must for our daily diet.
Fresh pineapple
What are the health benefits? Pineapple is a good source of vitamin A & C and contains everything a human needs, even a tiny bit of protein. Vitamin A contributes to healthy skin and hair and is necessary for proper bone growth, tooth development, and reproduction.
Pineapples also contain a protein-splitting enzyme. This substance makes the fruit easy to digest and if you’re a meat eater, sauteed together with meat it makes the meat more tender. Note: If the fruit is cooked like all canned and other processed fruits are, this enzyme is no longer active.
I have a great fruit salad that calls for pineapple, send an e-mail to: JoiLin@Joilin4Health.com if you’d like to have a copy.
Yellow Grapefruit
What are the health benefits? Grapefruit is an excellent source of vitamin C, a vitamin that helps to support the immune system. There are numerous scientific studies indicating that vitamin C is a cold-fighter. Vitamin C also prevents the free radical damage that triggers the inflammatory cascade, and is therefore also associated with reduced severity of inflammatory conditions, such as asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. As free radicals can oxidize cholesterol and lead to plaques that may rupture causing heart attacks or stroke, vitamin C is beneficial to promoting cardiovascular health as well. Owing to the multitude of vitamin C's health benefits, it is not surprising that research has shown that consumption of vegetables and fruits high in this nutrient is associated with a reduced risk of death from all causes including heart disease, stroke and cancer.
Lemons
What are the health benefits? Lemon is recommended by physicians for a number of ailments such as bladder infections, kidney stones, bronchitis, catarrh, constipation, heartburn, hiccups, pyorrhea, sunburns, intestinal worms and dysentery, to name a few. Lemons help in our fight against cancer, they protect our hearts, controls blood pressure, smooths our skin, and stops scurvy, (it’s why sailors of old always took some with them on their voyages). Lemons are an incredible and concentrated source of vitamin C and they also contain healthy helpings of vitamins A, B and P, potassium, magnesium and folic acid. Though lemon is acidic, it is believed that once taken within the body, its effect is alkaline.
Corn
What’s in it and how can it help protect our health?
Corn is a storehouse of carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Corn has within it phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals; vitamin c, thiamine, folate, niacin, phosphorus, potassium, zinc. The thiamine in corn, (a B vitamin), helps to maintain the nervous system, niacin helps to regulate cholesterol; the yellow pigment is a source for carotenoids, (lutein and zeacanthin), and they appear to help fight cancer and heart disease; acting as antioxidants, they protect an area of the eye called the macula, (protection against macular degeneration which is the leading cause of blindness in older adults. Note: very dark green vegetables also provide this protection.
Yellow Onions
What are the health benefits? Wide-ranging claims have been made for the effectiveness of onions against conditions ranging from the common cold to heart disease,diabetes, osteoporosis, and other diseases. They contain chemical compounds believed to have anti-inflammatory, anti cholesterol, anticancer, and antioxidant properties, such as quercetin.
Onions may be especially beneficial for women, who are at increased risk for osteoporosis as they go through menopause, by destroying osteoclasts so that they do not break down bone tissue.
Yellow onions have at least some of the following nutrients: Vitamin C, vitamin B-6, folate, thiamine (vitamin B -1), phosphorus, riboflavin, (vitamin B-2), potassium, calcium, zinc, and niacin, listed in descending order.
Yellow Squash
What are the health benefits? Especially when eaten with other phytonutrient-rich foods squash may help to reduce the symptoms of BPH, (benign prostate hypertrophy), a condition where the prostate gland becomes enlarged.The traditional nutrients provided by summer squash are equally impressive. Summer squash is an excellent source for manganese and vitamin C, as well as magnesium, vitamin A (notably through its concentration of carotenoids, including beta-carotene), fiber, potassium, folate, copper, riboflavin, and phosphorous. Many of these nutrients have been shown in studies to be helpful for the prevention of atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease, reducing risk of heart attack and stroke. The fiber helps prevent colon cancer, the anti-oxidants have anti-inflammatory properties that make them beneficial for conditions like asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. In addition the copper found in this humble squash helps to reduce the painful symptoms of this form of arthritis.
Yellow potatoes
Most of us think of potatoes as being all white, but you can actually find potatoes with different colored flesh (red, orange, yellow, purple, and blue!).
What’s in them? Phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals are available when baked and eaten with the skin on, such as: vitamin C, B6, thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, and calcium.

Next issue we’ll be looking at the orange-yellow group, in the meantime be sure to include something yellow into your diet each day! And remember, living bodies need living food, so eat as many raw fruits and veggies as you can. Those who can’t, don’t or just plain won’t may find that Juice Plus is the perfect whole food supplement to bridge the gap between what they are eating and what they need to eat.
To find out more go to: www.JoiLin4Health.com