Guavas keep you hale and hearty
Guava also commonly known as Peru is a tropical fruit that’s subtly acidic sweet in taste that intensifies as you eat your way to the center. Its scientific name is Psidium Guajava.
It is available throughout the year but found scarcely in summer season. Being very resilient, it gives a guaranteed crop even with very little care. It requires little amount of fertilizer, little irrigation and plant protection. It grows well in the backyard of home. Further its nutritive value is very high. Therefore, it is an ideal fruit for the nutritional security. In India, the best quality guavas are produced in Uttar Pradesh, particularly in Allahabad region.
This somewhat round or pear-shaped, light green, yellow, or maroon in color fruit is very tasty, very yummy. It’s appetizing; it has white or maroon flesh and lots of small hard seeds enveloped in very soft, sweet pulp. Eat it raw by sprinkling little salt and chili powder on its pieces. Oh it’s mouthwatering.
The health benefits of guavas are unlimited. This popular fruit is a source of power of nutrients. If the traditional adage says that “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” in Europe and Americas, the phrase is probably changed to “A few guavas in the season keeps the doctor away for the whole year”. Naturopaths advise eating guavas regularly.
Guava is very helpful for those who want to lose weight without compromising their intake of proteins, vitamins and fiber. It is very high in roughage and rich in vitamins, proteins and minerals, but it has no cholesterol and a low number of digestible carbohydrates. It is a very filling snack and satisfies the appetite very easily. In a related benefit to blood pressure mentioned above, an intake of guava can also help those patients who suffer from diabetes. The high level of dietary fiber in guava helps to regulate the absorption of sugar by the body, which decreases the chances of major spikes and drops in insulin and glucose in the body.
Guavas are extremely good sources of vitamin-A, which is well known as a booster for vision health. It can help slow down the appearance of cataracts, macular degeneration, and general health of the eyes. It can not only prevent degradation of eyesight, but even an improvement in eyesight once it has begun to degrade.
One of the most important benefits of guava is – its ability to inhibit the growth and metastasis of cancerous cells. There have been numerous studies done in recent years on guava’s effects primarily on prostrate cancer, breast cancer and oral cancers. Guava leaf oil is extremely successful as an anti-proliferative substance, and has actually been shown to be more effective than some leading modern medicines in reducing cancerous growth. Guavas are also rich in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that has been shown to be wildly successful in reducing prostate cancer risk.
Guavas have the naturally high levels of vitamin C in them, which are four times higher than the levels found in an orange (the traditional vitamin C powerhouse) which boosts the immune system with its antioxidants. These are the major lines of defense against the proliferation of free radicals in the body, which are one of the main causes of serious conditions like cancer and heart disease. Therefore, adding guava to your diet has numerous ways in which it helps you stay health and cancer-free. They are helpful to curb diarrhea, dysentery, constipation, cough, cold, skin care, high blood pressure, and scurvy. It has a good source of copper in it and therefore it helps balancing the thyroids as well. I suggest all of you to eat guavas in raw form to get the maximum benefit of it.
Raita:
Ripened Guava – 2
Ripened Bananas – 2
1 small spoon mustard (mohari) powder
1 small spoon cumin (jeera) powder
Chopped coriander leaves
Pinch of Salt and 2 spoons of sugar for taste
Cut guavas and bananas into small pieces (after removing skin of bananas) add mustard powder, cumin powder, and little salt and 2 spoons of sugar together. Garnish the raita with coriander leaves and delicious raita is ready.
What are you waiting for? Go, get some guavas and enjoy eating them.
