IslamoSophia - Food and Health

Bulgur  (also  bulghur ,  burghul  or  bulgar ) is a cereal food made from the groats of several different wheat species, most often from durum Wheat. It is most common in European, Middle Eastern and South Asian cuisine. The word  bulgur  is of Turkish origin. (From Wikipedia) Burghul, is made by parboiling the wheat, drying it, then coarsely grinding it. At that point, the outer layers of the bran are removed — traditionally by hand — after which, the grains are cracked. It is generally available in three textures, fine, medium and coarse, and you can sometimes find organic burghul. After cracking, it is ready for steaming or boiling. The distinctive nutty taste, is the result of the inner layers of bran that are retained.  ochef . Energy: 2003 kJ (479 kcal) Dietary fiber: 25.6 g Protein: 17.21 g Carbohydrate: 69 g whereof 0.8 g sugars Fat: 1.86 g whereof 0.2 g saturated fat Potassium: 574 mg Iron...

In an effort to analyze the foods that we are recommended to build our health on, I have decided to post a series of posts on the nutritional information on various grains with recipes to get you started on increasing the amount of grains in your diet (and my own) and to eventually make whole grains the heart and foundation of our diet. Following this I will be analyzing the benefits of the individual vitamins and minerals on our health. Complete information will help us to build a healthy menu and lifestyle or to put it another way: to build a menu based on nutrition rather than on the recipes we are used to preparing hoping that somewhere in there is everything our body needs. In addition, I will also be posting on individual areas of our health and body, cross-referencing the foods that help that area of health or perhaps health issue. Check out the link to the " Food for hair " link and see how important grains are for the shine, thickness and length of yo...

I was going to post about the date today, but found there was so much information from Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him and his family) on how to combine the date with other foods in order to maintain the balance of the body and then with the differences between the dry, and fresh and unripe dates, I decided to post on what I found on the olive since it is significantly less complicated of a fruit and therefore there was less consideration  that was required in eating them.  I also felt that you would all be happy with some of this information and so here it is for today. I found this information in a book on the "Natural healing with the medicine of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). The author is Mohammad Al-Akill. There are relatively few (I've only found two) books compiled on the traditions on the prophet or the Imams on the subject of natural healing that have been translated or written in English, the rest have to be searched for within the books...

What is Ayurveda?  Ayurveda is a Sanskrit term, made up of the words " ayus " and " veda ." " Ayus " means life and " Veda " means knowledge or science. The term " ayurveda " thus means 'the knowledge of life' or 'the science of life'. According to the ancient Ayurvedic scholar Charaka, "ayu" comprises the mind, body, senses and the  soul. Ayurveda is a the oldest form of healthcare in the world originating in India thousands of years ago.   The fundamentals of Ayurveda can be found in Hindu scriptures called the  Vedas  — the ancient Indian books of wisdom. The  Rig Veda , which was written over 6,000 years ago, contains a series of prescriptions that can help humans to regain their balance and achieve health. The philosophy of Ayurveda states that everything that exists in the universe appears internally in human form.   In other words, a human being is a living microcosm of the universe and the un...

Therin is fruit and date-palms, producing spathes (enclosing dates) Ch. Rahman verse 11. Peace, I went back to the Holy Quran and continued researching the pages of Surah Yasin (chapter 36) I came across the very next verse refers where Allah guides in our nutrition after verse 33 which if you remember was guiding us in the very first step of nutrition.  The grain as the staple in our diet.  I reached the following verse. 36:34 "And We make therein gardens of palms and grapevines, and We make springs to flow forth in it" Holy Quran I started looking for all the verses in the Quran that referred to the date palm and found the following: Surah Rahman 55:11 Therein is fruit and date-palms producing spathes (enclosed dates); Ch 18:18 Surah Kahf (The cave) Set forth to them the parable of 2 men for one of them We provided two gardens of grape-vines and surrounded them with date-palms; in between the two We placed corn fields Ch 2 Surah Baqara (The cow) ...

I decided that a good place to begin in researching the heart of our diet was from the heart of the Holy Quran - Surah Yasin.  I found the following verse. "And a sign for them is the dead earth, we bring forth from it the grain so that they eat of it." Surah 36:33 So just Like Allah created everything from the earth we too must go back to the most simplest elements in order to build our selves.  I went back to the beginning and started to re-educate myself on grains. These are things we all know but obviously have not properly understood otherwise we would be implementing them in our diets to a greater extent.  Knowledge does not lead to action unless understanding has been achieved. So For now let me list some grains to get us back to the basics in our diet building. Oh and I know beans is not grains but they are seeds that contains proteins and the feel good vitamin B6 just like grains. At this point I was already v...

Everything in life begins with purification.  In the same way when we discover health concerns in our body we must like wise begin with going back to make sure the digestive system is running well and the blood is clean.  I always look like the blood as the oil of the car.  You would never go running your car indefinately without those periodic oil changes, but we don't think twice about our blood?  There are some very simple ways that we can make sure that our blood stays clean and healthy and the best part of it is they are really so common sense. Whenever I begin a program, I make sure that I saturate my body with whatever my body has been going short of.  It takes care of all the months or years that I have not taken care of this in the past.  Being a woman, what comes to my mind is the home.  If we have not kept up on our household chores; you know the vacuming, the bathrooms, the washing up or even inside the cupboards, it's going to take a l...

This blog is going to contain a guided approach to building your and your family's health from the earth up. In addition to food and physical health, no one can be truly free and happy without some form of spiritual advancement.  So included here will be earth to ether, root chakra to crown, body, mind and spirit.  And of course that includes lifestyle and increasing meaning in our life. I am a Muslim but you don't have to be a muslim to find meaning here.  Why? because its all about humanity, health, thoughts, living and above all progressing in every aspect of our life. It will contain references from the Holy Quran, traditions from our Holy prophet (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) and references and explanations from science (benefits of a certain food, nutritional information that is practical and understandable to everyone who can read) and recipes showing many ways to prepare these natural ingredients because that's so often...

P eace! Thank you for dropping by.  I'm hoping in this blog to answer some of the questions both for you all and for myself concerning the best possible way to eat and live that builds health from the most essentials to the most beauty enhancing ingredients.  My quest and challenge with food and health  has been going on for years now and although food is only the most basic and perhaps essential part of health, without the right food in our system no matter what other amazing, and enlightened practices we add to our life, no matter what good energies we send out or exercise programs we incorporate the food is the fuel.  Health is a journey, its ongoing and progressive from the root chakra to the crown its all one. Let me back track.  I've gone back and forwards between being an enthusiastic cook and a resentful one for years now, which when you have three hungry boys waiting for food, one of those being a teenager never really being full no matter...