Eating Pomegranate Could Be Exactly What You Need To Lower Your Cholesterol

Many foods allege to improve your health by eating them. They all boast about providing benefits to ward against disease or lose weight. When it comes to pomegranate, research suggests that it could be what you need to lower cholesterol levels. Why is that, though?

Fighting The Fat

After several animal studies, researchers concluded that this fruit was capable of affecting a body’s cholesterol levels. Those who had a diet high in fat were found to have a better chance of combating the adverse effects of it if they ate the fruit. That’s because of the high amount of polyphenols that pomegranate contains. Although eating a few of these every day won’t completely clear the cholesterol out of your system, it will allegedly have a better impact on your health.

An Unstoppable Duo

It seems that this fruit isn’t the only thing that can supposedly fight cholesterol. Inulin, a fructan found in things like leeks, shallot, and red onions, also apparently has this capability. Scientists tested its effects, along with those of pomegranate, in an experiment with mice. Four groups were put on a high-fat diet, with each one receiving a supplement of pomegranate, inulin, both, or neither. After four weeks, the research revealed that the mice who’d taken both had lower levels of cholesterol.

More Research Required

Scientists are hoping to eventually carry out more research into this area, given this was only the first study to explore the impact of pomegranate and inulin together. There’s still a lot to understand about their proposed health benefits, so don’t go thinking these two things are the key to perfect health. However, it’s possible that introducing more pomegranate and inulin to your diet could potentially lower the risk of stuff like heart disease or a heart attack.

Anything that has the possibility to reduce cholesterol sounds like a good thing in our book.

Chef Marie-Cecile Nottaway Works Hard to Preserve Canada’s Identity

Chef Marie-Cecile Nottaway holding a big fish

Growing up alongside bears, moose, and the more than 4,000 lakes dotting the Parc de la Verendrye wildlife reserve in Quebec, Canada, Marie-Cecile Nottaway knew that she had to catch her food before she could cook it.

At barely eight years of age, she was already an experienced hunter who could set rabbit snares by herself. She says that she would put her snowshoes on in the morning and do her two-mile trek to set them up. The next day she would go over her tracks again to bring back a couple of rabbits.

A rabbit in the snow

Catch Prey for The Entire Family to Eat

Marie-Cecile knew how to clean her catch too. As she bravely carved into the animal, she chose to whom in her family she would bequeath the head of the rabbit. It was considered a delicacy. She would give it to a relative who was nice to her, and after she cut up the meat, she would watch her grandmother cook it into a rabbit stew on the open fire behind her shack. While the meat was on the fire, she would add potatoes and then mix some batter for dumplings. She recalls that the meal had to be big enough to feed her entire family. One of Marie-Cecile’s favorite moments is the sugar-bushing season. After her grandmother had made enough toffee for a year, she would thank the trees for nourishing her family and she would tell the kids to do the same.

Chef Marie-Cecile Nottaway out in the snow

Marie-Cecile Nottaway Is Now a Renowned Chef

Shadowing her grandmother, Marie-Cecile Nottaway started cooking early; however, she never thought she would be an award-winning chef. Now that she is a grown-up woman, she holds five prizes, including the Young Entrepreneurs Award of Quebec and the Ottawa Rising Stars Award, while staying true to her roots. For Marie-Cecile, cooking and eating traditional Algonquin food is a way of remembering and preserving her culture and history.