Food

Candida, Candida, Candida!

Candida is something we all have and if left out of control can cause some major issues. Did you know that Candida can help to trigger sinus and yeast infections, allergies, colds, acne, rashes, arthritic pain and weight gain to your middle section?

Onions and the Flu!?

I love onions and I love garlic! One of the keys to savory European ethnic cooking is to saute onions first and cook them down until they are translucent. Once that is done you can then add the other ingredients. The Best Hungarian dish I know how to make starts off with cooking down 8-10 onions!! I have yet to figure out how not to cry by the way! Under water, cut from the bottom first etc… I cry like a baby who got his pacifier stolen! I haven’t tried a gas mask yet. I do think that will work! Those of you who wear contacts have an unfair advantage by the way!

So today a patient emailed the following on onions and the flu. Is it true? Snopes has a good write up on the matter and say’s it’s false and it is a folk remedy; http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/onion.asp.

I have used a few folk remedies in the past so Let’s find out. This is our first group project together so give it a try and we will compile our own data. Regardless if you are using your onions as deodorant or to ward off coworkers with your breath, onions do have some great attributes we can benefit from.

Alright so here is the story;

“In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was a Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted the flu and many died.

The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn’t believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and placed it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the virus, therefore, keeping the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work.. (And no, she is not in the onion business.)

The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu.”

So we have our assignment! Can’t hurt and onions are pretty cheap.

So a few natural thoughts on onions:

Onions are rich in thiosulfinates, sulfides, sulfoxides and other odoriferous sulfur compounds. Cysteine sulfoxides primarily give onions their distinct flavor and eye-irritating properties, research has shown, “thiosulfinates have powerful antimicrobial properties that are effective against numerous bacteria including bacillus subtilis, salmonella and even E. coli.”

Some are saying these sulfur compounds are also proving to be a significant factor in both cancer and cardiovascular prevention.

Onions are also an effective and natural way to raise good (HDL) cholesterol according to the American Heart Association.

A 2006 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, showed that people who consumed the most quercetin-containing foods (onion soup in this study) have a reduced risk of thrombosis and cardiovascular disease.

My grandma ate a whole onion almost every day of her life, somehow her breath didn’t stink and she didn’t use a pharmaceutical drug until around 80 years old.

Alright now let’s get this study rolling!