Eat Your Way to Good Health and a Slim Figure with Life-Giving Fresh Salsa

What's in the fresh salsa?
Ladies, with only 31 calories per 1 ¼ cups, this fabulous-tasting salsa recipe will aid in weight reduction and at the same time provide 18 different essential vitamins and minerals, plus fiber and valuable life-giving enzymes. According to WellBeyond100.com/cancer.aspx, enzymes are vital to human health. We rely on enzymes in order to absorb nutrients from the foods we eat.

The detailed nutrient contents of the below salsa recipe was obtained by entering the recipe into a nutrition calculator (recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp). The vegetables used to make fresh salsa are packed with nutrients, and sure to help with weight loss. Consuming these low-calorie, nutrient-dense foods promotes a slim figure and better health when eaten in place of high-calorie, fatty foods.

Healthy recipes for women include an abundance of low calorie, fresh vegetables and fruits. Replacing high-fat snacks with fresh, raw salsa is a healthy food for women and one more way to help slash medical bills by improving nutrition, which usually results in improved health. And what's more, this recipe only takes minutes to prepare, no cooking necessary.

Recipe
The secret to this salsa is in chopping the cilantro, tomato, and onion so finely that there are lots of little bits in every bite. Get ready to eat your way to a slim figure with this unbelievably delicious recipe...

In large mixing bowl, mix together the follow ingredients:

2 medium tomatoes (or 1 large), minced
1 finely-minced mild onion (sweet, vidalia, garden, or other mild onion)
1 ½ cups very finely chopped fresh cilantro

In separate cup, mix together:
Juice of one lime
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 heaping teaspoon minced garlic
1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (mild. 1/2 tsp for med. hot)
Combine both containers and mix well. Serve immediately with nonfat baked tortilla chips.

Nutritional content per 1 1/4 cup serving
Calories 31.0
Total Fat 0.5 g
Saturated Fat 0.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 181.0 mg
Potassium 221.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 6.9 g
Dietary Fiber 1.5 g
Sugars 0.2 g
Protein 1.2 g

Percent Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet:
Vitamin A 13.5%
Vitamin B-6 6.3%
Vitamin C 15.6%
Vitamin E 2.5%
Calcium 2.4%
Copper 4.6%
Folate 5.3%
Iron 5.0%
Magnesium 3.1%
Manganese 9.1%
Niacin 2.6%
Pantothenic Acid 2.3%
Phosphorus 3.1%
Riboflavin 3.4%
Selenium 1.0%
Thiamin 3.9%
Zinc 1.8%

Exactly what do these nutrients in the fresh salsa do for us? Let's take a look at each one individually. The below information was derived from data gathered from Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia.com, and TheFreeDictionary.com.

Potassium
The potassium in this fresh salsa recipe is important in allowing muscle contraction and the sending of all nerve impulses throughout the body. A potassium deficiency causes muscle weakness, abnormal intestinal function, brain abnormalities, decreased reflex response and in severe cases respiratory paralysis, alkalosis (pH imbalance-opposite of acidosis) and impaired heart function. The potassium in the above salsa recipe could easily cure this type of deficiency if eaten often enough.

Vitamin A
Vitamin A is necessary for healthy vision, cells and cell division, and immune function. This vitamin is an important ingredient in healthy food for women, because it aids in embryonic development, reproduction, bone metabolism, haematopoiesis (body's ability to make blood), skin, and heart. Without proper amounts of vitamin A, blindness occurs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vitamin A deficiency causes blindness in 250,000-500,000 children in developing countries each year. Something as simple as adequate amounts of vitamin A from the above salsa recipe can provide a natural cure before blindness even sets in.

Vitamin B-6
This vitamin is necessary for metabolism, the making of blood, and healthy cell division. B6 deficiency causes seborrhea (skin condition), tongue swelling with ulcerations, cracking of the skin, red eyes, and mental confusion.

Vitamin C
Vitamin C is essential for maintaining the collagen structure beneath skin and other parts of the body. It helps to transport nutrients into cells, aids in creating amino acids that aid in hormone production, and aids in the metabolism of protein. Without adequate amounts of vitamin C, we would experience chronic weakness and our teeth would fall out (scurvy). Thus, the vitamin C found in the above salsa recipe is a natural cure for scurvy.

Vitamin E
Basically, this vitamin protects us from cancer and other maladies. However, an overdose of this vitamin is not good for one's heart.

Calcium
Calcium is a basic component of bones and teeth, and is essential for the normal growth and development of most animals and plants. Calcium deficiency ("hypocalcemia") causes life-threatening complications involving the heart and kidney, not to mention bone density loss. Therefore, calcium (in proper quantities) can be viewed as a natural cure for bone density disorders.

Copper
Copper is essential for proper movement of muscles, and a deficiency of this element causes muscular spasticity.

Folate
This component is necessary for the formation of red blood cells, embryonic development, and metabolism. Inadequate amounts of folate result in anemia.

Iron
Iron is an essential part of our hemoglobin (blood and ability to make blood), which makes it possible for the red blood cells to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide throughout the body. Weakness, fatugue, and anemia result in inadequate amounts of iron.

Magnesium
Magnesium is one of the more abundant element by mass in the human body. It is essential to all living cells for cell health, and cell replication. Magnesium is essential for making numerous enzymes function within the body. Enzymes are vital to the body's ability to absorb and use nutrients. Some common symptoms of magnesium deficiency are osteoporosis, asthma, and ADHD.

Niacin
Niacin is required by the body for carbohydrate metabolism. Insufficient amounts of niacin cause pellagra, a condition characterized by digestive and nervous system malfunctions, skin eruptions, and mental deterioration.

Pantothenic acid
Pantothenic acid is vital for the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates. Symptoms of deficiency include irritability, fatigue, apathy, neurological disorders, numbness, paresthesia (skin burning, prickling, itching), muscle cramps, low blood sugar, sensitivity to insulin, restlessness, malaise, sleep disturbances, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, adrenal gland malfunction, and liver failure.

Phosphorus
Phosphorus is an essential element for all life. It makes cell creation possible, and is a component of DNA, RNA, and ATP (a molecure that makes cell development possible).

Riboflavin
Riboflavin is required by numerous cellular processes, and is essential to energy metabolism. Additionally, it is critical for the metabolism of fats, ketone bodies, carbohydrates, and proteins.

Selenium
Selenium is important for cellular function, but toxic in large amounts. Several studies have shown selenium to reduce the occurrence of skin cancer.

Thiamin
Thiamin is important to many cellular processes throughout the body, and aids in the body's processing of sugars and amino acids. A thiamin deficiency causes beriberi, a sometimes fatal condition of the nervous and cardiovascular system.

Zinc
Zinc is an vital trace element, essential to all life and aids in prostate gland function. It is especially important in healthy recipes for women because zinc facilitates reproductive organ growth. An overabundance of zinc actually reduces iron and copper absorption, and vice-versa. A deficiency of zinc causes chronic diseases of the liver and kidney, and can also cause sickle cell disease, malignancies, and other chronic illnesses.

Healthy recipes for women help to keep moms feeling better and more energetic. Recipes with good-tasting, nutrient-dense foods provide healthy food for women that can actually add years of quality to their lives. When moms feel better, everyone in the family benefits from her energetic care and devotion to clean, wholesome family living.

Reference:
Encyclopedia Britannica