Pesto & Health
What is Pesto;
Pesto is an Italian word that comes from the Latin verb "to pound" or "to crush.” Pesto with pasta is probably most common, but this paste also goes well with meat or vegetables. You can even use pesto as dressing (dilute it with vinegar) or a sauce (dilute it with milk). I like to add a spoonful of pesto to soup. It is also great as a spread; a little pesto turns a plain sandwich into an explosion of flavor!
The typical main ingredient of pesto, is a gentle sedative, and helps to relieve high blood pressure and the symptoms of peptic ulcers, colitis and asthma. In Japan, India and West Africa, various species of
basil are used to treat colds, flues, fevers, joint pain, stomach cramps, nausea and headaches. The amazing thing about pesto is that each ingredient has amazing health benefits. Pine nuts have the highest concentration of oleic acid. That's a monounsaturated fat that aids the liver in eliminating harmful triglycerides from our body. That helps protect our heart.
· The garlic contributes to the healing ache to managing high cholesterol levels. I could go on about garlic but I'll run out of space.
· The olive oil kicks the snot out of LDL (the bad cholesterol level) while raising the HDL (the good cholesterol level). The high level of oleic acid helps to protect the heart as well as the stomach. And at Natural we use Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
A study done by the University of Baroda in India found basil to help to lower fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels significantly. That means Type 2 diabetics can use basil in their methods to control diabetes.
