The shape of each fruit and vegetable are useful for our body organs whose shape they resemble. For instance, a cross section of a carrot looks similar to pupil of an eye and so are its benefits to it. Enriched with Vitamin A, it helps enhancing blood flow to the eye for its better functioning.
Patients suffering from dementia are advised to eat walnuts. Its shape is just like that of the brain with two hemispheres and the lower cerebellum. Research shows that the nut improves brain function.
Celeries are quite similar to the shape as well as composition as of a bone. It contains the exact amount of sodium as in the bone-23%. The human body, when deprived of sodium, pulls it from the bones, making them weak. Celery helps in balancing out this depletion.
Avocado is another such fruit – it takes exactly nine months to ripen and improves the health and functioning of the uterus and cervix. They help women to balance hormones, shed unwanted birth weight, and deter cervical cancers.
According to research, tomatoes are the best food for a well-functioning heart and circulatory system. A cut piece of tomato has chambers that resemble those of the human heart and it is red like the blood.
Similarly, kidney beans – as the name suggests – are helpful in improving and maintaining kidney function.
Women, for good reproductive health, must take plenty of avocado, olives and citrus fruits. Olives assist in the health and functioning of ovaries. Citrus fruits like orange and grapefruit help with the movement of the lymph in and out of the breasts and resemble the mammary glands in females.
Ginger, a common ingredient in Indian kitchens, looks like a stomach in its shape and is a popular remedy for digestive disorders. The Chinese have been using it for over 2,000 years to calm the stomach and cure nausea.
Sweet potatoes, which are shaped like the pancreas, help in balancing the glycaemic index during digestion in diabetics.
Grapes look exactly like the alveoli in the lungs and allow oxygen to pass from the lungs to the blood. Seeds in the grapes contain a chemical called proanthocyanidin which can reduce the severity of asthma, and reduce the risk of lung cancer and emphysema.
Mushrooms have been found to have the capacity to improve hearing. One of the few foods that is rich in vitamin D, it is important for those tiny bones in the ear that transmit sound to the brain.
(The author is dietitian, Saroj Super Speciality Hospital)