Dates, palm fruits as well as coconut and oil palm are some of the oldest cultivated plants known in the historical record; in fact, they're so old that we're not sure where they originated. They were extremely important to support life and nutrition in regions that are often scarce in edible resources such as deserts.

are increasingly being searched as a powerful medicinal food. Even as scientific analyzes of dates are starting to reveal that they are densely loaded with a wide range of minerals, vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids, it must be borne in mind that they are not just energy sources and building material blocks for the our body. We have to recognize that they are also sources of high biological value, that is, of information.

When we analyze a food in terms of minerals, vitamins, and macronutrients (eg, lipids, fats, and proteins) that we believe are responsible for its nutritious and life-sustaining properties, we are restricting ourselves to just a part of what it has. to offer us.

Foods contain hundreds, if not thousands, of physiologically important biomolecules that together modulate the expression of millions of genes in our bodies, as well as affect our microbiome. That's why when we say food is medicine, we're not just using a metaphor. We now know that food is able, at a molecular level, to positively modulate a wide range of biological pathways simultaneously in ways that drugs simply cannot replicate.

In fact, I believe that food contains an immense, if not infinite, amount of information that our bodies use to regulate optimal gene expression, especially in times of stress or imbalance. We know this from curcumin, for example, which is just one of hundreds of biomolecules found in the spice turmeric and is capable of modulating more than 2000 genes simultaneously in one cancer cell line, with a positive final result.

Both the specificity and the breadth through which these food compounds are able to correct imbalances is simply incredible and reveal an inner intelligence of certain plants and certain foods with medicinal purposes that cannot even be explained in terms and methods of the reductionist sciences that still they form the basis of our understanding of conventional nutrition.

So since today's topic started with dates, here are some tips about them for you:

Where to buy | health food stores, supermarkets or online stores.

Tips and Tricks | dates are great pre/post workout options because they provide quick digestion of simple carbohydrates and sugars. I store my dates in the fridge because where I live it is very hot, but you can store them in an airtight glass jar in your pantry to keep them soft and ready to use in recipes.

So what are you waiting for to include this and other foods rich in history and nutrients in your life?

Here are some suggestions to get you started:

 Brigadiers of good

Super healthy cocoa mousse

sweet potato brownie

Did you like it? Share!