A Symbol of Human Immortality

T’Sheba (Monica Palmer)

In Praise Of The Pomegranate

A Symbol of Human Immortality

by

T’Sheba (Monica Palmer)

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Special Dedication

To my hero and high school principal of Knox College, inSpaldings, Jamaica – Mr. George Scott. Like a guardian angelyou groomed me in staking out every opportunity for me tocultivate and develop those life skills you first identified in myformative years. That my altruistic life started in the cafeteriaas head monitor for my lunch hour, my vocation with foodseemed destined from the onset.

In Praise of the Pomegranate

In Praise of the Pomegranate

CONTENTS

Introduction 6

Chapter 1: The Protein Assistant 9The Role Of Nitric Oxide In Uncomplicated Births 10With Erectile Function Blood Flow Is Everything 11

Selecting Pomegranates 14

Chapter 2: Weight Loss Without The Sag 16Nitric Oxide: The Key To Weight Loss 18The Secret To A Toned Body & To Cure Hernias 19How The Pomegranate Assists In Weight Loss 20

Opening A Pomegranate 21

Chapter 3: The Vitamin C Factor 23The Amigos: Phenylalanine and Tyrosine 24

Pomegranate Juicing 27

Chapter 4: Not All Antitoxidants Are Created Equally 29Pomegranate Polyphenols: The New Qi (chi) 30

Chapter 5: Too Much Of A Good Thing 34The Skin Whitening Effect of Pomegranate Extract 35Melanin Is Not Just About Skin Colour 37

Chapter 6: The Rave Is About the Fat 40Omega5 Fatty Acid In Pomegranate Seeds 41Keratinocytes: The Immortalized Cells 42

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Chapter 7: Pomegranate, Keratinocytes & Longeveity 47The Variety of Powers Supporting Human Life 48The Rescue: Phytoestrogen or Non-Estrogenic Phytosterols? 50

Chapter 8: The Omega 5 & Vitamin D Twin Effects 54Nature Proffers Pomegranate In Due Season 54The Role of Omega 5 & Vitamin D In Immune Signalling 55

Chapter 9: Sleeping Beauty 61The Pomegranate-Sleep Connection 62

Chapter 10: A Radiant You 66The Effect Of Sickness In The Electro-Magnetic Field 67Mind-Body Alignment By Means Of Diet 71The Link Between Cholesterol and Self-confidence 74The Link Between Food-Radiation & Blood-Radiation 76

Chapter 11: Recipes 80

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Introduction

There are specific images that are highly charged – blood-red juice spillingfrom a cut pomegranate into a cloth and forming a stain in the shape ofthe boundaries of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia; dyers lifting hanks of

wool out of vats in the colours of the national flag, and so on.” From “The Colour of Pomegrantes”, by Sayat-Nova (1712 – 1795)

The homage made to foods is as old as the advent ofrecorded history, if not older. Ancient records still bear

witness to exceptionally precious foods and drinks that weresought after to arouse feelings of love and to present, as elixirsand burnt offerings, to appease the many deities. This unalloyedpleasure in eating and symbolic at-one-ment continue to in-spire renowned cooks. Those who, for this partaking of humanmortals in common life, and are sought after by the rich and fa-mous, have taken food preparation to artistic heights.

This purposeful cultivation of the joy for life that throbseverywhere around us in Nature lives on in the fervent adora-tion of the pomegranate, with juice-laden sacs (arils) aroundwhite or red seeds that can be hard or soft – both of which areused in various cuisines of different ethnicities. In curries, chut-neys, sauces, soups, spices, condiments to liqueurs, humans havecultivated a love for its most delectable sweet yet slight sourtaste, and its intense and accepted fresh odour, with the volatileoil of woody turpentine among the bouquet of resins.

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Sayat-Nova, the late, noble Armenian poet, musician andashik (a mystic troubadour) wrote the above romantic expres-sionism of adoration of the intensity of the red colour pome-granate, in courtly love of Armenia. To this day, this poemcontinues to flatter the sensibilities not only of his entire peo-ple, but also of all lovers of fine poetry.

My tribute to the pomegranate is neither a ceremony nor alure of the obsessive decadent. The purpose is to evoke thatchild-like love of the pomegranate, one of the featured “super-foods” for reversing nerve debility and a waning sex life in thebook entitled: Your amazing Nerves … Care for it or lose its force.

Standing before the mirror while preparing the above men-tioned titled book for publication, I noticed a reddish tone tomy complexion. This I knew was not from carotenosis. This isthe condition when high levels of beta-carotene appear in one’sbloodstream, and the excess beta-carotene gets stored in thefat under the skin. I had not drunk carrot juice in quite a while.

Only later that day did it dawn on me that the hue – a lightruby tone – was the result of the abundance of pomegranatejuice that I was feasting on, from the raw food selections in myseasonal “fall diet”. The pomegranate, like the barley seed-grain,had emerged impressively, from among the pack of “super” rawfoods. I had no choice but to give this most celebrated, immor-talized fruit its own pedestal on which to stand, hence this book:In Praise of the Pomegranate.

Not only had my skin become noticeably softer and witheven skin tone, the facial hair growth I experienced for mostof my adult life was also diminishing. I noticed also that thechin area, now softer (apparently the reversal of faulty kera-tinization of the epidermis), was not producing as many facialhair follicles. Chronic dry scalp? This appeared to be history.

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As for my hair: For years, pre-sprouted barley seed-germsand the barley grass formed part of my staple diet when, at theonset, I started reclaiming what has now reached 2-3 inches ofhair line I did not realize had receded. Now, not only was myhair gaining more body – as a new area of hair line continuedgrowing in, with strands of white hair popping through thefollicles then turning silverish-black in a short time – the tex-ture and radiance of my hair looked stunning.

Oh! I was in praise of the pomegranate. This attitude of praisebrought me back to a child-like taste for natural (i.e., unadul-terated) foods. I was now a conscious observer as to how I doenliven those secretions in the juices that alter my blood-radi-ation favourably – the [alchemical] process behind DNAwhich alone that confers agelessness and immortality.

I now understand how in the identity patterning – deter-mined by the biochemical evolution of foods that nourish thehuman body – lies the organic conditions that indicate char-acter. In that, it is character that controls and directs humanfeelings and emotions and is, therefore, the guarantee of theever greater happiness that lies between desire and nerve sen-sation. The sense forces encompass the senses of perception,feeling and hunger, as well as the lower affectional forces, whichare the incentive for intimacy between the sexes.

It is my wish for all to enjoy this time immortal fruit in itsnatural state, a taste no gourmet cook or factory processingplant can duplicate. Enjoy this beautiful provision of Nature!

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Chapter 1

The Protein Assistant

Protein – from [Greek] proteios, meaning “primary” – is the compoundthat make up all living organisms and is essential to their function. Itcarries the genetic instructions specifying the biological development allcells need to grow and replicate … but not without the aid of other

chemical compounds.

The pomegranate, known also as the “Phoenician” apple, iswidely considered to have originated in the Middle east

to the Himalayas in Northern India, as far back as 4000 B.C.From its native region, the pomegranate tree, which lives ex-tremmely long – some species are known to have survived fortwo centuries – has traversed the globe. It was introduced intoLatin America and California in 1796 by the Spanish.

In botany, the pomegrante tree is placed by itself in its ownfamily – Punicaceae, with only one genus Punica, and one pre-dominant species – P. granatum. The Spanish named their townGranada after this dominant plant species and, on arrival inthe Caribbean, gave the name to the island Grenada. The red,sweet, and viscous syrup often used in making cocktails syrupknown as granadine got its name from where it was invented,the mainland of Granada.

With outer skin colours ranging from off-white to darkred – symbolizing both the light and dark skin races, analogousto the lily (the symbol of purity) and the rose (the symbol oflove) – this anti-ageing fruit has longed been revered as a sym-bol of health, fertility and eternal life. It should come as no sur-

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prise humans keep immortalizing this amazing fruit both inthe arts and science, especially in the last 10 years when itswound healing properties and immune modulating activitiescaught the attention of scientists.

With the redness of blood giving it the reputation as a bloodtonic, tests reveal a glass of pomegranate juice (commerciallyextracted) contains three times more antioxidant activity andis more protecting of the so-called “killer” nitric oxide (NO),than red wine, green tea, blueberries and cranberries. Forstarters, nitric oxide and fertility are inseparably linked. Nitricoxide, the chemical that helps men attain an erection, may notonly improve the chances of a woman in having a healthy babyby fighting back the effects of aging on her ovaries, but also inhelping to preserve her embryo against miscarriage.

The Role Of Nitric Oxide In Uncomplicated Births

The human uterine cervix, to a large extent, is composed ofconnective tissues. Its smooth muscle content comprises 10-15 percent of the cervical tissue, constituting 28 percent of theupper part and only 6 percent of the lower part. The cervicalsmooth muslces plays a crucial role in cervical ripening, andinhibiting spontaneous contractions in early pregnancy.

During pregnancy, one important function of the cervix isto maintain the embryo within the uterine body, whereas at theend of pregnancy appropriate ripening of the cervix is a pre-requisite for uncomplicated delivery. The primary effect of NOis relaxation of smoothe muscle in various organs, includingthe human uterine body during pregnancy.

The body produces NO from the amino acid L-arginine,which abounds in plant and animal proteins such as dairy

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products, egg yolk, lean meats, poultry, seafood (highest in thedried fish swim bladder called isinglass), peanuts, sesame seeds,soy, among other food items. Nitric oxide is a short-lived freeradical gas that the body uses to communicate between cells. Itsurvives only a few seconds after it is created by cells and neu-rons. Depending on the requirement, NO can act as a hormone,a neurotransmitter, or an intracellular messenger.

When produced in large quanties, NO causes toxic effectsthat are involved in immune and inflammatory responses. In-flammation is a defense reaction caused by tissue damage orinjury, characterized by redness, heat, swelling, and pain. Theripening of the cervix at birth is considered an inflammatoryprocess that causes dilation of the cervix.

The inflammatory process of birth causes leucocytes to infli-trate through the endothelium of the uterine cervix at term andaccumulate in what is termed leucocyte adhesion. NO inhibitsleukocyte adhesion to the lining of the uterus as well as plateletaggregation, by controlling the pain; relaxing and dilating bloodvessels, while normalizing blood pressure. Test shows that, dur-ing pregnancy, NO synthesis decreases prior to labour and thegenerating system is upgraded during labour. It is the indica-tion of NO assuming the role of hormones in regulating uter-ine relaxation, blood flow and immunosuppression required forpregnancy maintenance.

With Erectile Function Blood Flow Is Everything

Numerous are the studies reporting the effectiveness of pome-granate fruit, pomegranate juice and polyphenols in reducingheart disease (due to oxidation of LDL cholesterol); blood

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pressure; the formation of macrophage foam cells – all steps toartheriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.

It is crucial to draw the correlation between macrophages(white blood cells within tissues) and erectile function. In thefirst place, macrophages have the unique ability to metabolizearginine to NO.

Macrophages are called the “big eaters” (Greek makros“large” + phagein “eat"”) of the immune system. Macrophagefoam cells are fat-laden immune cells.

Foam cells are formed when the body sends macrophages tothe location of a fatty deposit on the blood vessel walls. Themacrophage surrounds the fatty material in an attempt to de-stroy it. The cell becomes filled with lipids (fats). The lipids sur-rounded by the macrophage give it a “foamy” appearance.Though on their own they are not dangerous, the foam is anindication of plaque-build up, or atherosclerosis, which is com-monly associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

What is vital to cardivascular health is just as crucial to erec-tile function. In a case study involving 42 men, 25 of the sub-jects reported improvement in erectile function, after drinkingpomegranate juice.

The consensus was that pomegranate extract appeared moreeffective in diminishing oxidative products, preventing toxicsuperoxides, and protecting the structural integrity of mito-chondria (energy factory cells), endothelia (inner lining) andcarveolae (lipid rafts) of cells. This is critical to contraction rateand tensile strength of epithelial tissue, in attaining an erectionand for maximum performance.

If the body does not produce enough of the amino acid L-arginine to complete the process of NO production, the en-zyme produce instead another oxidative molecule known as

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superoxide. When superoxide reacts with NO it create an evenmore powerful and damaging oxidant, peroxynitrite.

Peroxynitrite not only attacks cell DNA and RNA, makingone susceptible to cancer and various dysfunctions, it gobblesup ever-increasing amounts of NO. This can lead to hardeningof the blood vessels, increase of blood pressure and other car-diovascular problems. Pomegranate juice (including the seedsthat contains roughly 13 percent protein) was found to be apotent inhibitor of superoxide anion-mediated disapperanceof NO.

A primary imbalance between internal and external forcesof the human psysiology – in which life is maintained – is theoxidative imbalance. This is linked directly to menopausal tran-sition, which causes oxidative stress. High level of oxidativestress is often accompanied by glutathione deficiency andhealth loss as studies have shown. In clinical studies, pome-granate juice consumption has shown to decrease this oxidativestress.

The antioxidant activity of pomegranate juice resulted inmarked protection of NO against oxidative destruction. Thiscould be especially valuable in the case of ovariectomy (surgicalremoval of one or both ovaries), which causes an imbalance inoxidant production (e.g., oxidized glutathione) over antioxidantlevel (e.g., glutathione) level. Reduced antioxidants level in-creases oxidative stress and consequently accelerates ageing. Thestudy finding the consumption of pomegranate juice to be po-tentially better than apple juice in improving antioxidant func-tion in elderly shows that – from the womb to the grave – thepomegranate improves the quantity of life.

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Selecting Pomegranates

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Inside a pomegranate lie thin leathery yellowish membranes with transparentsacs (or arils) filled with tart, tasty, fleshy, juicy red, pinkish or whitish pulps.

Not many people have the luxury of choosing between wild grownand commercially grown pomegranates. Commercially grown cropsare harvested before they are fully mature, in order to avoid excessbruising during transport. Pomegranates will not ripen further oncepicked. Once harvested, they will not continue to develop sugar. Thewhole fruits can be stored for a month in a cool, dry area or refrig-erated up to two months.

Some commercial pomegranate juice contains added sugar, If yourpurpose for selecting a pomegranate is to satiate in its delectable,fresh taste from its sacs, or expressing the juice, and, if you have achoice, fresh pomegranate is best. Why?

Plants are rich in vital force – the energy that animates living crea-tures. They radiate from the nucleus of their cells where they lay upstores of this light power to be expended by the nervous and motivesystems of humans and animals, especially in stimulating red bloodcells. To the human body, the radiant force in foods is pervading,healing and sustaining force.

A fresh pomegranate, on opening,shows clear droplets glistening inthe albedo (white).

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