Thursday - Eat-Mango-Marathon...

I'm kinda on an eat-mango-marathon right now to finish up all the mangoes in my refrigerator, before they go bad... it's been fantabulous. I am an avid mango-lover, and I've not grown tired of the refreshing fruit so far. And since they are such rich blessings from a very kind somebody (who has the burden to ensure that I'm well-fed and healthy - I receive fruit every week! Mostly apples. But in the recent few weeks, this dear person has been giving me mangoes too), I'd feel terribly bad if I allowed them to go to waste. Yesterday, I had a big, fat Indian mango (I assume it's from India, since the label says 'Indian Mango')... and today, I have two more ripened local mangoes to savour.

I think back in Dublin, what I missed most from home was the variety of tropical fruits we have all round the year. In Dublin, I seemed to find myself eating alot of oranges, tangerines, and bananas. The rest I couldn't afford to splurge on too often. Occasionally, someone would bless me with plums, berries and peaches.

The mango is a superfruit. One of the most extensively exploited fruits for cooking recipes thanks to its juice, flavour, fragrance and colour and drinks like Lassi, its leaves are also used as floral decorations at weddings and certain religious ceremonies. It's no wonder, the mango is also the national fruit of India and the Phillippines!

Since I'm a fan of nutrition, let me tell you what a precious gift the mango is to mankind!

The mango is rich in:

• prebiotic dietary fiber; starch and pectins
  
• Vitamin A,B6 (and many other B vits), C, E and K
• dietary minerals such as potassium and copper
• 17 amino acids
• other phytonutrients such as the pigment antioxidants (carotenoids and polyphenols) in mango peel and pulp - these counteract free radicals in various disease mechanisms. Up to 25 different carotenoids have been isolated from mango pulp - the densest content for which was beta-carotene accounting for the yellow-orange pigmentation of most mangoes. Some of the polyphenols are effective inhibitors in lab models of prostate and skin cancers.
  
• omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

So, guys, eat mangoes!!! =)

I've never had so much time for Laundry and Housework before!:P Or quiet-time. Or books. Or my beauty sleep. Ahh, the bliss! Am absolutely enjoying my holidays to the max =)

Yesterday, I finished reading a book by Will Davis Jr (who's the founding and senior pastor of Austin Christian Fellowship church in Austin, Texas) - which really compelled me to pray bigger prayers.... bigger, bolder, more direct, more specific prayers. And flex my faith muscles a bit more.