Bitter Melon

Frances, a Chinese-American student at an academically competitive school in San Francisco, has always had it drilled into her to be obedient to her mother and to be a straight-A student so that she can go to Med school. But is being a doctor what she wants? It has never even occurred to Frances to question her own feelings and desires until she accidentally winds up in speech class and finds herself with a hidden talent. Does she dare to challenge the mother who has sacrificed everything for her? Set in the 1980s.

The benefits and potency of Bitter Melon have been known to Asian, South American and African cultures for centuries, but only now is the therapeutic potential of this herb being fully unraveled to those of us in the Western World, wherein thousands of individuals already use Bitter Melon as an alternative herbal remedy to treat diabetes, to help regulate fat metabolism and as an antiviral agent.The book takes you through the history of the herb's use around the globe and explains its application in the treatment of a range of illnesses and conditions. We summarize the latest scientific and medical research into the mode of action of the active components with the Bitter Melon fruit, plant, root and seeds and also provide a number of recipes that you can use as a means to include this nutritious and potentially therapeutic vegetable in your daily diet.

Leung Ping Kwan is one of Hong Kong's most acclaimed poets. His poems display a unique blend of the literary and the down-to-earth, of the modern and the traditional, of the serious and the humorous, of the local and the universal. In his own words, 'I want my poems about things to be a dialogue with the world, to learn and be inspired by the shapes, smells and colours of things….' This collection has been carefully curated, and is arranged under ten thematic sections: Lotus Leaves, Hong Kong, Macao, Foodscape, After the Book of Songs, Strange Tales: After Pu Songling, Clothink, Museum Pieces, Places and Friends, and Bitter-Melon and Others. These translated poems, and the delight they bring, are a celebration of the continuing legacy of a remarkable Hong Kong poet.

This book focusing on the bitter gourd genome is the first comprehensive compilation of knowledge on the botany, cytogenetical analysis, genetic resources and diversity, traditional breeding, tissue culture and genetic transformation, whole genome sequencing and comparative genomics in the Cucurbitaceae family. It discusses the biochemical profile of the bioactives present in this horticultural crop, used both as a vegetable and as a medicine, and also addresses sex determination in bitter gourd. Written by respected international experts, the book is useful to students, teachers and scientists in academia, as well as seed companies and pharmaceutical industries.

This book continues as volume 2 of a multi-compendium on Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants. It covers edible fruits/seeds used fresh or processed, as vegetables, spices, stimulants, pulses, edible oils and beverages. It encompasses species from the following families: Clusiaceae, Combretaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Dilleniaceae, Ebenaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Ericaceae and Fabaceae. This work will be of significant interest to scientists, researchers, medical practitioners, pharmacologists, ethnobotanists, horticulturists, food nutritionists, agriculturists, botanists, herbalogists, conservationists, teachers, lecturers, students and the general public. Topics covered include: taxonomy (botanical name and synonyms); common English and vernacular names; origin and distribution; agro-ecological requirements; edible plant part and uses; botany; nutritive and medicinal/pharmacological properties, medicinal uses and current research findings; non-edible uses; and selected/cited references.

There is a fantastic array of vegetables you can grow in your garden, and not all of them are annuals. In Perennial Vegetables the adventurous gardener will find information, tips, and sound advice on less common edibles that will make any garden a perpetual, low-maintenance source of food. Imagine growing vegetables that require just about the same amount of care as the flowers in your perennial beds and borders—no annual tilling and potting and planting. They thrive and produce abundant and nutritious crops throughout the season. It sounds too good to be true, but in Perennial Vegetables author and plant specialist Eric Toensmeier (Edible Forest Gardens) introduces gardeners to a world of little-known and wholly underappreciated plants. Ranging beyond the usual suspects (asparagus, rhubarb, and artichoke) to include such "minor" crops as ground cherry and ramps (both of which have found their way onto exclusive restaurant menus) and the much sought after, anti-oxidant-rich wolfberry (also known as goji berries), Toensmeier explains how to raise, tend, harvest, and cook with plants that yield great crops and satisfaction. Perennial vegetables are perfect as part of an edible landscape plan or permaculture garden. Profiling more than 100 species, illustrated with dozens of color photographs and illustrations, and filled with valuable growing tips, recipes, and resources, Perennial Vegetables is a groundbreaking and ground-healing book that will open the eyes of gardeners everywhere to the exciting world of edible perennials.

Bioactive Foods in Health Promotion: Probiotics and Prebiotics brings together experts working on the different aspects of supplementation, foods, and bacterial preparations, in health promotion and disease prevention, to provide current scientific information, as well as providing a framework upon which to build clinical disease treatment studies. Since common dietary bacterial preparations are over-the-counter and readily available, this book will be useful to the growing nutrition, food science, and natural product community that will use it as a resource in identifying dietary behavioral modifications in pursuit of improved health as well as for treatment of specific disease, as it focuses on the growing body of knowledge of the role of various bacteria in reducing disease risk and disease. Probiotics are now a multi-billion-dollar, dietary supplement business which is built upon extremely little research data. In order to follow the 1994 ruling, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with the support of Congress is currently pushing this industry to base its claims and products on scientific research. Research as shown that dietary habits need to be altered for most people whether for continued or improved good health. The conclusions and recommendations from the various chapters in this book will provide a basis for those important factors of change by industry with new uses. Animal studies and early clinical ones will lead to new uses and studies. Particularly the cutting edge experimental and clinical studies from Europe will provide novel approaches to clinical uses through their innovative new studies. Feature: Heavy emphasis on clinical applications (benefits and/or lack thereof) as well as future biomedical therapeutic uses identified in animal model studies Benefits: Focused on therapies and data supporting them for application in clinical medicine as complementary and alternative medicines Feature: Key insights into gut flora and the potential health benefits thereof. Benefit: Health scientists and nutritionists will use this information to map out key areas of research. Food scientists will use it in product development. Feature:Information on pre-and probiotics as important sources of micro-and macronutrients Benefit: Aids in the development of methods of bio-modification of dietary plant molecules for health promotion. Feature: Coverage of a broad range of bacterial consituents Benefits: Nutritionists will use the information to identify which of these constituents should be used as dietary supplements based on health status of an individual Feature: Science-based information on the health promoting characteristics of pre-and probiotics Benefits: Provides defense of food selections for individual consumption based on health needs and current status Feature: Diverse international authoring team experienced in studying prebiotics and probiotics for medical practice Benefits: Unusally broad range of experiences and newly completed clinical and animal studies provides extended access to latest information