Essential foods for female health

Oats are literally packed with health-boosting nutrients, many of which have great impacts on female health. Oats are not only great for heart health, digestion and blood pressure levels (with hypertension affecting many women over 50), but they contain vitamin B6, which can help prevent PMS and mood swings, and folic acid, which is important for women to consume before and during pregnancy to prevent birth defects in babies

Spinach is rich in many different vitamins and minerals, but one thing that makes it great for women is its high content of magnesium. Research has shown that magnesium may be beneficial in reducing many of the physical symptoms of PMS which plague women, including reduction of swelling, breast tenderness, bloating and weight gain.

Tomatoes Another vibrant carotenoid beneficial for women's health is lycopene, a pigment found in tomatoes. Studies have suggested that lycopene may be effective in preventing breast cancer. Furthermore, there has been considerable evidence to suggest that the powerful antioxidant can help reduce risk of heart disease — the leading cause of death in women in the US, Australia, England and Wales.

Walnuts While all nuts are great for our health, walnuts have many great individual benefits for women. A study has recently found that walnuts, which are packed with omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and phytosterols, may help to reduce women's risk of developing breast cancer, while their high omega-3 content may also help bone health, arthritis pain and depression. Walnuts also contain many nutrients essential for female health, such as calcium, magnesium and folic acid.

       Butternut squash Like many other yellow/orange fruit and vegetables — is packed with carotenoids such as alpha-carotene and beta-carotene. While carotenes should be included in everybody's diet for optimum health, they may prove essential to women's health as a high-carotenoid diet has been linked to lowered risks of both breast and ovarian cancer.

Inspiring women in the world

 Mother Teresa shows that no matter how humble your beginnings, you still have the capacity to help others less fortunate than you. After a life dedicated to charity and humanitarian work, she is regarded as one of the most selfless people to have ever lived, and her efforts were recognised in 1979 when she won the Nobel Peace Prize. However, one of the most admirable things about Mother Teresa is that she wasn’t doing it for the recognition – she spent nearly 30 years of her life helping others before anybody even knew who she was..

Kelly Holmes’ was a career full of set-backs and challenges, but one that ultimately had a happy ending. After years of trying for Olympic gold, her last chance came at the 2004 Games – a chance that was almost taken away from her by a leg injury. Despite suffering severe depression as a result of this, Kelly was able to battle through the injury through sheer determination, and ended up going above and beyond her wildest dreams by winning double Olympic gold in the 800m and 1500m

Amelia Earhart’s is a story of both success and tragedy, full of adventuring and pioneering for women’s rights. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, and was rewarded with the Distinguished Flying Cross for her efforts – again, she was the first woman to receive this. While other women were being held back by a male dominated society, Amelia was soaring through the clouds, breaking records, and having the time of her life.

      With 39 Grand Slam titles to her name and 6 separate spells as world number one, Billie Jean King is undoubtedly one of the greatest female tennis players to ever grace the game – however, it is her battle for equal rights for sporting women that she will be truly remembered for. In 1973 she took on and defeated self professed chauvinist Bobby Riggs in ‘The Battle of the Sexes’. A former world number one himself, Riggs’ defeat proved once and for all that women deserved both respect and equality in the world of sport.