If you’re tempted to nibble around the bread crusts when you finish a sandwich, you might be leaving out the most nutritious part. A recent study suggests that dark brown bread crust may contain six times more antioxidants than the lighter colored innards of the loaf. Come to the Dark Side Seems it is a matter of basic chemistry.
High heat during baking turns the carbohydrates and protein in the dough into new compounds that have high antioxidant potential. Just be sure to choose the right bread. We’re talking whole-grain, dark, and crusty. Mmmm. Here’s another thing brown bread does for your health. More Food Synergies Browning reactions that occur during baking are just one example of how heat treatment changes food. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly on which preparation methods boost food’s potential and which ones make it tank:
Avoid grilling meat. This type of high heat creates carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HAs). Try these tips from the YOU Docs to minimize HA formation while cooking meat.
Finely chop or crush fresh garlic. And let it hang out awhile (at least 5 minutes) before heating. This boosts production of healthful sulfur-containing compounds. Lightly steam broccoli.
You’ll get the most beneficial phenols and carotenoids out of broccoli with this gentle cooking method. Steaming works for this orange veggies, too.
Check out these other nutrition boosters for fruits and veggies.
http://www.realage.com/NutritionCenter/articles.aspx?aid=10488
When You Can’t Go 100% Organic
Even if you can’t afford to buy everything local and organic, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a watchdog and research nonprofit, has identified the “dirty dozen”–those fruits and veggies that contain the highest amounts of pesticides. For these, it might be worth paying for the organic versions. Among conventionally grown, try sticking to the “cleanest 12.” The produce ranking was developed by EWG analysts based on the results of nearly 51,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2005. An EWG simulation of thousands of consumers eating high and low pesticide diets showed that people can lower their pesticide exposure by almost 90% by avoiding the top 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated instead. View the next two pages to see the top 12 dirtiest and cleanest fruits and veggies.
DIRTY DOZEN
(Buy These Organic)
1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Lettuce
9. Grapes
10. Pears
11. Spinach
12. Potatoes
CLEANEST 12
(Lowest in Pesticides)
1. Onions
2. Avodado
3. Sweet Corn (frozen)
4. Pineapples
5. Mango
6. Sweet Peas (frozen)
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Bananas
10. Cabbage
11. Broccoli
12. Eggplant
Choose water-filled fruit for your first nibbles — like slices of juicy ripe cantaloupe. According to Jonny Bowden, PhD, author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, eating foods with high water content tends to be even more filling than chugging water with your meal.
An Orange Oasis
Cantaloupe flesh is 90 percent water — which means it’s a wonderful paradox for the calorie conscious. It makes you feel really full when it’s in your stomach, but it’s really low in calories: An entire large cantaloupe has only 277 calories. What’s in that other 10 percent, you ask? Loads of good stuff, like blood-pressure-friendly potassium (427 milligrams per cup of cubed cantaloupe) and cancer-fighting beta carotene (3,000 micrograms). Use this online tool to find more foods that are high in potassium and beta carotene.
Melon Makeovers
Fresh cantaloupe at the peak of ripeness is pretty hard to beat and doesn’t necessarily need much accompaniment. But if you’re feeling creative, try some of these summer-inspired recipes from EatingWell:
- Turn your melon into an Italian-style lunch salad: Melon Panzanella.
- Use it to start a light, refreshing summer meal: Chilled Melon Soup.
- Freeze it into a treat that’ll help you ignore the ice cream truck: Cantaloupe Ice Pops.
RealAge Benefit: Eating a diverse diet that is low in calories and high in nutrients can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger.
Go Natural New Smyrna Beach, Daytona, Florida, Giuli
Catering, Cooking classes, weighloss consulting, healthy lifestyle adventures, corporate wellness
Oh it is thattime of the year again. Fresh from Florida. As the crops start ripening and crops pour in, I get excited about all the possibilties for new salad ideas. I have decides to share my salad journal with you.
Pok Choy Saute’ toossed with Avocado and Tomato
Pok Chok (smaller relative to Bok Choy)
Sauteed with fresh garlic cloves in Olive oil
Mash fresh avocado w/ fresh lemon juice
Toss w/ fresh tomato. avocado, toasted pine nuts, and himalayan sea salt (opt.)
Base clam stock for sauce and soup
CLEAN CLAMS WELL (add corn meal to water and scrub w/ brush)
1 lg sweet onions
4 stalks celery
3 carrots
3T Olive oil
1T Butter
7cloves garlic
1t. sea salt (pink himalyan)
Saute on medium low to medium heat in a large soup put until vegetable are soft and lightly browned.
5 doz. Small clams
4c water
1 c of dry WW
Add the clams and stir, add water and white wine stir, and increase heat to medium high and cover for approx. 10-15 minutes until clams open.
Remove from heat and remove clam from shells put clams in stock.
Tumeric Sauce
2c. clam stock
2t. Tumeric
1t. chia
1 squeeze fresh lemon
1/8c heavy cream
1T fresh chopped parsley
1-fresh chopped tomato
Reduce stock over low-med. Heat, add cream, let sauce slightly thicken and pour over while wheat linguini or barley.
Clam Chowder
Saute until soft and lightly brown
2T olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1-Green pepper
1c. red potatoes
3c fresh chopped tomato
Add clams and stock and 1 8oz jar of clam juice and simmer over low heat.
bay leaf
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