Posted on 07/06/2008 7:48:45 PM PDT by neverdem
Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.
Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters. How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.
Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes. How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes. How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.
Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol. How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants. How to eat: Just drink it.
Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants. How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.
Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death. How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.
Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.'’ They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as...
(Excerpt) Read more at well.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Have you tried sardines in Louisiana hot sauce? They’re great!
You probably had a nutrional deficiency of some kind. At least that's the explanation I give my wife....
Beets picked the size of a golf ball, and pickled are good (grow your own, they don’t take long). Some of the rest isn’t too bad, but generally speaking, green leafy things are what food eats.
Meat.
More meat.
Meat of fish.
Meat of chicken.
Turkey, too. Year round.
Add some meat.
Pork chops.
Add the rest of the pig.
With a bit more meat.
And a dash of garlic. Meat-flavored, of course.
Straight up, it’s not what it’s cracked up to be.
Don’t the nutritionists say the darker the more nutrient-dense?
Most of the items are on our menu. We gotta have 1 or 2 veggies with every meal. Chard and beets are easy to grow in the garden. I got to admit that sardines were one of my guilty pleasures (that is I thought they were bad for me). Get the ones in olive oil and eat with saltine crackers. Ranks right up there with pickled pigs feet (which I am sure isn’t good for me).
Beets are the only honest vegetable!
They grow in dirt!
They taste like dirt!
What more could ya ask for?
Actually, I plant some beets every year - but not for the beets, for the greens that I use in salads or fried up with scrambled eggs or steaks.
I love eating beets. Be careful, though...they'll turn your urine red, you think you're peeing blood.
And about those asparagus...
I’ve never tried ‘em. What do they taste like?
Beets? Regular (not pickled) beets have a slightly sweet taste to them, don’t know how to explain them otherwise.
Iron rich foods like spinach and beets are poison to adult males. We need to get iron out of our blood not into it. This is a well known fact.
Hmm. I’ll have to hit the store tomorrow. I like experimenting..
Thanks.
Dedicating hours each day to acquiring, preparing, consuming, and cleaning up for the sake of the latest “good nutrition” fad is not my idea of intelligent behavior.
If “nutritionists” want to be of any use, they need to identify "good" tasty foods which real people can readily acquire and quickly consume with little to no preparation & cleanup time.
If "nutritionists" cannot identify such foods from what is currently available, then they need to work with and pressure the food industry to produce such foods. In other words, accept the reality that normal people live in a real world of limited time and deal with it.
Otherwise we're back to the same old routine of; “If it tastes good, spit it out.”
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/iron.asp
Who should be cautious about taking iron supplements?
Iron deficiency is uncommon among adult men and postmenopausal women. These individuals should only take iron supplements when prescribed by a physician because of their greater risk of iron overload. Iron overload is a condition in which excess iron is found in the blood and stored in organs such as the liver and heart. Iron overload is associated with several genetic diseases including hemochromatosis, which affects approximately 1 in 250 individuals of northern European descent [67]. Individuals with hemochromatosis absorb iron very efficiently, which can result in a build up of excess iron and can cause organ damage such as cirrhosis of the liver and heart failure [1,3,67-69]. Hemochromatosis is often not diagnosed until excess iron stores have damaged an organ. Iron supplementation may accelerate the effects of hemochromatosis, an important reason why adult men and postmenopausal women who are not iron deficient should avoid iron supplements. Individuals with blood disorders that require frequent blood transfusions are also at risk of iron overload and are usually advised to avoid iron supplements.
What are some current issues and controversies about iron?
Iron and heart disease:
Because known risk factors cannot explain all cases of heart disease, researchers continue to look for new causes. Some evidence suggests that iron can stimulate the activity of free radicals. Free radicals are natural by-products of oxygen metabolism that are associated with chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease. Free radicals may inflame and damage coronary arteries, the blood vessels that supply the heart muscle. This inflammation may contribute to the development of atherosclerosis, a condition characterized by partial or complete blockage of one or more coronary arteries. Other researchers suggest that iron may contribute to the oxidation of LDL (”bad”) cholesterol, changing it to a form that is more damaging to coronary arteries.
Italy is full of happy overweight old people in their eighties and nineties. The ones in the country that is. They have low stress cause they are happy and part of an extended family and they drink red wine. It’s not difficult to figure out.
When McDonalds first came to Australia they tried to sell hamburgers without beetroot. It didn’t take them long to realise their error. Beetroot is one of my favourite things. It makes a wonderful side dish for meat and potatoes, etc.
I actually love most of the things on this list, apart from sardines which I don’t mind.
What’s so special about walnuts? Spinach I know is great.
If iron rich food is poison for men then you should stop eating meat. You’d have to eat about a kilo of spinach to get as much iron as from a small serving of meat. I don’t know about beetroot but I would guess its a similar situation.
pinging for later.
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