5 Of The World's Healthiest Foods

WKRC 12 ^ | 4/18/06 | staff

[pissant]

You don't have to travel the globe anymore to taste some of the healthiest foods in the world, but we can certainly learn a lot from other cultures when it comes to getting some nutritional powerhouses. If you haven't been much for adventure dining, here are 5 to try:

1) Olive Oil. This gets rave reviews from Spain to help lower bad cholesterol.

2) Yogurt. This gets a push from Greece for it's bacteria-fighting cultures.

3) Soy. Soy products are popular in Japan to help your heart.

4) Beans and Lentils. These are staple foods from India and they are high in fiber.

5) Hot Peppers from Mexico. These may help reduce inflammation.

You've probably heard of the capsaicin in some cremes you even rub on joins to ease the ache. That comes from spicy foods. You can get the benefits from these foods no matter how they are prepared, but if you've never had them before you might want to head to a good restaurant that features some of these foods and have them cooked up and seasoned well. Tofu, for example, doesn't have much flavor. It simply picks up the flavor of what you cook it with. Most of these foods you can use as substitutes as well. For example, just change your kind of oil that you use. Or use yogurt instead of sour cream, beans in your chili rather than meat, and top off your salads with hot peppers. That's better than making drastic changes to your menu and you can still get the health benefits you need.

[pissant]

LOL. You amaze me.

[sully777]

"This list's like t!t$ on a bull if it didn't mention BEER...it ain't natural."

[alnick]

That is wrong on so many levels!

That is verbatim what I almost posted. LOL.

[sully777]

On a serious note, I would have put garlic in as a tie with peppers

[alnick]

I eat all of these frequently except for soy. Yuck, phooey, poo on tofu. Yeck! I can eat tofu if it's pressed, firm and smoked or seasoned.

I can't bring myself to try tofu, but have you tried edamame (young soy beans) yet? They're a delicious snack. You can get them frozen. Just boil them for about five minutes. Drain. Add salt. They're great hot or cold.

[cowboyway]

"This list's like t!t$ on a bull if it didn't mention BEER...it ain't natural."

That's exactly what I was thinking, so I modified the list:

1) Olive Oil washed down with beer. This gets rave reviews from Spain and Ireland to help lower bad cholesterol.

2) Yogurt washed down with beer. This gets a push from Greece and Ireland for it's bacteria-fighting cultures.

3) Soy on a cheeseburger washed down with beer. Soy products are popular in Japan and South Carolina to help your heart.

4) Beans and Lentils steamed in and washed down with beer. These are staple foods from India and most of the South and they are high in fiber.

5) Hot Peppers from Mexico washed down with a lot of beer . These may help reduce inflammation and produce some wonderful gas emmisions.

[garyhope]

Garlic with everything! Yes!

[garyhope]

" edamame "

Yes, these are good like this. Thanks for the reminder.

[sully777]

ROFLOL: Then you wake up and drink copious amounts of coffee.

[Daveinyork]

the four basic food groups:

Cheeseburgers, coffee, chocolate, and pizza

[Osage Orange]

There is no better Mexican food spread...than the one on the Tres Hombres album.

None.

[InterceptPoint]

Pumpkin Pie: If not perfect, then near perfect.

Why would anyone ever make a pie out of a vegetable. Yikes. Give me cherries. Give me apples. Give me anyting but pumpkins in my pie.

[sully777]

That is wrong on so many levels!

---

Can you 'splain why, my friend. Like I told Lucy, she's part of the act at the club.

[sully777]

Why would anyone ever make a pie out of a vegetable. Yikes. Give me cherries. Give me apples. Give me anyting but pumpkins in my pie.

---

Sorry to be the technical dink:

Pumpkins have seeds; therefore, they are not a vegatable. I think they are a fruit like roses, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, cucumbers, etc.. A veggie would be like lettuce, cabbage, or swiss chard.

Sweet potato pie is made of sweet potato which is a root (tuber) like the carrot, radish, and potato.

Wonder why they did not put broccoli on the list. Supposed to be one of the most complete foods known. I'm partial to pumpkin pie but I agree with you--apple pie is awesome, especially with ice cream. Dang, I'm drooling on the keyboard.

[AlexW]

"I can eat olives til the sprout out my ears"

I eat them as snack food. Here they are sold in plastic bags, 30 cents for about 50 small green olives.
Best way to buy them in the US is to buy the big jars of salad olives (cocktail olives that are not good enough for prime time martinis)

[AlexW]

"Pumpkins have seeds; therefore, they are not a vegatable"

This is amazing.
It was just yesterday, as I was tutoring
in English to a few Slovak students, this very subject came up. Whats the difference in a fruit and vegetable?
I also placed seed bearing produce such as tomatoes in the group with fruits.

I also want to see about bringing some sweet potato plants into Slovakia. Slovaks have never seen a sweet potato. I see no reason why they could not grow here.

As for pumpkin pie...yummie :)

[sully777]

I also want to see about bringing some sweet potato plants into Slovakia. Slovaks have never seen a sweet potato. I see no reason why they could not grow here.

---

You guys have the pilsner and desserts. And for that the world is eternally grateful.

[AlexW]

"You guys have the pilsner and desserts"

Yes, they do have that.
Slovak beer makes any American beer taste like horse pee.
Ice Cream and other sweets are a specialty here.

I am not Slovak, but just an interloping ex pat in a fine country.

[marmar]

So up north....do you have a salmon jerky connection? I trade you for home made salsa..........

[Mike Darancette]

besides, I'm boycotting Tex-mex

IMHO Tex-Mex is about as American as a food gets.