Summer is definitely the time of year when produce is at its peak, and there's no reason why we can't get at least 5 servings - and preferably more - of wonderfully fresh and delicious fruits and vegetables. Your body (and taste buds) will thank you!
Here are my favorite summertime fruits and veggies. Enjoy!
Berries: Strawberries ripen first, followed by cherries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. Berries are great sources of fiber, folate and vitamin C. Did you know that 8 strawberries contain more vitamin C than one orange? Or that one cup of raspberries has 30% of your daily fiber needs? Berries also are packed with antioxidants, protecting you from cancer and heart disease.
Tomatoes: Early New England colonists believed tomatoes were poisonous, but today they're one of our most popular foods. Tomatoes are an excellent source of lycopene, a phytochemical that helps reduce the risk of prostate cancer. They're also a good source of vitamin C, and high in potassium. Add cherry tomatoes to a shish kabob, hollow out a tomato and stuff with tuna salad, or fire up the blender to make gazpacho loaded with tomatoes and other veggies.
Corn: One ear of sweet corn provides 3 grams of fiber and another 3 grams of protein, plus it contains folate, vitamin C, magnesium and potassium. Cooking actually increases the availability of antioxidants in corn.
Salads: Instead of bagged salads, toss together handfuls of arugula, spinach, romaine and other types of greens with chopped veggies. Add fresh berries, melon cubes, or diced pears for flavor and color. Make a salad a meal by topping it with grilled chicken or fish.
Plums: I adore juicy, ripe plums! Two plums equal one serving of fruit, and it's somehow more satisfying to eat two instead of just one! Plums are one of the rare purple/blue fruits that provide essential antioxidants and phytochemicals. In fact, plums have more antioxidants than other fruit except berries.
Food For Good Health
Argument #1: Our foods no longer contain the nutrition they should
Due to modern processing and farming methods, foods that should be high in certain nutrients no longer are. For example, the tomato is an excellent source of phytonutrients, specifically, lycopene. But when you buy a tomato from the grocery store, there is little to no lycopene or other nutrients left in it. The tomato was likely grown on nutrient depleted soil, fertilized and sprayed with toxic chemicals, picked green, then gassed to turn it red. Little wonder it has no nutrition value left!
Another culprit in the nutrition depletion of foods is our food cooking and preparation. Even if you could by some magic acquire a nutrient rich tomato, cooking or storing the tomato will destroy most of the nutrients. For example, studies have shown that phytonutrients begin breaking down less than 24 hours after the vegetable was picked!
Of course, there are many other factors contributing to the poor nutrient content of our foods: breeding, GMOs, storage, etc, etc. Once you consider all of the factors causing the poor nutrient content in our food, it becomes quite logical to take supplements to replace these nutrients.
Argument #2: We no longer eat the right foods
If you eat a 100% organic, fresh diet, you're a long ways ahead of the rest of us. Of course, the foods you're eating are still nutrient depleted, as we saw above.
But for the rest of us, we need to supplement our diets also because we're just not eating the foods we should. Currently, french fries are the most consumed vegetable in the United States. We're just not getting the nutrients we need!
The Los Angeles Times ran an article last year revealing a startling finding: scientists announced that by the time a child born in LA was 2 weeks old, he had already been exposed to more toxins than would be acceptable for his entire life! While we don't all live in Los Angeles, we're all subject to environmental stress that puts extra burden on our immune systems. Even our drinking water has chemicals and toxins in it.
The best way to counter the stress on your body's health caused by all of these toxins and such is to support your body with proper nutrition. Since our foods are nutrient depleted, the only way to properly support your health is through nutritional supplements.
Argument #4: Nutritional supplements allow us to benefit from nutrient rich foods around the world.
Even if our foods weren't nutrient depleted and our environment wasn't toxic, nutritional supplements would still have benefit. They allow us to benefit from plants and nutrient rich foods found around the world that otherwise we would be unable to benefit from. Good examples would be the goji berry from China, the Australian bush plum, and many others.
Do you want optimal health? The only way to properly support your body's health is to take quality nutritional supplements.
Both Kulwinder 05 & Adam Thompson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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