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[M676]Most Calories In Food

by Mario Churchill, Mar

These days, being an adult is no longer an excuse not to eat your vegetables. And if you're a pill-popping health buff, you probably know that food is still the best source of vitamins. So which foods should you stock on? Here are the different essential vitamins and the foods that are the best sources for each:

The Antioxidants
There are certain oxygen molecules that, when used by the body, become highly unstable free radicals. These free radicals are the result of oxidation and can damage healthy cells. Free radicals can either be produced by the body or by pollutants like smog and cigarette smoke. To counter the effects of free radicals, antioxidants like Vitamins A, C, E, K and beta-carotene must be taken daily.

Some of the richest sources of antioxidants are listed below:
Vitamin A (or its precursor, beta-carotene) - carrots, pumpkins, green leafy vegetables (the darker the green color, the better) like romaine and lettuce. It's also found in sweet potatoes, apricots, broccoli, spinach, squashes, grapefruit and cantaloupes. When choosing foods rich with this vitamin, pick those with the most intense colors.

Vitamin C - also known as ascorbic acid, is found in many citrus fruits like lemons and oranges. It's also found in tomatoes, strawberries, sweet potatoes, turnip greens and again, in broccoli and cantaloupe.

Vitamin E - olives, asparagus, corn, wheat germ, nuts, green leafy vegetables and vegetable oils.

Vitamin K - cereals, spinach, soybeans, cauliflower and cabbage.

The B Vitamins
B1 - often found in fortified food like cereals, pasta and breads. Also sourced from whole grains, fish, lean meat, peas, soybeans, dairy products and some fruits and vegetables.

B2 or riboflavin - milk, meat, liver, dark green vegetables, mushrooms, cereals and whole grains.

B3 or niacin - lean meats, poultry, fish, liver, dairy products, legumes, nuts and eggs. Also found in enriched cereals and breads.

Folate - green leafy vegetables and folate-fortified foods.

B12 - meat, poultry, eggs, liver, kidneys, shellfish and dairy products.

Biotin and Pantothenic acid - fish, eggs, dairy products, lean beef, whole-grain cereals, broccoli and cabbages.

Combining foods
There are certain foods that contain more than one vitamin and you can benefit from them significantly. One orange, for example, contains Vitamin C and folate and extras such as calcium, potassium and some phytochemicals. Milk contains calcium, Vitamins A, B2, B12 and D. It also contains calcium.

There are also certain foods that can be fortified with vitamins to add to their health-enhancing properties. These days, you'll find vitamin-fortified breads, cereals, pasta and rice. The availability of vitamins in food makes it nearly impossible not to have a good source of nutrients in your diet. To ensure you get all the necessary vitamins you need, eat a variety of foods from different food groups.

Cooking vitamins
There are many ways to kill vitamins and one effective way is to cook them in a lot of water. Water-soluble vitamins are especially vulnerable to hot liquid which is why many nutritionists recommend using very little water when cooking vegetables. Steaming and stir-frying are cooking methods that are often used to save valuable nutrients and keep them in the food.

Another way of making sure no vitamins are lost is to use the liquid you cooked with and turn it into gravy, sauce or use it for soups. As for fat-soluble vitamins, cooking doesn't affect them as much.

We all ingest lots of chemicals, one way or another. We breathe them, we drink them, and we eat them. The most troublesome are pesticides in produce. It makes me uncomfortable to think that while we are eating fruits and vegetables in reality we are also ingesting poisons that can accumulate in our bodies and make us very sick. This is food that supposes to be healthy and good for us!

Even if the most toxic chemicals have already been banned for use in agriculture, pesticides in general are poisons designed to kill insects, weed, small rodents and other pests. The long time effects of these poisons on people are not completely known. Even the minimal risk with these pollutants is too much, when we think we may expose children. We should try to do every effort to minimize our intake of these adverse chemicals.

Education is the key. Knowing which produce contain more pollutants can help us make the right choices, avoiding the most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least polluted, or buy organic instead. In simulation of consumers eating habits has been demonstrated that changing a little bit the eating practices can lower considerably the ingestion of pesticides.

The results of an investigation on pesticides in produce by the USDA Pesticide Data Program, show that fruits topped the list of the consistently most contaminated produce, with eight of the 12 most polluted foods. The dirty dozen are: Apples, Bell Peppers, Celery, Cherries, Imported Grapes, Nectarines, Peaches, Pears, Potatoes, Red Raspberries, Spinach, and Strawberries.

You don't like broccoli? Too bad because they are among those least contaminated. In fact the 12 least polluted produce are: Asparagus, Avocados, Bananas, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Sweet Corn, Kiwi, Mangos, Onions, Papaya, Pineapples, and Sweet Peas.

Can washing of produce help get rid of pesticides? Not really. The fruits and vegetables tested by the USDA PDP are "prepared emulating the practices of the average consumer" before testing for pesticides. That is: "(1) apples are washed with stems and cores removed; (2) asparagus and spinach have inedible portions removed and are washed; (3) cantaloupes are cut in half and seed and rinds are removed; [...] and (9) tomatoes are washed and stems removed".

Washing before consuming is highly recommended because helps decrease the pesticide residues present on the surface of the vegetables, but the majorities of pollutants are absorbed into the plant and can't be just washed away. Some pesticides are specifically created to stick to the surface of the crops and they don't come out by washing. Peeling can help eliminating some of the chemicals but not all, and a lot of important substances will be discarded with the skin.

So, on one hand we have to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables for a healthy diet, and on the other hand we have to reduce as much a possible the intake of pesticides. What to do if you are unconvinced by the claims of the chemical companies that certain levels of pesticides are not dangerous?

We have very few options to defend ourselves: (1) Wash all vegetables and fruit very well; (2) Change eating habits in order to consume more of the produce with low pollutants; (3) Consume a diet as varied as possible; (4) Buy organic foods.

Article Source : power supplements

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Both Mario Churchill & Justin Skinner 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.

Mario Churchill has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, Anger Control and Credit Cards. Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For information on the best or. Mario Churchill's top article generates over 246000 views. to your Favourites.

Justin Skinner has sinced written about articles on various topics from Kitchen Home Improvement, Join the Army and Coffee Advantages. Visit the website to learn about. Justin Skinner's top article generates over 1220000 views. to your Favourites.