Mother Earth News, Feb-March, 2005 by David Feder
All legitimate roads to a healthy diet have one central crossing point: People are at their healthiest when they eat lots of fruits and vegetables as the majority of their daily food. The undeniable value of fruits and vegetables is something even the protein pushers finally acceded to last year when Atkins diet publicists acknowledged that a high intake of meat and fat is not a healthy diet. With that in mind, we present our 33 Greatest Foods you can eat for daily nutrition and a healthy body.
The study of nutrition is sometimes like the weather: If you wait five minutes, it'll change. Literally tens of thousands of nutrition studies are published every year--many of them contradictory--and hundreds of diet fads crowd the bookstores.
We reviewed the latest scientific research about which foods really are all that the studies claim and made a list of the top choices, based on flavor and wide appeal--characteristics the nutrition policy experts rarely take into account. With so many fantastic fruits, vegetables and whole grains to choose from, the selection wasn't easy. In addition to flavor, we looked at such qualifiers as nutrition density, that is, the nutritional "bang for the buck." We looked at availability--the likelihood all our readers will be able to find fresh examples of the featured food. And finally, we looked at something we call "gardenability." Because so many MOTHER EARTH NEWS readers are avid gardeners, we want to recommend foods that are easy and fun to grow, too. Use this collection as a springboard for your own common-sense approach to healthy eating and bring more of the fruits, vegetables and other foods you enjoy into your daily diet.
The bulk of our diets should be the stuff we already know as health foods: fruits and vegetables. There's no overestimating their value. The well-publicized Five-A-Day program developed by the National Cancer Institute encourages Americans to eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day, but even that number is understated. A better goal for good health is 10 a day. In studies around the world, the populations that ate the greatest amounts of fruits and vegetables, and that combined healthy eating with physical activity, are the populations with the lowest incidences of disease.
Berries and grapes. Berries--blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and mulberries--are tiny titans of flavor and nutrition. They're positively bursting with vitamins, fiber and compounds such as flavonoids, which act as antioxidants to protect against heart and vascular disease, cancer, strokes and even the infirmities of aging. Blueberries are compact sources of the antioxidant ellagic acid, a particularly powerful plant compound. Berries are one of the best sources of anthocyanins, a phytochemical that protects against disease, and which gives fruits and vegetables their alluring red, blue and purple colors. A good rule of thumb is the darker the berry, the higher the concentration of anthocyanins.
In a landmark 2002 study at Tufts University, blueberries were shown to influence reversals of defects in motor function, memory and cognition associated with aging. Rutin, another flavonoid in berries, has shown protective effects against ulcers. The antioxidant quercetin, which resides in the skins of dark berries and grapes, protects against cancers and works best when combined with vitamin C, of which berries have one of the most concentrated sources.
Although little research has been conducted on mulberries specifically, they are rich in resveratrol, another phytochemical that demonstrates cancer-preventative abilities. And like other berries, mulberries have plenty of anthocyanins. Not only is this class of natural compounds protective against cancer and cardiovascular disease, it has even shown antiviral and antibacterial properties. Not bad for a wild berry that is, in many parts of the country, free and abundant. Perhaps the best things about berries are that they can be eaten out of hand, and they go a long way toward satisfying the desire for a sweet, healthy snack.
Grapes, too, pack a lot into a little package. Another concentrated source of vitamin C, they also are among the few natural foods to store sugar in the form of glucose instead of sucrose. This makes them an especially quick and easy energy booster for when you are on the go.
Bananas and mangos. The banana, once the most popular fruit in the world, has been experiencing heavy competition from the mango. Once a hard-to-find delicacy north of the border, mangos now equal or surpass the banana in amount consumed in many areas. But don't abandon bananas. They are almost as close as you can get to a perfect food. Behind that appealing peel reposes a team of vitamins, minerals and other compounds that are unique to the ubiquitous banana. For instance, bananas contain the amino acid tryptophan, a serotonin precursor. Our body's serotonin levels are directly related to mood; lower levels can leave us listless and depressed, higher levels elevate our mood. Bananas also contain B vitamins and iron for healthy blood, and they are best known for their generous amounts of potassium and magnesium. Potassium is important for regulating a number of body functions from the kidney and blood pressure to bone health, and magnesium has been studied for its potential as a palliative for migraine headaches. Bananas also are a natural antacid and have been used for centuries to ease stomach woes ranging from nausea to ulcers.
The mango has burst upon the American scene in the past decade or so for a number of reasons--migration of ethnic populations from tropical regions, increased cultivation and lower prices--but the main reason we've fallen in love with this once-exotic treat is simple: flavor. Just peeling a sweet, juicy, ripe mango can cause fruit-induced ecstasy.
Mangos contain tryptophan, as well as powerful enzymes such as magneferin, katechol oxidase and lactase, all of which aid in digestion. And mangos are one of the better fruit sources of fiber, thiamin, riboflavin, folate and other B vitamins. Only oranges beat them for calcium, and mangos hover near the top for magnesium, iron, potassium and zinc. Then there are the antioxidant and disease-fighting compounds: Mangos are again one of the top healthy contenders with a whopping 3 grams of carotenes per 150 grams of the fruit (about 1 1/2 cups, cubed).
Dinosaur kale, chard and beet greens. The reason many leafy greens (and this includes broccoli and its sibling rapini) make most "best vegetables" lists is they just can't be beat for fiber, anticancer compounds (such as carotenoids), minerals (such as iron and selenium) and vitamins (such as A, B, C and K). And they are the best source of folate--the B vitamin that merits special attention for its role in reducing the risk of neural-tube birth defects. Still, we had to choose among the leafy green varieties, so we applied our logic of nutrient density, flavor and availability, and settled on dinosaur kale, chard and beet greens, and spinach as the top choices.
Dinosaur kale--the new star of leafy greens--heads the green group for health. Also known as 'Lacinato,' its deep-green, pebble-textured leaves are dense with carotenoids, lycopene and lutein (shown to reduce cataract risk).
Like all kale, Dino also is a mineral powerhouse with loads of iron, zinc, magnesium and potassium, plus just as much calcium as milk. Dino kale is now widely available, and a great way to prepare it is to wash and drain the greens, then lightly saute them in hot olive oil with seeded rye bread crumbs and a twist of freshly ground pepper.
Next come chard and beet greens. These nutrient-rich cou
Posted on 11/16/2007 3:30:46 PM
