Getting the most from your food
So, you made the commitment to eat better. You bought a beautiful head of broccoli home instead of potato chips. You put it in the fridge. You take it out one, two or three days later, pan fry it with some peppers and garlic in some yummy oil, and chow down.
Sounds like a pretty healthy snack, and it is compared to cheese puffs or potato chips, but it turns out that broccoli, touted for its tremendous cancer fighting and other benefits, is very quick to lose most or all of these magical healing properties within 24 hours of harvest. 24 hours!
Better solution for broccoli? Buy it local when in season, or fresh frozen where available. Best solution 鈥� grow it yourself in season. The best way to grow your own broccoli year-round is to sprout its seeds; these can be obtained online, or in many health food stores. The sprouts are reported to contain many more times the nutrients than even the fresh flower! Sprouting is easy, and can be done in any window year round. More on sprouting below.
Before the industrialization of the food industry, and certainly in ancient times, people ate only what they could find seasonally and locally. This means they may only have eaten broccoli for three or four months at most per year. There is strong evidence that we as a a species are adapted to this sort of cyclical eating, and that it may be that having access to most foods all year is detrimental to health. It is no surprise that in-season local fruit and vegetables taste far superior to their imported cousins who sat in warehouses and trucks for weeks or months, often picked well before ripe, and well before they were able to store anywhere near their maximum nutrients.
We can do better for ourselves, and our families.
You may have heard over and over about 鈥渓eafy greens.鈥�. Why are they such a 鈥渟uper-food鈥�? Tuns out that leaf lettuce, rather than head lettuce, is packed full of nutrients and anti-oxidants because each leaf has to endure the unrelenting power of the sun, the wind, the rain, and occasional insects or animals chewing on them. These leafy plants have an intelligence that defends itself toward the universal goal of survival. In fact, according to Jo Robinson in her excellent book, 鈥淓ating On The Wild Side,鈥� the best way to eat lettuce is to tear it up, wash it, and store it in refrigerator over night before eating. This allows the living leaves to triple or better their anti-oxidant content, as they think they are being devoured. My personal method is to tear the lettuce, rinse it, remove excess water with a salad spinner, and then store it in a loosely-covered bowl with a moist paper towel (filtered water). This creates a mini 鈥渃risper鈥� area so it does not dry out, nor get soggy.
In regard to nuts and seeds, some experts advocate that they should be soaked for an hour or two, or overnight. Others should be sprouted before consumption. A major argument for this is the enzyme inhibitors present in seeds and nuts. These exist to protect the seed until conditions of moisture, temperature, and sunlight are right for sprouting. If we eat them raw, which many people do, they are difficult or impossible to digest, and their enzyme inhibitors are actually toxins. Some common nuts and seeds that should be soaked are almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, cashews, chickpeas and walnuts. There are charts available for free on the internet for soak times for many nuts and seeds. Many seeds are absolutely full of nutrients that can only be accessed when they are sprouted: these include alfalfa, broccoli, mung beans, wheat grass, chia, clover, fenugreek, and spelt, to name but a few. There are special sprouting jars sold, or a large mouth storage jar with a screen cap can be used. I like the larger sprouting jars because they allow more room for taller sprouts, such as mung beans and wheat grass.
Another important topic on maximizing the benefit of our food is knowing how to store it in regard to temperature. Many foods that we often refrigerate are actually more nutrient-dense when left out on a counter (preferably cool and dry). Some of these foods are tomatoes, melons, potatoes, lemons, limes, and bananas, garlic and onions. If you have a vacuum sealer, or know how to can, many fruits and veggies such as berries can be frozen. Blanching many veggies before freezing protects nutrient content. I find many veggies benefit from a moist paper towel draped over them in the crisper drawer 鈥� this allows them to breathe but not dry out. For me, these include cabbage, beets, celery, carrots and peppers, especially after I used a portion of them and need to store the remains. I avoid plastic wraps or plastic containers when possible, as plastic is proven to leach toxins into the food. For example, I will store a cut melon inverted in a large bowl 鈥� this lets it breath, but protects the cut edge without the use of plastic.
Apples are one fruit that can be stored refrigerated in a dark location for months. Some fruits can be ripened at room temp and then refrigerated: these include mangoes, plums, peaches, and pears. Even faster is to ripen them in a brown paper bag.
As with most topics, extensive lists of food storage recommendations are easily found on the internet. For those interested, I highly recommend Jo Robinson蘑菇视频 book. I find it a handy reference.
I applaud your new or renewed commitment to eating more fresh fruit and veggies 鈥� now you can tweak your storage and usage to maximize the benefits of these vital foods to help you in your quest for slower aging, more vitality, and longer life!
Until next time, be well, and be patient with yourself: you were thrust into a world of food and food-like choices you were unaware of from the start. Please remember to teach the children as early as possible, so the next generations may enjoy increasingly better health than ours. Let蘑菇视频 leave a legacy of wellness!