Posts Tagged ‘broccoli’

Alkaline Eating for Better Body Chemistry, PH Levels, and Overall Health

Going to a body and nutrition expert with my husband is one of the best things we’ve done for ourselves. What was the key take away? Warning! Turn Alkaline!

Turn Alkaline? Are we magicians? Well according to biochemists we are! You can change your body chemistry with what you eat!

Chemicals have seeped into foods, air, and water, which in turn lower our system’s ability to control the chemistry of our body fluids, increasing illness and chronic disease.

The sad fact is that most food consumption in the wealthiest nations has shifted from nutritious raw foods to low nutritional value processed foods and we need to shift it back. Now that our total biological terrain is at risk, we urgently need to do some clean up by shifting our body chemistry back to the raw, organic foods it was designed to function on as we’ve evolved.

Below I’ve listed out a quick list of the good foods (alkaline) to treat your body to often…

Vegan and Vegetarian Protein Builders

If you are a vegan and want to build up your protein intake here is a guide to grains, beans, nuts, and veggies that will help. Remember to seek out local and organic whenever possible.

 Grains and beans are a truly remarkable way to add protein to a meat and dairy free diet. Quinoa (pictured in a field above) has nine grams of protein. Tempeh is a vegan food that has 41 grams of protein in a cup. Sometimes it is made from cultured organic soybeans, water, organic barley, organic brown rice, and organic millet, like this lightlife tempeh. Here are more grain facts:

  • Quinoa (shown growing in the image above) has 9 grams of protein
  • Bulgur, cooked into cup has 6
  • Brown rice, cooked into a cup has 5

Sunflower seeds make great additions to salads. 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds (pictured below) has six grams of protein.

Can’t Get Your Kids to Eat Broccoli? Try This Fast and DELICIOUS Recipe

One of the biggest challenges to getting people to eat healthier, especially kids, is the perception that the food’s just not going to be as tasty as fast food that’s loaded with sodium, bad fats, cholesterol and refined products.

The key is to make the food taste absolutely fantastic.  Try this recipe for broccoli, for example.

Fighting Skin Cancer with Broccoli and Cabbage

Mom always said, “Eat your broccoli. It’s good for you.”  Now I’m a mom, and I’m a broccoli-pusher too. 

It’s not just lip service; broccoli and its cruciferous cousins really are good for you. It’s already been demonstrated that vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and kale, when chewed and digested, release chemical compounds that may inhibit the growth of breast cancer and prostate cancer cells.  These same chemicals (diindolylmethane, or DIM) may help to boost immune systems as well.

Cancer research now indicates that compounds extracted from cruciferous greens, when combined with selenium, form a drug that may be safer and more effective than traditional therapy in targeting melanoma, the most severe form of skin cancer.

In Season: Mid-to-Late Spring Cole Crops

pcauliflower2.jpgBroccoli and cauliflower are the same plant. The different varieties are called cultivars. The plants have been selectively cultivated to enhance certain characteristics not unlike breeds of dogs, for example. All dogs, be they Chihuahua or St. Bernard are the same species.

The plant, Brassica oleracea, can be found in such cultivars as white, orange, yellow and purple cauliflower, the beautiful, green Romanesco cauliflower, broccoli, and the cross-variety of brocciflower. These varieties often available at farmers markets in the U.S. are just being introduced into the market in the U.K.

As with other members of the cruciferous vegetables (kale, cabbage, mustard greens), cauliflowers and broccoli are nutrient-dense. The colored varieties have been shown to be higher in some nutrients, their color is a good indication of the nutrient content. Gold cauliflower is higher in beta-carotene and the purple variety is higher in the same anthocyanins that make blueberries and red cabbage healthy. (Recipe for Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad after the jump).

Weekend Grub: Summer Vegetable Risotto

Summer Vegetable Risotto
Use this recipe as a model for many of your favorite seasonal vegetables, so long as those on the sturdy side (bell peppers, artichoke hearts, broccoli, beets) are precooked until not quite tender, either by blanching, steaming, or roasting. As a general rule, for every cup of rice, you will need about 3 cups of simmering broth.

Cooking time: The total cooking time from the first addition of liquid

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