Green Options

Most of us know that we are supposed to eat our greens in order to stay healthy. However, eating fruits and vegetables in every color of the rainbow is the real key to making sure you are getting all the nutrients your body needs. By eating a colorful palette of produce every day, you’ll be giving your body phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are a plant-based substance that is shown to help prevent disease, cancer and the effects of aging. The brighter and more intense the color, the stronger the phytonutrients are. Each color group provides us with different important nutrients. How many colors did you eat today?

Studies have shown that many illnesses (including several types of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease) are largely influenced by chronic inflammation in the body.

Prolonged inflammation causes the immune system to become off balance, and can result in damage to healthy tissue.

Poor diet is a main contributor to chronic inflammation, but several lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise, and excessive stress can promote inflammation as well.

Many health and nutrition experts are now starting to emphasize the importance of following an anti-inflammatory diet.

Here are a few tips to get you started on your way to less inflammation and better health:

When researchers at Tufts University analyzed 60 fruits and vegetables for their antioxidant capacity, blueberries came out on top.

This wonderful little superfood is not only delicious, but also packed with phytonutrients that help neutralize free radical damage in the body.

Here is a simple and delicious recipe to help include more blueberries in your diet:

(This recipe is easily made vegan by substituting vegan margarine for the butter, soymilk for the milk, and making sure to use vegan sugar.)

Kale has more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost any other food.

This superfood can be found in most grocery stores all year round, but is truly in season from the middle of winter to the first part of spring.   During this time it tastes its best, and is most widely available.

Kale, (along with its relatives such as Brussels sprouts, collard greens, and cabbage) is full nutrients such as vitamins A, C, and E, fiber, calcium, manganese, and loaded with sulfur containing phytonutrients which have been shown to protect against many kinds of cancer including breast and ovarian.

Try adding kale to soups, casseroles, and salads… or whip up a batch of crunchy kale chips.  They make a great guilt free snack the whole family will enjoy!

Take your health and beauty to the next level with superfoods!

From dietitians to raw food gurus, superfoods have been promoted as the fountain of health and youth.

While I can’t vouch for the fountain of health and youth claim, I have experienced the extra vitality that comes from eating these nutrient-dense foods.

There is no formal definition for the term superfoods, but they are generally described as being especially nutritious, with bio-active compounds and special health benefits not available from other foods. Superfoods are the foods with high levels of phytonutrients and antioxidants, and they possess a superior nutritional profile.

Adding some of these foods into your diet is one more way to support your body’s natural health and beauty.