Green Options

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!

Which ancient grain:

• is 15 to 18% protein?
• has five times the iron as wheat?
• contains three times the fiber as wheat?
• delivers twice the calcium as milk?
• is a great source of magnesium and manganese?
• is high in linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid?
• contains both lysine and methionine, two essential amino acids usually missing from other grains?

This nutritional powerhouse is easy to prepare and can be substituted for other grains in just about any recipe. It is a gluten-free food, making it an easy choice for sufferers of celiac disease or wheat allergies to replace wheat, barley, and rye in grain-based recipes.

What is this amazing superfood?

A Healthy Taste Straight From the Amazon Rainforest

By now, most of us have heard about the high-octane health benefits of acai berries, cultivated exclusively and naturally (without pesticides or chemicals) from the Amazon rainforest. Called by some* to be the “most nutritionally dense” berries, these little jewels apparently have more antioxidants than blueberries and more heart-healthy anthocyanins than red wine. They’re also rich with protein, dietary fiber, with high levels of Omega-3, Omega-6, and Omega-9 fatty acids. Plus, they’ll reduce the prices at the gas pump. (Okay, I’m not certain about that last part….)

But the trick is getting the acai berry pulp as close to the source as possible, and without being over-processed (which depletes the nutritional value considerably). Raw acai is the only sure way to get all the benefits of the berry, and unless you’re planning a trip to Brazil anytime soon, that can be tricky. Even though I’m very mindful of “food miles” and eat locally grown foods almost exclusively, I was eager and curious to try raw acai pulp that is processed as little as is safely possible. Enter Amazonfrutas….