Food combos to enhance your health

What foods should we eat together?  How do some foods help our health when eaten together?  Environmental Nutrition has an interesting article on Food Synergy Boosts Nutrition.  What food combos should you eat together to boost your nutrition?

1. Add some fat to your salads – so many times we hear, “cut the fat” out of our diets.  Yes, we should cut the fried food but healthy fats we need to add to our diet.  Especially when we are eating salads. 
a.       SALAD + FAT – forget the fat-free salad dressing and reach for reduced fat or full fat dressing.  Why?  Salads, such as mixed spring salad mix are loaded with vitamins like vitamin A, E, K and folate.  They are also loaded with antioxidants. To best absorb these healthy nutrients, we need some fat in the meal.  A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that some fat on your salad improved absorption of antioxidants like lutein and the vitamins A,E,K and beta-carotene.  Not surprising since these are fat-soluble vitamins and they need some fat to be absorbed. 

•    Nuts – sprinkle some chopped walnuts, slivered almonds or other nuts on your salad.  Another way to add some healthy fat.
•    So when choosing a salad dressing for your salad, make sure it has some fat in it.  Salad dressings made with olive oil are a good choice.
•  Avocado – full of heart healthy fat.  Add some chopped or sliced avocado for a real nutritional boost.  WebMD notes that adding avocado to a salad increasing absorption of carotene and lutein.  Carotene helps protect against cancer and heart disease and lutein promotes eye health.

 

      2.   Yogurt + Fruit – eating yogurt for probiotics is a great way to boost your nutrition.  Our gut is full of bacteria, but adding the healthy bacteria in probiotics promotes a healthier gut and a healthier immune system.  But one actually needs to “feed” these probiotics.  What do they eat? FIBER.  When you snack on yogurt or have yogurt with a meal, make sure that meal has some fiber in it.  Fruit is a great way to add fiber to a lunch or a snack of yogurt.  Yogurt + blueberries, yogurt + raspberries.  Or add some whole grain crackers to the lunch or snack.  Add some chopped nuts to the yogurt.  All these choices will add fiber which will “feed” those healthy probiotic bacteria.

     3.  Vitamin C + iron – we all need iron in our day.  Iron essential picks up the oxygen in your lungs and takes it to your cells.  But to better absorb the iron in our foods, we need some vitamin C.  Eating a bowl of Cheerios?  Drink a glass of OJ to help you absorb the iron in the Cheerios.  Many vegetables provide iron but this iron is not as well absorbed as the iron in meats.  Having spinach, a whole grain English muffin?  Add some “C” to the meal to help get that iron in your system.  To add some “C” to a salad, add tomatoes, green pepper, red pepper, broccoli, some tangerine slices.  All citrus provides “C” so a great way to add iron.  When shopping recently, I saw a package of 3 rainbow peppers – yellow, orange and red.  The young mother said her kids loved the rainbow colors and they liked eating the rainbow.  Adding this rainbow of colors to salad would easily boost the “C” and help the iron be absorbed.

Add peppers to salads, omelets

 4.  Blueberries + Strawberries – both of these fruits are full of antioxidants and super healthy.  Many nutritionists call blueberries a “super food”.  But did you know combining these fruits results in even bigger boost to your health?  Other fruit combos also provide health benefits.  Enjoy an apple and a Clementine, make a mixed fresh fruit cup, add combos of fruit to a smoothie.  

5. Green Tea + Lemon – Green tea is an easy way to add some antioxidants to your day without adding any calories.  An even more potent health booster is to put some lemon in your tea.  At a restaurant this week, I choose green tea and then reached for the lemon slices but they were out.  I took the time to ask them to refill the lemon slice container as I not only like the taste of lemon in my tea – I like the healthy boost that a little lemon provides.  The lemon helps our body absorbs more of the antioxidants in the green tea. 

Some easy food combos to try this week.  Strawberries and blueberries will be in season soon so remember to combine these as a super healthy snack.  Reach for the lemon when enjoying a cup of tea. 

When shopping this week, buy some salad dressing with a healthy fat in it like olive oil.  Easy ways to give your health a nutrition boost.

Sources:  Food Synergy Boosts Nutrition, study, avocado, fruits, lemon  Images:  Peppers, walnuts, blueberries