Category — Fruit

Want to know my vote for the most healthy and refreshing drink ever?

A chilled, fresh coconut. If you’ve never tried one, you’ve got to experience the bliss. They are so sweet and delicious you can’t believe it’s pure nature. And whatever you’ve heard about coconut being fattening or bad for you in anyway is completely wrong. I’ve read so much about coconut water, it’s meat and oils that it’s got me believing it’s a super food. I’ve heard testamonies from people that claim that eating a spoonful of cocnut oil every day has not only improved the look and feel of their skin and hair, but also helped them lose weight! These were not quacks or salesmen, but real live friends standing in front of me with glowing skin and svelt bodies. For a full list of the benefits of coconut check out the coconut research center.

Coconuts can be found at health food and grocery stores. They are also popular at Thai restaurants. You should be able to buy them for $1-4. If you can have them pre-cut, I recommend you do. If you don’t have them prepared in advance, you’re going to need a butcher knife to hack into it. Once you drink the juice, the meat can be scooped out and eaten. Make sure you serve them chilled.

Imagine a Tiki-style party this summer. Or just enjoy the benefits yourself after a long day’s work. The coconuts can be a fun drink for kids and adults alike, so get one for each member of the family.

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If there’s one thing a chef doesn’t like, it’s a picky eater. It seems like a battle that just can’t be won and many moms have already tried. Having picky children can leave you a bit worried about your kid’s health, but studies have shown that the diets of picky children weren’t too different from healthy-eating children – besides the fact that the picky eaters didn’t consume as much fiber and calcium.

For the moms who have a picky eater at home, there are some things you can do to ensure your kid eats. First off, when doing business with children, you need to learn some psychology. Make them feel like they’re getting their way when in reality you’re getting yours. A great example is serving them dessert for breakfast. The idea is to make them feel like they’re getting something yummy – this can be from fresh fruits, cottage cheese or even eggs and plain yogurt.

Then you can try sneaking in some healthy foods. For protein, you can serve peanut butter, nuts, egg salad, boiled eggs, rice pudding or chicken salad. Then for veggies you can give your kid a V8 Splash fruit juice, veggie lasagna or some carrots and cheese in tortilla bread. Other ideas include granola and yogurt (like the parfait) or veggies with ranch dip. If you have a blender, fruit smoothies are fun to make and drink. You can even get creative and let them create their own pizza.

Recipe for fruit smoothie (get creative with the fruits!):

1 banana, cut into chunks
4 strawberries, stemmed and cut into chunks
8 oz. milk
1 TBSP almond butter
2 tsp. maple syrup

Pour the fruits into the blender, pour in the milk, then add the almond butter and syrup. Turn on the blender until the contents are smooth.

Speaking of blenders, you can also try the smother attack; this is when you puree all types of foods with a food processor (the idea is to place veggies, fruits and other healthy foods into nonsuspecting items). You could blend veggies in foods like brownies and cakes or grind up broccoli and zucchinis in pasta or pizza. Get creative with your cooking skills!

Red wine has been credited with health attributes from slimming down to lowering cholesterol. Imagine my surprise when I read in an article in Mother Earth News that it may also fight cancer. That’s because the most powerful cancer-fighting compound we can get from food is resveratrol, found in the skin and seeds of red grapes. Apparently, resveratrol not only protects the heart but also has been proven to help fight cancer in it’s early reversible stage by preventing cancer cells from developing and growing.

Red wine might be the most fun way to get these amazing benefits, but eating the grapes or drinking plain grape juice is just as good. A tip when buying grapes is to choose the seeded variety for maximum health benefit. If you chew and swallow the seeds as well as the skin and pulp you get the added plus of an antioxident called oligomeric proanthocyanidin which researchers claim slows the aging process and protects the skin and internal organs from the bad effects of stress and toxins.

I love when my evening relaxation habits turn out to have proven health benefits. We can all rest assured that there are some things that are fun and taste good that are also good for you!

As if I haven’t given you enough reasons to get out to your local farmer’s market and take advantage of all the fruits and vegetables that are in season right now, here’s another one.  It’s been scientifically proven that they help prevent and fight cancer.
These are the health-promoting compounds that occur naturally in foods:

• Anthocyanidins – Antioxidants with anti-inflammatory properties.  Think purple: beets, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, red grapes and purple cabbage.

• Carotenoids – protect vital fatty acids and enhance immune response.  Good sources: apricots, carrots, dark leafy greens, yams, squash, and tomatoes.

• Lutein – an antioxidant that helps protect cells and maintains health of eyes, heart, skin, and breasts and cervix in women.  Go green: spinach, collard greens, kale, leeks, peas and romaine lettuce

• Lycopene – reduces risk of prostate cancer in men.  Overall, it’s also a potent antioxidant and prevents damage to DNA.  Tomatoes have the highest percentage of lycopene; other food sources include watermelon, pink grapefruit and guava juice.

• Sulfer compounds – may help remove cancer -causing agents from your body as well as improve estrogen balance.  Mr. Mustard Family: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard greens, radishes, and turnips

The easiest way to make sure you’re selecting a good mix of cancer-fighting fruits and vegetables is by observing the colors: purple, orange, dark green and pink/red.  A mix like this is not only pleasing to your body but also to your eye.

I’ve always had this idea that I could hook a stationary bike to my home electricity to create some of my own power. I’m no engineer, but it looks like I’m also not the only one who’s had this type of crazy idea.

Want an alternative to a basic blender? Check out the B3 Blenders. They connect to your outdoor peddler to make your favorite ice cold drink. Imagine if you had a smoothies or better yet, a Margarita waiting for you after that summer work out? I’d be cycling all the way to Kansas!

When we get together on the farm one of everybody’s favorite homemade delights is my mom’s strawberry preserves.

The secret according to her is not the recipe. She uses Sure Gel and follows their instructions. The Indiana-know-how tip on it is to freeze it in plastic containers rather than put the wax on top and can it. This is because, for some reason, the consistency and flavor changes with the preserves when waxed. If it’s frozen and thawed it tastes the same as it did when it was freshly made and that’s freakin’ sweet!

Looks like I was on to something even more news worthy with my July 4th post.

Dr. Bhimu Patil reports, “The more we study watermelons, the more we realize just how amazing a fruit it is in providing natural enhancers to the human body. Beneficial ingredients in watermelon and other fruits and vegetables are known as phyto-nutrients, naturally occurring compounds that are bioactive, or able to react with the human body to trigger healthy reactions. In watermelons, these include lycopene, beta carotene and the rising star among its phyto-nutrients – citrulline – whose beneficial functions are now being unraveled. Among them is the ability to relax blood vessels, much like Viagra does.”

My husband eats like a watermelon a day. Too bad I’m already knocked up! Watermelon season seems like prime time to conceive!

The time is ripe! ‘Tis the season to enjoy fruit fresh from the vine. But have you heard any information lately that’s swayed you away from eating your favorite, sweet pick? They’re dirty lies, I tell you. I like to keep myself up to date with all the latest health information. One book I’ve read recently is The PH Miracle, which claims that an alkaline diet is the cure for most every disease. This may be true. What’s certain is that the average American diet consists of too many acidic foods – foods high in animal fat, refined sugars and processed foods. This makes sense to me. But I am forced to question the rationale that fruit, in it’s natural state, is acidic because of it’s high sugar content, thus bad for you. For a new perspective that may dispel your fruit worries check out Frederic Patenuade’s fruit report. He doesn’t quote specific scientific facts but some of his theories may make sense to you. Call me the anti-Christ, but I have trouble believing that these scrumptious gifts from nature are the devil’s work. How about you?

After all that barbeque this 4^th of July, possibly the best thing you can grab for dessert is a healthy slice of watermelon. It’s low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium and also a very good source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. If you want to try something new and absolutely delightful with this 4^th of July tradition, squeeze some fresh lime juice on it. It takes the flavor to a gourmet level and increases your vitamin C count for added health benefits. If you’ve been asked to bring a dessert to this year’s All-American shindig, this might be the easiest, healthiest and most appealing dish of them all. It will certainly be the most refreshing!

A team of Belgium scientists recently tested 29 different fruits and vegetables to see what happens to their antioxidant capacity over time. Details of the study can be found here. Interestingly, most of the fruits and vegetables had stable levels of antioxidants even after visual signs of spoilage began and many actually expressed higher levels of antioxidants as they began to spoil. So apparently there must be some sweet spot between fresh-off-the-vine and rancid where you get the most health benefits without causing yourself to hurl.

Not surprisingly, I’ve decided not to optimize my fruit and vegetable intake to take advantage of this new insight. Taste trumps nutrition in this case – especially since the difference was usually not that much (except for onions, see below*). But it’s good to know that even if you don’t have a garden or have a farmer’s market nearby that you can get the same (maybe even more) nutritional value from the fruits and vegetables at your local supermarket.

* There where some notable fruits and vegetables that you do want to eat as fresh as possible. These include apricots, spinach, bananas, broccoli and leeks. In contrast, the vegetable with the biggest increase over time was the onion, which continually increased its antioxidant capacity over time – after 23 days onions had over 10 times more than they had when they were fresh!