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| Wednesday, October 21, 2009 |
| Mediterranean Diet & Colorful Foods for Better Health |
.jpg "Image by Flickr user LaPrimaDonna (Seeking insperation)")
Everyday I read something about how people, especially children, don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. The intent is not to blame anyone for this, but to change this situation as it will definitely have an impact on their overall health and what kind of adults they will become. More than likely if a child doesn’t eat fruits and vegetables, and does not learn to like and prepare them, they will grow up and not feed them to their children. We can definitely see a viscous circle here.
You know that I push the Mediterranean diet. I want people to try new produce, increase their consumption of fish and seafood, decrease meat and poultry consumption and for sure, decrease their consumption of processed food. Just as a starter!
So of course I was not surprised to see the results of a long term study comparing the incidence of breast cancer in post menopausal women adhering to a Mediterranean diet compared to a Western diet. “The Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer only if energy intake remains within recommendations and if ‘unhealthy’ foods are not consumed in large quantities.” The researchers were also cautious to mention “that it was difficult to determine which components of the Mediterranean pattern explain the inverse association with breast cancer risk.”
Within the same week The America’s Phytonutrient Report showed that “eight in 10 Americans are missing out on the health benefits of a diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables, resulting in a phytonutrient gap with potential health consequences”.
What produce colors are Americans falling short on? 69% fall short on green, 78% on red, 86% on white, 88% on purple and blues and 79% fall short on yellow and orange. Well, since I am an eternal optimist I have to mention that people are eating their greens, but what’s happening to the purples and blues? Don’t people eat berries, plums and grapes? I would have thought these were easy color for people to eat. Forget the purple Kool-Aid and drink Concorde grape juice instead! (Red wine in my case) Keep in mind that this wonderful report was done by Amway and they sell vitamins. Nonetheless, I encourage you to read it and share it.
So please, again I beg you to eat colorful fruits and vegetables. I believe soups are the easiest way to incorporate vegetables of all colors as you can just put them in the blender. This way kids (and not so small kids) won’t even know which vegetables are in there. Keep in mind you can use frozen vegetables to make the soups too instead of fresh.
So, when the family asks what kind of soup it is, you simply say “it’s an orange soup” or “it’s a green or red soup”. When it’s blue soup day, you can serve a chilled blueberry soup or Concorde grape juice. If your family cannot eat dinner without desserts, make the portion size smaller but always garnish with fruit. Serve more vegetables than chips to go with dips and when they ask where’s the other bag of chips, you just say you ran out. They’ll have to eat the veggies. But first and foremost someone has to set an example.
Good luck!
- Josée
Related Articles
Sensei Talks: Avoid Food Waste
Sensei Talks: Eat or drink your vegetables
Labels: fruits and vegetables, healthy tips, Josee, Mediterranean Diet
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posted by My Sensei @ Wednesday, October 21, 2009   |
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.jpg "Image by Flickr user LaPrimaDonna (Seeking insperation)")
