Body boosters - fruit and vegetables
Nutritional science is showing why your mother was right when she told you to eat your vegetables. Johannesburg registered dietician Ashleigh Caradas says adding fruit and veggies to a meal increases its nutritional value and healthgiving properties.
"Fruit and vegetables are packed with phytochemicals, which act as antioxidants, helping the body mop up cell-damaging free radicals," she explains. "Smoking, stress, poor diet, pollution and certain medications can lead to free-radical build-up. If left unchallenged, these villains can destroy or 'oxidise' healthy cells, leading to disease.
"Phytochemicals help neutralise these free radicals and bring the body back into a state of wellness.
"Phytochemical nutrients, such as the ones in colourful fruits and vegetables, can help prevent heart disease, certain cancers and other diseases attributable to lifestyle and ageing."
Fruit and vegetables are also rich sources of minerals like magnesium, phosphorus, manganese and selenium, as well as an excellent source of vitamin C and B vitamins like folate and vitamin B6, says Caradas.
"They contain high levels of fibre, which keeps our bowels regular and helps prevent diseases of the colon. Fibre also lowers cholesterol and blood sugar."
Low in calories but high in nutritional value, fruit and vegetables also have a high water content and help hydrate the body.
How do you include more fruit and vegetables in your diet? Caradas suggests:
Try having salad or vegetables at every meal and snack on fresh fruit in between.
Invest in a good cookbook. "Some people don't eat vegetables because they don't know how to prepare them."
Add fresh or dried fruit to your morning cereal or porridge. Try berries, raisins or chopped dates.
Make a morning smoothie with low-fat yoghurt, berries, a banana and apple juice or your own combination of your favourite fruits and juices.
Invest in a good juice extractor and make freshly extracted juices like apple, pineapple, strawberry and guava. Try freshly extracted vegetable juices as well, like carrot, celery, spinach, beetroot and wheat grass.
Get creative with salads. Try adding rocket, watercress, mixed peppers, shredded cabbage, beetroot or fresh fruit to add colour and nutrients.
On cold days, warm up with a big bowl of hot vegetable soup.
Add vegetables to pasta sauces, casseroles and stews.
Source: Financial Mail
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