Raspberries, Spinach and Tomatoes! Oh, My!

I know those three foods do NOT seem as though they go together in any way! But keep reading - you may be surprised.

Raspberries

You’ll get ellagic acid in all berries – including raspberries! It’s a powerful phytonutrient and cancer fighter. But that’s not all – they’re full of vitamins like C, B2 and B3 and minerals like magnesium, potassium, copper and manganese, which helps boost metabolism, anthocyanins, which are powerful antioxidants and they have plenty of healthy fiber to boot. Besides being a delicious fresh snack, including in your morning protein smoothie is a great idea! Speaking of snacks – you’ll find raspberries in many of the excellent raw, whole food snacks at Whole Food Farmacy.

Spinach

Popeye knew what he was doing when he made spinach his go-to food! Spinach is not only one of the most nutrient-dense foods around, but also one of the biggest nutrition values in the supermarket as well! Frozen spinach is one of those foods that gives you the most bang for your buck – nutritionally and financially!

Spinach is a low calorie, fat free, dark leafy green that is just loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals! It’s one of my staples for weight maintenance as well as overall health! I put it in my omelets and my protein smoothies in the morning. Spinach also has a component that helps you metabolize protein more effectively – so it makes any protein meal (like an omelet, burger or protein smoothie) even more powerful!

Tomatoes

Several recent studies have shown that a diet rich in tomatoes and tomato products is strongly linked to a reduced risk of certain cancers. Part of the reason is that tomatoes are rich in lycopene. Here’s a tip: heat processing of tomatoes and tomato products increases lycopene bioavailability. That just means you get more of the good stuff when you cook the tomatoes and also include a little healthy fat, like olive oil! (By the way-that makes them a great addition to your omelet too!)

They are technically a fruit and a low calorie one at that. They have other carotenes and vitamin C which make them a wonderful addition, especially if you grow your own! Nothing like a beautifully ripe, fresh tomato with a tiny bit of olive or flax oil and apple cider vinegar!

Take a Step:

If you make a protein smoothie as your breakfast in the mornings – along with your raspberries (or whatever berry you use) add some frozen, chopped spinach, which has been thawed. You’ll see the flecks of green – but it honestly doesn’t make it taste like spinach! You’ll be starting out with a super-nutritious (and delicious) meal to fuel the rest of your day! If instead you make an omelet, include some spinach and top it with some salsa! You get more ideas like this in my Nutrition-Boosting Strategies e-book.

Until next month, I wish you vibrant health!

Ann

My Top 10 Supplement Tips

Over the past few weeks I have talked about vitamins, minerals and the importance of using whole food, natural supplements to boost your nutrition and improve your overall health. This week I would like to share just a few “tips” for getting the most benefit from those supplements.

So here are my top 10:

1. Take your vitamins with your meals to increase your body’s ability to fully digest and absorb them.

2. Fat soluble vitamins (A, E, D, K) should be taken with the meal containing the most (healthy!) fat.

3. Vitamin D is best absorbed when taken with protein (a protein meal or in a protein shake).

4. Divide calcium into 500 mg. doses with your meals as your body cannot process more than that at one time. If you take a food based calcium you only need about 100 mg.

5. Always take a B-complex that contains all the B vitamins, rather than one or two. Taking B-complex with a mineral supplement that contains magnesium will enhance the function of both.

6. Do not take fiber supplements or fiber rich meal with oil supplements (fish oil, etc.) or minerals. Take those supplements separately from fiber.

7. If you take an iron supplement, it’s best assimilated when taken with vitamin C and apart from vitamin E. *Very few people need to supplement with iron and unless your doctor says you do, I would not. People, and particularly men, over 40 should never take iron as it is stored in vital organs and can cause serious harm.

8. Calcium must be balanced with magnesium and needs vitamin D to be absorbed.

9. When you take protease, the enzyme that digests protein, with your protein meal, it will help you digest your food. If you take it on an empty stomach, between meals, it will scavenge and digest proteins (bacteria, fungi) in the blood!

10. Taking your minerals at night will help mineralize your bones more effectively.

Take a Step:

Walking into a health food store and looking at the shelves of supplements can be overwhelming and cause you to throw up your hands and say, “Forget it!”

Don’t do that – it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Choosing some high quality foundational supplements is much better than buying armloads of inferior ones.
Concentrate on a quality green food to cover vitamins and minerals, fish oil and fiber source like flax seed and you have a great foundation.
Until next time I wish you vibrant health!

Ann