|
Veggie Power - How Important Are They?
Vegetables are an integral part of our diet. The Canada Food Guide recommends 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. At Goodness Me! we recommend you get 10 servings of vegetables per day - or at least try for that many. A serving of vegetables is considered ½ cup.
|
Another way to ensure more vegetables is to count your colours. For instance in that salad at dinner alone, you can incorporate 10 colours easily. Start with mesculin mix or a variety of different lettuces. These each count as a different colour. Grate some carrot and beet on top, chop up some cucumber, tomato, cauliflower, avocado, red pepper, celery, etc. Throw in some of the delicious sunflower sprouts (available in our produce department), top it off with our flax oil dressing recipe (available in the store) and what a healthy salad you have. In this heat, I like to make the salad my main course by throwing in different protein options. You can mix them around or use combinations. Some ideas: grilled chicken, wild salmon, wild tuna, chickpeas, black soybeans, hard-boiled egg, poached egg, different cheeses, sprouts, nuts and seeds, etc.
This is the perfect time of year to go for fresh vegetables. If you don’t have them available in your garden, they are reasonable to purchase right now. Remember, organic is best. Organic soil isn’t mineral deficient like that soil that has been sprayed over and over. Organic produce at Goodness Me! has not been irradiated, genetically modified or sprayed with pesticides. If you can’t afford to purchase all of your produce organic, I always like to refer to “the dirty dozen”.
The 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables are: apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach and strawberries. The above produce you want to make sure you purchase organically especially if you are feeding it to children.
The 12 least contaminated are: asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos, onions, papaya, pineapples, peas (sweet).
Make veggies the main part of your diet this summer. They are an excellent source of fibre, full of vitamins and minerals (especially organic ones), phytonutrients and have many anti-cancer properties.
Sandy Pomeroy
The 12 most/least contaminated fruits/vegetables list is available at www.ewg.org
|
|
