Tomato

There has been confusion over the tomato's categorization. Technically it is a berry, a subset of the fruit family. But people usually think of it as a vegetable because it is more savory than sweet. And nutritionally speaking, the tomato is categorized as a vegetable. And funny enough- the tomato is the state vegetable of New Jersey, and it is the state fruit of Ohio!

Tomatoes grow on a yellow flowering plant that spreads out in vines. The tomato is native to South America but it is grown around the world including the Middle East and Europe. In 2008 China was the largest worldwide tomato producer.

Different Types

There are about 7,500 tomato varieties. They can range in type and size from the 5mm cherry tomato to the 4in beefsteak tomato. Most tomatoes are about 2-2.4 inches. Most tomatoes are red, but other colors including yellow, pink, green, black, multicolored, and striped are available. Plum tomatoes are elongated and grown for canning and sauces. Roma tomatoes comes from the Sacramento Valley. Cherry tomatoes are small and round and often eaten whole in salads. Grape tomatoes are small and oblong, and also used in salads. Campari tomatoes are known for their juiciness and lack of mealiness, size-wise they are in between cherry and plum tomatoes.

Health Benefits

Tomatoes are most known for heart health benefits and anticancer properties. Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which is a strong antioxidant. It prevents cancer, improves the skin's ability to protect itself from harmful rays, and protects against neurodegenerative diseases. Tomatoes are rich in vitamins A, B, C, E, K, and minerals iron, copper, phosphorus. Other tomato benefits include lowering LDL cholesterol, preventing blood clotting, reducing inflammation, maintaining bone health, maintaining blood sugar, and slowing the aging process. Unlike most other produce, tomatoes are better for you when cooked. Its nutrients are better absorbed by the body when the tomato cells are broken down.

Tomato Interactions

• Tomato is better absorbed by the body when eaten with fat such as olive oil.
• If you cook tomato sauce in a cast iron pot, the acidity of the tomato sauce combined with the iron will increase the iron content of the food
• If you consume tomato with clams, the high iron content of the clams are better absorbed by your body (think Manhattan Clam Chowder)

Food Safety

Cut tomatoes are one of the most potentially hazardous foods. The moisture and acidity is a breeding ground for bacteria. Try to only cut enough tomato that you will be eating. If you have to save cut tomatoes, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, store in the back of the fridge, and use within 24 hours.

Tomato Recipes

Healthy Tomato Sauce

Roma Tomato Salad

Tomato Paprika Salad Dressing

Favorite Summer Sandwich

Homemade Vegetable Juice (if you have a juicer)

Blueberries

Blueberries are fruit that grow on a flowering bush native to North America. They are also grown in Europe and Asia. Blueberries sold as "wild" are just a smaller species called lowbush blueberries. The larger more common ones are called highbush blueberries. The largest producer of blueberries in the world is Maine, in fact the official fruit of the state is the wild blueberry. The season for blueberries is from May to September.

Health Benefits

Blueberries are high in manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K, iron, potassium, and fiber. Blueberries have a low glycemic index. They are rich in anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, resveratrol, flavonols, and tannins, which are all linked to reducing inflammation and risk of cancer. Wild blueberries are higher in these compounds than the highbush species. Other health benefits of blueberries include decreased risk of Alzheimer's disease, decreased aging, lowering LDL cholesterol, and decreased risk for heart disease. There are also links to blueberries decreasing brain damage after stroke and preventing urinary tract infections. Blueberries may also enhance memory, reduce blood sugar, reduce blood pressure, enhance nighttime vision, and reduce depression symptoms.

Selection & Storage

Blueberries don't ripen once they are picked. Blueberries with a reddish/purplish tinge are not as ripe and will be more sour than sweet. Completely blue blueberries are fully ripe. The silvery shimmery coating is normal- it is a natural protectant. Things to avoid are soft, mushy berries, and stained or leaky containers. When you bring your blueberries home store them in the refrigerator. Only wash the serving you are going to eat- moisture will make the berries spoil quicker. Blueberries should stay fresh in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

Should you buy organic?

TheDailyGreen.com ranked blueberries as #5 on their Dirty Dozen list in 2010- which lists foods with the highest pesticide residue after washing. Blueberries are treated with as many as 52 pesticides, and therefore one of the dirtiest berries you can buy. So it may be worth it to splurge on blueberries and buy them organic.

Blueberry Recipes

Berry Pizza

Summer Salad with Blueberries

Grilled Chicken with Blueberry Basil Salsa

Blueberry Breakfast Shake (Add a scoop of unsweetened protein powder for a more balanced breakfast)

Blueberry Protein Oatmeal

Chocolate

Chocolate... the healthy sweet! Chocolate comes from the cacao bean, which grows on trees in the tropical regions of Mexico and Central and South America. Have you ever been to Hershey Park, Pennsylvania to see the chocolate tour? It is so interesting and fun I recommend it. After the cacao beans are harvested, they are fermented, roasted, and shelled to remove a nib. (You can purchase cacao nibs- they have a very bitter taste almost comparable to strong wine). So then the nibs are ground to powder, mixed with liquid to form liquor, and then either created into cocoa solids or cocoa butter.

Unsweetened chocolate is chocolate liquor and fat.

Cocoa Powder is pulverized chocolate liquor with the cocoa butter removed.

Dark Chocolate is cocoa solids, cocoa butter, fat, and sugar.

Milk Chocolate is dark chocolate plus milk.

White Chocolate is cocoa butter, sugar, and milk.

Semisweet Chocolate is dark chocolate with less sugar.

Bittersweet Chocolate is cocoa solids, cocoa butter, a small amount of sugar, vanilla, and lecithin.

Compound Chocolate is cocoa, vegetable fat, and sweetener. Since it doesn't contain cocoa butter it technically isn't chocolate. This confection is cheaper than chocolate, and may contain hydrogenated oil (trans fat). Candy made with compound chocolate include Girl Scout cookies (Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas, All Abouts), Butterfinger, and Baby Ruth candy bars.

Health Benefits

Chocolate, or more specifically- cocoa contains theobromine and phenethylamine. Both of these compounds have been linked to increasing serotonin levels in the brain. Dark chocolate is linked to lowered blood pressure. It is rich in antioxidants- in fact minimally processed dark chocolate contains more antioxidants than blueberries, green tea, or red wine. Chocolate alsocontains a flavonoid called epicatechin. This compound inhibits platelet aggregation and causes blood vessels to dilate (reducing risk of blood clots). You may reduce your risk of heart attack by eating a small amount of dark chocolate regularly. However be careful what type of chocolate you consume- flavonoids are removed from commercial chocolate because they have a bitter taste. Also, milk deactivates the antioxidants and flavonoids in chocolate, so eating milk chocolate, or drinking milk with dark chocolate will result in less absorption of these compounds.

Other suggested benefits of chocolate include

• Anticancer
• Brain stimulator
• Cough preventor
• Antidiarrhoeal
• Aphrodisiac
• Muscle recovery after workouts
• Nootropic= memory enhancing, delays brain function decline during aging
• Help in treating diabetes (low glycemic index)
• Help in treating dementia

Theobromine

This compound is what gives chocolate a stimulant effect. Theobromine is more potent in animals- its use in horse racing is prohibited, and it is toxic to cats and dogs (the reason you shouldn't feed chocolate to them). White chocolate, which doesn't contain cocoa solids, only has minimal amounts of theobromine and caffeine, and therefore does not provide a stimulant effect. Chocolate also contains caffeine, but you would need to eat more than a dozen chocolate bars to get the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee.

Minerals

Chocolate is rich in minerals including magnesium, copper, potassium, and iron. Unsweetened chocolate and dark chocolate are highest in these minerals. One average dark chocolate bar contains about 12% of the DV for magnesium.

Chocolate Recipes

Spiced Hot Dark Chocolate

Banana Split Oatmeal Replace quick oats with steel cut oats, semi-sweet chocolate chips with dark chocolate, and peanuts with walnuts

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Oats

Oats are a species of grain which are usually either rolled into oatmeal or ground into flour. Oats are also used for livestock feed, brewing beer, and in skin products. Oats are grown around the world in temperate zones, including North American, Europe, and Russia. Oat florets:

Health Benefits

Oat bran, which is the outer husk of the grain, is rich in fiber and minerals. Some oat products such as rolled oats and steel cut oats include the bran. You can also find oat bran cereal, which is just the bran and excludes the other parts of the oat. The soluble fiber in the bran is linked to lowering LDL levels and reducing the risk of heart disease. Once eaten, soluble fiber absorbs water and forms a gel, which slows digestion, lowers cholesterol, and promotes colon health.

Oat is the only grain containing avenalin as the major protein. Oat protein is similar to soy protein in quality.

Types of Oats

Steel cut, also called Irish or Scotch oats, are cut up whole grain oats. They are not processed or cooked prior to packaging. They take a while to cook (about 30 minutes) and have a hearty, chewy texture.

Old fashioned rolled oats are steamed and rolled prior to packaging. They are quicker to cook than steel cut and have a softer, creamier texture.

Quick oats, also called instant oatmeal, are precooked, dried, and rolled. They cook very quickly, usually by just adding hot water or microwaving for a minute or so. The texture is very soft and creamy. This type of oatmeal is usually sold with added flavoring and sweetener.

The longer a food is precooked and processed, the less fiber and nutrients it will contain. So steel cut oats contain the most nutrients, followed by old fashioned oats, and instant oatmeal contains the least. A 1/4 of a cup serving of steel cut oats (measured prior to cooking) contains 8 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, and 0 grams of sugar. One packet of instant oatmeal contains 3 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein, 0 grams of sugar for plain, and 13 grams of sugar for the flavored varieties. However even the sugarless instant oatmeal will convert to sugar in your body faster than the steel cut oat because of the degree of processing and the fiber content. Therefore steel cut oats will keep you satisfied longer, and won't disrupt the body's blood sugar levels as drastically.

Oat Recipes

Muesli with Apples and Almonds

Flaxseed Granola

Pumpkin Oat Bran Muffins

Oatmeal Salmon Patties

Skin Care Oatmeal Recipes

Spinach

Spinach! Spinach is loaded with vitamins and is one of the most nutrient dense foods... which are the opposite of empty-calorie foods. It provides substantial vitamins and minerals in a small amount of calories.

Spinach Health Benefits

Spinach is rich in vitamin K, the coagulation vitamin. Along with vitamin D and magnesium, Vitamin K is essential for calcium absorption into the bone. The vitamin C and beta carotene in spinach has been connected to colon cancer prevention, decreased inflammation, and protection of the brain from age-related decline. A study from the Journal of Experimental Neurology (May 2005) showed that rats fed diets with spinach and blueberries lost a lot fewer brain cells after a stroke, and recovered significantly more than rats without spinach and blueberry diets. The most impressive part of this was the rats' diets were only 2% spinach and blueberries!

One cup of spinach includes:

• 200% of the DV of vitamin K
• 56% of the DV for vitamin A, which prevents cholesterol oxidation.
• 3% of the DV for Calcium. However the oxalate in spinach binds to calcium and decreases the absorption. In fact only about 5% of the calcium in spinach is effectively absorbed by the body.
• 0.3 mg Manganese, a mineral which helps lower high blood pressure and protects against heart disease.
• 58 mcg Folate, which brings down blood homocysteine levels. High homocysteine levels are related to heart disease, stroke, and dementia.
• 24 mg Magnesium
• 0.8 mg Iron
• 14% of the DV for vitamin C, which also prevents cholesterol oxidation.
• Quercetin, an anti-inflammatory compound.
• 13 flavonoids, which have antioxidant and anticancer roles
• Neoxanthin- a carotenoid that destroys prostate cancer cells and prevents replication
• Lutein- a carotenoid that protects the eye from disease and vision loss. However you need to eat spinach with a fat (perhaps some olive oil) in order to ensure full absorption of lutein.
• Kaempferol, a flavonoid. A study done by the Nurses Health Study between 1984 and 2002 of about 67,000 women showed that women with high intakes of kaempferol had a 40% reduced risk of ovarian cancer
• Only 7 kcal!

Spinach Basics

Spinach is an edible flowering plant native to central and southwestern Asia. It belongs to the same family as beets and chard. Spinach is available year-round, however its season is from March to May and September to October. During this time spinach will be the freshest, have the best flavor, and cost the least.

Did You Know?

In 1533 Catherine de'Medici from Florence Italy became the Queen of France. She loved spinach so much that she insisted it be served at every meal. Now dishes including spinach are called "Florentine." During this time spinach was used to fortify wine and given to soldiers to prevent hemorrhage because of its high iron content.

Selection & Storage

Pick spinach that is dark and green. Avoid spinach with that is yellow, wilted, or slimy. Don't wash or cook spinach before you store it. Store it in a plastic bag in your crisper and use within five days (for optimal freshness, taste, and nutrient content).

Spinach Recipes

Spinach Banana Smoothie

Spinach Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms (Use 1.5 lb of raw spinach instead of 15 oz of frozen)

Oprah's Green Drink (Good way to get your veggies, especially spinach, if you don't care for eating them whole. You could get creative and add in greens like kale and collard, and experiment with different fruit)

Hearty Spinach & Chickpea Soup

Summer Greens Bruschetta (Summer is right around the corner! Use 3/4 lb of spinach and 1/4 lb of arugula for added spiciness)

Baby Spinach and Raspberry Salad

Oatmeal Spinach Meatballs

References:

USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory

Wikipedia

The World's Healthiest Foods

Brown, A. (2008). Understanding Food. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Bowden, J. P. (2007). The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press

Almonds

Contrary to popular belief, eating fat doesn't make you fat! The healthy fat in almonds has actually been linked to weight loss. Many studies have shown that people who eat the most nuts also tend to have the lowest body mass index (BMI). The trick is to eat them raw and not by the pound! Other health benefits of almonds include:

• May reduce the risk of heart disease
• Reduce bad cholesterol (LDL), while maintaining the healthy kind (HDL)
• Related to decreased risk of cancer
• Related to longer life span
• Promote healthy skin and hair
• Maintain healthy blood glucose levels
• Antioxidant properties

Almonds are made up primarily of monounsaturated fatty acids. One ounce (about 23 whole kernels) of raw almonds contain:

• 76 mg of magnesium (19% of the DV). Magnesium helps the body absorb calcium, and also has a role in formation of bones and teeth. It prevents abnormal blood clotting, may lower the risk of heart attacks and stroke, and helps maintain proper muscle function.
• 7 mg of vitamin E (35% of the DV). Vitamin E prevents oxidation of vitamin A and other fats within the body. Since it limits the oxidation of LDl cholesterol it may help prevent heart disease. Vitamin E may also play a role in cancer prevention since it protects against the damaging effects of free radicals. Vitamin E also promotes healthy skin and hair.
• 80 mg of calcium (8% of the DV)
• 164 kcal
• 6 g of protein
• 3.5 g of fiber

Did you know?

Almonds actually aren't a nut, but a drupe. A drupe is a fruit with an outer skin layer, a shell, and a seed inside. Almonds grow from a small flowering tree native to the Middle East. The almond flower (courtesy of Wikipedia):

Almond Milk

You can make homemade almond milk by blending together 3-4 tbsp of raw almonds with 1 cup of water. You can also add some sweetener. Keep in the fridge and use within 5-7 days. Perfect in smoothies, with cereal, or used to prepare oatmeal.

Almond Oil

Almond oil has a high smoke point (495 degrees F) so it can be used in all types of cooking. However heating it destroys the wonderful almond-flavor so it is best used in salads and cold dishes.

Recipe Ideas:

Couscous with Almonds

Almond Hot Chocolate & Chocolate-Covered Almonds (for more antioxidants and to reap the blood-pressure-lowering benefits, use dark chocolate)

Black Bean Almond Pesto Chicken

Cherry Almond Smoothie

Tilapia Crusted with Almonds (for a healthier version use 3 tbsp of canola oil instead of butter, and for lower calories use 1/4 cup of Eggbeaters instead of a real egg)

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

References:

USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory

Wikipedia

Brown, A. (2008). Understanding Food. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Bowden, J. P. (2007). The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press

Pineapple

Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits. I like having it around this time of year, towards the end of winter because it reminds me of warm, tropical weather. The peak season for pineapple is November through August. Pineapple is native to Paraguay and Brazil but is grown in most tropical regions including Hawaii and Mexico. I took this picture of the pineapple plant in Costa Rica two years ago.

How to pick a ripe pineapple at the food store or market:

Once a pineapple is picked it does not get sweeter as it ripens. The outside will turn from green to yellow, and likewise will increase in juiciness, but not sweetness. A ripe pineapple will be plump and will have a sweet pineapple scent. The pineapple shouldn't have any soft spots and the leaves on top should be fresh and green.

How to cut a pineapple:

There are many ways to cut a pineapple and after experimenting on my own I have found what I believe to be the easiest way. I am not very good with a knife (kind of clumsy) so this is definitely the simple way. Using a Chef's knife slice off the top and base of the fruit. Then slice the fruit in half horizontally (not lengthwise). Lay each half fruit-side down and then chop off the skin circling the fruit. What you are left with is the edible portion on the outside and the tough core in the middle. You can see the different between these by the grain of the pineapple, and also by the ease at which the knife cuts into it. Slice off the "meat" into four big pieces, and throw out the core. Now chop into bite-size pieces. Repeat with the other half.

Health benefits of pineapple:

Pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain, which aids in digestion, wound healing, and reducing inflammation. Bromelain may be effective in treating bruises, fractures, and strains by reducing inflammation and pain. A study conducted at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Australia found that a compound in pineapple may fight cancer growth. One cup of fresh pineapple contains:

• 91% of the DV for manganese. Manganese is a trace mineral that aids in carbohydrate metabolism and antioxidant protection.
• 94% of the DV for vitamin C. This vitamin functions in collagen, hormone, and neurotransmitter synthesis, as well as some antioxidant affects. Vitamin C may also play a role in recycling vitamin E within the body.
• 8% of the DV for thiamin. Thiamin is a coenzyme in carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism.
• 2 grams of fiber

Pineapple recipes:

Caribbean-Fruity-Salsa

Pineapple Parfait (try to use fresh pineapple instead of canned)

Pineapple Fruit Boat

Jamaican Shrimp & Pineapple Salad

References:

Balch, P. C. (2006). Prescription for Nutrional Healing. New York: Avery.

Bowden, J. P. (2007). The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. Beverly, MA: Fair Winds Press.

Brown, A. (2008). Understanding Food. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Wardlaw, G. M., & Hampl, J. S. (2007). Perspectives in Nutrition. New York: McGraw-Hill.