An Apple a Day

So often we hear (or read or watch) health professionals telling us to eat more fruits and vegetables.  Flip on the TV and some celebrity doctor or another is talking about the benefits of leafy greens.  Open a copy of nearly any magazine on the newstands these days and you’ll find more raving research about antioxidants, polyphenols, or carotenoids.  Even the plastic bags at my local grocery store bear the emblem of a veggie-filled cornucopia spilling over the words: 5-a-Day.  Eat your fruits and veggies! 

I do an awful lot of reading and research on the powerful cancer-kicking, age-defying compounds in fruits and veggies.  And the verdict is clear: the nutrition pros are right.  We should indeed be cramming more of these disease-busters into our diets.  They offer remarkable protection from a wide spread of health maladies including heart disease, colon cancer, diabetes, obesity, brain tumors…the list goes on and on.  While I appreciate the media’s recent produce push in the past few years (after all, it has encouraged many Americans to clean up their diets), it is rather troublesome to me that a few “superfoods” in particular have become enormously popular among television shows, magazine articles, and news broadcasts, overshadowing the everyday “stand-bys” found in most markets.  

Foods like acai berries, goji fruits, and dried sea vegetables have stole the show with their amazing antioxidant capabilities and health-promoting compounds.  They truly are highly nutritious foods.  But here’s the problem: they are hard to find and often quite expensive when you do find them.  So how can we support our health with high quality fruits (and veggies) without breaking the bank or travelling to the far east for a bag of berries?  

My suggestion is this: hit your produce department and enjoy the “peasant” fruits.  Things that you see in your market every week.  Bananas, oranges, pears, broccoli, leafy greens, peaches, carrots, sweet potatoes, celery, cauliflower…it’s all there, loaded up with nutrition and just waiting for you take hold of it.  I know, I know.  It can get a little boring from time to time as you eat the same old fruits or vegetables day after day.  To break the boredom, visit a bookstore or library when you get a chance and just browse through cookbooks.  Make note of unique preparations of certain foods that you could incorporate at home (i.e. roasting cauliflower, poaching pears, etc.).  Get creative with your cooking!

Take the humble apple, for instance.  You’ve most surely heard the adage “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”  Well, there’s a lot of truth to that.  In a study conducted in Finland, researchers discovered—through following over 5,000 men and women—that those who consumed the most apples and other foods rich in flavonoids had a 20% lower risk of heart disease compared to people who ate the least amount of flavonoid-rich foods.   Apples have also been linked to reduced risks for cancer, asthma, and type-2 diabetes.  Common as it may be, an apple is an old lunch box stand-by that really does pack a punch when it comes to your health.  

So remember this: you don’t have to journey to the ends of the earth seeking out exotic fruits and veggies like they’re some kind of rare jewels.  While that’s all well and good (and would make for quite the adventure!), it’s just not practical.  Instead, turn to your local grocery store down the street.  There are plenty of gems nestled right in your own produce department.  They may just be commoners, but they’ll still do your body a world of good.

(Stay tuned.  In the next few days, I’ll be posting a recipe for some delicious cinnamon-scented applesauce that looks, smells, and tastes like autumn in bowl.  Yum!)

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