{"id":367,"date":"2010-07-12T11:44:22","date_gmt":"2010-07-12T11:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personalpolishing.wordpress.com\/?p=367"},"modified":"2010-07-12T11:44:22","modified_gmt":"2010-07-12T11:44:22","slug":"power-eating-food-combos-magnify-health-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/power-eating-food-combos-magnify-health-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Eating: Food Combos Magnify Health Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Carole Jackson<\/strong>, Bottom Line Health<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Last weekend as I watched my daughter\u00e2\u0080\u0099s soccer team battle their archrivals, I was also planning the week\u00e2\u0080\u0099s meals in my head (we working parents rarely do one thing at a time!). Seeing the girls execute an impressive string of passes — great teamwork! — my brain jumped to synergistic foods, the idea of making nutritious ones even better<\/em> by combining them with others. So later, I called contributing editor Andrew L. Rubman, ND, to ask what his favorite power food combos are — and he had plenty to share. He assured me that there are indeed many tasty ways to mix foods so that they interact synergistically with one another, delivering more health-giving nutrition than you could get by eating them separately.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Here are some of Dr. Rubman\u00e2\u0080\u0099s favorite one-two food punches…<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Tea with Lemon<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis<\/em> plant, tea contains powerful catechins that improve digestion and reduce heart disease and cancer risk. Many tea drinkers already squeeze lemon into their cups because it tastes so great, but it also significantly increases your absorption of the disease-fighting antioxidants in the tea. To extract the most catechins, steep tea in hot water for at least five minutes and don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t reuse tea bags.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Your best bet:<\/em> All tea is good for you, but white and green teas are richer sources of catechins than black tea.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Beets with Vitamin C-Rich Vegetables<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Eating produce with a variety of colors — yellow peppers, orange sweet potatoes, purple eggplant, etc. — gives you the greatest variety of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. You can add more power yet by serving iron-rich greens such as kale, mustard greens, spinach or Swiss chard with vitamin C-packed beets (or tomatoes or lemon). The reason? Vitamin C makes plant-based iron more absorbable by your intestines.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Fruits with… Fruits<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Along the same lines, eating several fruits at one time generates greater antioxidant action than eating single fruits separately. Blueberries top many “Best Fruit” lists, since they are a rich source of polyphenols that reduce inflammation. Combine them with whatever else is fresh, in season and at peak ripeness — raspberries, strawberries, purple grapes, mango, apples, oranges, etc. Aim for three to five servings (each serving one-half to one cup) of different fruits daily. Dr. Rubman said doing this will boost the synergistic effect of these phytochemicals, which work better in combination than alone.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0For maximum health:<\/em> Don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t eat fruit within 20 minutes of meals, before or after, as their sugars will then rest longer in the digestive tract, where they ferment and cause gas.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Pasta with Tomato Sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0No doctor has to work hard to convince me to eat this delicious, classic combination! Tomatoes contain the potent antioxidant lycopene, which fights heart disease and certain cancers — since lycopene is fat soluble, the tomato sauce should be made with olive oil, which facilitates absorption. Dr. Rubman said that olive oil is also helpful in offsetting the challenge of digesting gluten in pasta — though he notes that this doesn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t give a pass to people with celiac disease, since the soothing mechanism isn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t sufficient to solve the problem completely.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Beef with Marinade <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Marinate beef before grilling or barbecuing (even if just for 10 minutes or so) to reduce your exposure to cancer-causing heterocyclic amines (HCAs) that are created when meat is cooked at high temperatures. Make your own marinade, since sugar-infused store-bought brands end up increasing<\/em> HCA production. Look for recipes that use members of the antioxidant, anti-HCA mint family — rosemary, thyme, basil, sage and oregano.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0For maximum health:<\/em> We actually need a little saturated fat for digestive health and other body functions, Dr. Rubman observes — just not at the levels in the typical American diet. Limit your beef consumption to one three-ounce serving per week.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Fish with Citrus<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0You may have seen or eaten a delicious dish called ceviche, which is made by marinating raw seafood, such as fish, shrimp or scallops in highly acidic citrus juice (usually lemon or lime). What you probably didn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t know is that serving fish with citrus fruits enhances the healthful anti-inflammatory properties of both. Latin American chefs often also toss in other fresh ingredients, such as cilantro, tomato, onion and avocado — excellent sources of antioxidant phytonutrients and flavonoids that likewise discourage inflammation, boost heart health and help flush toxins from the body.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Caution:<\/em> People with a compromised immune system shouldn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t take chances with raw seafood — you can achieve the same health effect by poaching, grilling or saut\u00c3\u00a9ing fish with citrus juice and sprinkling it with cilantro.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Beans and Grains — Not<\/em> Necessarily Together<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0If you\u00e2\u0080\u0099re a vegetarian or vegan, you probably eat beans and grains together often since it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s widely known that they contain different amino acids that are all necessary to build the complete proteins you require for good health. But did you know that you don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t have to eat beans and grains in the same meal to reap this benefit? Eating them within a single 24-hour period — for example, brown rice with dinner tonight, black bean chili for lunch tomorrow — will do the trick.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0For maximum health:<\/em> Even if you aren\u00e2\u0080\u0099t a vegetarian, declare “Meatless Mondays” — choosing beans and grains instead of meat even one day a week can reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Making a habit of eating some of these foods together regularly is a great recipe for better health!<\/p>\n

Source(s):<\/p>\n

Andrew L. Rubman, ND, founder and director, Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines, Southbury, Connecticut. www.southburyclinic.com<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Carole Jackson, Bottom Line Health \u00c2\u00a0Last weekend as I watched my daughter\u00e2\u0080\u0099s soccer team battle their archrivals, I was also planning the week\u00e2\u0080\u0099s meals in my head (we working parents rarely do one thing at a time!). Seeing the girls execute an impressive string of passes — great teamwork! — my brain jumped to … Continue reading Power Eating: Food Combos Magnify Health Benefits<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","pmpro-has-access"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MGMb-5V","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}