Well, would you look at that – The fruits and vegetables that are better than you think
Take a look at this super-simple way to work out the many health benefits of the food you eat. Photo: Getty
We’ve all laid on our back gazing up at cloud-dappled blue skies, only to conjure a cloud unicorn galloping across the skies or that fluffy white Formula 1 car zooming across our view.
But have you ever tried looking at food in a different way?
It turns out there is a good reason to do so.
Many of the foods we eat look like the body parts that they benefit.
We’ve all heard the age-old adage “Eat carrots to help you see in the dark” – Well, it’s true.
Carrots are packed with beta-carotene, an essential precursor for vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential for healthy eyes and a lack of it can lead to cataracts and macular degeneration, resulting in blurred vision and sight loss.
Fresh celery is an excellent source of vitamin K, which helps increase bone mass by promoting osteotropic (or bone-building) activity.
In addition to these bone-specific benefits, celery packs other important minerals and vitamins, too, like vitamin A and potassium. Celery also has lots of fibre that helps healthy digestion.
Kidney beans provide many nutritional qualities that help keep your kidneys happy and healthy. They are:
- High in soluble and insoluble fibre
- Low in sugar, sodium and cholesterol
- High in a variety of amino acids
- Low in saturated fat
- Good source of magnesium and potassium.
Tomatoes are good for you in more ways than one.
We love tomatoes. Cooked with some black pepper and served with toast for breakfast, tossed into a salad like little jewels or stirred up into a rich bolognese – tomatoes get the thumbs up from us at any time of day.
So we were happy to learn about the long list of benefits they have due to their high concentration of lycopene.
Lycopene is a phytonutrient, a bright red carotene that gives tomatoes their colour. It can help with all sorts, from body inflammation to blood pressure, potential benefits for post-heart attack patients, improved survival in heart-failure recovery patients, reduced risk of a stroke and cancer preventative benefits.
Fruit and veggies are our best tool for supporting our body’s complex systems and staying healthy, along with regular exercise, so eat a wide variety and enjoy them.
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