Mix and match your way to a good diet
Aug 24, 2008
CERTAIN foods become even healthier when mixed with others. On the other hand, other food pairing may become less healthy and even endanger your health. Do you want to get the most out of your food choices? Here are a few simple guides.
CERTAIN foods become even healthier when mixed with others. On the other hand, other food pairing may become less healthy and even endanger your health. Do you want to get the most out of your food choices? Here are a few simple guides.
The dos
Mix grilled meat and cabbage: Certain compounds in this and other vegetables, such as broccoli and cauliflower, may help rid the body of cancer-causing substances that can form on meat during high-heat cooking.
Preparing your muchomo at high temperature is not ideal. Instead, cook your meat or fish at low temperatures until done.
Mix avocado and tomato: Tomatoes contain lycopene, a substance that protects cells against the effects of free radicals which may cause heart disease and cancer.
They are therefore a super food. If you eat them with avocado, you have just made it even more super. The fat in the avocado helps the body absorb seven times more lycopene.
Also, add a few drops of olive oil to your spinach, dodo, nakati and other dark green vegetables. This brings out lutein, a substance that may help protect against bleeding in the lining of the eye and loss of vision, in older adults.
Eat spinach with oranges: Although spinach has lots of iron, your body does not absorb it well when spinach is eaten alone.
When combined with vitamin C spinach becomes more valuable because the vitamin converts the iron into a form that is more available to the body.
Iron helps deliver oxygen to body tissues. This is also true for other foods that are sources of iron, such as broccoli. It does not take a lot of vitamin C — one medium orange will do.
The don’ts
Do not mix alcohol and energy drinks: Vodka mixed with an energy drink might be popular at parties, but this combination can cause you breathing difficulties and make your heart beat faster.
In severe cases, it could contribute to a heart attack or a stroke. Overloading the body with stimulants such as caffeine (found in many energy drinks) and alcohol puts tremendous stress on the central nervous system and heart.
Avoid combining alcohol and diet soda: You might cut calories but you might get drunk faster. In a recent study, it took just 21 minutes for half a diet cocktail to leave the stomach and reach the small intestine, where alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream, while the same amount of a non-diet cocktail took 36 minutes.
Do not mix coffee and breakfast cereal: Most cereals such as cornflakes are fortified with iron. The problem is that coffee contains a substance that can hamper the body’s ability to absorb iron.
Black tea, cocoa and some herbal teas, which also contain these substances, may also reduce iron absorption by between 71 and 94%.
The solution is to have your tea or coffee before or after your cereal. According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a cup of coffee consumed one hour before an iron-rich meal did not affect absorption.
If you choose to have your hot beverage after breakfast, wait at least an hour or more.
Chirofind.com
The dos
Mix grilled meat and cabbage: Certain compounds in this and other vegetables, such as broccoli and cauliflower, may help rid the body of cancer-causing substances that can form on meat during high-heat cooking.
Preparing your muchomo at high temperature is not ideal. Instead, cook your meat or fish at low temperatures until done.
Mix avocado and tomato: Tomatoes contain lycopene, a substance that protects cells against the effects of free radicals which may cause heart disease and cancer.
They are therefore a super food. If you eat them with avocado, you have just made it even more super. The fat in the avocado helps the body absorb seven times more lycopene.
Also, add a few drops of olive oil to your spinach, dodo, nakati and other dark green vegetables. This brings out lutein, a substance that may help protect against bleeding in the lining of the eye and loss of vision, in older adults.
Eat spinach with oranges: Although spinach has lots of iron, your body does not absorb it well when spinach is eaten alone.
When combined with vitamin C spinach becomes more valuable because the vitamin converts the iron into a form that is more available to the body.
Iron helps deliver oxygen to body tissues. This is also true for other foods that are sources of iron, such as broccoli. It does not take a lot of vitamin C — one medium orange will do.
The don’ts
Do not mix alcohol and energy drinks: Vodka mixed with an energy drink might be popular at parties, but this combination can cause you breathing difficulties and make your heart beat faster.
In severe cases, it could contribute to a heart attack or a stroke. Overloading the body with stimulants such as caffeine (found in many energy drinks) and alcohol puts tremendous stress on the central nervous system and heart.
Avoid combining alcohol and diet soda: You might cut calories but you might get drunk faster. In a recent study, it took just 21 minutes for half a diet cocktail to leave the stomach and reach the small intestine, where alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream, while the same amount of a non-diet cocktail took 36 minutes.
Do not mix coffee and breakfast cereal: Most cereals such as cornflakes are fortified with iron. The problem is that coffee contains a substance that can hamper the body’s ability to absorb iron.
Black tea, cocoa and some herbal teas, which also contain these substances, may also reduce iron absorption by between 71 and 94%.
The solution is to have your tea or coffee before or after your cereal. According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a cup of coffee consumed one hour before an iron-rich meal did not affect absorption.
If you choose to have your hot beverage after breakfast, wait at least an hour or more.
Chirofind.com