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July 2020 | REDONLINE.CO.UKSELF
‘IT’S WHAT’S
INSIDE THAT
COUNTS’
ietary trends come and
go, but one thing that will
always make you feel like
you’ve nailed it is pulling
out a bamboo bento full
of greens in front of
your colleagues.
Being in the five-a-day-
and-often-more tribe is a
pretty safe health option.
After all, while hardly a day goes by when we don’t find
out that a food we thought was healthy is actually full
of sugar/salt/bad fats/‘killing us’, research on fruits and
vegetables shows, over and over again, that we will only
benefit from more spinach, more red peppers, more
tomatoes... Thanks to their vitamins, minerals, fibre and
phytochemicals, which work as powerful antioxidants,
they’re proven to lower our risk of heart disease; protect
against some cancers (FYI, it’s thought eating vegetables
is the second most important anti-cancer strategy, after
quitting smoking); and it’s recently been suggested they
could help future-proof against menopausal symptoms.
And now, the latest thinking in nutritional psychiatry
is that their unique make-up doesn’t just protect body,
but also mind. One new study by Warwick University
suggested fruits and vegetables could be a brain changer
by improving mental wellbeing, and make you less likely
to be clinically depressed – it even found that eating eight
portions a day could reverse the
psychological impact of a divorce.
Meanwhile, a US study has found
that adults who had one to two
servings of green leafy veg per day
had the mental agility of someone
11 years younger. The vegetable to
mainline? Studies suggest the darker
ones (eg, kale, watercress, spinach) because the darker
green the veg, the richer it is in antioxidants.
eat the rainbow
There’s so much nutritional information floating around,
sometimes it can feel paralysing simply figuring out
what to buy for dinner (been there?). The latest research
suggests the more diverse your choices, the better. One
study found that people who eat 30 different plants a
week have greater microbial diversity (which plays
a critical role in digestion, immunity and weight) than
those who eat 10. What’s more, different coloured fruits
and vegetables have their own unique combination of
vitamins, minerals and fibre, so to max the benefits, try
to eat one portion from each colour group – aka, red,
green, yellow, white, purple and orange varieties.
They don’t need to be fancy pants varieties, either.
In fact, research suggests we should be championing
the fruit and veg underdogs, particularly the ones grown
closer to home because the less time spent on a boat,
plane, or lorry, the more nutrients they contain,
particularly vitamin C, which is especially unstable.
The other truth bomb is ‘less sexy’ vegetables are often
as good for you as the ones seemingly blessed with better
health and looks. ‘The definition of a “superfood” –
which isn’t a legal term, by the way – is simply any
food with a publicist,’ says Ian Marber, a leading
nutrition therapist (ianmarber.com). ‘If you compare
the nutritional content of 100g of mundane carrot
with the more seemingly glamorous squash, you’ll
discover that carrots contain 105% of our RDA of
beta carotene compared to squashes’ 87%.’ Yep,
as with people, it’s what’s inside that counts.it’s the way you do it
But, as researchers are discovering all the time, how
you cook and prep also counts. One study found that
steaming has the most antioxidant-packed punch,
increasing polyphenol content (a type of antioxidant)
by 52% simply because you don’t need to submerge
the vegetables in water. ‘Leaving mushrooms in direct
sunlight for 20 minutes before eating enhances their
vitamin D content, too – something many of us need to
pay more attention to right now.’
A knob of butter or a drizzle
of oil doesn’t just improve the
taste, it can be health-helpful,
too. ‘Some nutrients, such as
vitamins A, D, E and K (found
in green vegetables and sweet
potatoes) are fat-soluble,
so even a smidgen of fat, such as olive oil, will help
with the nutrient absorption,’ says Ian.
But what about fruit? Generally speaking, the majority
of us shouldn’t be fretting over its sugar content, unless
we’re eating it in excessive amounts, but fruit juice is
the exception. ‘Stick to one 150ml portion of 100%
unsweetened fruit juice a day,’ says award-winning
dietitian Priya Tew (dietitianuk.co.uk). ‘This is because
the juicing process releases sugars from the cells of the
fruit, turning them into free sugars – the type we need
to cut down on.’ In fact, there’s now some debate whether
juices should be included in the five-a-day message at all.
So eat your fruit and veg, all kinds, all colours, cooked
and raw. And make it delicious...
The eight veggie-centric recipes that follow over the
page prove that nobody should relegate veg to side-dish
status or push their courgette to the edge of the plate.