Healthy Summer Eating

By Alix Litwack and Deb McClure-Smith

July 14, 2010

Thank God It’s Summer – TGIS! We couldn’t ask for a better time to improve on our eating habits, because the key to being a healthy eater is to eat a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables.

Fresh vegetables and fruits are plentiful during the summer season at the grocery store, farmer’s market or roadside stand. We recommend choosing organic if possible and locally farmed produce if available. The fewer pesticides and herbicides sprayed on your food the better. Our bodies need healthy foods that are filled with phytonutrients and flavanoids not foods that have absorbed chemical toxins. The “Dirty Dozen” are the foods that contain the highest pesticide residue and are most important to buy as organic. This list includes: strawberries, cherries, grapes, nectarines, peaches, celery, sweet peppers, spinach, lettuce, potatoes and green beans.

The more colorful the food, the more nutrients offered, and each color contains its own health benefits. The blue in blueberries and grapes has resveratrol, a powerful anti-oxidant and anti-aging nutrient. The red in pomegranates and tomatoes has lycopene that is helpful to your heart and your prostate. The orange in carrots and sweet potatoes has beta-carotene that helps your eyes and your mucous membranes. Dark greens like spinach, broccoli and kale have lutein that is beneficial to eye health and indoles that are potent anti-cancer fighters. Tan and white foods, such as onions and garlic, contain allyl sulfides that help fight cancer and boost your immune system.

It is a wonderful opportunity to challenge yourself and your family to try as many new colorful foods as possible while the options are so varied. If you are a picky eater and only like a few vegetables or fruits then now is the time to try to expand your palette.

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