Sweet Potato, kale, tomato stew
We all know that a truly healthy diet depends upon diversity in what we eat, but there are some foods that are soooo good for you, you could eat them every day. I have found what I think are four such foods, ones that I can add to my diet on a daily basis that are packed with nutrients, fiber, and contain special benefits that are easy to absorb. They are all vegan, cholesterol-free, rich in flavor, common enough to be very inexpensive, and wonderfully versatile in the kitchen. I want to try making these four foods a part of my daily food intake to see if I gain the kind of health benefits I desire, and also as a challenge to be creative and diverse in my dish-making skills.
The four food items are: sweet potatoes, kale, tomatoes, and mushrooms. All are easily available through the year in many different forms, be they pickled or canned or bottled or jarred. Each one can be consumed either raw or cooked and each one is a powerhouse of numerous helpful components to improve health and fitness.
Sweet Potato and Kale with Pasta
Sweet Potatoes:
Sweet potatoes are among the highest ranking “super foods” in the vegetable world. With the skin, they have more fiber than oatmeal, as much or more Vitamin A than carrots, Vitamin C(nearly half the RDA), Vitamin B6, Vitamin E, vegetable based protein, potassium, iron, calcium and manganese. They are a complex carbohydrate with a low glycemic load, which can also help stabilize blood sugar, meaning that they’re a good choice for diabetics or anyone seeking to lower their refined sugar intake. They’re relatively low in calories for all of the nutritional power they pack, and as a complex carb are digested slowly by the body, staving off hunger. They contain Omega-3 fatty acids and many compounds that act as anti-inflammatories.
Aside from all the nutrients, sweet potatoes taste really good! They are rich in earthy flavor with a natural sweetness that doesn’t have to be emphasized, but can be with butter or maple syrup. And the culinary uses are nearly limitless. They can be juiced, eaten raw, baked, deep fried, smoked, boiled, broiled, grilled, mashed, cubed, made into fries, added to smoothies(same or more potassium as bananas), made into salads, sides, entrees, desserts, and blended with other vegetables(like kale, turnips, onions or carrots), fruits(like pineapples or applesauce), and starches such as rice, barley, or risotto. They can be stored like onions, canned like tomatoes, and frozen like corn. The medicinal uses of sweet potatoes have been well known, including anti-oxidant and anti-cancer elements.
Cooking increases the amount of nutrition available to the body, and roasting or baking is the preferred method of cooking to preserve the vegetable’s benefits. It should be observed that sweet potatoes are actually a root, not a traditional tuber, and that yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing, although they are close in nature. Sweet potatoes contain much more nutritional value that yams, and are one of the oldest cultivated crops on record in the Americas.
Roasted Mushrooms and Kale over Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Kale:
Kale has a reputation as spinach’s evil cousin, something our parents or grandparents tried to force us to eat, and we resisted with all our might. Too bad for us. Kale is probably the best leafy green food we could consume. Abundantly rich in calcium, lutein , iron, Vitamins A, C, and K, kale has 7X the beta-carotene of broccoli and 10X the lutein. It is a source of easily absorbed calcium and has more fiber than a cardboard box. It is a well-known cancer-fighter and is linked to lowering blood pressure, supporting mental faculties, reducing heart disease, and battling bone-loss. It comes from the same family as cabbages, brussel’s sprouts and broccoli, and its naturally rich in sulfur compounds, which are now known to help the body in detoxification and clearing carcinogenic substances. A study in the Journal of Nutrition demonstrates how sulforaphane chemicals (produced by the liver in conjunction with cruciferous vegetables like kale) can stop the proliferation of breast cancer cells.
Kale is another culinary wonder that can be pureed into smoothies, added to salads, steamed, sautéed, stir-fried, slow-cooked, and even dehydrated (with a brush of tahini sauce) to make kale chips. And there are different kinds of kale, including curly, dinosaur, and ornamental, which is fully edible. It grows well in fall and winter, providing a powerful source of green leafy veg. It is also ridiculously cheap, with a bunch being available for as little as 50-cents to $1.
Kale, Shitake Mushroom, Cherry Tomato Salad
Tomatoes:
Tomatoes are one of my favorite super foods because of their versatility, color, flavor, diversity and nutritional value. Another great source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium, iron, chromium, and Vitamin K, tomatoes are most recognized for the compound lycopene, which gives the fruit(technically it is a fruit) its rich red color. Lycopene is considered a major natural cancer-fighter and preventer of heart disease, as well as a top-notch anti-oxidant. Organic tomatoes provides almost triple the lycopene content, a good reason to go organic. And since lycopene is unaffected by cooking or canning, any version of tomato is bound to be packed with goodness and nutrition. Other red fruits such as watermelon, pink grapefruit, and apricots contain lycopene, but tomatoes are by far the best source.
Tomatoes are naturals to go with starches like pasta and rice, other vegetables and legumes, meats, greens, juices, and even fruits (tomato-fruit salsa, anyone?). They can be sun-dried and mixed with cheese, pureed into sauces, eaten raw in a salad or on a sandwich, and stuffed with herbs, starches and other vegetables. What is more homey and comforting on a cold snowy day than hot tomato soup with spinach? Or, how about tomato-broccoli soup? There is new evidence that suggests that those two cancer-fighting staples actually work together in the body to more effectively reduce cancers, especially of the prostate.
Sweet Potato, Kale and Mushroom “Meatballs” on Spaghetti with Tomato Marinara Sauce
Mushrooms:
Mushrooms have been used for thousands of years as both a food and a medicine(and other mind-altering digestions!). They have been enjoyed from Ancient Egypt and China through Europe and around the world, and are a flavorful favorite for many foods today, but their nutritional values are often overlooked. A portabella mushroom can have more potassium than a banana, are rich in heart healthy minerals like copper and iron, and have high contents of selenium, another known cancer-fighter. They also boost the immune system and fight infections. They are a great source of fiber and plant-based protein, enabling people to substitute high-fat meats for low-fat mushrooms. They are also the only known plant-based source of edible Vitamin D.
I keep saying “plant-based”, even though mushrooms are really a fungi, and in a different class from traditional vegetables. There are over 30,000 varieties of mushrooms and as many as 4,000 are edible, and those poison ones make up a very small percentage of the non-edible variety. But the poisonous ones can be absolutely deadly(Buddha was killed by a bowl of bad mushrooms!)
Mushrooms can be readily consumed raw, and certain nutrient values increase when they are cooked. Mushrooms lend themselves to marinating, grilling, sautéing, stir-frying, and mixing with a huge variety of meats, vegetables and starches. Egg and mushroom omelets, tomato-mushroom sauce, mushroom-carrot salad… it takes a long time to get bored with mushrooms, especially given the variety that is typically available. Portas, porcini, shitake, crimini, white button, oyster, lobster, enoki, straw, morels, wood-ear, black trumpet, blue horn, maitake and chantrelles come quickly to mind, each one with its own benefits and flavors. Some mushrooms can be quite expensive and seasonal, but they are also easily obtainable in dried and canned form.
So, those are my rationales for working to make these four foods a part of my daily diet. They don’t have to figure prominently in my meals, but certainly there is a way to slip all four in on a daily basis. I guess the best way to track this goal is to provide some ideas and recipes that utilize the foods so that I can see there are plenty of ways and opportunities to increase my consumption of these most valuable foods.
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