Eat Groovy Q&A: Are Fresh Fruits & Vegetables Better For You Than Frozen Ones?

Question: Are Fresh Fruits & Vegetables Better For You Than Frozen Ones?

Answer: No need to feel guilty about buying your veggies frozen! According to SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life by Steven Pratt, "Fresh isn't always best. Some canned or frozen vegetables often have the same nutritional content as fresh. Frozen fruits and vegetables are usually flash-frozen just after being harvested, so their nutrients are locked in. Many are available already chopped, which saves you a prep step."

5 Orange Foods To Eat More Of! (Sorry, Cheetos Didn't Make The List!)

Several fruits and vegetables get their bright orange color from a powerful nutrient called beta carotene. Beta carotene is a powerful antioxidant that can be converted by the body into Vitamin A. Vitamin A is very important for good health, especially your vision. Because of its antioxidant properties, beta carotene is thought to have powerful anti-cancer properties. It may also help to enhance your immune system and help protect your skin from sun damage. Check out these five beta carotene rich foods and see why else they are good for you!

1) Cantaloupe

In addition to beta carotene, cantaloupe is a great source of the important nutrients vitamin C and potassium. To learn more about why these so good for you check out Why is Getting Enough Vitamin C So Important? and Why Potassium Is Important & Which Foods To Get It From!

2) Pumpkin

In addition to being a great source of both beta-carotene and alpha carotene, pumpkin is a low calorie source of fiber, potassium, selenium, vitamin E, and vitamin C. In SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life by Steven Pratt, M.D., pumpkin is called "one of the most nutritionally valuable foods known to man"! If you're interested in trying some delicious new pumpkin recipes, check out this Pumpkin Gingerbread Smoothie Recipe, Pumpkin Pancake Recipe, or Light Pumpkin Bread From Cooking Light!

3) Carrots

In addition to beta carotene, carrots are a good source of fiber, manganese, niacin, potassium, vitamin B6, and vitamin C. 

Fun Fact: Carrots were originally purple, red white, and yellow. The orange carrot was invented by the Dutch by crossbreeding red and yellow carrots in honor of the Dutch royal family. For a few more fun facts about carrots check out 5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Carrots!

4. Sweet Potatoes

In addition to beta carotene, sweet potatoes are a good source of vitamin C, B6, manganese, potassium, and fiber. Also, sweet potatoes may enhance your memory! According to 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life by David Grotto, "Rats who ate purple-fleshed sweet potatoes showed significant improvement in cognitive function, which may be attributed to the anthocyanins present in the potato." More studies are needed to determine if this also applies to humans, but those results are certainly promising! 

5. Oranges

In addition to being a great source of vitamin C, oranges contain citrus flavonoids that have numerous potential health benefits. According to SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life, "Citrus flavonoids have been shown to inhibit cancer cell growth, strengthen capillaries, act as anti-inflammatories, and they antiallergenic and antimicrobial. Flavonoid intake is inversely associated with the incidence of heart attack and stroke as well as a host of other ailments."

Why Citrus Fruits May Be One Of The Best Cancer Fighting Food Types

Promising studies suggest that naturally occurring substances in citrus fruits may have powerful cancer fighting properties. According to 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life by David Grotto, "In laboratory tests, citrus limonoids have been shown to fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach, and colon, and human neuroblastoma tumors, which occur most often in children. Next to cranberries, lemons exerted the highest antiproliferation activities on vitro human liver cancer cells. Because of limonoids' ability to stay in the bloodstream for an extended period of time, researchers believe that they may be better suited for suppressing cancer cell growth than other nutrients (In comparison, phenols in green tea typically stay in one's system for only four to six hours)." 

3 Potential Health Benefits of Red Wine

You've probably heard the good news by now. Drinking red wine (in moderation!) is good for you! Here are three of the potential health benefits. Cheers!

1) Red wine may reduce the risk of coronary artery disease. According to SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life by Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews, "Recent research has concentrated on the ability of flavonoids in wine to play an active role in reducing the risk of coronary artery disease. The extremely high level of polyphenols in red wine, which is about twenty to fifty times higher than white wine, is due to the incorporation of the grape skins in the fermenting process. The polyphenols in grape skins are known to prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, a critical event in the process of the development of coronary artery disease."

2) Red wine may be anti-aging. The deep red color of red wine comes from an important flavonoid called resveratrol. Resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant that may help to slow the aging process by helping to protect cell walls from free radical damage. 

3) Red wine may reduce inflammation. According to http://www.healthdiaries.com/, "Resveratrol has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties, which helps overall physical health since many diseases and ailments can be attributed to inflammation."

We hope you found this information helpful. Be sure to follow Eat Groovy on Twitter (@EatGroovy) and Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/eatgroovy/) for lots of great healthy eating tips!

3 Reasons To Eat Pistachios

1. Pistachios Are Great For Cardiovascular Health! According to The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why by Jonny Bowden, 

"One study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, specifically investigated pistachio nuts and concluded that eating pistachio nuts instead of other dietary fat calories improved lipid profiles and decreased coronary risk. A second study, published recently in Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Disease, indicated that the consumption of pistachio nuts decreased oxidative stress and improved both total cholesterol and HDL ("good") cholesterol in healthy volunteers."

2. Pistachios Are Good For Your Skin! Pistachios are rich in Vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant that helps protect skin cells from damaging free radicals and helps to prevent premature aging.

3. Pistachios Are A Great Source of Vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 is essential for healthy blood, a healthy nervous system, and a healthy immune system. It can also play an important role in influencing your mood. Check out Vitamin B6: Benefits, Sources, and RDA if you'd like to learn more.

We hope you found this information helpful. Be sure to follow Eat Groovy on Twitter (@EatGroovy) and Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/eatgroovy/) for lots of great healthy eating tips!