Making the most of your produce dollars.

In the uncertain economic times it seems like everyone is looking for a bargain when they are shopping. Besides looking for produce specials or sales you may want to think about how you can get the most nutritional value out of the produce you buy.
Try these tips

• The next time you're preparing a spinach salad, toss in a few slices of navel orange. The citrus fruit won't just enhance the flavor; its vitamin C will help your body absorb the iron found in leafy green vegetables.

• We all know that broccoli is a good source of fiber, which can help fill you up when you are trying to eat healthy. Is a good source of beta carotene and contains vitamins A, C, and K. But if you want to get the most from your Broccoli then eat it with Tomatoes. That’s right, according to University of Illinois food science and human nutrition professor John Erdman. Tomatoes and broccoli have more powerful cancer-fighting qualities when eaten at the same time than when consumed alone.


• If you want to get the most from your salad skip the fat-free dressing and add a good-for-you fat like avocado, walnuts, roasted walnut oil, or extra-virgin olive oil. Why? The good fat/oil makes several nutrients—the lutein in the green peppers, the capsanthin in the red peppers, the lycopene in the tomatoes, even the limonene in the lemon—more body ready for you. Basically each of them is more optimally absorbed with a little bit of fat.
If you would like to learn more on organic avocados check out the our radio show we did with Earl Herrick of Earls Organic Produce at www.anorganicconversation.com

• Like almonds? Try them with a glass of red wine. The phytochemicals in red wine somehow enhance the additive effects in vitamin E found in almonds.


You get the idea. If one of these wonderful produce items is good two and perhaps three eaten together can be even better. Now there’s a value you can’t pass up.