You are what you eat. Or you will become what you eat, it’s as simple as that.
If your idea of a lunch is anything covered with batter and fried – well, you see what I mean. There are days when I know at the outset it will be a junk food day, but those days are becoming less frequent. Blessed with low cholesterol (no artery clogging), I have even stopped eating butter. Better not to take a chance, I figure. A person thinks a lot about these things on the other side of the hill!
There have been a great many articles lately on how much we need fiber and all manner of scientific-termed (and difficult to pronounce) elements. We’re told which food items contain such elements, but I like to have information in simpler terms. “Fiber” sounds like eating hay and Omega-3 sounds like a lesson in the solar system.
After reading and digesting (pun intended) several of these mega-detailed articles, I have come to the conclusion that the old way was the best way, when it comes to food and food preparation. Native Mainers over the age of 50 are familiar with the routine of Saturday meaning baked beans for supper. Most of us also picked blueberries from the back fields which we ate plain or baked up into great desserts to go with the Saturday supper.
Blueberry buckle, baked beans, baked salmon, tuna sandwiches on whole wheat bread, chop suey made with pasta and tomatoes, crisp cole slaw, oatmeal cookies with walnuts and raisins, cherry cobbler….these are all old standbys and they all have something in common, other than not being deep fried.
Each of these common old-fashioned dishes may help prevent disease.
A couple servings of blueberries a week may help keep your mind sharp. I don’t know which chemical element is responsible for this, and it’s really not important. So, picking blueberries will get some much needed exercise and eating them might keep your brain working better.
Whole grain products, i.e., whole wheat bread, oatmeal, brown rice, help reduce the risk of heart disease. Eat three servings a day and it could reduce the risk by 25 to 37 percent. A dish of oatmeal and a couple slices of whole wheat bread, and you’re on your way to good health! Read the ingredients and make sure the first word is “whole.” Oatmeal cookies with walnuts are even better, because just a quarter cup of walnuts a day helps lower cholesterol. Almonds and pistachios are excellent, too.
Salmon and tuna, among other seafood products, help preserve bone density as well as lower the risk of a heart attack and high blood pressure. No wonder our parents often fixed us a lunch of tuna salad sandwiches. And they knew what they were doing when they added a side dish of cole slaw, because cabbage not only provides fiber, but studies indicate it may also help prevent breast cancer.
Most of us have been told that tomatoes are “good for you,” but did you know that cooked are better than raw? It follows then, that tomato sauce added to pasta (or anything) would be better. Tomatoes contain something that helps prevent prostate cancer. Think of the good foods that are tomato-based: pizza, spaghetti, chop suey, chili. A bowl of chili sounds like a great winter lunch and besides the tomato contained therein, the beans in the chili are maybe the best food of all.
Aside from all the jokes and the idea that beans are the lowliest of the preferred dishes, for many of us, baked beans were a staple food when we were growing up. Two to four servings of beans – any kind of beans – a week helps cut the risk of colon cancer, helps prevent heart disease and are rich in protein. The “bean family” includes all legumes (peas, for instance), so add a cupful to a couple of meals and get healthier!
The biggest eye-opener for me when reading about the healthiest foods, was that Bing cherries are thought to be good for reducing pain associated with arthritis and gout (a form of arthritis). While I might not carry around a container of cherries to snack on, I think cherry cobbler or cherry pie sounds pretty good! Anything that can help ease arthritic pain is good.
I rationalize my junk-food-day cravings as something I can live with because I always eat oatmeal (not the pre-sweetened instant kind) for breakfast and since I’m an old-fashioned Maine cook, beans always go to soak on Friday night for baking on Saturday. Served up with cole slaw, corn bread and blueberry buckle for dessert, that menu includes almost as many health ingredients as a medicine cabinet, and sure is easier to swallow!
Now if the scientists would discover that double chocolate cake with hot fudge topping was a cure for anything, I’d be truly happy!
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