Whatever the season, there are always so many options when it comes to greens. Especially now, in summer, we have spinach, kale, cauliflowers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts that are all members of the cabbage family, and like the cabbage itself are proven to be the most nutritious of all vegetables.

 Let’s start with spinach, a healthy vegetable. Wheather eaten raw or cooked, it  is full of vitamins and minerals. Spinach with its green and lively leaves is

• an excellent source of vitamin C if eaten raw;
• full of vitamins A and B;
• provides calcium, potassium, and iron.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

As an amazingly versatile vegetable, spinach is popular worldwide with nearly every cuisine around the globe. The Italians make hundreds of dishes using spinach. If you see in any restaurant’s menu the words a la florentine, it means the dish contains spinach. The Italians created a huge range of recipes mixing spinach with with their favorite  ricotta or Parmesan cheese. The French invented delicious quiche with spinach.

Very often the Russians use baby spinach fresh and  include it in summer green salads with green onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers. Spinach also makes the basic ingredient in the Russian famous and very nutritious green borscht. The British traditionaly make  a spinach souffle which includes eggs and Cheddar cheese. The Americans use spinach as a garnish or make Spinach in Filo with Ricotta Cheese and other cheeses or just sauteed it with garlic.

As you know, spinach is delicious on its own. Whole dark green leaves, chopped or pureed spinach can be mixed with other ingredients to deliver great taste and nutrition. It has been centuries old tradition in Greece and  the Middle Eastern countries to mix spinach with some dairy products like feta or helim cheese to make so-called boreks or other spinach pies.

Spinach is a very old vegetable. It was first cultivated in Persia several thousands years ago. It came to Europe via the Arab world. The Arabs from the Middle East took it to Greece. The Moors introduced it to Spain, and from Spain it apppeared in England in the fourteenth century. Spinach quickly became popular there because it is easy to grow and cook. It is mentioned in the first known English cookbook where it is referred to as spynoches, which sounds so similar with the Spanish word for spinach, espinacas.

Read my next post how you can make delicious meals with nutritious spinach and other dark green leafy vegetables.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova.

Source: Photo of Spinach from www.phoenixgardens.net; Five-a-Dat Fruit & Vegetable Cookbook by Kate Whiteman, Maggie Mathew, Cristine Ingram, Hermes House, London, 2008, p.350

According to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective, foods containing carotenoids can protect against cancers of the mouth (smokers be aware!), pharynx and larynx. Scientists also noted that foods containing folate may decrease risk of pancreatic cancer and foods rich in dietary fiber reduce a chance of developing colorectal cancer.  Sounds very complicated, isn’t it? But this information is good to know, if you want to keep yourself healthy.

So, what is the main secret? Researchers believe that carotenoids can help to prevent cancer if they act as antioxidants. What it means? Carotenoids as antioxidants can ‘remove’ potentially dangerous “free radicals” from the body before they can do any harm to You. Some studies have found that the carotenoids in dark green leafy vegetables can inhibit the growth of certain types of breast cancer cells, skin cancer cells, lung cancer and stomach cancer.

The lesson is learned. I prefer to include in my morning vegetable juice spinach, kale, and parsley root which is an excellent blood purifier. If you don’t have  time to cook by sauteeng these dark green leafy vegetables, at least, do yourself a favor and start your healthy day by adding any of them to your freshly squeezed vegetable juice, as the most invaluable ingredients. You’ll be pleased with positive results of doing that.

Source: AICR’s second expert report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective, http://www.aicr.org

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova.

One class of flavonoids called catechins became the focus of many studies analysing them for its anticancer potential. Studies have shown that tea is the best source of catechins in the human diet. Green tea contains about three times more cathechins than black tea. Other laboratory studies found, green tea can slow or prevent cancer development in breast, liver, colon and prostate cells. In addition, some researchers say that consumption of green tea may have protective effects in tissues of the lung, skin and digestive tract.

In Asia green tea consumption is common, especially in countries as China, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong. Asian scientists’ studies associated with observation of participants who regularly consumed green tea have shown that these people had lower risk for colon, bladder, stomach and pancreatic cancers.

In spite of these findings, American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) in its second expert report, Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global perspective,  was unable to make a recommendation regarding the relationship between tea consumption and cancer risk due to unsufficient evidence. Probably, AICR researchers heavily relied on the facts that very high amounts of green tea components (usually associated with overdosage of green tea supplements) have been shown to interact with drugs that affect blood clotting such as aspirin and changes in  the way the body metabolizes certain medications.

But if you don’t take any medications and want to prevent types of cancer mentioned above, you can make at home your Cool  Green Tea Drink and enjoy it drinking several times a day during hot summer. Here is my recipe:

1-2 small packs organic green tea with jasmine

2-3 cups boiling water

1 organic lemon

2 tablespoons organic honey

Steep for 5 minutes. Cool it. Then sqeeze one organic lemon into the green tea. Add two tablespoons organic (liquid) honey and mix well. Place your Cool Drink in refrigerator and drink during a day. Store this tea in refirigerator not more than 2 days. Try to make it and you’ll enjoy this healthy and pleasant beverage.

Source: http://www.aicr.org; photo of a glass jug with Cool Green Tea by the author of this post.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova. Copyright 2010.

• Spinach, “King of vegetables” has it all. It can promote weight loss, lower cholesterol, speed up metabolism and burn away fat. I prefer to use in my cooking tender baby spinach which is rich in vitamins C and E, iron, beta carotene, and generously supplies lots of other nutrients you need.
• Apples, these fruits truly deserve to be named as marvels of Mother Nature. They got a great reputation for keeping the doctor away when you eat, at least, one apple a day. I wrote several posts about apples earlier because apples, rich in nutrients,  successfully promote weight loss by helping you melt the fat away. Apples elevate your blood glucose or sugar levels in a gentle and safe way, and keep up its normal levels longer than other foods. Look at the shelves in the supermarket. There is an abundance of  fruits. Apples are one of the richest suppliers of soluble fiber there. If you eat just one apple, it’ll fill you with this fiber that prevents you from feeling hungry and guards you against dangerous swings (ups and downs) in your blood sugar level. This fact was documented by scientists of University of Kentucky’s School of Medicine.

             In addition, an average-size apple provides only 81 calories, has no saturated fat, cholesterol or sodium. It gives you a great health benefit of lowering your cholesterol level, as well helps to normalize your blood pressure.

Probably you wonder why I did not mention rice which is so popular in Oriental cuisine. And as we know, Asian peopleon general. don’t have problems with overweight, but consume it almost every day.

• Wild Rice eating produces stunning weight loss, gives you energy and helps to keep you healthy. A cup of cooked rice (about 5,5 ounces or 150 g) contains only 178 calories. This is only one eleventh part of 2000 calories you can consume in one day, and it is approximately one-third the number of calories found in an equivalent amount of cheese or beef.

Rice (white) was praised for centuries in China, Vietnam, India and other countries around the world for ots rich nutritional qualities and medical benefits. In 1930s, Dr. William Kempner at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, developed so-called Rice Diet–a plan to promote weight-loss. The diet has been shown to help cure high blood pressure and even kidney ailments. So, wild rice can make a great addition in the staple of your superstar foods, but on one condition, if you don’t suffer from chronic constipation, and gradually mix it in your daily menu with fruits, then vegetables.

Want to know how to cook wild rice (black) in the best way? Watch this video.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova.

Soup, old-fashioned, homemade with organic vegetables,   olive oil, and sometimes  lemon juice successfully promotes weight loss. Studies conducted by the scientists of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found that people consuming a bowl of  soup before lunch or dinner lost more weight than dieters on any ‘famous’ diets that did not include soup. One time there was a craziness with so-called “Cabbage Soup” diet. But who can eat every day one the same soup with cabbage?

If you are serious about weight loss and keeping it off, you can find thousands of healthy recipes for healthy green soups. But exclude any cream soups or those made with beef or pork. Favor or make vegetable soups or sometimes chicken soup, the same that your Mama cooked with an onion in it that helps in fighting many diseases. This soup is  especially helpful when you get cold or flu.

Quick Tip: Make organic chicken broth and cook an onion in it. When the onion is tender, eat it at once. Add a pinch of iodized salt for better taste. This cooked onion and chicken soup works magic in treating a cough.

 Bread, a dark, rich, high-fiber, another Nature’s gift and superstar food. You can   say, “You’ve got to be kidding, right?” Wrong. The nutritional benefit of bread are endless. It is not bread, but cream cheese, butter or margarine you put on it is fattening. This combination makes you fat, increases your cholesterol and blocks your blood vessels.

Don’t believe that? Here are the facts for your perusal. There are four calories in a gram of carbohydrate, four in a gram of protein, but nine calories in a gram of fat. So, is it bread fattening? Not at all. Freshly made, sprouted or whole grain bread is a natural source of fiber and carbohydrates, but not a source of fat. If you are on any diet, include it in.

 Honestly, I don’t believe in any diets. All are artificially composed by “quick buck opportunists” that get rich on people’s little knowledge about how to eat right, and what foods are good sources of healthy nutrition. You starve yourself with these “yo-yo” diets, Hollywood diets, and loose weight. Did you notice how fast you gain your weight back after that, so what the point in doing it? Just take your time and learn at first the basics of proper nutrition. You’ll be rewarded tenfold, and have the body you want to have.

Scientists in Scandinavian countries found that people who eat less than two slices of bread daily weigh 11 pounds more than bread eaters. Studies at Michigan State University show that some breads can reduce the appetite. In my family white bread is not existing. We eat several slices of natural dark rye bread every day with our homemade soups or fresh salads. It gives us necessary amount of fiber to build and keep the  muscles in good shape.

If you want to keep your normal weight, include in your menu a dark, rich, high-fiber rye bread, whole wheat, 5-7 grains, or oatmeal organic bread. Exclude white bread. It is not as nutritional as others I just mentioned. Besides, very often it is made with bleached flour which is really harnful for our digestive system. The average slice of good bread contains only 60-70 calories. Some breads even contain only 40 calories per slice. You get a natural food, rich in protein and in complex carbohydrates, which is the best and healthiest fuel for your body to keep it strong and free of any diseases. 

Researchers compared white bread to dark, high-fiber bread and found that people who ate 12 slices a day of the dark bread lost five pounds in two months, and felt less hunger on a daily basis. People in other group who ate white bread were hungry all the time, indulged on more fattening foods, and did not loose any weight during the same time.

The List of Superstar Foods will continue in my next post.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova.

• sprouted gluten free, grain bread;
• quinoa, a seed used as grain;
• leafy greens–spinach and kale;
• Alaskan cod or wild salmon;
• extra virgin coconut oil or olive oil;
• walnuts and other nuts;
• goat milk,
• cheese,
• yogurt;
• fermented beverages–kefir and kombucha,
• vegetarian eggs.

  All these foods are great, but here is my List of Superstar Foods you can use to keep yourself healthy and help your body to melt away unhealthy pounds:

• Grapefruit is number one in my List and  must be a regular part of your diet because it helps to dissolve fat and cholesterol. This facts are supported by studies of the University of Florida. I love red grapefruit and try to eat every day a half. It keeps your heart healthy and your cholesterol normal. Do you know that an average size grapefruit has only 74 calories, but delivers 15 grams/ab.1/2 ounce of pectin, a special fiber that your body need to lower cholesterol and fat. Grapefruit also in high in vitamin C and potassium, and is absolutely free of sodium and fat.
• Peppers, hot spicy chili peppers, rich in vitamins A and C, calcium, phosphorus, iron and magnesium; abundant in fiber; free of fat, low in sodium. One cup of chili peppers has only 24 calories. Bell peppers are great, but hot, chili peppers are better, if you can “stand” them. Scientists of Oxford Polytechnic Institute have studied these amazing vegetables. They found that if you’ll add just three grams of chili peppers  to your dinner meat or chicken meal consisting of 700-800 calories, you don’t need to take any drug like lipitor to lower your cholesterol, because these chili peppers will work magic to warm up your body and speed up metabolism. You can also eat homemade salsa with your meals. It takes only four to eight peppers to use in one pound glass jar, which is not too much.
• Mustard, the hot, spicy that usually was used as a  specialty in Mexican, Oriental, and Indian cuisine. But now it is used widely everywhere. It is natural and safe. Even if you’ll order any sandwich in our supermarkets and will ask for spicy mustard, it’ll be always available there. I make all my vegetable sandwiches with this kind of spicy mustard. Vegetables is these sandwiches taste much better. British scientists found that a teaspoon of hot, spicy mustard speeds up the metabolism, the same as the drug ephedrine or caffeine do. “I was shocked to discover it can speed up the metabolism by as much as 20 to 25 percent for several hours,” said Dr. Henry of Oxford Polytechnic Institute in UK, “This can result in the body burning an extra 45 calories for every 700 calories consumed.” I was always astonished watching how my granfather and my father never missed any dinner without eating hot chili peppers or spicy homemade mustard, and never had any problems with weight or high cholesterol.
• Potatoes, organic, of course, are a great source of fiber and potassium. Are you surprised? Media created so many negative articles about these natural root vegetables. It was just follow up a wrong trend about “fattening” foods. Bread also got in this “black” list, and it’s unfair. Nutritionists  in California call the potato an excellent food. By eating potatoes, you can achieve fast weight loss, at 0.6 calories per gram or about 85 calories per potato. Scientists say you can eat 10 potatoes a day and still have room for a lot of other foods to round out your consumprion of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. I am always amazed how everybody in my family happy to see at the dinner table any meal with potatoes.

First of all, potatoes make very delicious meals. Secondly, as a great source of fiber and potassium, they lower cholesterol and protect against heart disease and stroke as well. Right preparation and healthy toppings are very important when you make any meal with potatoes. These solid vegetables have almost everything you need without stuffing them with unnecessary ”fattenings” like butter, milk and sour cream. 

You add these toppings to make potatoes taste better, don’t you? Don’t do that. These famous and popular three products are “guilty” in your gaining weight, but not potatoes, and I am not kidding. Instead use,

• cooked and shredded organic chicken that is healthier than roasted,
•  organic minced red onion or sweet peppers,
• chopped tomato, fresh dill or rosemary,  
• mashed avocado and  garlic,
• toasted pine nuts or walnuts,
• cut small classic Greek cheese “Manouri” or mozzarella cheese,
• extra virgin olive oil mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice,
• organic plain kefir with a pinch of mild Hungarian paprika.

And you have yummy lunch or dinner meal that is healthy and fits well into the budget of any family. My List contains six other superstar foods. Read my next post about it.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova. Copyright 2010.

What is the difference between them? There are simple facts to know. Dark green peppers are thicker in texture, less sweet and a little bit more bitter than red, orange or yellow peppers. If farmers are not in a hurry to deliver new harvest to the supermarkets , they usually allow the peppers to ripen fully on the plant in full sunshine. These peppers are the sweetest you can find and the tastiest to use in your homemade salads or other meals.

In comparisson with green peppers, red peppers contain more vitamins and nutritional properties, including the antioxidant lypocene. The level of carotene, another antioxidant is nine times higher in red peppers, and twice the vitamin C content than green peppers. Orange bell peppers or paprikas, as they called in many countries in Europe, are sweet, juicy and refreshing, and have 50 % less calories than an orange. They also contain significant amount of vitamins A and C, and can be included in many different dishes or can be eaten raw.

These colorful and sweet fruits are colorful and pleasant ingredients in all my salads, soups and garnish. I love to make my Grandma’s famous brand–stuffed peppers, whic is relatively a low-calorie, healthy meal. Now watch how Laura Calder cooks these delicious superfruits. If you like her recipe, just follow up… with French Food at Home.

In 400 B.C. ‘The Father of Medicine” and the most celebrated healer of ancient times, Hippocrates, recommended and used olive oil in the treatment of musculat pain and ulcers. The ancients were smart and knew what they were doing many centuries ago. Recent studies suggest that olive oil helps

• to maintain a healthy diet,
• to prevent cardiovascular diseases,
• to cleanse the digestive system
• to promote healthy cell development
• to protect against many ailments, including arthritis and cancer.

“Oil rich in monousaturated fats, such as olive oil seem to have the most protective effect on the body,” says Dr. Barbara Levine, a professor of nutrition in medicine at Cornell University Medical College.

Olive oil contains 77 percent monousaturated fat. Research shows a reasonable consumption of olive oil in salads and other meals, may lower the risk of heart disease by reducing the” bad”cholesterol ( the level of harmful low density LDL, which is lipoprotein) in the bloodstream, and keeping the high density lipoprotein (HDL)–”good” cholesterol to a person’s benefit.

Health experts say that olive oil helps to keep bad cholesterol  from being converted into a toxic, or “oxidized” form. If bad cholesterol doesn’t turn into a toxic form, the arteries are protected from plague, blood pressure can be reduced and blood sugar regulated. According to well-documented studies, olive oil breaks down plague in clogged arteries, hardening of arteries,  and reduces risk of atherosclerosis diabetes. It helps with constipation, aging, breast cancer and arthritis.

This happens because olive oil contains such antioxidants as vitamin E, one of the best protectors of cells from damage. Vitamin E and other antioxidants in olive oil help defend the body from harmful molecules called free radicals. As you know, free radicals accelerate the aging process and contribute to such diseases, as cancer and cardiovasular problems.

Need any proof of olive’s oil’s effectiveness, for example, against heart disease?European scientists studied people living in the Mediterranean area. Italians, Spanish, French and other nations living in this area use monousaturated-rich olive oil as their main source of fat when they prepare different meals. Researchers confirm that they have the world’s lowest mortality rate due to cardiovascular diseases.

The United States and Finland have the highest rates because people there consume high amounts of saturated fat. So, if you want to avoid heart disease and maintain your healthy diet, replace a tablespoon of butter with one tablespoon of olive oil each day. Statistics say that simple change is enough to prevent 100,000 heart attacks in the next decade.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova

“This has become a main message,” says Kathryn Wilson, a lead researhcer at the Harvard School of Public Health and Channing Laboratory. “When people find out that they are at risk for developing disease, coffee can be one pleasure from which they don’t need to deprive thamselves, and then they can focus  on other lifestyle choices.”

Scientists, doctors and nutritionists have been working on basic research about coffee benefits for more than ten years. Some studies prove that coffee is good for our health. Just over the past few years the research shows that, for general population, coffee consumption doesn’t have any serious detrimental health effects. “In fact, causes an inverse assosiation,” notes Rob van Dam, assistant professor in the departments of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, “with the risk of Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver cancer and liver cirrhosis.”

Researchers still try to find proof if coffee is life extender, disease buster or there are some potential downsides. Recently, Wilson’s Harvard group together with scientists at mcGill University in Montreal evaluated data from 50,000 participants. The independent study (and this is important!) found that men who took a high daily intake of regular and decaffeinated coffee, about six or more cups a day, had an up to 60% lower risk of advanced or lethal prostate cancer. Of course, more research is needed to confirm such findings.

Despite regular coffee drinking studies found is not harmful for most people, pregnant women shouldn’t drink it, even a small cup. Usually one cup of coffee has 100 to 150 milligrams. One research has linked miscarriage to caffeine consumption of 200-300 milligrams per day or two cups a day.

Many people say, “I just cannot start my day without a cup of coffee.” According to University of Florida professor of Bruce Goldberg specializing in toxicology, you can get addicted to caffeine. “If you consume a lot of caffeine, then you don’t, you start to crave it,” he says.

Coffee is not a perfect, as no one product can be. Different people can have different reactions. Some people can experience the occasional missed or extra heartbeat , and a speedup in the heart’s rhythm. The favorite espresso as delicious as it is, can slightly increase  ’bad” cholesterol, which is LDL, the level of harmful low-density lipoprotein.

Summary: If you love coffee, drink it in moderation (one-two cups per day), if you want to keep yourself free of sicknesses.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova