Power Foods
Some foods offer added health benefits when part of a balanced and varied diet.
When shopping for food and choosing recipes, keep these "power foods" in mind:
Deeply colored fruits and vegetables: These tend to have the most vitamins and minerals, so fill your shopping cart with kale, spinach, collard greens, cranberries, raisins, dried plums, carrots, cherries, and other richly colored foods.
Fish: Fatty fish, such as tuna, salmon, and mackerel, contain omega-3 fatty acids, a healthful fat that reduces the risk of heart and vascular disease. These types of fish are also among the most flavorful.
Soy: Eating soy daily can lower blood cholesterol levels. Soy is also associated with a reduced risk of some types of cancer and the maintenance or improvement of bone health. Try using textured soy protein in place of ground beef in recipes such as chili. Other good sources of soy include soymilk, tofu, edamame (green soybeans), soy flour, and tempeh (fermented soybean cake).
Tomatoes: Tomatoes offer lots of Vitamin C and contain lycopene, which may help reduce the risk of prostate cancer. More good news -- cooked and processed tomatoes contain up to 10 times more lycopene than fresh tomatoes, so there's no need to wait until they're in season to enjoy their benefits.
Whole grains: Whole-grain foods, such as brown rice, oatmeal, corn bran, wheat germ, and breads (those listing whole wheat as the first ingredient) contain fiber. Some types of fiber can reduce the risk of heart disease and breast and colon cancers. Refined grains, used in white bread or wheat flour, have minimal fiber; therefore, choose whole-grain foods when you can. To add fiber to recipes, substitute whole wheat flour for up to half of the all-purpose flour specified.
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