Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Paul has asked: bq. I was just wondering, with all the great fresh fruits around, which have the highest amounts of antioxidants? I’ve heard pomegranates, but what about blueberries, and oranges? I have to admit I find it hard to keep up with the list of top antioxidant containing foods. It seems to change with annoying regularity. At the moment I’m pretty sure it’s a toss up between acai berry and pomegranate juice. Although “Indian gooseberries are also making …

Read more 06 February, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I’ve been pulled up on my last two posts in Q & A Thursday: * Are tomatoes part of your fruit or vegetable intake * Is fruit really important to a healthy diet? As Meg and Joanne have both commented there are other “vegetables” that are actually “fruits”. How do these fit into the whole fruit vs vegetables debate?. Hmm, I wasn’t counting on botany being used against me! Okay, it’s true I’ve over-simplified the message – something we …

Read more 18 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I was asked a question about fruit this week: if you eat plenty of vegetables, do you need to eat fruit? Both vegetables and fruit are necessary in a healthy diet. While we sometimes clump them together in our head, and they come from the same part of the supermarket, they provide different nutrients. h3. Why you need fruit Fruit and vegetables do contain many similar nutrients. For example they’re both rich in potassium and fibre. However, you need …

Read more 18 October, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Another question for Q & A Thursday. Mariana has asked: bq. Pomegranate Juice. There has been a lot of talk about the wonderful nutritional value found in this fruit. I cannot get the fruit in my local fruit shop. Consequently I have been using pomegranate juice that says “all natural”, no preservatives and no added sugar but 100% made from pomegranate concentrate. Am I getting any nutritional value from this at all or am I just wasting my money? ...

Read more 20 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

First off in this week’s Q & A Thursday, Paul has asked about green food supplements like spirulina, barley green and wheatgrass – are they any good and if so, which form is the best? Like soy, green food supplements are a constant source of controversy. Some people are huge fans and make big claims about their health effects, while they also have very vocal detractors. Some of the claims made for green foods are extreme, however they do …

Read more 13 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I’ve had a couple of questions about soy. Firstly how much soy is too much and, secondly, do soy foods, contribute to hormonal cancers in any way? Soy often appears in the media. One week it’s a wonder-cure and the next week it’s the root of all evil. I’ve blogged about soy before and this post will answer many of your questions about the health affects of soy, particularly in relation to cancer. h3. How much soy It’s hard to …

Read more 21 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Last week I wrote about my dislike of the superfoods phenomenon. It seems I’m not the only one. Dietriffic has also posted about the hype surrounding superfoods , Passion for Health examines the current goji juice mania , while Dr Holly believes exotic juices “taste like money”.

Read more 05 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I’ve just been eating a beautiful organic pear and thinking about my other gripe around the super-food concept. It sets up a small and restricted group of foods as being the only ones worth bothering about . As though these were the only foods you needed in your diet. Which is rubbish. We need variety, we need all sorts of different foods to give us a balanced diet. Yes, the superfoods are high in nutrients and, yes, they do contain …

Read more 29 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I’m not a big fan of the “superfood” concept. Well, it’s not so much the concept itself, as all the promotion and marketing that’s taken over. It seems every year there is a new “superfood”, the one we HAVE to eat in order to have optimum health. This year’s is always bigger and better than last year’s. The latest super-food is never something we eat as a normal part of our diet – it’s always someting super-expensive and hard …

Read more 29 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Some of you may have heard about the positive health benefits of drinking green and white tea. Indeed, there was a period when it seemed I couldn’t open a magazine without reading about the wonders of white tea in particular. While it’s true that green and white tea are both rich sources of antioxidants, you don’t have to give up your black tea, as it’s also full of antioxidants. White, green and black tea all come come from the …

Read more 23 May, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I’m writing an article for Wellbeing magazine at the moment, on the subject of antioxidants. There’s been a fair amount of discussion, over the past year, about the value of antioxidants, following this New Scientist article. The article received a lot of media coverage, as it specifically questions the value of taking antioxidant supplements. It’s important to say at the beginning, during this debate nobody is denying that *a diet high in fruit and vegetables will reduce your risk of …

Read more 17 February, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

There’s been conflicting news this week on the health benefits, or otherwise, of soy. Earlier in the the week reports linked soy to an increased risk of cancer, but then almost the same day came recommendations to include soy as part of a healthy diet . Even more confusing, both these statements were attributed to the same body . So, what’s the deal here? There’s been conflicting information about soy for a while, this transcript from ABC radio gives you …

Read more 18 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

This is a side dish I make a lot – it’s quick, easy, incredibly good for you and very tasty, which are four very good things from one recipe. One of the most exciting things at my dinner party (for me anyway), was how enthusiastically everyone tucked into this dish – in fact it was the greens that disappeared first! Green vegetables are supremely good for you – they contain iron, folate, magnesium and calcium, but they’re also packed full …

Read more 05 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Coming from the UK most of my family Christmas traditions revolve around turkey, roast potatoes, gravy, Christmas pudding, fruit cake, mince pies – heavy, heavy foods that we only eat once per year. A more recent tradition for me though, is panettone.Since moving out of home I’ve always lived in the inner west of Sydney, surrounded by a large proportion of Sydney’s Italian community, as well as Italian delis, cafes, foods, restaurants and so on. At this time of …

Read more 30 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Onions are one of the staples of our diet – well they’re certainly one of the staples of mine. We always have garlic and onion in the house and I would say about 80% of the things I cook, are started by sauteeing together these two ingredients. Their rich intensity adds so much flavour to even the simplest of dishes. Onions are also extremely good for you. They contain the flavonoid quercetin , which has antiinflammatory action. It inhibits …

Read more 29 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

When I lived in the UK I thought corn only came from a tin. Sure it was a vegetable and it grew somewhere, but I didn’t know you could buy it in another form. Only when I came to Australia did I realise corn came on cobs and tasted really, really good. Fresh corn is now one of my favourite vegies. As well as being a beautiful colour, it’s so juicy and sweet. I love it barbecued, cooked in the …

Read more 14 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I’ve blogged before about lycopene, that lovely red carotenoid antioxidant. From everything I’ve read to date, foods containing lycopene have to be heated or processed for the antioxidant to become available to us. It’s one of the reasons I like this antioxidant, it puts paid to the whole “raw is best” argument. Raw is sometimes best, but not always and certainly not in the case of lycopene. Or so I thought . . . Three months ago I mentioned “a …

Read more 11 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Yet another reason to have a healthy diet and lifestyle – it can protect you from macular degeneration – one of the leading causes of blindness in Australia. The prescription is plenty of Omega 3s, lots of fruit and vegetables (for the antioxidants), don’t smoke and regular exercise. See the full article here on the ABC’s website.

Read more 08 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Back to one of my favourite subjects, why vegetables are good for you. A recent six-year study has found that diets high in vegetables are associated with slower mental decline in older people. The study, part of the Chicago Health&Aging Project (CHAP), took place between 1993 and 2002 and followed almost 2,000 people (male and female) aged 65 years and over. Over the six year period, the participants cognitive function was measured on three occasions, using tests of short and …

Read more 04 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

It’s hard to pronounce and even harder to spell, but you can expect to hear the name resveratrol a lot more over the next few years. It’s one of the antioxidants found in red wine and the subject of a lot of scientific scrutiny. As an antioxidant it has the potential to benefit our health, protecting against cardiovascular disease, cancer and many other degenerative conditions. A report today in the SMH, outlines recent research showing that obese mice fed a …

Read more 02 November, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Another topic I’m frequently asked about is frozen vegetables: is there any point in eating them? h3. Why do we eat vegetables? We eat vegetables for many reasons. They contain vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that we need, and can’t get from other foods. Vegies are also high in fibre, which is important for bowel health. Without vegetables in your diet, you’re likely to be deficient in key nutrients and missing out on important antioxidants. Diets low in vegetables are …

Read more 06 October, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Yesterday I blogged about the problem with Fruit Roll-ups , as a snack and a source of fruit (they’re not). So what options does that leave, for those fussy non-fruit eaters out there? It can be hard to get some kids (and also some adults) to eat fruit, with complaints ranging from taste, through to fruits too messy. However, fruit is an important part of a healthy diet – it gives us vitamin C, valuable fibre, potassium, as well as …

Read more 23 September, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

As you know, I love lycopene , heck I even named my blog after it, so of course I have to report on any lycopene discoveries or trivia that are out there. I read today that, according to the US Department of Agriculture, the lycopene content of watermelon is significantly increased if it’s stored at room temperature, by as much as 40%, so it’s a big difference. Personally, I love my watermelon straight from the fridge, on a hot, hot …

Read more 10 August, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

What a cutie, this is a Barbara pumpkin and she appeared in my last Lettuce Deliver box. I was intrigued, as I’ve never heard of or seen Barbara pumpkins before. To me she looks like a cross between the shape of a butternut and the colour and markings of a jap pumpkin. On the inside she was a rich orange colour, much stronger than a butternut. Richard’s been calling her Barbarapapa since she arrived. I’m not sure I’d …

Read more 05 July, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I was recently asked the question – if I eat plenty of fruit, do I also need to eat vegetables? This is a common question and gets asked from both directions (ie also, I eat vegetables, do I need fruit?). The short answer is YES, you need both fruit and vegetables, sorry if that’s not what you wanted to hear. h3. Why do fruit and vegies matter? Fruit and vegetables are important because they supply a vast array of nutrients …

Read more 03 July, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I have a complex relationship with red cabbage. On one hand, it’s so pretty with it’s pinky/purpley leaves and shiny exterior, but I find raw red cabbage boring, a little too “healthy” tasting and I never know quite what to do with it. Oh I’ve done the braised with apple thang and that’s okay, but I just don’t get excited about it. About once a month, during the season, it appears in my organic vegie delivery. Surrounded by all …

Read more 26 June, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

I picked up some daisy mandarins this week. So far my local shops have been full of Imperials, but I loved the look of these – compact, tight skin and an intense red-orange colour. You can see the contrast in colour in this photo – an Imperial mandarin is top right-hand corner. They’re a new-ish hybrid mandarin, originally developed in the US and grown in Australia since the late 1990s. And, most importantly, they are delicious – easy to …

Read more 14 June, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants

Lycopene and me, we go way back and I think it is my favourite antioxidant. Firstly it’s the word itself, I love the look of it, the sound of it, the way the word feels when you wrap your mouth around it, ly-co-pene. It’s one of the main reasons this blog is called “Limes and Lycopene”, I just love the word. But it’s not only that, lycopene is a strapping, robust, no nonsense, no faffing about antioxidant. No prissy, princess-like …

Read more 09 June, 2006