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WEEKLY ARTICLE

Variety is the Spice of Life!

We wanted to take a moment this week to bring your awareness to a few of the poor neglected super foods that just don't get the respect or recognition that they deserve.

Like which ones you may ask. Well, on this week's menu alone, we are using several somewhat obscure super foods, and dare we say, unpopular, (but only because they are totally unknown by typical American standards), such as hijiki sea vegetable, tempeh, rutabaga, and parsnip.

Did you know that, according to Consumer Reports, 87% of the population of this country never eats parsnips? And the remaining 3% only eat them once a week or less??

Unfamiliarity, or not knowing how to prepare a less than mainstream food (or lets face it, something that doesn't come in a box or can), was cited as the main reason.

So this week we decided to make Cr�me of Parsnip Pie for the dessert dish, to give the lowly parsnip some much deserved attention! Granted, this is not the parsnips typical use, but since so few of us even use it at all, please trust us on this one, that it is truly delicious! This dessert is along the lines of other famous vegetable based pies such as sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie, that utilize the natural sweetness and creaminess of the vegetable itself as the full bodied base of the pies filling. Parsnips are naturally high in complex carbohydrates, fueling us with lots of usable energy. They contain a substantial amount of fiber, are high in calcium, phosphorus and potassium, and contain a fair amount of vitamin C as well. Who would have even imagined so much from the lowly parsnip?!

If parsnips could sneakily contain so many nutrients, just think of all of the valuable nutrients you could be missing out on by not adding the entire myriad assortment of foods available to all of us to your diet. Foods such as parsnips, rutabaga, tempeh, and hijiki may slip past most people, but they most definitely don't slip past Wholly Macro!!

In another Consumer Reports On Health National Research Center Survey it was found that 70% of the people polled fell short of eating the U. S. Department of Agricultures recommendation of a mere five servings of produce a day.

Not eating at least five servings of fresh produce per day can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.

And while the number of produce servings per day is important, variety is an even bigger factor.

You should be eating produce from the following categories, and a variety from each category, daily.

Leafy Greens

(good for the heart and liver), such as kale, collard greens, mustard greens, and bok choy to name a few.

Ground Vegetables

(good for the stomach, spleen, and pancreas) such as cabbage, butternut and kabocha squash, rutabaga, onion, cauliflower, and other vegetables that grow on the ground.

Root Vegetables

(good for cleansing the blood, and strengthening the entire body), such as carrot, daikon, burdock root, and parsnip.

Sea Vegetables

(which naturally remove heavy metals and radioactive toxins from the body), such as wakame, kombu, arame, hijiki, nori, and agar agar.

Legumes

such as dried or fresh beans (good for the kidneys, bones, teeth, and nervous / endocrine system). 

Whole Grains

(good for every single part of the body), such as brown rice, millet, corn, quinoa, barley, and on and on, there are many many whole grains.

And yes, beans and grains are plants / produce / vegetables even, according to the USDA, so they can count as part of your five servings / five varieties of fresh produce per day although Wholly Macro actually recommends that you use at least five fresh produce items per day in addition to your beans and grains. It is not hard to do. Try to make it a routine to use at least two fresh vegetables per meal, and if you eat three meals a day, that would equal six servings / varieties of fresh produce per day.

You can, and should work up from there.

Almost any given item on the Wholly Macro Menu contains five or more different produce items per dish, from each of the above categories. So, if you were to order one each of everything on our menu each week, you would be getting a cool twenty five different varieties of produce, minimum!!

The bottom line: For most of us, there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to the amount, and variety of plant based foods that we eat. Don't dislike any of the loyal and faithful plant friends that Mother Nature provides, but rather, try to always incorporate as many as you can into your daily diet. Enjoy the adventure, and health benefits, of discovering them and using them in a variety of new and different ways to spice up your life!  

As Always,

Gayle and Jaime / Wholly Macro