Nutrition Hint--Is This The New Dream Food?
With just 15 calories per cup, mushrooms are a dream food, and they're easy to incorporate into recipes. For a simple side dish, quarter a large container of white or crimini mushrooms, drizzle with a little lower-sodium soy sauce, and roast at 400 degrees until the veggies are soft and browned. Or, top a bunless turkey burger or grilled chicken breast with a mound of sautéed 'shrooms - it's easy to skip the bread when you have a yummy, high-volume topping to gobble up. You can even use mushrooms to create a healthy "pizza": layer a roasted or grilled Portobello cap with marinara sauce and a sprinkling of shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, and broil until the cheese is melted.
The health benefits of mushrooms can provide us with unique immune system support. But contrary to public belief, these common button-type mushrooms have recently been shown to surpass some of their more exotic mushroom counterparts (like shiitake or maitake mushrooms) in terms of immune system benefits. We've seen several recent studies that placed button mushrooms at the top of the mushroom list with respect to regulation of unwanted inflammation. Included here were studies on laboratory animals involving the development of arthritis--an area where we expect to see more news about the health benefits of mushrooms.
