The thing about nutrients is that they're like a great rock and roll band.
Just as most great bands play better as a group than they do as soloists, most nutrients rely on supporting nutrients to give you all the health benefits they're capable of delivering.
This may be one reason why so many (badly designed) studies have shown disappointing results when investigating the health benefits of a specific nutrient (like for example vitamin E or beta carotene).
But I digress.
The point is that whole foods often deliver combinations of nutrients that work best synergistically, and combinations of whole foods often turbo charge that health benefit many times over.
Take tomatoes and broccoli. According to University of Illinois researchers, these two foods together have even more powerful cancer-fighting power when eaten at the same time than they do when they're eaten alone. And the valuable carotenoids in foods like spinach and tomatoes aren't well absorbed unless they're eaten with some fat.
"It's not that one nutrient doesn't work", says Elaine Magee, author of Food Synergy, it's that two or three work better". Kind of like a one-plus-one equals four effect.
That's one reason a "no-fat" salad is a silly idea. Important nutrients like the lutein in green peppers, the cancer-fighting lycopene in tomatoes, the capsanthin in red peppers, all need fat to be best absorbed by the body. (I even add a spoonful of Barleans flaxseed oil to my fresh vegetable and fruit juices for just that reason. Fish oil would work very well also, but it's harder to disguise the taste.) When making a salad, dump the fat-free dressing (which is usually loaded with sugar and chemicals anyway) and use some olive oil! Or combine spinach with eggs (complete with egg yolks) or with some avocado or nuts. That fat will make the powerful nutrients in the greens a lot more bioavailable.
And it's not just nutrients that benefit from pairing. Adding vinegar to sushi rice knocks the glycemic index of the rice down by as much as 35%.
Here are some combinations that work particularly well. Remember, this list is by no means complete!
- Broccoli and Tomatoes: According to Professor John Erdman of the University of Illinois, the combo may provide more powerful cancer protection than just eating either vegetable by itself, maybe because "different bioactive compounds in each food work on different anti-cancer pathways". (Pasta primavera with broccoli and tomato sauce does the trick. Just go easy on the pasta and use a whole-grain kind, cooked al dente!)
- Vitamin C and Iron: Vitamin C helps the body to absorb iron, so throw mix some high vitamin C fruits (like mandarin oranges) with some high-iron greens (like spinach or kale)
- Grass-fed Meat with Herbs and Spices. Studies show that marinating in high-antioxidant mixes of spices and herbs can significantly lower the levels of any carcinogenic compounds caused by grilling. (And for added protection, don't grill on a super-high flame. Slow cooking is best!)
The thing about nutrients is that they're like a great rock and roll band.
Just as most great bands play better as a group than they do as soloists, most nutrients rely on supporting nutrients to give you all the health benefits they're capable of delivering.
This may be one reason why so many (badly designed) studies have shown disappointing results when investigating the health benefits of a specific nutrient (like for example vitamin E or beta carotene).
But I digress.
The point is that whole foods often deliver combinations of nutrients that work best synergistically, and combinations of whole foods often turbo charge that health benefit many times over.
Take tomatoes and broccoli. According to University of Illinois researchers, these two foods together have even more powerful cancer-fighting power when eaten at the same time than they do when they're eaten alone. And the valuable carotenoids in foods like spinach and tomatoes aren't well absorbed unless they're eaten with some fat.
"It's not that one nutrient doesn't work", says Elaine Magee, author of Food Synergy, it's that two or three work better". Kind of like a one-plus-one equals four effect.
That's one reason a "no-fat" salad is a silly idea. Important nutrients like the lutein in green peppers, the cancer-fighting lycopene in tomatoes, the capsanthin in red peppers, all need fat to be best absorbed by the body. (I even add a spoonful of Barleans flaxseed oil to my fresh vegetable and fruit juices for just that reason. Fish oil would work very well also, but it's harder to disguise the taste.) When making a salad, dump the fat-free dressing (which is usually loaded with sugar and chemicals anyway) and use some olive oil! Or combine spinach with eggs (complete with egg yolks) or with some avocado or nuts. That fat will make the powerful nutrients in the greens a lot more bioavailable.
And it's not just nutrients that benefit from pairing. Adding vinegar to sushi rice knocks the glycemic index of the rice down by as much as 35%.
Here are some combinations that work particularly well. Remember, this list is by no means complete!