Mistakes You are Making that Reduce Nutritional Value of Food

We might think it's bad for our teeth.  We may not like the taste, or the texture.  Or in some cases, we might mistakenly even think it's bad for our internal system.  Maybe useless or not digestible.  But, in fact, if you do these alterations or eliminations, you are missing out on huge nutritional benefits that the food in question has to offer.

What can be just as dangerous a long term path as nutritional carelessness is thinking you are eating healthy, when you actually are throwing away nutrients.  Here are some things that are commonly done that shouldn't be done to some healthy foods and superfoods.

Unless you are making applesauce or apple pie with the intention of eating for a dessert for pleasure and not for nutritional value, never, never peel your apple.

Source: Flickr: Peeling apples for applesauce

Author:  Jason Popesku, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

 

You Peel Your Apples

Perhaps you prefer the texture of a peeled apple.  Or just don't want to deal with the potential nuisance of a piece of skin getting stuck between your teeth.  But if you knew what was in that skin, you would know it would definitely be worth the potential minor inconvenience.

The truth is, the skin contains about 5-6 times the vitamins and antioxidants as the apple's flesh.  The skin is also loaded with phytonutrients, which have powerful anti-inflammatory properties.  

The only part of the apple you should actively avoid are the seeds.  The seeds contain arsenic, which is a natural defense mechanism against consumption, ensuring that the next generation will breed.  Arsenic is a particularly dangerous heavy metal, not only because its presence is toxic, but until it is removed, it to a considerable degree inhibits detoxification of other heavy metals present in the body.

The skin, however, contains nothing but goodness.  So unless its applesauce or a pie you are making, don't peel the apple and throw the skin away.

Throwing Away Grape Seeds

 

In a stark contrast to the above warning about eating apple seeds, if you throw the grape seeds out, you are throwing away a lot of nutrients.  They don't have the best texture at first, but you can get used to them.  They have a comparatively weak shell, so they will not hurt your teeth to bite into them.

Grape seeds contain many of the nutrients that the flesh and skin do, and some of them in greater quantities.  A little known fact is that seeds also contain essential fatty acids in addition to the antioxidants and anti inflammatory micronutrients.

The most notable group of flavonoids found in grape seeds are the proanthocyanins.  Apart from their own antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, they also enhance the properties of other groups of antioxidants.  This is a property known as synergy.

Eat the whole grape, don't spit out the seed!

Adding Milk or Cream to Your Tea

 

Yes, it can taste very good.  It can add a richer, creamier accent to your tea of choice.  Unfortunately, it can also considerably reduce the nutritional benefits.  All tea has a variety of antioxidants, including polyphenols.  Black teas have the least, but still a considerable amount, while green and white teas are more plentiful.

While it may be tempting to add milk or cream to your tea, there is a culprit in the dairy called casein.  This protein is one of the two proteins found in dairy products, the other being whey.  The problem with the casein is that it has an affinity for many of these antioxidants present in tea, and will bind to them, rendering them useless to the body.

If you wish to flavor your tea, add lemon juice, or a small amount of honey, preferably raw honey.  Raw honey packs a powerhouse nutritional punch in and of itself, while lemon can enhance, rather than inhibit the antioxidant properties of tea.