food pairings-related stories
Life Fit with Laura Lewis: Eat This With That
Being Life Fit is about your total health, including the health of all of your relationships. Life Fit is a journey, not a destination. It is a process of continuous growth: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Check in each Tuesday to Life Fit with Laura Lewis, author of "52 Ways To A Healthy You," as we explore our total life fitness. Then, weigh in with your own thoughts over at Laura's "Life Fit Chat" each Wednesday and Thursday for further discussion on the week's topic. Or check out "Ask Laura" every Friday for answers! For more information visit Laura at www.LauraLewis.com.Did you know that the nutritional value of some foods are maximized when paired with certain other foods? Conversely, some foods actually become less potent or even dangerous. Check out the do's and don'ts of food pairing below.
DO mix cruciferous vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower with red meat. These vegetables contain certain compounds that may flush the body of carcinogens that can form on meat during high-heat cooking. While it is best to cook all meat on low temperatures, pairing meat with cruciferous vegetables serves as a added layer of protection.
DO pair tomatoes and avocado together. Besides being a delicious combo, together they pack a wallop of nutritional benefits. Tomatoes contain the antioxidant lycopene and the fat in the avocado helps the body absorb seven times more lycopene then of eating tomatoes solo. Adding a dab of extra-virgin olive oil to dark green vegetables will also help to release the full dose of carotenoid lutein offered by the vegetable. Carotenoid luteinan is an antioxidant that may help protect against age-related macular degeneration. Go for the olive-oil based salad dressings rather than the fat free ones for the same reason.
DO eat vitamin C with plant-based iron-rich foods such as spinach and oranges. While the body will absorb animal-based iron without the assistance of vitamin C, the plant-based irons require a helping hand from this powerful antioxidant. Adding tangerines to a spinach salad will help your body get the most iron possible from lunch, drizzle some olive oil and throw in some avocado slices and you have a powerhouse of a lunch! Half a red pepper, several slices of tomato or a half-cup of strawberries all equal about the same vitamin C as one medium orange.
DON'T mix coffee with breakfast cereals. Most cereals are fortified with additional iron, but the caffeine in the coffee actually prevents the body from absorbing the iron. Since 1 in 10 women in the U.S. is iron deficient, this could make a big difference. The antioxidant polyphenol is the offending agent in coffee -- and hot cocoa, black, peppermint, and chamomile teas -- that interferes with the body receiving iron. When consumed on its own, both coffee and cereal have good nutritional benefits, but they do not serve us well when consumed together. Put a least an hour between your morning beverage and your morning meal.
DON'T mix alcohol and energy drinks ... just say no to Red Bull and vodka! The unhealthy combo of uppers and downers can cause heart palpitations and breathing difficulties. In extreme cases, such as people with diagnosed or undiagnosed heart conditions, this combo can be lethal by leading to a heart attack or stroke. Overloading the body with a stimulant/depressant combo puts great stress on the central nervous system and heart. If you plan to drink, put a few hours between your Starbucks and your Stoli's.
DON'T mix alcohol and diet sodas. Besides the fact that it taste terrible, it can cause faster intoxication. In one recent study, this combo took only 21 minutes for half a diet cocktail to leave the stomach and reach the small intestine -- where most alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream. The same amount of a regular soda and alcohol combo took 36 minutes. If you really like the diet soda mix, you might want to grab some nuts to go with your cocktail to slow the body's metabolizing of the alcohol.
So there you have it ... it's not only what you eat but what you eat it with that matters!
DO mix cruciferous vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower with red meat. These vegetables contain certain compounds that may flush the body of carcinogens that can form on meat during high-heat cooking. While it is best to cook all meat on low temperatures, pairing meat with cruciferous vegetables serves as a added layer of protection.
DO pair tomatoes and avocado together. Besides being a delicious combo, together they pack a wallop of nutritional benefits. Tomatoes contain the antioxidant lycopene and the fat in the avocado helps the body absorb seven times more lycopene then of eating tomatoes solo. Adding a dab of extra-virgin olive oil to dark green vegetables will also help to release the full dose of carotenoid lutein offered by the vegetable. Carotenoid luteinan is an antioxidant that may help protect against age-related macular degeneration. Go for the olive-oil based salad dressings rather than the fat free ones for the same reason.
DO eat vitamin C with plant-based iron-rich foods such as spinach and oranges. While the body will absorb animal-based iron without the assistance of vitamin C, the plant-based irons require a helping hand from this powerful antioxidant. Adding tangerines to a spinach salad will help your body get the most iron possible from lunch, drizzle some olive oil and throw in some avocado slices and you have a powerhouse of a lunch! Half a red pepper, several slices of tomato or a half-cup of strawberries all equal about the same vitamin C as one medium orange.
DON'T mix coffee with breakfast cereals. Most cereals are fortified with additional iron, but the caffeine in the coffee actually prevents the body from absorbing the iron. Since 1 in 10 women in the U.S. is iron deficient, this could make a big difference. The antioxidant polyphenol is the offending agent in coffee -- and hot cocoa, black, peppermint, and chamomile teas -- that interferes with the body receiving iron. When consumed on its own, both coffee and cereal have good nutritional benefits, but they do not serve us well when consumed together. Put a least an hour between your morning beverage and your morning meal.
DON'T mix alcohol and energy drinks ... just say no to Red Bull and vodka! The unhealthy combo of uppers and downers can cause heart palpitations and breathing difficulties. In extreme cases, such as people with diagnosed or undiagnosed heart conditions, this combo can be lethal by leading to a heart attack or stroke. Overloading the body with a stimulant/depressant combo puts great stress on the central nervous system and heart. If you plan to drink, put a few hours between your Starbucks and your Stoli's.
DON'T mix alcohol and diet sodas. Besides the fact that it taste terrible, it can cause faster intoxication. In one recent study, this combo took only 21 minutes for half a diet cocktail to leave the stomach and reach the small intestine -- where most alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream. The same amount of a regular soda and alcohol combo took 36 minutes. If you really like the diet soda mix, you might want to grab some nuts to go with your cocktail to slow the body's metabolizing of the alcohol.
So there you have it ... it's not only what you eat but what you eat it with that matters!
Why you should never pair alcohol and energy drinks
Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements
My husband loves energy drinks. More specifically, he loves the jolt he gets from an energy drink. While I could never picture him trying to mix an energy drink with alcohol (that would defeat the purpose after all), I can see where someone else might give it a try. But the folks over at CNN tell us that mixing energy drinks and alcohol is a bad idea. The combination stresses the nervous system and can lead to heart palpitations and difficulty breathing.And since it's nearly the Fourth and we're talking about alcohol, studies have also found that when alcohol is mixed with diet soda, it enters the bloodstream at a much faster rate than when mixed with a regular soft drink. So if you're going to have a drink or two this weekend, you might want to splurge on the extra calories in a regular soda and have a snack as well. The sugar and extra food will slow down the rate the alcohol leaves your stomach.
For more tidbits on what foods work well together and what don't, check out Real Simple's article on food pairings.
