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Have you ever heard the phrase "go together like peas and carrots?" Some foods do more than simply taste good together. Like adding fuel to the fire, the nutrients in certain foods can do even more for our bodies when they are paired with complementary nutrients in other foods. This is called food synergy. Some examples:

• Tomatoes and broccoli both have cancer-fighting nutrients. When eaten together, the effect seems to be more powerful. Try this broccoli and tomato salad or stir-fried broccoli with tomato/chickpea ragu.
• Vegetables are even better with a little good fat. You don't want to douse your veggies in butter or ranch dressing, but adding a little olive oil or serving avocado with your veggies can help your body absorb more of the vegetables' phytochemicals. (Both olive oil and avocado are rich in monounsaturated fat.)
• A reason for fruit salad. Want a delicious end to your dinner? Serve up a fruit salad. The phytochemical quercetin (found in apples and berries) works together with catechin (found in purple grapes) to help prevent platelet clumping.
• Vitamin C boosts iron absorption, so toss some mandarin oranges in with your spinach salad.
• Eating some omega-3 rich fish? Drink a few ounces of red wine or enjoy a handful of grapes. The polyphenols found in grapes and red wine make it easier for your body to absorb omega-3 fatty acids.
  

So how hard should you work to find these complementary foods? If you have a certain medical condition (such as high blood pressure) that you're trying to manage, you might want to consult a registered dietitian for advice. And it certainly doesn't hurt to pair together some of the foods mentioned here. But, food synergy is a complex subject, and there's no need for nutritional stress. Just aim for an overall healthful diet with a variety of nutritious foods -- remember to choose a colorful assortment of produce -- and you'll be on the right track.

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We at That's Fit and AOL Health know you've got a lot going on in your lives besides staying in great shape, and we realize that more than just diet and exercise goes into feeling your best every day. That's why we're sharing some of the exciting reporting going on at AOL Health.

When was the last time you tested your nutrition smarts? AOL Health's "Nutrition IQ" quiz will challenge how much you really know about what you're eating.

And to discover the nutrient-richness of your foods, check out our meal evaluator tool to see just what (vitamins, calories, fat grams, protein content) is in your favorite foods.

Plus, do you know what your target heart rate is? Are you achieving it? Use our heart-rate tool to find out. The American Heart Association tells us knowing this number is important because it lets "you measure your initial fitness level and monitor your progress in a fitness program."

I may be dating myself here, but I remember when my parents bought their first microwave and my mother would warn me not to stand in front of it. Safety fears were just one of the rumors that swirled around about microwaves. It was also thought that food cooked in a microwave lost some of its nutrients. But those myths have long been debunked, right?

CafeMom has a post regarding Dr. Don Colbert's latest book "Eat This and Live!" In his book, Colbert suggests cooking frozen meals in the oven to retain nutrients and reduce the risk of cancer. Interesting. Especially considering plenty of studies have shown that food cooked in a microwave is not only safe, but nutrients remain relatively intact.

Do you have any lingering fears or concerns about your microwave?

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I do my best to squeeze in at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day in hopes that I'm giving my body the right vitamins and nutrients it needs to keep me going. But thanks to recent news, a cloud has formed over my Dudley Do-Right attitude toward produce, and my grandmother has one more thing to shake her fist at. That's right, Gram, you can say it. American produce. It ain't what it used to be.

Not only does it taste worse than it did 50 years ago, but our fruits and veggies also contain fewer vitamins and nutrients, according to the February issue of the "Journal of HortScience."

Donald R. Davis, a former research associate with the Biochemical Instititue at the University of Texas, Austin, claims that your local produce aisle contains five to 40 percent fewer essential minerals, including magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc.

Mushrooms are getting healthier, with all that extra vitamin D, and tomatoes are getting healthier too. Well, the purple ones, anyway.

Purple tomatoes, you ask? Yep. Purple they are in Britain, where researchers are engineering the fruit to contain even more nutrients than we find in dark berries. The good news about this: More protection against the ills that ail us, like cancer, heart disease, and some neurological issues.

Here's how it's all going down: Cancer-prone mice (poor mice) eating the purple food are living on average 40 days longer than animals fed a standard diet. This is even more significant than researchers anticipated and is quite encouraging --- I mean, just by changing specific components in a diet, we can improve health in, well, mice -- but hopefully humans too, although human studies are a long way off.

Something you might consider before getting your hopes about these tomatoes: They are genetically engineered, and this may scare you off if you prefer your food in its most natural state. Do you?

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Smoothies are all the rage these days. Forget meals -- you can get all your nutrition in liquid form, served in a handy to-go cup. Not that there's anything wrong with giving in to the smoothie craze -- I myself have forgone the traditional meal in favour of a quick energy fix from the nearest smoothie vendor.

And there are smoothies to fit all needs -- whether you're looking to bulk up on protein, trim fat, get as many antioxidants as possible or fulfill all your daily fruit and veggie requirements in one drink. All that and they're usually absolutely delicious.

But conventional wisdom tells me that when something tastes good, it probably has lots of calories. Still, how many calories can there be in fruit juice and yogurt? What do you think?

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Since I rarely eat meat, getting my RDI of iron is difficult for me, but I know firsthand how important it is -- if I'm not getting enough I get lightheaded and lethargic. The same can happen to you!

According to our friends at Fitsugar, we need 18 mg of Iron per day, and without this, we may be considered anemic. Get your share from the following sources:

• Iron-fortified cereal (1 oz) - 4.5-7 mg
• Soybeans (1/2 cup) - 9 mg
• Sun-dried tomatoes (1/2 cup) - 9 mg
• Pine Nuts (1/2 cup) - 9 mg
• Pumpkin seeds (1/2 cup) - 9 mg
• Oysters (3 oz) - 7 mg
• Spinach (1/2 cup) - 3 mg

Want to know more iron-rich foods? Head over to Fitsugar for the scoop on iron.

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Getting your kids to eat their veggies is like trying to give a cat a bath -- sometimes it works out OK but most of the time, it is just not going to happen without a fight. eDiets recently addressed this problem and offered five interesting solutions:

• Force feed your kids by pureeing veggies into a turkey baster and injecting them into their mouth
• Give your kids veggies hidden a familiar form, like veggie burgers (which don't actually have many veggies)
• Disguise veggies to look like meat by soaking them in food dye
• Bribe them with toys and money
• Surround him with other kids who eat their veggies -- them he will see they are 'cool' to eat.

Hmmm ... not sure this is the most effective advice I've ever heard -- I'm more of a fan of the 'add veggies to the fruit smoothie' tactic, but whatever works, I guess!

How do you get your kid to eat veggies?

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By now, we should all be aware that we're supposed to be getting our five to 10 servings of fruit and veggies a day. But how many of us are actually eating that amount? No enough, according to this article from the Daily Mail. Only one in eight people in Britain are getting five servings a day. The average was 2.5 servings, and 12% of participants didn't get any produce during the day.

If you're not getting enough fruit and veggies in your diet, you're only hurting yourself, so if you want to look and feel your best, take steps to work fresh produce into your eating habits. It's not hard -- order a salad on the side instead of fries, have a vegetable cocktail like V8 instead of a coke, or choose to snack on an apple instead of chips. You owe it to yourself.

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Fresh fruits are on their way out. No more you-pick strawberries and blueberries. Soon, there will be no more scrumptious strawberries, no more tart raspberries, no more of my favorite cherries either. There is a way to enjoy your pick of fruits throughout the long winter, though, long after they've gone out of season. Just freeze them. Especially blackberries.

Even when iced, blackberries burst with protective nutrients, says RealAge. In fact, frozen blackberries have almost as much antioxidant strength as the fresh variety, enough to fight off colon, prostate, breast, and oral cancer cells.

Stocked, blackberries are, with vitamins A, C, E, and K, beta carotene, folate, potassium, zinc, lutein, and anthocyanins -- these give the fruit its dark color and disease-fighting powers. With only 43 calories per three-ounce serving, you ought to be freezing these berries -- now.

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Being called a chicken shouldn't upset us as much as it does, especially since it's such a healthy thing to be (that is, assuming that you truly are what you eat).

A five-ounce piece of skinless chicken packs a great deal of vitamins and vital nutrients, something some "courageous" protein sources cannot boast. Here's the nutrient rap sheet on what even a piece of chicken this small provides:

• 32 percent of RDA of vitamin B6, an essential vitamin for forming hemoglobin for red blood cells
• 40 percent of RDA of selenium, an antioxidant which also prevents injuries to cells
• 8 percent of RDA of magnesium, which is necessary for the proper conversion of food to energy
• 7 percent of RDA of iron, which enables hemoglobin to carry oxygen to all body cells
• 67 percent of RDA of protein, promoting muscle growth and the maintenance of muscle tissue
• 72 percent of RDA of niacin, which helps convert food into energy
  
  

I'm not sure explaining these facts to someone who calls you a chicken is the coolest comeback you can throw, but perhaps your knowledge of them will help you keep your beak ... er, I mean head up high.

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But here's the kicker. In order to avoid a multi-vitamin and still get enough nutrition, you need to eat the right foods. For instance, iron should rarely be taken in pill form (especially by men), but iron is an important nutrient for kids and teens. You can make sure they get enough by feeding them foods like fortified breakfast cereals or black beans, but serve them with foods that are high in vitamin C (such as orange juice) to boost absorption.

Prevention has the scoop on other important nutrients, who needs them, and the best way to get them, whether in supplement form or through the foods you eat.

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The other day I told you how key it is to feed your body after exercise and suggested you eat these three post-workout power foods. As good timing would have it, just after sharing my message, I received an e-mail from my local fitness center. The topic? The importance of post-workout fuel.

It may seen counterproductive to eat after a workout, said the e-mail. I mean, we work so hard to burn all those calories, so why put more back in so quickly? Well, because an after-workout snack provides vital nutrients the body needs for muscle and cell repair. Eating after exercise also keeps us from feeling ravenously hungry a few hours later.

So, here's the deal: Aim to eat 15 to 30 minutes after the end of a workout. This is the period of time in which the body seems to get the most benefit from ingesting carbs and protein. Try yogurt, a fruit smoothie, or a protein shake and you'll feel energized and revived -- not sleepy and sluggish.

Got a favorite premium food you put in your tank? Tell us what it is.

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No, organic soda is not the way to go. The only way to go when it comes to soda is to skip it altogether.

Organic soda, like all soda, contains zero nutrients -- and a bigger price tag. A six-pack of the organic stuff will cost you about $5, and yes, it's made without high fructose syrup (clearly, a bonus) but each can contains 120 calories -- that's 20 more than a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola Classic.

Cutting back on nutritionally-void foods and drinks is the best way to go, says Prevention magazine. So ditch the soda and any other organic junk food that temps your taste buds. These items might be better for the planet, but they aren't any better for you.

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We know that colorful foods are best; color provides a variety of nutrients our body needs. And let's face it -- it's much more fun for our taste buds that plain old potatoes and other white foods.

How about some refreshing summer cooler drinks that will give us a fair amount of nutrition, too? Whole Foods Market has some creative recipes that will enhance your seasonal fun.

Let's start with the green Minted Lime Freeze. If you love mojitos, this is a fabulous, frozen, non-alcoholic version of that fun drink. Fresh-squeezed lime juice provides vitamin C and the mint leaves are your leafy greens.