Nutritional Diet Health Focus

Nutritional Diet Health Focus by Cari Jones

The importance of maintaining a healthy nutritional diet ncannot be overemphasized or stressed enough, and like most nhabits, good or bad, start at a very early age in the home.

I was fortunate coming up in a small midwestern community at na time not long after World War II. There were nine of us nincluding Mom and Dad. We were all dependent on the ability nof my dad to provide and he was very good at it, so much so, nthat I didn't have a full realization that we were "poor" nuntil much later in my life, and having to face the budget nchallenges of raising a family of five of my own.

What I learned from a small like minded community, my nparents, grandparents and Aunties,that food is love and nnoone would go without as long as the community knew about nit. It was common for folks to have a garden in their back nyard and any surplus was always shared. Since there were so nmany of us, it seemed like we were always getting lots of ncorn, beans or tomatoes, even homemade jams and jellies.

Now it seems to me, that times have changed to where the nthings we took for granted then,have now somehow become a nluxury.Through the commercialization,processing of nfoods,truth in labeling and FDA requirements,transportation ncosts, etc.prices keep going in an upward spiral.Most nprocessed foods are devoid of nutrients,creating a need for nsupplements. "Healthy" fresh foods which are the best nsource of vitamins and minerals, have become so expensive nand at such a premium that folks raising families or on nfixed incomes have to make a major budget decision as to nwhether they can afford to be healthy.The bottom line is nthis.We can't afford not to develop a good nutritional nbase, because the price, later on down the road will be much nhigher than a week's worth of groceries.

As a citizen of this great nation and all that implies, nthose are not the kinds of decisions we should be grappling nwith.Those are the things our leaders/wannabes should be nfocused on. But some of them give me the distinct impression nthat they belong to the "Marie Antoinette" school of nthinking.(Upon hearing that the people had no bread to neat,she allegedly said " Let them eat cake!")

Having said all that,the foundations of good nutrition nhaven't really changed. People need good clean drinking nwater, up to eight glasses a day. As a rule of thumb, the nless processes the food is subjected to, the better! First nchoice is fresh, then frozen, then canned. Most people can ndo a combination of the three.

Here are some good food sources of antioxidants that your nfamily may already enjoy. You can always rotate the nselection and buy according to sales. Avoid waste when nbuying perishables, don't buy more than your family will neat.

Vitamin C is water soluble and probably our first line of ndefense but this powerful antioxidant cannot be stored in nthe body, so it's important to eat some regularly. Most of nus know the best sources for this vitamin but I'll start nwith 1. citrus fruits 2. leafy green vegetables 3. nstrawberries 4. potatoes 5. broccoli 6. cabbage and green npeppers

Beta-Carotene sources can be found in 1.carrots 2. sweet npotatoes 3. tomatoes Fruits- Cantaloupe, peaches and napricots.

Vitamin E is fat soluble and a very powerful antioxidant nthat is promoted for many uses not the least of which is nant-aging and can be found in nuts, whole grains, vegetable noil, fish-liver oil and green leafy vegetables.

For a quick condiment this summer incorporating some of the nantioxidant rich foods discussed, try this simply delicious nand ridiculously easy combination:

6 medium tomatoes

1 medium onion dicedn
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantron
2-4 serrano or jalapeno peppers mincednpinch of garlic powder npinch of salt
Combine all ingredients and let stand, cover nand refrigerate leftovers. *optional additions- diced ncucumber, squeeze of lime.