Best-Selling Author Jo Robinson Five Key Facts About Healthy Salads

by | Apr 16, 2014 | Dining | 0 comments

eatingonwild

With the popularity of healthy eating at an allt-time high, it’s hard to find a restaurant in America without a side salad on the menu.

Investigative journalist Jo Robinson  has spent the past 15 years scouring research journals for information on how we can restore vital nutrients to our fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, and dairy products.

Her newest cookbook, Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health passes on to a healthy-recipe hungry public the best ways to select and preserve produce and enhance their nutritional content.

Each chapter hones in on specific produce groups from corn to avocados with in-depth information of the history of species to the modern day strains you can purchase in your market.  Here are five key facts from her chapter on wild greens:

1. Select purple, red, red-brown or dark green loose leaf varieties. Loose forms of lettuce have more beneficial compounds for the body as compared to pale varieties with  tight forms (Iceberg).

Breeds like Arugula, Radicchio, Endive, Kale, and Spinach will not only make your salad diverse in appearance but nutritionally diverse.  For extra freshness, buy whole heads of lettuce and greens with stems rather than bagged greens that decompose more quickly.

2. Just 10 minutes of preparation preserves flavor and nutrients. Before placing the lettuce in the refrigerator, separate the individual leaves from the full head of lettuce and soak them in cold water for 10 minutes to improve the antioxidant content. The  lettuce releases more antioxidants  as a reflex to the change in temperature. To store, place the greens in a resealable plastic bag pricked with 10 to 20 holes in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.

3. Check your dates: Be sure to check the “use-by” date  and stay clear of signs of an impending expiration date, like yellow or browning spots.

4. Rethink your dressings: Many dressings on the market have ingredients like hydrogenated oils with high sugar content. Extra-virgin olive oil  is beneficial for its own antioxidant properties and will help the body absorb  fat-soluble vitamins within salad greens.

5. Mask bitterness: The most beneficial greens for the body can carry an overbearing bitter taste, so adding fruits like avocados or berries will cut the bitterness and simultaneously provide a counterbalancing sweetness.

For more information, please visit: eatwild.com

Joseph Amella, Jr.

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