Cabbage offers many health benefits. It’s inexpensive and cabbage gets rave reviews from the world of nutritionists. Cabbage is relatively cheap, yet one of the richest when it comes to protective vitamins. Members of the cruciferous family are rich in anti-oxidants. They are the first line of defense against cancer.

Sarah holds halfs of red and green cabbage.

Cabbage is rich in:
Vitamin A: protecting of your skin and eyes.
Vitamin C: an all important anti-oxidant which helps the mitochondria to burn fat. Cabbage has more vitamin C than oranges.
Vitamin E: a fat soluble anti-oxidant. You’ll want to use recipes that use a healthy fat, like olive oil or butter, to get the most benefit from cabbage.
Vitamin B: boosts energy metabolism.

Cabbage Tips:
Cooked cabbage is delicious if prepared properly. Very finely shredding cabbage is important for tasty cabbage, as well as cooking it just until tender. Remove outer leaves and core. Shred the cabbage with a knife or in food processor. Drain, but don’t remove all the water. The water adhering to the cabbage is sufficient to cook it. Add a pat or two of butter or olive oil, salt and pepper to the cabbage then cover and cook for about 10 minutes, until the cabbage is wilted. Prepare red cabbage the same as the green variety, only allow a little more time to cook.  Click Here for a kid-friendly sweet-tasting cabbage and apples recipe.

>Don’t buy halved or quartered heads of cabbage even if it’s well wrapped. As soon as the leaves are cut, cabbage will loose its vitamin C
>Wash cabbage only when you are ready to use it.
>Look for solid, heavy heads of cabbage, with no more than 3 to 4 loose outer leaves.
When buying cabbage, choose the smaller variety, they taste better.
>Cabbage is easier to digest in its raw fresh form than when cooked.  The longer it’s cooked, the less digestible it becomes. Cabbage sprouts are delicate and easier to digest, and they also contain higher levels of nutrients.

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Moms frequently ask if their children should take a multivitamin

Whole foods should be your first resource for your family’s health. A diet with lots of fresh vegetables and fruit is optimal. A picky eater’s diet is limited and because we rely on processed foods, which are not as healthful as fresh foods, it’s a good idea to add a high-quality multivitamin-mineral supplement to your child’s diet.

The problem is that many vitamins on the market designed for children contain artificial ingredients.

Angel eats a healthy diet and takes vitamins.

A good resource for purchasing children’s vitamins is a whole foods store where there are qualified personnel to answer questions about ingredients. Read the nutrition label carefully. Search for multi-vitamins derived from whole foods, not synthetic vitamins. If an artificial color or flavor is listed you know it’s not made from whole foods, look for another brand. Some times the ingredient “natural flavor” is code for MSG. Always ask.

In addition to a daily multivitamin, there are a couple of other supplements which make a lot of sense for children today. Probiotics is the first. Processed foods interfere with the good bacteria. Also, antibiotics kill both the “bad” and “good” bacteria in our guts. Probiotics stimulate the immune system and are necessary for a healthy GI tract. When children have a proper balance of beneficial organisms in their GI tracts, it supports health as well as brain function. Look for a probiotic brand made just for children.

The second is a cod liver oil. Cod liver oil is an anti-inflammatory high in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins A and D. It is available in lemon flavor which has a pleasant taste. I recommend finding a brand which is made from fish caught in the Pacific Ocean. Fish caught in the Atlantic have been found to have a higher mercury count. Carlson’s Fish Oil is a superior brand. 

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Joshy knows he’s eating corn, do you?

Michael Pollan came up with the very same conclusion in his book, Omnivore’s Dilemma, without utilizing carbon testing. His journey began with the question, “What am I eating?” Turns out it doesn’t matter what we’re eating, it all begins with industrialized corn. He says unless you’re eating free-range pastured animals, you’re eating corn.

So what’s the problem? It seems when animals eat what they were designed to eat, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 (which is an anti-inflammatory) and other essential fatty acids have a proper balance. Grass-feed beef has a two-to-one ratio of omega-6 to -3, compared to more than 10-to-one in corn-fed beef.

Pollen says, “If units of omega-3s and beta-carotene and vitamin E are what an egg shopper is rally after, then $2.10 (now it’s $2.50 or $3) a dozen eggs from pastured chickens actually represent a much better deal than the 79 cents a dozen industrial eggs at the supermarket.”

The bottom line is: You can get more nutrition from meat and dairy which has been raised on pasture. Since, vitamins are expensive, it makes sense to purchase products from pastured animals when you can. This makes even more sense, if you have a picky eater, who may consume limited amounts of food. (And yes, picky eaters can learn to love veggies, CLICK HERE.)
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In a recent academic review, a University of Minnesota professor in the School of Public Health has concluded that food, as opposed to specific nutrients, may be key to having a healthy diet.

Do you think it could be that simple? Food gurus all have different points of view: Eat low-fat; no eat healthy fat; don’t eat sugar; sugar isn’t so bad in moderation; fortified is just as healthful as natural; fast-food is healthy when you purchase a salad. Marketers and regulators focus on details: total fat, carbohydrates, and proteins. We’re given volumes of information about individual nutrients and vitamin fortification added to our food products.

David Jacobs, Ph.D, the principal investigator, and Mayo Professor of Public Health at the University of Minnesota said, “We are confusing ourselves and the public by talking so much about nutrients when we should be talking about foods. Consumers get the idea that diet and health can be understood in terms of isolated nutrients. It’s not the best approach, and it might be wrong.”

Jacobs and others argue that people should shift their focus toward the benefits of entire foods and food patterns in order to better understand nutrition.

Pictured: Natalie is thinking over the question of “Food or Nutrients?”

Food synergy is the new focus or is it really new? Perhaps grandmas knew about food synergy, before it became a popular buzz word. This is the idea that health is obtained from whole foods, rather than a single food component, such as cereal fortified with vitamins and calcium added to a container of orange juice.

It seems to me that moms are concerned about balance in their children’s diets. Once we begin to understand the difference between processed and whole foods, we’re on the road to health and by default: food synergy.

Jacobs said an understanding of the interactions between food components in both single foods and whole diets opens up new areas of thinking. I take supplements and I’m certainly interested in various facts about the foods we eat. Sometimes we can make ourselves crazy with the latest information about the ORAC value of produce or the belief that all fat is bad. When most times a simple rule works: Eat a variety of whole unprocessed foods. That simple, yet life-altering step will open the door to your family’s health.

A day’s worth of vitamins can be found in a serving of processed cereal. How much better is it to eat a whole grain like old fashioned oatmeal or cream of wheat? Even a bowl of brown rice mixed with fruit is a healthier option to a box of processed cereal filled with added sugars and chemicals. Once we begin to switch from nutrient thinking to whole food thinking, it takes the guesswork out of what’s really healthy.

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Popeye gulped down a can of spinach every time he needed super-human strength, usually when his nemesis, Brutus, gave him grief.

Turns out Popeye had the right idea. Scientists are finding some foods are higher in anti-oxidant activity. And you guessed it, spinach is near the top of the list. The theory is that oxidative damage results in many illnesses. This evidence has spurred skyrocketing sales of antioxidant vitamins.

Agricultural Research Service is the chief scientific agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They say foods scoring high in an antioxidant analysis, called ORAC, may protect cells and their components from oxidative damage.

Pictured: Super-Joshy and his sidekick Super-Teddy

ORAC, short for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, is a test tube analysis measuring the total antioxidant power of foods and other chemical substances. Early findings suggest that eating plenty of high-ORAC fruits and vegetables, such as spinach and blueberries, may help slow the processes associated with aging in your body and brain.

The studies found that eating plenty of high-ORAC foods raised the antioxidant power of human blood 10 to 25 percent. It prevented some loss of long-term memory and learning ability in middle-aged rats. It maintained the ability of brain cells in middle-aged rats to respond to a chemical stimulus—a function that normally decreases with age and protected rats’ tiny blood vessels against oxygen damage. Certainly, this is interesting and useful knowledge. As with most studies, one aspect of food is isolated. Other factors aren’t taken into consideration.

ORAC (super food) ia certainly a hot topic. Steven Pratt, M.D. says in his book, SuperFoods, there are 14 foods that will change your life. He says he chose them for their high concentrations of nutrients.

Drs. Roizen and Oz go one step further and talk about food synergy. They say there’s food synergy between the nutrients in some foods like oatmeal and OJ that work to provide double the benefits you’d expect from simply adding their nutrients together.

The top scoring ORAC foods were prunes, raisins, berries such as blue berries, strawberries, raspberries, and green veggies: kale, broccoli, and spinach. Alfalfa sprouts were near the top of the list as well.

Fortunately, for children today, there are two new characters, who love to eat whole foods. Try Rannosuarus, a T-Rex, and Betty Baby Bites, his best mouse-buddy. They were created for my book, Baby Bites: Transforming an Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater.

Popeye was helpful with getting kids to eat one veggie, spinach. The character Try Rannosaurus loves all green veggies, after all he’s green. His love of all green veggies is contagious. Betty is the brains behind the dino and she loves whole foods as well. The two team up to engage your children in healthy eating.

After all the studies, papers, and books, we’re back to good ol’ nonna sense. Super foods are whole foods. When you think about it, why is this really news? Do we feel better if a fruit or vegetable comes with a number? Do we think we can eat the foods, which have a high ORAC, and somehow this will make up for all the junky foods we eat?

It makes sense to eat spinach and berries, which come with a high ORAC value. Although, eating all edible parts of varied plant foods is beneficial. Eat whole grains, fruit, and veggies … just like Try and Betty. You’ll be healthier for it!

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