June 2023
Remember Dr. Mom preaching: “Put more color on your plate”? I want to expand this to: “Put more color on your plate – all day long!”
As you learned in our May article, what gives color to foods is one of nature’s most powerful nutrients – antioxidants. Simply put, the more antioxidants you eat daily the healthier you are likely to be.
BEGIN YOUR COLOR-FULL DAY WITH A BIG, GREEN SMOOTHIE
Add to your smoothie one of my favorite green nutrients, Hawaiian spirulina, nature’s green seaplant, which is rich in antioxidants, especially beta carotene and zeaxanthin, in addition to vitamins and minerals. To add a little more green to your spirulina-rich smoothie add a handful of kale. Your gut-brain and head-brain will “like!” (See the Nutrex Hawaii recipes here.) Also, download a free copy of my kids' book "My Big Green Smoothie".
ENJOY A BERRY SMART BRAIN
My next favorite color-full food is blueberries. Thanks to its high antioxidant content, namely anthocyanin, in neuro-foodie circles blueberries have earned the tag “the brain berry.” One day I was giving a supersmart foods talk to an audience filled with children and labeled blueberries as “the brain berry.” After my talk, a seven-year-old handed me a note saying: “Dr. Sears, I will always remember the brain berry.”
ENJOY THE COLORS RED AND PINK
The most color-full reddish-pink food is wild salmon. What gives salmon its color is astaxanthin, nature’s most powerful antioxidant and the pink pigment that salmon enjoy for their own health. In addition to enjoying your big, green smoothie for breakfast, enjoy a big red and pink salad-and-salmon dinner. Or, enjoy one of my favorite color-full dinners, a fillet of wild salmon slathered with make-your-own blueberry sauce. Simmer blueberries in a saucepan until the blueberries have a wrinkly appearance. Stir continuously until the blueberries look mushy and soft. Add a tablespoon of water. Wait until the salmon is halfway cooked (approximately six minutes) to add the blueberry sauce. Enjoy!
If you’re not a sea-foodie, you can take astaxanthin as a supplement. Remember my teaching: “If you need it, but don’t eat it, then you should take it. Enjoy Hawaiian astaxanthin in various supplement forms by visiting Nutrex.com/BioAstin.
ENJOY A COLOR-FULL SUPERSALAD
The more color-full your salad, the healthier you will enjoy its effects. Adding spinach, arugula, cranberries, black beans, tomatoes, raisins, are color-full examples that will make your salad more nutrient-rich.
Enjoy your color-full day ~ Dr. Bill
References
The Healthy Brain Book, by William Sears, M.D.
