Fruit and Vegetables – Your Five a Day
Eating your ‘5 A Day’ has been on everyone’s radar for a while now; we understand how important it is to get your fruit and vegetables fix to maintain a healthy diet. But did you know that eating fruit and vegetables that are in season provides your body with the exact nutrients and minerals it needs at that time?
We’re taking a look at some of the best fruit and vegetables that the supermarkets will have to offer this Spring, and sharing our top tips on how you can incorporate them into a healthy diet.
Let’s take a look at our favourite seasonal Spring ingredients:
Asparagus
Asparagus has amazing anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, helping your body to fight damaging free radicals. Not only this, but it helps to fight bloating by promoting overall digestive health.
Try it grilled or roasted with a sprinkling of sea salt; it makes the perfect side dish to a seafood supper, or chopped and added into pasta.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is a great low-calorie source of potassium, which helps to keep your body hydrated. It’s also packed with Vitamin C; an antioxidant which promotes overall skin and brain health.
Not the most exciting vegetable, cauliflower has had somewhat of a style overhaul in recent years, with the rise of dishes like cauliflower rice and cauliflower pizza bases, so you can try something new in the kitchen with this Spring superfood!
Curly Kale
Hailed as ‘The Queen of Greens’, you should definitely be adding kale to your diet this Spring. High in iron, it’s essential for good health, proper liver function, cell growth and much more. It’s also an anti-inflammatory food meaning that it fights against arthritis, asthma and autoimmune disorders.
Did you know that ‘massaging’ your kale transforms it in both taste and texture? It goes from being a bitter-tasting tough leaf to a softer, sweeter taste. Our top tip is to massage in a teaspoon of olive oil and spread out across a baking sheet. Sprinkle on some sea salt and bake for 10 minutes until the leaves start to crisp up. It’s a great accompaniment to a Spring salad.
Rhubarb
This super sweet fruit is typically used in desserts such as a rhubarb crumble or pie, and thankfully it has some incredible health benefits!
Packed full of Vitamin K and Lutein – which helps to neutralize free radicals – this fruit is a ‘dark horse’, but one that should definitely be taken advantage of whilst it’s ripe in Spring. The compounds that give rhubarb its pinky, reddish colour are powerful antioxidants that promote good health of the heart, eyes and immune system.
Top tip: Add cooked rhubarb to yoghurt and granola for a healthy breakfast.
Pomegranate
Like rhubarb, pomegranate is also full of antioxidants. It is claimed to be effective against heart disease, high blood pressure and inflammation. It’s also packed full of Vitamin C, which is great for your everyday diet.
Pomegranate seeds are delicious when sprinkled onto salads or Moroccan dishes such as tagine or curry.
Remember, if fruit and vegetables are not doing the trick, there are many other options for you to explore.
