Nutritious Ingredients You Aren't Using... Yet
It seems like every day there are headlines touting new superfoods, but it can be overwhelming to sort through the hype and determine what ingredients are actually worth it, let alone accessible. Here are five ingredients that not only have amazing health benefits, but are also pretty easy to incorporate into everyday meals.
Broccoli Sprouts
What It Is: Broccoli sprouts are the germinated seeds of broccoli. They look similar to alfalfa sprouts, but have a radish-like taste.
Health Benefits: Broccoli sprouts are high in glucoraphanin, which converts to sulforaphane in digestion and has been linked to suppression of certain cancer cells, benefitting blood sugar levels and reducing sun damage.
How to Use It: Broccoli sprouts make for great additions to salads, sandwich toppings, or even salsas. Many people simply add them to green juices or create a concentrated nutrition “shot” entirely out of sprouts.
Harissa
What It Is: Harissa is a smoky and hot condiment paste originating from Tunisia. It consists of roasted red peppers, dried chili peppers, garlic, cumin, lemon, and salt.
Health Benefits: Harissa contains capsaicin, an antioxidant that may boost metabolism, improve heart health, and reduce cancer-causing inflammation. Harissa is also relatively low in sodium compared to other popular hot sauces.
How to Use It: Spice up any dish with a dash of harissa paste. You can add it to meat or tofu marinades, or use it instead of traditional hot sauce to spice up eggs, rice, or hummus.
Health Benefits: Harissa contains capsaicin, an antioxidant that may boost metabolism, improve heart health, and reduce cancer-causing inflammation. Harissa is also relatively low in sodium compared to other popular hot sauces.
How to Use It: Spice up any dish with a dash of harissa paste. You can add it to meat or tofu marinades, or use it instead of traditional hot sauce to spice up eggs, rice, or hummus.
Turmeric
What It Is: Turmeric is a pungent spice that originates from India. Related to ginger, it’s bright and orange hue is what gives curry its rich color.
Health Benefits: Turmeric contains a compound called curcumin, which is an antioxidant that has powerful anti-inflammatory effects. Because of its unique properties it may help prevent a variety of chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
How to Use It: You can use turmeric to flavour a variety of foods, including curries, soups, and rice. Note that to make curcumin more bioavailable, you should consume it with black pepper, which increases its absorption by 2,000%.
Ghee
What It Is: Ghee is a type of butter that has been used in Indian cuisine for thousands of years. It’s made by cooking butter and straining out almost all solids, leaving behind just the pure butterfat and a very rich flavour.
Health Benefits: Ghee is rich in antioxidants and contains CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), which has been found to combat cancer and heart disease. It also has anti-inflammatory properties and tons of healthy fats and vitamins.
How to Use It: Ghee can be used in the place of butter for toppings and flavouring on foods, like toast or popcorn. Ghee can also be used for cooking and sautéing, which is perfect because it has a higher smoke point than traditional butter. It can also be used in baking as a replacement for vegetable oil and coconut oil.
Spirulina
What It Is: Spirulina is a microalgae that grows naturally in some oceans and salty lakes.
Health Benefits: Spirulina can help enable people to achieve a healthy weight, stay energized, and support the nervous system. Strikingly, protein accounts for more than 60% of spirulina’s weight and it contains all essential amino acids.
How to Use It: Ask your doctor before using spirulina, as it could interact with certain medications. The easiest way to consume spirulina is to either consume it in a tablet, or simply add it to smoothies. Even some pesto recipes have found a way to incorporate spirulina.
The more we educate ourselves on nutritious ingredients, the more equipped we will be to make healthy decisions and create delicious and energizing meals. Which ingredients have you tried from this list? I’ve personally been drinking turmeric tea regularly for years and I’ve grown to crave its earthy taste. Let me know if you have any favourite recipes that incorporate these ingredients.