I was under the wrong impression that one apple is just like any other apple and one orange is just like any other orange. That was until I stumbled upon ‘Eating on the wild side’ – a book that opened my eyes on how plant varieties changed long before the scare of GMO. It was only natural for farmers to focus on what the client wanted: more sugar, less bitterness and less discomfort from peeling and spitting seeds. Hence the modern varieties of vegetables and fruits that we find in the supermarket and elsewhere are a tiny fraction of what is and was available out in the wild. But if you think this book is a complaint on how wonderful things were during the heyday, you are wrong. It is chock full of practical advice on how to choose, store and cook your vegetables and fruits. And in case you’re into gardening, it’s a great source for varieties which are more abundant of phytonutrients than others.
If you don’t have the time to read the book, here are some 9 practical ways to get more nutrients from fruits and veggies:
When out shopping, pick the most colored and smallest fruits and veggies. The smaller they are, the more concentrated those phytonutrients are. And the more colorful they are, the more environmental stress they had to handle, hence the more phytochemicals they had to synthesize. And if you are into gardening, spindle-shaped orchards produce more nutritious fruits and are more profitable for the owner compared to traditional ones. Why is that so? Because more fruits are exposed to the elements and because more trees can be grown per the same land area.
Store fruits and veggies in the crisp drawer shelf of your refrigerator. If you buy lettuce, keep it in perforated bags so that it lasts longer thanks to the slow exchange of gases.
Some fruits ripen after being picked and some don’t. In order to speed their ripening, put them in a bag with apples or bananas and ethylene gas will do its magic.
Fruits and veggies that do not ripen once picked include: grapes, citrus fruits, berries, cherries, pineapples, pomegranates.
Fruits and veggies which may be picked semi-ripe and consumed later on include: apples, pears, plums, apricots,nectarines,peaches, avocado, bananas, guavas, kiwi, mangoes and tomatoes. Papayas, guavas and avocados should have a slight give after pressing when ripe.
Because of their high respiration rate, the following veggies and fruits must be eaten as fast as possible after picking: asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower and cherries. When fresh, the latter have green stems instead of brown ones.
When it comes to humidity and temperature monitoring, commercial refrigerators are better compared to what you have at home, so don’t buy fruits and veggies in bulk.
Some veggies and fruits can be consumed both with and without their skin. If possible, don’t peel them. Cucumbers, zucchinis, apples and many more taste just as good.
How do you pick a ripe orange? The bigger the better, as the fruits increase in size when ripening. And if the oranges vary in color, you can rest assured that they have not been degreened. Choose red oranges if available. The most nutritious part of an orange is the white tissue right beneath their skin, so don’t remove it all when peeling the fruit’s skin.
In order to pick juicy fruits, choose those that are heavy for their size: grapefruits, pomelo fruits, coconuts and melons.
The peel of citrus fruits contains more phytonutrients than the pulp, so grate it and add it to other dishes, sweets and beverages. A citrus zester is a dirty cheap tool to increase nutrition and waste less food at the same time.
Varieties of fruits and veggies differ a lot in terms of nutrients – for recommendations of the most nutritious types of each of them you’ll have to read ‘Eating on the wild side’ which is very exhaustive in this regard. Other than this, the practical advice above will serve you just as well on your next produce shopping. And for even more practical advice on how to choose quality food besides fruits and veggies, check out the ‘How do you choose quality food?‘ chapter from ‘Eat less, live longer – your practical guide to calorie restriction with optimal nutrition’.
Anca Ioviţă is the author of Eat Less Live Longer: Your Practical Guide to Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition ,The Aging Gap Between Species and What Is Your Legacy? 101Ways on Getting Started to Create and Build One available on Amazon and several other places. If you enjoyed this article, don’t forget to sign up to receive updates on longevity news and novel book projects!
Don’t miss out on the Pinterest board on calorie restriction with optimal nutrition where she pins new recipes every day.
https://www.pinterest.com/longevityletter/eat-less-live-longer/
Or the Comparative Gerontology Facebook Group where you can join the discussions on how species age at different speeds and what could be the mechanisms underlining these differences!
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Eat less, live longer – your practical guide to calorie restriction with optimal nutrition
There is a fine line separating calorie restriction with optimal nutrition from starvation. Don’t cross it. Read this book instead.
During my third year of medical school I stumbled upon an online article about calorie restriction with optimal nutrition. I read about an apparently simple diet intervention that prolonged the average and maximum lifespan of laboratory animals such as yeast, fruit flies, worms and mice. At that time, I wasn’t aware that such experiments were already done on non-human primates too. Honestly, I dismissed it as a curiosity, an intervention that could have some effect in simple organisms such as fruit flies, but something which would never work in complex beings like us. It just seemed too good to be true.
Time passed and proved me wrong. Given an early childhood fascination with the limits of life extension, I studied engineering and medicine in an attempt to radically prolong human lifespan. After a short stint of research in neural prosthetics in a German lab, I realized implanting artificial devices into the human body is not a long-term solution. I returned home where I started the medical residency in geriatrics, the branch of medicine specialized in age-associated diseases.
A funny thing happened then. Reading about theories of aging is one thing. Daily caring for people 3-4 times your age is a completely different thing and I started to connect the dots. I noticed some people aged like wine and others aged like vinegar. According to their skinny frames and detailed lifetime stories, it looked like calorie intake had something to do with it. That’s how I got started in typing the first words for this book.
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I endorse Anca with regards to fruit and vegetable nutrition. Her ideas make mealtimes fun.
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