Healthiest Food Combinations | Nutrition & Dieting slideshows | Well Being center

Oatmeal & Orange Juice: A Breakfast Classic, and How

Oats are the neglected, spurned and despised Eurasian grain - dismissed by Dr. Johnson as fit to be used 'only for feeding to horses,' they're the 'cinderella grain' - and the shoe fits. Oats have more protein than virtually any other grain. They belong to the gluten-containing family of grains but they're so low low in glutenoids that many celiac sufferers can eat them. They're an excellent source of long chain carbohydrates, they'll easily blend down in a hand blender to make a flour, and they're extremely cheap and easy to prepare. Making oatmeal is one culinary step down from boiling eggs. Oats are a little low in vitamins, though - but take a glass of orange juice with your oatmeal and you've got a pretty nutritionally sound meal or snack.

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Photo courtesy of Stacy Spensley by Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/notahipster/3925493382/
www.menshealth.com/mhlists/healthy-food-combinations/printer.php
http://www.redbookmag.com/recipes-home/tips-advice/healthy-food-combos#slide-1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/12/food-synergy-food-pairings_n_1874641.html

Blueberries and Walnuts - Superfoods Apart, But So Much More Together

Blueberries are widely revered as a 'superfood' - and while that's an epithet that's often given to foods more by lazy journalism than nutritional know-how, in the case of blueberries they're on the money. Blueberries pack a huge antioxidant load, and the same chemicals that give them their bright blue color give them a health edge - and there's even some evidence that blueberries can improve cognitive performance in the elderly! Walnuts are a great source of protein and fats as well as dietary fiber, and they'll give you some of what you're probably missing: trace element salts like selenium and magnesium, that are necessary for fully functioning nervous systems but that don't show up much in a standard diet.

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Tomatoes and Avocados - A Great Salad That's Great for Your Health

Tomatoes are another food whose bright coloring shows of their antioxidant value. They're also a great source of dietary fiber. Avocado comes out a winner by virtue of its fats - but also because absorption of key carotenoids improves when avocados are added to the mix. The best concentration of carotenoids is just under the sin of an avocado, which is why the California Avocado Committee recommends the 'nick and peel' method. Cut the avocado, then nick the ends of the sections so you can pull the skin off with your hands, leaving as much dark green flesh as possible. Tomatoes and avocados go well with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressings.

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Grilled Meat With Rosemary - Save Yourself From Carcinogens

Rosemary is a major ingredient in classic European cooking - look for its spicy aroma on roast lamb especially, though it's also a major ingredient in cajun spices. It seems unlikely that the people who first figured out that rosemary brought out the sweetness of rack of lamb also figured out that rosemary can protect you from cancer, but it can. Rosemary helps prevent the formation of carcinogenic chemicals on the surface of the meat as it cooks - and you can get the same effect from a dab of rosemary essence which doesn't usually have much of an odor.

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Lemon and Spinach, or Kale - or Any Dark Green Leafy Vegetables

Spinach benefits from an unearned reputation for super-high iron content that dates back to a pre-WWII slip-up that saw a government clerk put a decimal point in the wrong place. But spinach is high in iron for a plant food, and that iron is absorbed much more easily if it;s eaten with vitamin C containing foods - like lemons. Eating plant based forms of iron with vitamin C makes them behave more like the iron found in red meat, which is much more bioavailable. It doesn't have to be lemon, and it doesn't have to be spinach - kale or any other dark green leafy vegetable works just as well.

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Broccoli and Tomatoes Make a Great Team, Offering protection Against Cancer

Broccoli and tomatoes are both regarded as superfoods already, but when they're eaten in combination, they offer greatly increased protection against cancer, compared to either one alone. That's the conclusion of a team at the University of Illinois, where scientists tested the effects on rodents. 'We think it's because different bioactive compounds in each food work on different different anti-cancer pathways,' remarks food science and human nutrition professor John Erdman. While the mechanism isn't fully understood, the facts remain: together, these two foods seem to offer significantly better protection against cancer than they do apart.

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Fish and Garlic Go Together - Not Just For Taste Reasons

Fish is a common choice for all of us who want to get some extra heart protection. Offering a protein hit equivalent to red meat, there's also the heart-friendly omega 3 fatty acids - and some people are concerned by the fat content of red meat. But the effects can be improved even further if you eat your fish with garlic. While garlic has health benefits all by itself, working to boost immunity, it works synergetically with fish too. According to a 1997 survey, the LDL (Low Density Lipids - 'bad' cholesterol) that can be an unwelcome accompaniment to oily fish dishes.

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Apples and Chocolate Make a Heart Healthy Snack

Apples are rich in an anti-inflammatory flavonoid called quercetin, which tends to concentrate especially in the skins of apples. That and their high vitamin C and fiber content makes apples a great choice for health. Quercetin has been shown to reduce the risk of allergies, heart attack, Altzeimer's, Parkinson's and certain cancers. Chocolate, meanwhile, despite its reputation as a good way to pile on pounds, has its own health benefits - including a flavonoid called catechin, an antioxidant that reduces the risk of atherosclerosis and cancer. Eaten together, however, quercetin and catechin loosen blood platelets, improving cardiovascular health and preventing coagulation problems. Eat chocolate and apples together or put them in the same dish or meal to improve heart health as well as their other benefits.

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Eggs and Cantaloupe Will Give Your Liver Protection

Eggs are one of the most complete protein sources available, besides coming packed with vitamins, minerals and a range of beneficial fats. They're also easy and convenient, and a classic breakfast food. Cantaloupe is another common entrant to lists of the top ten healthiest foods, in large part due to its carotenoid content, which is not as high as that of carrots but still respectable. Cantaloupes also contain high levels of antioxidant polyphenols - but it doesn't stop there. Cantaloupes can help prevent metabolic syndrome, reducing blood insulin and helping to regulate blood sugar. That effect is even more pronounced if cantaloupe and eggs are eaten at the same meal; the protein in the eggs helps to prevent over-rapid absorption of the carbohydrates in the cantaloupe.

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Almond and Yoghurt - Make Sure You Get All Your Vitamins!

Nuts are a great source of fiber and fats. They're also a great source of vitamins and minerals - and many vitamins and minerals are best absorbed when they're eaten with fats, because they're fat soluble rather then water soluble. And the list of fat soluble vitamins includes vitamins A, D and E. Carrots and broccoli are rich in vitamin A and pair well with butter, oils or meat, while a morning's orange juice will deliver its vitamins more effectively if it's served with a slice of bacon. Vitamin D shows up in dairy foods, especially yoghurt.That's one more good reason to eat your dairy full-fat and it's a good reason to put your almonds in your yoghurt, too.