The information in the book presents a solution to the loss of nutrients in our modern day fruits and vegetables- choose the varietals that have kept the nutrition of their wild ancestors. One of the most important discoveries of the 21st century food science is that there are vast nutritional differences among the different varieties at our local grocery stores. Don't know about you, but I eat to fuel my body for optimum health, with hopefully the best of the best. If there is a different apple I can eat that has triple the amount of nutrients than the next, Sign me up!
The findings are all based on massive amounts of research from food chemists. Digging into photonutrients, fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and sugar.
For example; 1) White-fleshed peaches and nectarines have 2x as many bionutrients as the yellow versions. 2) Depending on how you store, prepare and cook fruits and veggies, you can either destroy nutrients or retain and even enhance. 3) Most berries increase their antioxidant activity when you cook them. 4) Simmering tomato sauce for hours can triple the lycopene content. 4) Cooking carrots whole and then slicing after they've been cooked fights cancer more. 5) Watermelons become more nutritious if you leave them out on the counter for several days before eating. 6) Potatoes can be stored for weeks or months without loosing an ounce of nutrition but broccoli looses cancer-fighting compounds within 24 hours of harvest.
Good info, right? So the book is quite long, I took diligent notes and will share my favorite learnings. First starting with FRUIT...
Apples: Eat Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji or Red Delicious. Some other varieties were tested and had zero nutrients, just all sugar. Eat the skins.
Blueberries & Blackberries: One of the most nutritious foods you can eat. Frozen are just as nutritious as fresh. Choose wild varieties if available. Don't eat dried- 50-80% of nutrition is lost in drying process.
Strawberries, Cranberries and Raspberries: Fresh are best, fully ripe. The longer you leave out on the counter, the more nutritious.
Cranberries are high in antioxidants.
Raspberries: Dark red raspberries have a rich mix of phytonutrients and are high in fiber.
Stone Fruits: Skin is most nutritious part, choose white. Best varieties: Snow King, Snow Giant, September Sun, Spring Crest, Brite Pearl, Red Jim. Look for those with red flesh- known as blood peaches they are hard to find but have 5x more nutrients than white flesh.
Apricots have 3-8X more phytonutrients than peaches or nectarines. Buy in Mid-Summer. In quite a bit of the research it shows that buying fruit when it is not fully ripe, you have little to no nutrition. It is better to just not eat it and buying from farms or farmers markets is the best. Nutrition is lost when fruit is picked when not ripe and then help for mass selling.
Cherries: Choose Bing. Buy in May to late June. Look for bright green stems.
Plums: Red, purple or black.
Grapes and Raisins: Black grapes are best, thompson grapes have hardly any nutritious benefit. Autumn Royal, Crimson, Flame, Red Globe or Sheridan all good varieties. Don't buy if they have been fumigated with sulfur dioxide which is a common practice in CA.
Raisins: Golden are best. 95% of grapes are made from thompson so read the label.
Currants: are the best for you- more antioxidants than raisins.
Citrus Fruit: Buy in December and into April. Cara Cara is best for you it has 3x more nutrients than the navals. Then comes blood oranges then Valencia. Most nutritious part of the orange is in the pith, the spongey white tissue that lies beneath the skin.
Tangelos: Choose Clementine.
Grapefruits: Choose Red then pink. Red: rio star, star ruby, rio red, ruby red.
Tropical Fruits: Bananas are high in sugar and low in nutrients.
Pineapples: Very nutritious.
Papayas: Red Caribbean
Mangoes: Ataulfo, Hade, Francis, Uba. Have 5x more vitamin C then oranges.
Guava: one of the most nutritious tropical fruits. Red fleshed.
Melons: Choose small, seedless watermelons. Melons have a high water content, which dilutes the nutrition. Choose all melons with the darkest color flesh. As a rule, honeydew has the least nutrition. Scrub melons thoroughly.
Honeydews: orange-fleshed varieties.
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