Benefits of Organic Vegetables and Fruits- Healthy Friends

The benefits of organic vegetables and fruits – healthy friends.

We all heard in our childhood that we have to eat our vegetables and fruits. It depends on our culture what kind of veggies and fruits we eat. Of course, it is now easy to get all sorts in supermarkets and specialty shops, and I love to try out foreign vegetables and fruits.

There are many Turkish, African, Asian, etc., shops where you get all kinds of veggies and fruits to buy. It is so easy to learn how to prepare them. You can ask native people or search the Internet.

But most of these foreign vegetables and fruits come a long way to us, and it is different from purchasing them here or in their original countries. They will not be so tasteful anymore than in their origin country.

When I have been to Greece, I ate lots of tasty vegetables from the market. They have riped in the sun, and they tasted amazing.

Most vegetables you get in the supermarket have no taste. And they have nearly no nutrients anymore. That is a big reason that my favorite vegetables and fruits are coming from organic farmers in my town’s surroundings. Being harvested in a ripe condition, they taste fantastic and are fresh. They are grown and treated with love. The farmer’s passion is to grow the veggies in healthy soil. I love that! That is natural farming.

Most vegetables and fruits I am buying come from farmer’s markets, and they are seasonal. I love to buy seasonal organic vegetables and fruits. But of course, I also purchase exotic fruits like mangos, pineapple, cactus, etc., most time in our Turkish supermarket.

If I have no time to go to a farmer, I buy vegetables from the supermarket, but I try to avoid that. And I mostly cook these. They need to be organic and very important for juicing and blending; otherwise, we will not reap the healthy nutrients.

A Healthy Diet Contains 80% Organic Vegetables and Fruits.

There are many different diets on the internet with all kinds of promises. I think losing weight very fast is the most proclaimed promise on the internet.

If you eat a healthy diet, you will not be overweight. A healthy diet gives you a  healthy body and a healthy mind.

So what is a healthy diet, you ask. A healthy diet is a natural diet full of nutrients, no abuse of the soil and animals. My heart tells me that is good, and my body could heal!

A Healthy Diet is 

1. The Keto Diet

I already wrote a blog about the Keto diet, and I think it is a perfect diet if you have an ill body. If you have a chronic disease, you most likely have a damaged digestive system. Most times, your stomach and your intestines are damaged. Begin your healing by avoiding certain food, so your gut can recover.

For example, avoid eating grains, milk products( even the Keto diet allows that), certain vegetables that are too heavy, like cabbage, peppers, onions, garlic, etc. Certain fruits are too much for your body if eaten raw. So when you start your healing journey, you better use one sort of vegetable and some meat or fish with only some herbs like parsley at one time. Your body will be thankful. Your intestines begin to heal.

No raw vegetables in the beginning, only as juice. So your intestines don’t need to digest heavy fiber. I recommend eating no nuts and seeds in the beginning. They are too heavy. Bone broth, healthy fats like olive oil, grass-fed butter, and coconut oil are the best.

The Keto diet is based on eating healthy fats. Your digestive system will heal. And you will be able to eat more vegetables and fruits. And you can eat Kefir and yogurt when your intestines have improved because this is fermented dairy, and some people can consume kefir and yogurt without problems.

 

2. The Paleo Diet

This is, for me, the best diet. You don’t eat any carbohydrates like pasta, bread, cake, biscuits. No grains at all.

You eat carbohydrates in the form of vegetables. They are the biggest part of your diet. Everything is organic. The meat you purchase is from pastured animals that have lived a natural life and eaten healthy food. Cows are outside, eating grass. Chicken is eating worms and beetles. You don’t eat meat from cows who are fed soy and corn. God has not created them to eat this rubbish.

In the Paleo diet, you also eat healthy fats like olive oil, pastured butter, coconut oil. You eat seeds and nuts, sprouted seeds. When you eat fish, you look for wild-caught fatty fish with lots of omega -3, like salmon, sardines, and mackerel.  You don’t eat any milk products and grains. I have adapted this diet for my lifestyle and control the autoimmune disease I had developed due to a massive burnout decades ago.

3.The Vegan Diet

A vegan diet means you eat nuts and seeds, vegetables, fruits, beans. You eat mostly organic. Vegans don’t eat any animal products and avoid eating grains. Most of them also exclude honey as it comes from bees.

I know many people who thrive on this diet.  They need to be aware of the deficiency of vitamin  B 12 in their diet. I would recommend taking daily Chlorella and/or Spirulina to get all nutrients you need.

4. The Raw Food Diet

This is a diet I have tried for some time. I think it is great in a warm country. I felt cold after a while because I missed the warm food.

For me, the best was the Paleo Diet with a lot of juicing, blending fresh organic vegetables and fruits, roots, seeds. I love to eat lots of salads with fresh vegetables and a piece of meat or fish. But in the winter I love warm salad, or some cooked vegetables with fish or meat. That keeps me warm and energized. I also eat a lot of bone broth. That is the best you can do for your bowels.

You don’t eat meat or fish in the raw food diet, no milk products, no eggs, no grains. You eat only raw organic, fresh vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, nut butter, and healthy oils like coconut oil and olive oil.

You use a food dryer, a good blender. You get lots of nutrients from this diet. And your body is cleaning up by detoxifying all cells. It is also an anti-aging diet. You consume only living foods that are not heated above 48 * C( 118* F).

There are many fans, also very famous people who live on raw food, even bodybuilders. And they are very healthy, for example, Markus Rothkranz and Cara Brotman, David Wolfe.

Sea Vegetables

Sea vegetables are prevalent in many cultures, especially Japan and many other Asian countries. They are packed with protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, antioxidants. In some of the diets above, seafood is already included. It is quite common to incorporate seaweed into our diet.

Seaweed is a macroalga that can have,  based on pigmentation, a brown, red, or green color. It has not really roots, stems, or leaves.

The protein amount depends on the species and contains anywhere from 10- 30 %. That means their protein has all essential amino acids. It is a high-quality protein. The problem is that the sea is polluted and contaminated with a lot of chemicals, heavy metals.

Seaweed can absorb large amounts of heavy metals. That is the reason that large companies grow them in tanks or special areas to keep them clean.

Also, seaweed absorbs carbon dioxide and helps with preventing climate change.

Maybe there will be more seaweed use in the future due to its quality protein and nutrients because of the population’s growth.

In farmer’s shops and Asian supermarkets, you can find many products like seaweed noodles, kelp, etc.

Eating Different Vegetables Makes a Good Diet.

Eating vegetables is very vital for our bodies. To get a broad range of nutrients, it is best to eat different vegetables. Here in the Western world, we are used to eating the same vegetables every week. You even can’t purchase some sorts of vegetables in the supermarket. I would always go for seasonal veggies and fruit.

Farmer markets sell different sorts you are not able to purchase in a supermarket. It is important to consume root, leafy, or vegetables like broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, carrots. Try them. Very often, they still have their natural bitterness, what you don’t find anymore in the supermarket vegetables.

They have all different colors and are very important, especially you are blending or juicing them. So you get all minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and enzymes. The same is with fruits. Try to juice or eat lots of berries. They are packed with antioxidants.

How to Get Your Family to Eat More Vegetables and Fruits?

That is sometimes quite difficult, especially with children. If you have children, they don’t want to eat vegetables or maybe only cooked. You could make very tasteful juices. And I would blend because you keep the fiber. Children love juices.

If you use pineapple, mango, or a banana with cabbage, roots, carrots, and celery, they will not notice the vegetables’ strong taste. You could mix it with a green powder, so your family gets high-quality juice. I do this with my husband. He eats only cooked vegetables, and I need to blend veggies and fruits to consume his daily nutrients. He likes it that way.

Final Thought

Organic vegetables should be 80% of your diet. You can cook some of it lightly, but most should be raw in the form of a salad or juice. The best is a good mix of cooked and raw. Seaweed is a perfect addition to our normal diet. If you use it with healthy fats, seeds, or nuts, you will get a high amount of nutrients. In this manner, you will keep yourself and your family strong and healthy.

I would love to hear your comments about how you keep yourself healthy and what diet you follow. What do you do to get your family to eat more vegetables and fruits? Please let us know!

To your health,

Sylvia