Posted Dec 24, 2009
As a child, Kristine Hinrichs of Milwaukee routinely choked down boiled cabbage so she would be allowed to leave the dinner table. It wasn’t until Hinrichs grew up and left home that she made a startling discovery: Cabbage was nutritious – and could also be delicious.
It’s not easy giving certain foods a second chance. But if you’re looking to add some nutritional powerhouses to your diet, as Hinrichs was, food experts say it might be worth revisiting dishes you’ve despised. “Our taste sensations, interpretation and appreciation can change over time,” said Dr. Donald Hensrud, a Mayo Clinic weight management specialist. “There’s also some conditioning that goes on; we learn to like certain foods, and we get used to them over time.”
You may also have an aversion to foods that weren’t prepared right or, like cabbage, have a sulfurous odor. But it’s possible that “if you don’t get that smell, you find something like broccoli more pleasant,” said Marci Pelchat of the Monell Center, a Philadelphia-based taste and smell research institute.
Hensrud doesn’t recommend forcing anything down. But he does think most of us underestimate our ability to change. Unless you’re a supertaster – someone born with a heightened sense of taste – consider experimenting with the following polarizing foods.
Sardines:
Turnoffs: Strong, fishy taste. Tiny bones. Can be packed in tomato sauce. Reputation as a frugality food.
Turn-ons: High in vitamin D and loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which protect your heart and brain. Lots of protein, calcium and selenium. Low on the marine food chain so toxins such as mercury don’t accumulate. Inexpensive. Portable when canned.
How to eat them: Avoid sardines packed in vegetable oil, which is high in pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. Try “a squeeze of lemon, toasted red chile, extra virgin olive oil and mixed green herbs over garlicky al dente whole wheat fettuccine,” LaPuma said. Or buy the kind dressed up with mustard or pesto.
Cabbage:
Turnoffs: When overcooked, produces the smell of rotten eggs. Too much cabbage may make you gassy.
Turn-ons: One cup of shredded, boiled cabbage has just 33 calories but has 4 filling grams of fiber. Loaded with phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals. May reduce your risk of cancer and has a protective effect on the brain. Fermented cabbage (sauerkraut and kimchi) is a non-dairy source of probiotics, or bacteria that have a health benefit. The lactic acid in sauerkraut may help you absorb iron.
How to eat it: Can be steamed, fried, boiled, braised or baked. Use it in corned beef and cabbage, soups and stews, and cold dishes such as coleslaw, said registered dietitian Dave Grotto, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association. Cut fresh cabbage and sprinkle with lemon.
Tomatoes:
Turnoffs: Contain a slimy, jellylike substance around the seeds; thin skin, grainy pulp and seeds. Sweetness and acidity can vary, depending on the variety and how early they were picked. (The longer a tomato matures on the vine, the higher the sugar content is.)
Turn-ons: Lycopene-rich (red) tomatoes can help reduce your risk for heart disease and certain cancers, including pancreatic and prostate, said LaPuma. Cooked tomatoes – including canned tomatoes and paste, juice, tomato soup and ketchup – contain up to eight times more available lycopene than raw tomatoes. Excellent source of vitamins A, C and K, and a good source of potassium, fiber and other phytonutrients.
How to eat them: Eating tomatoes with fat helps the body absorb their lycopene. The whole tomato has the greatest health benefits, so get the tomato paste products with peels, said LaPuma. Organic ketchup contains three times more lycopene than non-organic ketchup, said LaPuma. Use ketchup with burgers to help offset the carcinogenic compounds created when meat is charred.
Broccoli:
Turnoffs: Sulfureous smell. Famously disliked by President George H.W. Bush.
Turn-ons: An abundance of antioxidants makes broccoli one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat. Aside from its anti-cancer properties such as sulforaphane, broccoli is a nutritional powerhouse that contains vitamins A, C and K, as well as folate and fiber. Has antibacterial properties that kill Helicobacter pylori, bacteria that cause ulcers and play a role in stomach cancer.
How to eat it: Use it in dips, casseroles, soups, lasagna, stir fry and salads, suggested chef Dana Jacobi, author of 10 best-selling cookbooks. Or try it on a crudite platter, on pizza, tossed with pasta, pureed as a side dish, added to frittatas and quiche. “Chop up leftover cooked broccoli and add it to chili, sloppy joes, soups and other dishes when you reheat them,” she wrote in “The 12 Best Foods.”
Beets:
Turnoffs: Earthy flavor, slippery texture, can turn urine a startling pink color (a phenomenon called beeturia). Dissed by President Barack Obama and excluded from the White House garden.
Turn-ons: An excellent liver tonic and blood purifier. Beets have both betaine and folate, which work to reduce homocystein, a naturally occurring amino acid that can be harmful to blood vessels, said nutrition expert Jonny Bowden in his book “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.” High in potassium, which is also important for heart health. Contains the most sugar of any vegetable, yet is low in calories.
How to eat them: Baked, broiled, steamed or shredded raw and added to salads. Borscht is a traditional Russian beet soup. The leaves have even more nutritional value than the roots.
Brussels sprouts:
Turnoffs: Resemble tiny cabbages. Parents or grandparents cooked them into oblivion. Sulfur content gives them an unappetizing odor.
Turn-ons: Has a higher concentration of glucosinolates, a type of compound believed to have cancer-fighting properties, than any other plants in the cruciferous vegetable family. An excellent source of vitamins C and K and a very good source of folate, vitamin A, fiber, potassium, and vitamin B6 and B1, said Dr. John LaPuma, a chef and the medical director for the Santa Barbara Institute for Medical Nutrition and Healthy Weight.
How to eat them: Trim the sprouts, then toss with olive oil, salt and crushed garlic. Roast in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes until tender. Use as little water as possible when boiling.
Date: Dec 20, 2009