Midlife Health: Vitamin C, the Kiwifruit Way

Although I don’t have too much of a “sweet tooth”, one of my favorite desserts is Pavlova. Basically it’s a round merengue “dome” with a soft, marshmallow-type center and topped with whipped cream and fruit.  Although I don’t make them often, I did have one just the other night while out to dinner at a New Zealand-style restaurant.  You will generally only find Pavlovas in Australia and New Zealand.

DownUnder we frequently put kiwifruit on top of the Pavlova, often along with strawberries.  So what’s in a Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa)?   They are delicious and loaded with Vitamin C along with other nutrients. The flesh is either a translucent, bright-green color (the most common one) or golden which is less common but equally delicious.Their skin is furry and although edible, not very tasty. The fruit itself has more Vitamin C than a similarly-sized orange, more vitamins E and K than most other fruits, almost as much potassium as a small banana and as much fiber as one of my favorite breakfasts – a cup of cooked oatmeal.

Kiwifruit was “born” in China and was originally know as Chinese Gooseberry, a name I still remember from growing up in Australia. New Zealanders however named it in honor of their national bird when they began to cultivate it commercially. Italy, Chile, Greece and France are now also commercial producers.

Components of kiwifruit have potential properties of a natural  blood thinner.  From a study performed at the University of Oslo in Norway it was reported that eating two to three kiwifruit daily for 28 days significantly reduced the stickiness of platelets and  blood triglyceride levels (something along the lines of “aspirin therapy”), potentially reducing the risk of blood clots.  The fruit is also a natural source of provitamin A, beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin.

One other benefit that appeals to me is that kiwifruit is low on the pesticide contamination list so if you can’t find organic ones, then conventionally grown fruits will add very little to your body’s pesticide load. Always a important consideration when buying foods today!

And in case all this talk of Pavlova has started you salivating … How to Make a Pavlova

Midife Health: The Incredible, Edible Egg

Despite all the bad press over the years, “eggsperts” are finally admitting that perhaps the egg isn’t such an “evil” food, something I’ve never believed.  Unless of course you happen to order a quiche in a restaurant (as I did last night) and forget to ask if it’s made with real eggs or yellow liquid out of a carton. It took me 5 minutes to realize my error, at which time I promptly asked the question, got my response and changed my order.  As a Naturopath, I’m very conscious about what foods I put in my body – fake eggs are not real food!

Eggs are one of my favorite foods as long as they come straight from the farm and are laid by chickens that are allowed to roam in the grass where they can eat bugs, worms etc.  These nutrition-rich natural eggs with golden-yellow yolks and fresh flavor are remarkably different from the supermarket variety.

Although eggs do contain cholesterol, they are also high in phosphatides (an oily organic compound that makes up cell membranes) and lecithins (essential for metabolizing fats), so they don’t add to the risk of hardening of the arteries. They are also a rich source of essential nutrients (many of which we become deficient in as we age) along with high quality protein and riboflavin. Not to mention they are easy and quick to use in all manner of recipes.  They beat a McDonald’s hamburger any day!

You may, however, be surprised to learn that not all eggs are equal, even when they’re marked “organic.” The best eggs come from family farms where chickens are raised on well-managed, rotating pastures.  Next best are those where chickens have ample space and are encouraged to go outdoors to well-managed runs or pastures. Eggs that I stay away from are ones that come from the industrial-scale egg operations where chickens are confined in cramped quarters with no access to the outdoors.

If you are an egg lover and are interested in the rankings of various organic eggs, go to http://www.cornucopia.org/organic-egg-scorecard.  You might be surprised.  I know I was!