healthy food tip and recipe
Today's Recipe
If you don't know what to serve for dinner tonight ...
Enjoy this delicious shrimp salad as part of your Healthiest Way of Eating. It makes a great light meal on its own, or you can serve it as a side salad to a larger meal. Rich in health-promoting nutrients you will receive 60% of the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin C, 56% DV for protein, 53% DV for vitamin K, and 44% DV for folate and much more. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 4 medium cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 lb medium-sized cooked shrimp, best bought still frozen
- 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces, discarding bottom fourth
- 3 TBS vegetable broth
- 1 fresh tomato, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
- 3 TBS chopped fresh parsley (or 3 tsp dried parsley if fresh not available)
- small head of romaine lettuce, chopped
- *optional 2 oz crumbled goat cheese
- salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
- Dressing
- 3 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
- 1 TBS Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
- Press garlic and let sit for at least 5 minutes to bring out its hidden health benefits.
- Make sure shrimp is completely thawed and patted dry with a paper towel, or it will dilute the flavor of the salad.
- Add broth to medium skillet and after it has heated up, Healthy Sauté asparagus for 5 minutes.
- Whisk together lemon, oil, mustard, honey, garlic, salt and pepper. Toss shrimp, asparagus, parsley, and tomato with dressing and herbs. Allow shrimp salad to marinate for at least 15 minutes.
- Discard outer leaves of lettuce head, rinse, dry, and chop. Serve shrimp mixture on bed of lettuce and top with crumbled goat cheese, if desired.
In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Garlic Shrimp Salad
Healthy Food Tip
The Latest News about Garlic
For a small vegetable, garlic (Allium sativum) sure has a
big, and well deserved, reputation. And although garlic may not always
bring good luck, protect against evil, or ward off vampires,
characteristics to which it has been assigned folklorically, it is
guaranteed to transform any meal into a bold, aromatic, and healthy
culinary experience. Garlic is a member of the Lily family and is a
cousin to onions, leeks and chives.
What's New and Beneficial About Garlic
- You can increase the health benefits you receive from garlic by letting it sit after you've chopped it or crushed it. If you give your chopped/crushed garlic time to sit before changing its temperature (through cooking) or its pH (through the addition of an acidic food like lemon juice), it will give the alliinase enzymes in garlic an opportunity to work on behalf of your health. For example, in the absence of chopping or crushing, research has shown that just 60 seconds of immediate microwaving will cause garlic to lose some of its cancer-protective properties. Immediate boiling of whole, intact garlic will also lower these properties, as will immediate addition of a very low-acid ingredient like lemon juice.
- Some of garlic's unique components are most durable in food (versus processed extract) form. Allicin-one of garlic's most highly valued sulfur compounds-stays intact for only 2-16 hours at room temperature when it is present in purified (extracted) form. But when it's still inside of crushed garlic, allicin will stay viable for 2-1/2 days.
- Garlic may help improve your iron metabolism. That's because the diallyl sulfides in garlic can help increase production of a protein called ferroportin. (Ferroportin is a protein that runs across the cell membrane, and it forms a passageway that allows stored iron to leave the cells and become available where it is needed.)
- In addition to being a good source of selenium, garlic may be a more reliable source as well. Garlic is what scientists call a "seleniferous" plant: it can uptake selenium from the soil even when soil concentrations do not favor this uptake.
- The cardioprotective benefits of garlic may partly rest on the production of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas. Our red blood cells can take sulfur-containing molecules in garlic (called polysulfides) and use them to produce H2S. This H2S in turn can help our blood vessels expand and keep our blood pressure in check. Interestingly, some processed garlic extracts cannot be used by our red blood cells in the same way and do not seem to provide the same level of cardioprotection that is provided by garlic in food form.
- While still in its very early stages, research suggests that garlic consumption may actually help to regulate the number of fat cells that get formed in our body. 1,2-DT (1,2-vinyldithiin) is one of the unique sulfur compounds in garlic that has long been recognized as having anti-inflammatory properties. But only recently have researchers discovered that some of our fibroblastic cells (called "preadipocytes") only evolve into full-fledged fat cells (called "adipocytes") under certain metabolic circumstances involving inflammatory system activity. 1,2-DT may be able to inhibit this conversion process. Since obesity is increasingly viewed by researchers as a chronic state of low-grade inflammation, the inflammation-related benefits of garlic's 1,2-DT may eventually be extended into the clinical area of obesity.
WHFoods Recommendations
With their unique combination of flavonoids and sulfur-containing
nutrients, allium vegetables-such as garlic-belong in your diet on a
regular basis. There's research evidence for including at least one
serving of an allium vegetable-such as garlic-in your meal plan every
day. If you're choosing garlic as your allium family vegetable, try to
include at least ½ clove in your individual food portion. If you're
preparing a recipe, we recommend at least 1-2 cloves.
Garlic is a wonderful seasoning to add aroma, taste, and added nutrition to your dishes. We often recommend using raw chopped or pressed garlic in many of our dishes to take advantage of the benefits derived from garlic. However, if you cannot tolerate raw garlic, you can add chopped garlic to foods while they are cooking. It is best to add it towards the end of the cooking process to retain the maximum amount of flavor and nutrition.
Health Benefits
Garlic provides numerous health benefits including:
- Heart health support
- Anti-inflammatory properties
- Antibacterial and antiviral benefits
- Anti-cancer support
- Supports iron metabolism
Nutritional Profile
The sulfur compounds in garlic are perhaps its most unique nutrients.
There are literally dozens of well-studied sulfur molecules in garlic,
and virtually all of them have been shown to function as antioxidants.
In addition, many provide us with anti-inflammatory benefits. The very
presence of sulfur in some many different garlic compounds may also play
an important role in our nourishment.
Additionally, garlic is an excellent source of bone-healthy manganese. It is also a very good source of heart-healthy vitamin B6 and vitamin C. In addition, garlic is a good source of muscle-promoting protein; energy-supporting thiamin (vitamin B1) and phosphorus; inflammation-reducing selenium; and bone-supporting calcium, potassium, and copper.
For more on this nutrient-rich food, including references related to this Latest News, see our write-up on garlic.
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