Tips for Synergistic Eating: Get the most out of your food

Ross & Rachel, Bert & Ernie, Brad & Ange; let’s face it, some things are just better together. The same holds true for our food and by combining certain foods together we can create a power-couple stronger than even the best Hollywood PR agency! How does this work exactly? Well think of it like a lock and key mechanism, certain foods help to unlock each other’s full nutrient potential making them more nutritious (and in many cases more delicious!) than they are on their own. In fact a recent article by the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the synergy is the reason why the much loved Mediterranean Diet is just so good for us; the combination of healthy fats and colourful phytochemicals turn out to be the perfect pair to keep chronic disease at bay. To get the scoop on how to eat a little more synergistically, we went to Lisa Kilgour, RHN (eatmorerealfood.com) to find out some easy ways and great food pairings to get the most of our healthy diet!

Lisa’s Tips for Synergistic Eating:

Eat food as close to its natural form as possible. It is by far our best bet for improving health and preventing disease. Vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, and legumes are great examples of foods that are rich in a combination of important vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, antioxidants, and more.

Include healthy fats like avocado, salmon, and a variety of nuts and seeds with each of your meals

Generally speaking include foods high in vitamin C, think citrus, to help boost absorbability of mineral-rich foods like legumes, oats, even green tea. For example, iron is better absorbed in the presence of vitamin C so eat your spinach with some strawberries or orange segments.

Can’t make it to the farmer’s market or over-indulged in less-than-healthy summer favorites? Consider taking a green food supplement with a fish oil supplement, to reap the benefits of a phytonutrient green drink and the fatty acids from the fish oil. 

Lisa’s Top Food Pairings

• Salmon with broccoli – for the fatty acid/phytonutrient combination but also the vitamin D from the salmon helps the body absorb the calcium from the broccoli.
• Grapefruit or tomato with avocado – the lycopene in the grapefruit and tomato are more readily absorbed in the presence of healthy fats, like avocado.
• Lemon and green tea – green tea contains catechins, an antioxidant that has cancer combating benefits. It is better absorbed in the body in the presence of vitamin C, found, for example, in citrus.
• Turmeric and black pepper – turmeric is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. When mixed with black pepper the body absorbs 1000 times the curcumin, the active ingredient in the turmeric.
• Salmon and red wine – The polyphenols in the red wine help you absorb more omega 3s.