Ah... Summer Vegetables

I live in the South - that is, the southern part of the United States, so eating vegetables in the summer is a joy. If vegetables tasted like this in the winter, I would be one happy camper, and probably have few problems keeping to a sensible diet. Another wonderful thing about summer and vegetables is that the vegetables and fruits are usually cheaper now.

What wonderful things should you be eating?

Cucumbers: marinate them in apple cider vinegar with onions. Or make cucumber soup with unflavored yoghurt (also good for you), a bit of sour cream (use the low fat) and onions. A quick favorite I never get tired of: cucumber sandwiches. Make them with very thinly sliced low calorie bread, low-fat mayonnaise and fat free cream cheese.

Tomatoes: full of all kinds of vitamins and good stuff: make my BLT by using the same low-fat mayonnaise, thinly sliced bread, lettuce, tomato, and use VEGGIE bacon. Protein, low-fat, low-cholesterol, these are great.

Strawberries: put them in a smoothie or eat them plain. If you have to have something a bit sweet with them, do NOT douse them with sugar. Instead, serve them the way I always did for my nephew: slice them into halves and eat them with an oyster fork with a ramekin of sugar in front of you. Lightly touch each bite with sugar before you eat it. I'll guarantee you'll savour each bite, get the full flavor of the strawberry still, and eat much less sugar than you would if you mixed it in a bowl with the strawberries.

Corn: boil it and eat it on the cob. If you use butter, you'll use far less than you would if you took the kernals off the cob first.

The rule of thumb for eating fresh in the summer is to do the least cooking of any fruit or vegetable that you can safely get by with. You'll enjoy the food, and be eating healthfully, too.

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Beauty Food

I've been rethinking my lifestyle lately, and by lifestyle I mean only two things: diet and exercise.
I made a promise to my son - yes, I will exercise!
But I know that without eating properly, exercising is not going to do much good for me at my age when food becomes so important - and unfortunately, at a time when the only people at home are our two kitties and my husband and I. I worry about the cats' food more than I do ours. When my son was at home, especially in his early teen years, I made dinners with wheat germ, cooked only with vegetable oil (when I used oil), used blackstrap molasses, etc., etc. You get the picture. My major excuse is how busy I am, so I'm going to begin with a couple of "easy" ways to improve your health and beauty by what you eat.
First, raisins and prunes are your friends - not necessarily for the reasons that your mother forced them on you (although they do have that benefit) but because raisins are very high in antioxidants that fight aging and disease. They are also low-fat and low-cholesterol, and are satisfyingly sweet for someone with the sweet tooth that I have. They are also a good source of iron and potassium. The same goes for prunes.
Now some people are going to get upset when I say this,but if you must have some chocolate, then eat it around your raisins. If you're going to eat the chocolate anyway; you may as well have the benefit of the raisins!
Raisins/prunes help with: dry skin, wrinkles, dry hair, dandruff,weak nails.
It's summer, and I'm looking forward to some decent melons and tomatoes. Good for me! Both are chock full of vitamin A/beta-carotene which helps us look lovely longer by fighting dry skin, wrinkles, and dry hair. It is also necessary for healthy vision.
Our Goal: This week incorporate raisins, tomatoes, prunes, and melon into our diets in a substantial way - meaning every day have at least 2 of these. We'll all look better and feel better. More beauty foods coming!
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