Table Of Contenttry it!
superfoods
super fast
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try it!
superfoods
su per fast
by Michael Van Straten & Barbara Griggs
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DK INDIA
Project Editor Arani Sinha
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Photographer Sîan Irvine
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by
Dorling Kindersley Limited,
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL
Copyright © 2016 Dorling Kindersley Limited
A Penguin Random House Company
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
001 – 290928– Jan/2016
Some text from the Superfoods section first appeared in
Superfeast by Michael van Straten, published in 2005 by
Little Books, Inc. Text here is reproduced by kind
permission of the publisher.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the
information contained in this book is complete and
accurate. However, neither the publisher nor the author
is engaged in rendering professional advice or services to
the individual reader. Professional medical advice should
be obtained for specific information on personal health
matters. Neither the publisher nor the author accepts
any legal responsibility for any personal injury or other
damage or loss arising from the use or misuse of the
information and advice in this book.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise), without
prior permission of the copyright owner.
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-2412-4827-0
Printed and bound in China.
All images © Dorling Kindersley Limited
For further information see: www.dkimages.com
A world of ideAs:
see all there is to know
www.dk.com
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Contents
Introduction 6 Herbs and spices 96
Oils and extracts 118
The superfoods
12
Sweeteners 120
Fruit 14
Miscellaneous 122
Citrus fruits 17
Berries 20
The recipes
126
Soft fruits 24
Soups and starters 128
Exotic fruits 32
Eggs and pasta 136
Dried fruits 36
Seafood 144
Salad vegetables 40
Meat, chicken, and game 152
Fruit vegetables 44
Grains and pulses 160
Squashes 48
Vegetables 166
Roots and tubers 49
Snacks 174
Bulb vegetables 57
Salads 180
Cruciferous vegetables 61
Puddings 184
Stalks and stems 66
Basic recipes 188
Grains, pulses, and starches 68
Nuts and seeds 78
Index 190
Eggs and dairy products 86
Acknowledgments 192
Meat, seafood, and poultry 90
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A cookery book
with a difference
When we first coined the word “Superfoods” 25 How can you get the most out
years ago, it was to describe the best of all ordinary, of this book?
everyday foods with the highest nutritional value for
Study the Superfoods to find which might be the most
money. Apples, pears, parsnips, turnips, strawberries,
beneficial to you. In the recipe section you’ll find
blackberries, cherries, pumpkins, cabbage, spinach,
dozens of other dishes that feature your Superfoods.
nuts and seeds together with all the protein rich
All of the recipes are beneficial for many ailments,
dairy products, fish, meat, and poultry.
but the ailments for which a recipe is most effective
Now, the supermarkets, the food industry, and
are listed under its title. Obviously, you don’t have to
even the health food business have jumped on the
keep eating the same dishes week after week. However,
bandwagon so they can make huge profits by selling
after using them you may find it easier, and certainly
the idea of Superfoods as exotic berries and strange
cheaper, to plan a whole week’s eating plan in the
products from the other side of the world. These are
same way, balancing starch and protein, and including
all high-cost items that you do not need. Spend your
two or three Superfoods at almost every meal.
money at the market, farm shop, or supermarket on
the items in our book and you will get real Superfood
value for your money and your health. Super-resistance
The purpose of this book is to help people suffering
In an ideal world, the food we eat would be organically
from specific ailments in the simplest, most effective
grown in soil uncontaminated by heavy metals and
way – by teaching them to eat and enjoy those foods
acid rain; the vegetables we eat would be freshly
that will promote the healing process, and to avoid
picked from our own gardens; the water we drink
those that aggravate the condition, or indeed, may
would be spring-pure and the air we breathe
have caused it in the first place.
mountain-fresh. For the vast majority of us, this
Equally, you can use this book to help promote
ideal is as remote as the Garden of Eden.
the health and improve the resistance of yourself
Our bodies suffer the daily insult of pollutants
and your whole family by serving up a daily diet
and the stress of food that is often deficient in
of Superfoods.
micronutrients. The fact that the human race has
Your health problem may be a disabling bout of
evolved at all is remarkable. We survive at what cost?
flu, or a crippling case of arthritis; you may be coping
We are seeing today a dramatic increase in
with an annual visitation of bronchitis, or chronic
chronic diseases such as heart disease, asthma,
digestive discomfort, or even a diagnosis of cancer.
eczema, depression and Irritable Bowel Disease. Most
All of the Superfoods can be found in the first
shocking of all is the world’s growing obesity crisis,
half of the book. Some of them have a centuries-
which will see almost three-quarters of men and
long history of successful kitchen medicine,
two-thirds of women in the UK being overweight by
such as sauerkraut for digestive
2030, health experts have said, with similar figures
problems. However, we certainly do
from most Western countries.
not imply that any fruit, or other
Many of these will go on to develop, and have their
healthy food not named is without
lives shortened by, diabetes. In the USA, according to
value to you and should be
2014 figures, 29.1 million people or 9.3 per cent of the
avoided. On the contrary,
population have diabetes, diagnosed and undiagnosed.
we always urge that you
In Australia, 280 new cases are diagnosed every day.
eat from as wide a range
Similar figures could be quoted for every such chronic
of foodstuffs as possible. So
condition, and there is no sign of the epidemic slowing.
whatever your health problem,
Many workers in the field of environmental
choose freely (unless you
medicine believe that our growing health problems
have been advised by a
are a consequence of our diet of devitalised foods, the
medical professional to avoid
product of agribusiness and global contamination. As
particular foods).
early as 1972, a study by the Food and Agriculture
introduction
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Organization reported severe zinc deficiencies in a a minimum of two people. Get into the
wide range of soils in Europe and the United States. habit of planning meals two or three
Fruit and vegetables grown on depleted soils are days ahead. Learn to be resourceful
often low in vital minerals and trace elements, with leftovers. Resist the almost
especially zinc, magnesium, and selenium, and there irresistible impulse buys, as you
is no sign of any general improvement in farming push the supermarket trolley
methods. In fact, intensive farming today relies on between shelves groaning with
ever-increasing amounts of chemical fertilizer and tempting delights. Most
pesticides that linger in our foodstuffs, further important of all, learn to be
depleting our nutritional reserves. creative and experimental in
Today, more than ever, if we want to enjoy vibrant your kitchen. If you do not have
health, we need to eat from a menu rich in natural every single ingredient in a
goodness and freshness. We need a diet of Superfoods, recipe, you can find a substitute –
foods with the highest protective value, which will short of total incineration, you have
help build our natural resistance, and to do something extremely awful to
provide the full spectrum of render food inedible. You will soon
nutrients our bodies need. discover that you don’t have to spend a
Today it is not enough great deal of money to eat healthily. We
simply to rely on the traditional costed two sets of menus, buying all of the
well-balanced mixed diet. To items at the same snack bars or supermarkets.
ensure Super-resistance, Eating the healthy Superfood menus actually cost
you must know how to us at least 10 per cent less than the equivalent junk
supplement your diet food menus.
– not with pills and In the affluent Western world, an enormous
capsules, but with the amount of money is spent on junk food. Among the
Superfoods that are extra- best-selling foods in Britain, cola drinks, white sugar,
rich sources of the natural potato crisps, and chocolate bars are all in the
goodness we need. premier league, raking in well over £500 million
Treat these foods as extra a year. Nutritionally, such foods contribute almost
insurance at times of need, whether nothing but calories.
physical, mental, or emotional: during Before you say, “My diet is fine”, or “I wouldn’t
pregnancy, flu epidemics, periods of overwork feed my family on that rubbish”, keep a notebook for
or unusually high stress, or after an indulgent one week and faithfully record every single item of
holiday. Use them at times of illness to hasten your food or drink that goes into your mouth. Get your
recovery and always make sure that they feature family to do the same. At the end of the week, add up
regularly in your everyday eating. After all, an ounce just how much high-fat, high-sugar, and low-nutrient
of prevention really is worth a pound of cure. foods and drinks have come your way. Count every
Eating healthily doesn’t have to cost a fortune. In biscuit, sweet, chocolate, fizzy drink, greasy take-
terms of nutrition, more expensive certainly doesn’t away, packet of crisps, ice-cream dessert, bag of chips,
mean more valuable. The cheapest shin of beef is no pork pie, and sausage roll that you have bought. Then
less nutritious than a Chateaubriand steak; and work out how much they’ve cost you.
common, locally grown vegetables will actually be The more knowledgeable you are about nutrition,
fresher and more vitamin-rich than expensive, the easier it is to make good choices of food for
much-travelled, out-of-season alternatives. yourself and your family. It’s perfectly true that a
Try to buy as many fresh, unpackaged, burger and French fries, or a helping of the best fish
unprocessed foods as possible. Not only will they cost and chips in the neighbourhood, are fun food once in
much less than pre-packed foods, but they will also a while and will do you no harm if eaten occasionally.
be considerably fresher and thus a better buy Similarly, everybody likes a bar of chocolate now and
nutritionally. Befriend your local butcher, greengrocer, then. In a heatwave, what can be more delicious than
and fishmonger. They will be able to advise you on a good ice cream? However, it is when these foods
how to cook unfamiliar joints, vegetables, or fish, become part of your staple diet, and when they
which may be the cheapest buy of the day. This is crowd the good, health-building foods out of your
even more important if you’re shopping just for one budget, that your health will suffer. This is the price
person, since many pre-packed foods are designed for you’re paying.
introduction
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All you’ll ever need
eating habits of over 65,000 people over
to know about nutrition 12 years. They found that the more
fruit and vegetables they ate,
Your great-grandmother may never have heard the
the less likely they were to
word “nutrition”. She didn’t know a carbohydrate
die at any age. Compared
from a protein, a good fat from a bad fat, or a vitamin
to eating less than a
from a mineral. In spite of this, she raised your
single portion of fruit or
grandmother, who raised your mother, who raised
vegetables a day, the risk of
you. How on earth did she do it without the help of
death by any cause, they
nutrition experts, with their lists and diagrams?
calculated, is reduce by 14
Simple, she used common sense. She served foods
per cent for those eating 1–3
that were fresh and in season, and she planned good,
portions, 29 per cent for 3–5
square meals with a wide range of ingredients,
portions, 36 per cent for 5–7
which the family sat down to and enjoyed together.
portions, and 42 per cent for 7 or
Nutritionists have been arguing about exactly what
more portions.
we should be eating ever since the first vitamin was
discovered in the early years of the last century.
CArbohydrAtEs
Today, however, there is nearly complete agreement
Carbohydrates occur in grains, such as wheat
throughout the world. The rules of sound nutrition
and rice; pulses, such as beans and lentils; and in
can be summed up quite simply:
★ Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables some root vegetables, such as potatoes, parsnips,
and yams. These are often referred to as “complex
★ Eat a large variety of foods
carbohydrates”. All you need to know is that foods
★ Eat more fibre
such as wholemeal bread, brown rice, certain
★ Eat less fat
breakfast cereals (porridge, shredded wheat,
★ Eat much less sugar
unsweetened muesli), pasta, beans, and potatoes, are
★ Eat less salt
all wholesome. They are good because they provide
Here is what you need to know about the foods
slow release energy and a wide range of nutrients.
you eat.
They are generally inexpensive and bulky, and
traditional, healthy diets all over the world are based
VEgEtAblEs And fruit largely on grains and pulses. These “good”
For thousands of years, our human ancestors lived carbohydrates tend to have a low GI (glycaemic
on a diet that was largely plant-based, with occasional index) rating. This means they’re converted slowly
meat or fish, and eventually grains. It has been from carbohydrates into sugars without causing a
calculated that they probably sampled dozens of sudden rush of insulin into the bloodstream. Low GI
different plants – nuts, seeds, leaves, roots, fruits foods protect against diabetes, obesity, bowel cancer,
– over a year. And since any plant is made up of and heart disease.
hundreds of different chemical compounds, the intake Confusingly, sugars are also carbohydrates, and
of these was huge. these are not good for you, especially if they supply
These plant compounds are called Phytochemicals, most of the energy in your diet. In fact, sugar is now
and growing numbers of those are being identified considered by most researchers to be largely
and studied. We now know that our plant food will responsible for our epidemic of obesity and diabetes
supply us with far more than just vitamins, minerals, today, especially in the form of sweet fizzy drinks
and trace elements. They provide a whole pharmacy of and confectionery. Refined sugars, such as sucrose,
natural medicines for our needs – anti-inflammatories, glucose, dextrose, and maltose, are used in massive
diuretics, anti-oxidants, anti-histamines, tonics for the quantities in processed foods, including savoury
heart and lung, the liver and the digestive system, and products, such as baked beans and tomato soup. You
protection against cancer. can often find three or four of them listed in the
These phytochemicals are present in infinitesimal ingredients on food packets. These sugars do not
amounts in plants, but like individual notes in music, need processing by the body and are absorbed
they work together to create complexes of healing for straight into the bloodstream, stimulating the
those regularly tucking into the foods, herbs, the pancreas to produce excess insulin. These are
spices in which they abound. high GI foods and excessive consumption may
Research is proving that a diet high in plant foods lead to weight gain and a condition called
is powerfully protective of our health. In 2014, insulin resistance, a forerunner of type 2
researchers at University College London studied the diabetes. This condition is known as “adult
introduction
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