Hey guys!

I'm excited about this topic. Mainly, because I think it's great to eat healthy foods and even greater to know why you're doing good to eat them. This topic is a lot more involved and one of the areas I love about health and well being... the information; so, in this topic I'm looking for your feedback on the nutrients in the items listed.

Feel free to add your veggie items and if you're daring, the nutritional info on them and maybe a reference [optional] to where that info comes from, so we can always let all who read this info be able to gather more.

From time to time I'll be adding more info to already published posts just to continue to build out the reasons 'why' you should consider adding the food to your lifestyle.
What do you think?

A
Avocados
Avocados are not only the tastiest fruit in existence [written by a true avocado purist] They are a storehouse of great nutrients.

Here's a list of some of them:

Vitamins like: A, C, E, K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Choline

Minerals like: Potassiium, Copper, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Zinc, Iron, a little Calcium and Selenium

Dietary Fiber, Natural Sugars and they have all of the Essential Amino Acids [including all the ones needed by growing infants and children along with the conditionally essential amino acids]

What a winner!!!

and I'm not just saying this because I'm extremely partial to avocados.

B
Bananas
Bananas are nutrient rich, antioxidant packed mega-players in digestive health and well being. They're loaded with the vitamins: B6; C; B2; and Folate, the minerals: Copper; Iodine; Magnesium; Potassium; Manganese and have protease inhibitors helping to eliminate the ulcer causing H. pylori bacteria in the stomach.

I pulled this brief info from one of my favorite books "the world's healthiest foods"

I'm very new at vegetarin eating but if avacados have all the amino acids necessary can they be used as a protein substitute?

C = Cactus petals.

Prickly pear cactus (opuntia ficus indica) is a succulent fruit- and flower-bearing plant that grows wild in desert-like conditions. Long enjoyed as a food source, both the petals and pads of the cactus are eaten fresh or made into a variety of dishes including salads, soups, jellies and candies. Indigenous peoples also value cactus petals, or nopales, for its many medicinal and health benefits. Now clinical studies have shown that the alkaloids, vitamins and mucilage in the cactus petals can have the following effects, which supports centuries of anecdotal evidence:

lower HDL cholesterol levels
stabilize or decrease blood sugar levels
increase insulin sensitivity
promote wound healing
protect against ulcers
anti-inflammatory effects for arthritis
bolsters the immune system
reduce effects of alcohol consumption

Nopales are grilled, sauteed or pickled. Dice and scramble with eggs or blanch them and add to a green salad.

C'mon, people! Let's get this going again!

D = Dulse

A red algae that grows in the Northern coasts of the Atlantic and the Pacific. Dulse is a good source of minerals and vitamins compared with other vegetables and it contains all trace elements needed by humans and has a high protein content.

It is commonly found from June to September and can be collected by hand when the tide is out. When collected, small snails, shell pieces and other small particles can be washed or shaken off and the plant then spread to dry. Some collectors may turn it once and roll it into large bales to be packaged later. It is also used as fodder for animals in some countries.

Dulse is commonly used in Ireland,[12] Iceland and Atlantic Canada both as food and medicine. It can be found in many health food stores or fish markets and can be ordered directly from local distributors. In Ballycastle, Northern Ireland it is traditionally sold at the Ould Lammas Fair. It is particularly popular along the Causeway Coast. Although a fast dying tradition,[citation needed] there are many who still gather their own dulse. Waste pipes have spoiled some sites.


Fresh dulse can be eaten directly off the rocks before sun-drying. Sun-dried dulse is eaten as is or is ground to flakes or a powder. In Iceland the tradition is to eat it with butter. It can also be pan fried quickly into chips, baked in the oven covered with cheese, with salsa, or simply microwaved briefly. It can also be used in soups, chowders, sandwiches and salads, or added to bread/pizza dough. Finely diced, it can also be used as a flavour enhancer in meat dishes, such as chili, in place of monosodium glutamate.

Commonly referred to as dillisk on the west coast of Ireland. Dillisk is usually dried and sold as a snack food on stalls in sea side towns by periwinkle sellers.
---from wikipedia

hi suputb information.where is vitamin E and F waiting for that thnks

E= Endive, Escarole [Frisee -but that's not an 'E']

Endive is a rich source of vitamins A and beta carotenes, folic acid, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), thiamin (vitamin B1), niacin (B3)and the minerals: manganese, copper, iron, and potassium.

Try it in a salad, smoothie, lightly tossed in a skillet with some garlic infused olive oil, toasted sesame seed oil, pecans and currants. Finish off with a quick twist of some smoked Himalayan pink salt and a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar. [It's thick like a molasses.]

Enjoy!

They most certainly can. The key is to have a good variety of color and texture in your meals, so you get not only your amino acids, but also your fibers, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, etc. This is how you will get a balanced vegetarian diet that your body will appreciate you for.

Hello Jason,

This is such a good idea, are you going to carry on with G H I and so on - and then start again wherever possible? It would be great and I for one would appreciate your input.

I have a few friends who are following the BLOOD GROUP diet of Dr D'Damo and who are A group blood types. This is the mainly vegetarian group and they for one are most keen to learn more about following a vegetarian way of eating.

What do you think of this Blood Group Diet? Do you happen to have an opinion? My mates swear by it in that they feel great, have overcome depression, are calm, have lost weiight and just do not feel "thick" anymore after eating a well chosen and prepared vegetarian meal made up of the choices so advised by the diet.

One of the group has also added following proper food combining of starches and proteins as well as only eating fruit til noon, a trick she took from the Diamonds and their 'Fit For Life' approach to food.

Would you comment if you will? I would be interested and say thanks in advance.

Cheers now

Hi Leslie!
I was just getting caught up on my forum postings. And in short answer to your question, 'Yes.' I'll be resuming with the rest of the alphabet and some great tidbits about the items in them in the process. Thanks for your feedback!

Re: The Blood Group Diet, the eat right for your type process, I think it has a lot of validity and I also believe that there are a lot of factors involved with the body being able to absorb and assimilate nutrients. Many times when we have a diet high in one thing or another we experience the pluses or minuses of them. My bigger focus is on understanding the balance in the many different food cultures. In different parts of the world, and in our own backyards, recipes and complementary foods are combined to make up the deficits an isolated item would bring. When we remove a food from a culture without understanding the wisdom of the culture, we lose out on the benefits one spice offers to a dish to make it more digestible, to detoxify a certain component, to increase its nutritional values, etc. When we use herbs and spices, ideally there's a grander scheme of things at play that has little to do with flavor, but instead, boosting the dish overall [including flavor].

All in all I think there are a lot of great systems out there; the best one being, tune into your body to understand what it's calling for and when, and then supplying it. You can't go wrong with that approach. The key is to learn what your body signals mean.

Hope that wasn't too long winded; and beyond that, I hope it answered your question.

Best