Fresh green veges,
Among the healthiest foods
That we can treat our bodies to.
Robyn
Robyn
Home January’s Challenge: BE TIDY
Over recent months, I have been running a weekly sing-along for "oldies" who meet in a community hall for a social get-together and lunch. The day before the sing-along, I would be practising songs like Boomps-A-Daisy, Alice Blue Gown, Down by the Old Mill Stream, or Goodnight Irene on my lovely Yamaha baby grand piano which I had bought in 2006 from St Andrew's Anglican Church in Hong Kong. After my practice, I would find out that hubby had been singing along from the garage or garden, wherever he was working at the time. I wonder if we make the neighbours smile!
Anyway, it is time to take a look at what is in the piano stool and cupboard, tidy up the music, and maybe choose some new pieces to play.
Garden PAK CHOI
Pak Choi is one of the few vegetables from the brassica family that I have grown successfully in our sub-tropical garden. Other brassicas I have success with are kale and mustard, but it is the pak chois that we love to eat, especially in stir-fries. Because I let a pak choi go to seed last year, they have been popping up here and there, and for tomorrow's stir-fry, I am looking forward to picking a few outside leaves from a pak choi growing in the big pot containing strawberries and nettles.
Brassica vegetables are highly regarded for their nutritional value. They provide high amounts of vitamin C and soluble fiber and contain multiple nutrients with potent anticancer properties: 3,3'-diindolylmethane, sulforaphane and selenium. Boiling reduces the level of anticancer compounds, but steaming, microwaving, and stir frying do not result in significant loss. Steaming the vegetable for three to four minutes is recommended to maximize sulforaphane.
Brassica vegetables are rich in indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells. They are also a good source ofcarotenoids, with broccoli having especially high levels. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have recently discovered that 3,3'-diindolylmethane in Brassicavegetables is a potent modulator of the innate immune response system with potent antiviral, antibacterial and anticancer activity; however, it also is an antiandrogen. These vegetables also contain goitrogens, which suppress thyroid function. This can induce hypothyroidism and goiter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica
Greens in a stir-fry,
Highly healthy.
A nutritious choice
For us to make.
May we all develop healthy eating habits.
from Robyn
Robin in a flowering gum
Painted by Brenda, Robyn’s mum
