Going White - 8 wonderful white foods to add to your diet

Wow. This post in the 'foods to add to your diet' series has proved quite challenging. I've been hoping to give you a bit of a glimpse into the huge variety of foods that are available with a focus on the more unusual, or less commonly eaten foods. However when it came to the white foods, there were some I just couldn’t go past, so my '5 foods' list blew out to 8 foods. When we talk about white foods, we're often talking about the processed and refined kind, the kind people like me tell you to avoid but to avoid any of the foods below based on their colour would be a mistake. We can't paint all white foods with the same brush. The following foods are all naturally white, they are delicious, they are healthy, they are nutrient dense.

Mushrooms

The shrooms, those weird looking little fungi. If you shop at a good fruit and veg shop, you’ll notice the vast array of different size and shapes that mushrooms come in. Different types of mushrooms work best with different kinds of foods, however I’ve never been one to be fussy. I just tend to throw them in! The only thing I would suggest is to treat them gently; they really don’t need to be overcooked. I have to confess I’m not a huge fan of the mushroom’s texture. I very rarely would eat a giant chunk of mushroom, and although my partner loves them and enjoys giant chunks throughout his foods, I tend to cut them up quite small so I don’t notice the texture as much. This is a great tip if you’re putting them raw in salads, or steamed with other vegetables. If you don’t like the flavour of mushrooms put them in a chunky sauce, cut them small and you’ll barely even notice them, their flavour is subtle so a strong sauce will mask it. For a quick guide on mushrooms look and uses visit http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/food/common-types-mushrooms-00000000040400/index.html

Why mushrooms?

Mushrooms are an amazing source of protein and fibre for their tiny size. They also have a really nice mineral profile including a lovely amount of selenium, which is a potent antioxidant. Shitake mushrooms are used extensively in Chinese medicine and are being researched for their immune boosting capabilities

What are mushrooms good for? 

Great source of minerals, as an antioxidant, immune system

Onion and Garlic


I have grouped these two together because while different, they have similar uses and are quite often found together in food. There are two groups of people when it comes to onion and garlic, those that love them, and those that hate them. I personally love love love them both. Onion for example is delicious raw in salads, or diced and sliced in soups and stews. You can chop it into chunks for casseroles or roast it with your roast vegetables where it always ends up tasting sweeter. I mix up my onion colours, but I do like the purple kind for some extra colour. If you hate cutting onion, I’ve found that if you keep it in the fridge, your eyes wont water so much. Don’t forget other types of onions like shallots and spring onions either.
Garlic when raw has a spicy hot flavour, but it goes beautifully in a vegetable juice or diced and mixed through guacamole, or baba ganoush (see my post on sauces, dips and dressings). Its most common use is probably cooked where it forms the base of flavour for pretty much everything, from soups to stir fry's. Whenever I am cooking meat in the frying pan or on the grill I will throw on a few cloves of garlic in their shell, or if I’m roasting vege’s I’ll throw in a whole bulb, cut up so its easy to divide amongst the plates. Some people cannot eat either onion or garlic, it makes them feel sick or gives them gas, but if you can, I would suggest getting these foods into everything you can! 

Why onion and garlic?

Onions are a source of quercetin, a potent anti allergy nutrient. They’re also a nice source of minerals, including sulphur, which is involved in liver detoxification. Garlic too is a sulphurous herb and is mineral dense.

What are they good for?

Garlic and onions are both great for liver health. They are also good for allergies and immunity in general, both via the quercetin in onion, and the allicin in garlic. Recent research on aged garlic supplements demonstrate their effectiveness for lowering blood pressure.

Achacha

A what? A cha cha. Yes it’s a fruit! I actually saw this fruit when I was about to write my article on orange foods, and seeing as it has an orange skin I grabbed a couple and rushed home to try them. Why wasn’t it in my orange article? Turns it out has white flesh! Now I have never in my life seen an achacha but apparently they’re growing in North Queensland, and I have to say I’m glad because it is a divine fruit, if not a little small. They are in season in Australia at the moment so you should be able to find them; I got mine at my local Coles. So, what do you do with an Achacha? You stick your fingernail into it to piece the skin, and then you squeeze and twist the two halves (like you would a cut avocado to pull the two halves apart) and they magically pop undone. It has this lovely sweetly tangy white flesh surrounding a large seed in the centre. The flesh is described as effervescent, like sherbet, and I would agree. There’s not a huge amount of flesh in there so I would consider 2-4 to be a serve of fruit.

Why achacha?

Like most fruits, they’re a great source of vitamin C, folate and potassium.

What are they good for?

Skin health, immunity and minerals



Fennel

Used extensively overseas, in Australia I don’t think we eat enough of this aniseed flavoured vegetable. Aside from being used to make Absynthe, the lovely fennel bulb is delicious served with salmon, and can be eaten cooked or raw. Take a look at Taste.com’s page on all things fennel including some delicious looking recipes. http://www.taste.com.au/how+to/articles/1125/fennel. The seeds and dried leaves are also often used in cooking, yum.

Why fennel?

Fennel is a low GI, high fibre vegetable with a great nutrient profile.

What’s its good for?

Traditionally fennel is used to help bring on breast milk in new mothers and for digestive health. It helps to ease digestive discomfort and gas. You can use the seeds in a tea for this, or buy the tea bags.


Coconut

Now I have just posted a whole piece on coconuts so I wont go into them too much here except to say that if you’re not on the coconut bandwagon yet, you should be! Take a look at my coconut post for links to ways to make coconut water and coconut milk kefir, not to mention coconut yoghurt. It comes as water, oil, flesh and flour.

Cauliflower

The humble cauliflower often gets overlooked for the brighter and greener broccoli, however this inconspicuous vegetable stands strong in its own right. If you think it’s bland, just do something to it, like use it to make this delicious cauliflower rice recipe from Best Recipes http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/cauliflower-rice-L5801.html. Otherwise throw it into soups and curries, which will enhance its flavour.

Why Cauliflower?

Part of the cruciferous family (with broccoli) it contains those sulphur compounds mentioned above which assist with liver detoxification.

What’s it good for?

General health, liver detoxification and immunity, as an antioxidant

Quinoa

Now again, I've just posted an article on 6 Alternatives to Gluten Grains so I wont go into too much on Quinoa, pronounced keen-wa, here. This great little seed can be used in replacement of rice.

Why quinoa?

Its higher in protein and lower GI than rice. Good source of amino acids, including lysine. High in B vitamins

Whats it good for?

A good energy food with low GI, can add to the protein value of a vegetarian diet.

Eat up!

Chris