Fruits and Vegetables for Fertility
A key piece of overcoming infertility is preparing your body by eating fruits and vegetables. The antioxidants in colorful produce aren't just good for your egg quality (and sperm quality for men), but they are great for cancer prevention and overall health. Cruciferous vegetables are also great for hormone regulation.Eating a healthy diet can be hard for many women because it's not as convenient and it may require multiple trips to the grocery store. first let me say, I'm all for buying locally and supporting your local farmers. However, that may not be possible for city dwellers and some produce isn't available locally at certain times of the year. That's when frozen fruits and vegetables can be a great option. According to to this article and many others, frozen produce can actually be better than "fresh" produce that isn't really that fresh after the distribution process. Read more:
Industry representatives argued that produce frozen just after picking was nutritionally equivalent to fresh. They bolstered their position by saying that such items as spinach, grapes or carrots may spend a long time between being picked and being consumed -- on trucks, or in store displays -- losing nutrients as they age.
The FDA found merit in that claim, concluding that the overall goal is to get Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables, at least five servings a day. Many nutrition professionals agree.
``Frozen foods are frozen at their peak in terms of freshness and nutrition,'' says Diane Quagliani, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. ``So there's really no reason that people should not choose frozen. I love fresh vegetables, don't get me wrong, but frozen vegetables are wonderful items in terms of convenience.''
That's also the message from Christine Perry, senior editor at the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter in Boston.
``It's better to focus on getting fruits and vegetables in your diet, whether they are fresh or frozen,'' she says. ``It's tricky to say that one is better than the other; fresh produce loses vitamins if it has been sitting on the shelf. Others may argue that the fresh stuff tastes better and it's good to support local farmers.''
The decision is easy in the summertime, when farmers' markets offer freshly picked produce and when home gardens yield ingredients that barely have time to cool before being put in a salad. But as winter approaches, local sources shut down and much of the produce consumed through the spring comes from other states or other countries.
Food held at temperatures above freezing after being picked begins to lose nutrients, according to the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine's ``Total Nutrition'' guide.
from
www.prohealth.com