Grow your own Superfoods

[okra]

Superfood is the label given to a food which is considered especially nutritious or in some way of benefit to our health.

But I would be the first to admit that I have always been put off by such descriptions and the media attention superfoods attract. We have always thought that eating a balanced diet which includes lots of fruit and vegetables and which avoids too much sugar, salt and saturated fat is all we needed.

However, if you investigate these foods we would be silly to ignore the extra nutritional and health benefits they provide.

But what could be better than growing your own organic superfoods and eating them when they at their best or preserving them to enjoy later.

The following are 14 superfoods to consider growing yourself.

http://cyprusgardener.blogspot.com/2011/06/grow-your-own-superfoods.html

[okra]

[saddad]

10/14... not quite got the climate for Pomegranates... though I do have a dwarf ornamental one... or avocado!  :)

[Duke Ellington]

I wish I could grow pomegranates I love them ;D
Maybe if our climate continues to change"....................

Duke

[GodfreyRob]

I think the whole superfoods idea is just a con by producers to get us to pay more for something.

Everyone needs a broad based balanced diet for health - saying one part is more valuable (translate as expensive) than another is a nonsense.

[elhuerto]

What's the problem with growing pomegranates - is it because it's not warm enough in the Summer or too cold in winter? Reason I ask is they grow wild here, we get pretty cold winters and not much rain. Summer's are very hot though so I'm assuming that's the issue?

[Duke Ellington]

Well that's a good question, I really don't know enough about growing them. I have never seen them for sale in the garden centers...or Lidl :P
Hopefully someone will come along and explain Pomegranite requirements.

Duke

[picman]

Pomegranates , Its possibly not just the -19c  winters here in UK but the length of the season .
I have to agree with GodfreyRob a broad based diet is what is required, Some time ago I made a list of all the foods I could think of Veg, Meat, fish , drink nuts etc, It ran to about 150 items then asked friends and family what they regularly ate, It was an eye opener, some only managed 15%. Fish was unusual, amazing the amount of people who do not like it.

[saddad]

My dwarf "Granatum Nana"... has set fruit a couple of times but they don't develop... I assume the summers aren't long/hot enough...  :-X

[Digeroo]

I think it is just a ploy to get us to eat things which are more expensive.  Blackberries, blackcurrants, red currants, carrots etc which many of us are growing surely have good amounts of the right things to class them in the superfood bracket.

[okra]

I think it is just a ploy to get us to eat things which are more expensive.  Blackberries, blackcurrants, red currants, carrots etc which many of us are growing surely have good amounts of the right things to class them in the superfood bracket.

Of course, eating too much of any one food, Superfood or not) is not a good idea. You can have too much of a good thing and you get a huge dose of some nutrients and nothing of other equally good ones. As with so many things in life, variety is needed. 

If the label Superfood does some good it is in making us focus on fruits and vegetables we do not normally eat and that's good. 

If we grow and eat as many as we can then it's not expensive.

[pigeonseed]

Maybe I won't try pomegranates... Lots of these things are grown here though, which is nice!

You have to be careful about the whole antioxidant thing though - we get enough of these naturally in our normal diet, and despite lots of research, no one has been able to show that adding even more antioxidants is beneficial, which is a shame in one way. On the plus side, I like to just be glad it's all sorted already, and marvel at the body's natural defences.

As the others have said - broad, balanced diet is the main thing. Lucky if you're someone for whom that's enjoyable. People who like to eat the same few stodgy and bland foods don't have it so easy... (my poor OH for example  :'( ;D)