Healthy Fridge Staples

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In an age where our cupboards and pantries are filled to the brim with junk food and preservative-packed delicacies, your fridge should be a haven for healthy staples.

It isn’t hard to keep your fridge stocked with the good foods. The key is to pick out the essentials and make sure they’re always on hand. The items your fridge should never be without are those that should be consumed regularly to ensure the right nutrients make their way into your body. These are foods that should, and need to be, bought fresh.

Water

Plain and simple, your body needs water. It helps clean out toxins and it channels nutrients to all your needy cells. Without enough water, you’ll dehydrate, get headaches and find it more difficult to function. Water really is essential to your well-being.

Daily serving: Bottled water might be nice on the go, but save some cash and get a jug that filters water to keep in your fridge at all times. The average person should consume at least eight glasses a day.

Orange juice

This is one of the most nutrient-rich fruit juices you can buy, hence why it’s a great healthy fridge staple. Studies have credited it with more health benefits than you can count. These include everything from boosting your immune system to keeping your blood pressure in check. Orange juice is also chalk-full of vitamin C, which can help combat common colds.

Daily serving: You should stock your fridge with pure orange juice. Remember that orange “flavored” drinks aren’t the same. Serve yourself 8 oz a day and try to drink it in the morning.

Mixed greens

Not all green vegetables are created equal, and some are definitely more health beneficial than others. The idea though, is to keep a nice variety stocked in your fridge at all times. The nutrients in fresh greens are essential to keeping the body healthy. And with a wide selection of veggies, you’ll ensure that every meal you make has a healthy side dish to accompany it.

Daily serving: You should have about three cups of green vegetables a day. Eating them raw in a salad is the healthiest choice, but lightly cooking them or steaming them still leaves in most of the nutrients. Some nutritionists promote the half-plate rule: For each meal, have a half of a plate of any vegetables/greens, while the remaining half is split into a quarter starch and a quarter meat/protein. But this rule can be dangerous depending on the size of your dinner plates.

Milk

Milk is rich in protein. It also has a lot of calcium which, as the commercials have been telling us for years, is great for the bones. Pay attention to the percentage of milk you take in though. As children we need whole, 3.25% milk, but as we get older that fattier milk tends to be more detrimental then beneficial. As an adult, consider 1% or even skim milk (if you dare) instead of whole milk. You’ll still get all the nutrients milk has to offer without all the nasty fatty side effects.

Daily serving: You should have at least three cups of milk a day. This can include other milk products, like cheese. Its naturally high protein count also makes it a great post-workout drink.

Carrots

Carrots: The other vegetable. They aren’t green but they are healthy. Thought to help reduce cholesterol, carrots are loaded with vitamin A and have many health benefits such as reducing the risk of heart attacks and fighting the effects of macular degeneration. They stay fresh for a long time in the fridge and are easy to chop up for an on-the-go snack anytime of the day.

Daily serving: A carrot a day will do you good. Of course, this counts toward your recommended daily serving of fruits and vegetables. And try eating your carrots without dressing as often as possible — they have all the nutrients they need without extras added in.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 4:40 am and is filed under Kitchen and Cooking, Diet, Health tips, Herbal health care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.