Wizard Recipes

The midday meal is the meal most often eaten away from home. Your options include bringing a lunch from home or purchasing foods in a cafeteria, vending machine, or local delicatessen.

The same rules apply for “eating well” at lunch: plan to eat foods low in saturated fat and high in nutrients. This midday meal helps you meet your goal of 5 fruits and vegetables every day, and it is the perfect time to include whole grains.

Lunch helps you to distribute your intake of calories and nutrients evenly throughout the day. It can keep energy levels high and help prevent unplanned snacking on foods that may not be the best choices.

Brown Bagging

Bringing a lunch to work can save you money and help you eat what you really want to eat. To be sure that your lunch tastes good and is good for you, try to incorporate each of the food groups in your lunch.

If you bring too little food, you will likely be hungry later in the day. You then increase the chance that you will snack before supper or eat too much at supper. To keep brown-bag fare interesting and healthful, pack more variety. Think of the options:

Grains-Instead of the usual sandwich bread, try pita (pocket) bread, tortilla wraps, crackers, pretzels, or rice cakes. Or, try salads made with nutritious grains.

Fruits-Include fresh fruits. Every now and then, choose an “exotic” fruit to add interest. Try star fruit, kiwi, papaya, mango, or passion fruit. Fruit juices can be nutritious and refreshing.

Vegetables-Expand your repertoire from raw carrots and celery sticks to potentially more satisfying vegetable soups and salads. Stuff pocket bread with a variety of cooked vegetables. Use vegetables to make your sandwich more filling: fresh spinach or romaine, and slices of cucumber, tomato, mushrooms, and sweet or chili peppers. A vegetable juice makes a great lunchtime drink.

Dairy-Some days drink milk. Other days eat yogurt or a bit of cheese. Choose the low-fat forms more frequently to be sure your meal is rich in nutrients and not fat and calories.

Meat - Meat (which includes poultry, fish, and also beans, legumes, and nuts) is good for you, but remember that “moderation” is the key word. To help take meat off center stage, be sure that you also include plenty of fruits, vegetables, and grains in your lunch. Eat only lean meats.

When possible, instead of meat, try to substitute foods such as hummus, lentils, beans, tofu, and nut spreads, which contain large amounts of plant protein.

Vary the temperature of your lunch by including both hot and cold items. A thermos will preserve heat more effectively if you first rinse it with hot water. Likewise, rinsing with cold water will help keep foods cold longer.

If your workplace does not have a refrigerator, a thermal lunch bag can help keep your food fresh and safe. A frozen box of juice can help keep your lunch cold, and the juice will thaw by lunchtime.

Going Out for Lunch?

If you know what you are doing, eating lunch out increases your options rather than your temptations. Most fast-food restaurants, eager to please the ever-growing number of people who insist on eating more nutritious foods, now offer “lighter” fare such as salads and chicken.

But be careful that you don’t choose foods that are healthful in name only. Many foods that at first glance seem to be good choices in fact are loaded with fat and calories.

Salad Savvy

Simple salads are best. To construct a nutritious salad, incorporate lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. Remember that the word “salad” is not synonymous with “healthful.”

Try to eat salads that are low in calories and fat but high in much-needed nutrients . Many taco salads contain at least 900 calories, more than half of which comes from fat. High-fat meats and cheeses heaped on a chef salad can dominate the vegetables.

Chicken and seafood are low in fat; however, this advantage is lost when they are covered with high-fat dressings and oils. Many of today’s salad bars look like delicatessens. Pasta salad, potato salad, guacamole, and tortellini are popular items.

Depending on how they are made, they too can be high in fat and calories. Unless used sparingly, some dressings can provide up to 400 calories to your salad. Watch for packaged dressings that contain more than “1″ serving; check the label to see how many servings are in the package. In some instances, the listed ingredients are those contained in a half-ounce serving, even though the package may hold up to 5 servings!

A generous-sized ladle can easily drown an otherwise healthful salad with a quarter-cup of dressing (300 calories or more). Instead of using high-fat dressings, try squeezing lemon on your salad, request low-calorie or fat-free dressings, or ask that the dressing be placed on the side.

Burgers and Sandwiches

Beware of burgers and sandwiches that are described as “jumbo,” “double,” or “deluxe.” Many contain about 1,000 calories and the majority of your fat allowance for the day.

Ask for a regular-sized burger. Stick with lean meat without mayonnaise or cheese. If salt is not a concern, ketchup or mustard adds very few calories. Request extra lettuce or toppings such as tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, or sweet peppers

Whether at home or away, start your day with breakfast. “Breaking the fast” provides your body with both nutrients and energy. People who eat breakfast tend to have more energy and, on average, are better able to regulate their appetite during the remainder of the day than their breakfast- skipping counterparts.

Unfortunately, many Americans do not eat breakfast. Some skip breakfast because of their schedule, whereas others do so in a misguided attempt to control weight. However, you can eat a healthful breakfast with the time you have.

There are many ways to make what is perhaps the day’s most important meal a nutritious, fast, and convenient one.

Build a Better Breakfast

Breakfast is the foundation of a healthful diet. Use the Food Guide Pyramid as a practical resource for planning your breakfasts regardless of whether you choose foods that require preparation or select ones that are ready-to-go.

Cereals are a good choice. Simple whole-grain cereals with no added sugar or fat are best . A breakfast that includes a whole-grain cereal, bread, low-fat milk, and a glass of orange juice is a great starter meal.

This breakfast supplies B vitamins, fiber, iron, approximately one-third of the recommended calcium, and 100 percent of the recommended vitamin C for the day. Best of all, it does so in less than 300 calories.

For a change, try a breakfast bagel sandwich. Top a whole-grain bagel with 2 teaspoons of peanut butter and a sliced banana. Add a cup of cold skim milk for a breakfast that is about 400 calories. This breakfast includes foods from most of the food groups, is low in cholesterol, and is a good source of iron, folate, and fiber.

For even morevariety, top a flour tortilla with 2 ounces of leftover chicken breast and tomato pieces and 1 ounce of low-fat cheese.

As a vegetarian option, top with rice and beans. Wrap the tortilla tightly, microwave for a minute or so, and top with salsa. While you are at it, drink a glass of a spicy vegetable juice. Both of these quick-fix breakfasts contribute servings from the vegetable, fruit, and grain groups in just 350 calories.

They also give you plenty of vitamins A and C. Maybe you prefer eggs for breakfast. The current recommendation is to limit your intake of whole eggs to 3 or 4 per week. The reason to limit eggs is that the yolk of a large-sized egg contains about 210 milligrams of cholesterol- more than two-thirds of the daily cholesterol allowance.

However, eggs also have many nutrients. People with a low blood cholesterol level probably can safely eat a few more eggs than those who have a high level.

Create an omelet with 1 whole egg plus 2 egg whites, sweet peppers, and onions. Serve with oven-browned potatoes and a slice of whole-grain toast topped lightly with butter or margarine.

Or, better yet, top with jam or jelly as a no-fat alternative. Remember to include fruit or juice. This 500-calorie meal-although it contains cholesterol-is a good source of iron and is high in fiber, folate, and vitamin C.

Breakfast Out

Many people are too busy to sit down and eat breakfast at home. The next best bet is to eat breakfast on-the-run, which at times can pose a nutritional challenge.

Fortunately, if you know what you are looking for, a nutritious breakfast can be found almost anywhere food is served. If you are traveling and have time for a “sit-down” breakfast, choose a restaurant that offers a varied menu.

If not, try bagel shops, fast-food establishments, the company cafeteria, or even a nearby vending machine.

Some may have a “buffet breakfast” that has everything you need, including hot and cold cereals, breads, bagels, fresh fruit and fruit juices, low-fat milk, and yogurt. Others also may offer options such as low-fat burritos, low-fat granola, or low-fat muffins.

Grapefruit, also known as shaddock, is a large, pale-yellow fruit belonging to the citrus group. One variety, known as the pomelo, is the kind that is commonly found in the market. It is slightly flattened on both the blossom and stem ends.

Grapefruit has a typical flavor and a slightly bitter taste and contains neither a great deal of sugar nor a large amount of acid. Because of its refreshing, somewhat acid pulp and juice, it is highly prized as a fruit to be eaten at breakfast or as an appetizer for a fruit cocktail. It is also much used in the making of fruit salads.

SELECTION OF GRAPEFRUIT

Grapefruit should be selected with care in order that fruit of good quality may be obtained. Some persons think that to be good grapefruit should be large, but it should be remembered that size is not the factor by which to judge the quality.

The fruit should be heavy for its size and the skin should be fine-grained and even. Coarse-grained skin, as a rule, is thick and indicates that the pulp is rather pithy and without juice.

PREPARATION OF GRAPEFRUIT

Different ways of serving grapefruit are in practice, and it is well that these be understood. This is generally considered a rather difficult fruit to eat, but if care is exercised in its preparation for the table it can be eaten with comfort. For preparing grapefruit, a narrow, sharp-bladed paring knife may be used.

As is well known, a grapefruit is always cut apart half way between the stem and the blossom ends and a half served to each person.

One method of preparing grapefruit consists in cutting the skin in such a way that the seeds can be taken out and the pulp then easily removed with a spoon. To prepare it in this way, cut the grapefruit into halves, and then, with a sharp knife, cut around the pithy core in the center, cutting off the smallest possible end of each of the sections.

With this done, remove the seeds, which will be found firmly lodged near the core and which can be readily pushed out with the point of the knife. Then cut down each side of the skin between the sections so as to separate the pulp from the skin.

Around the edge next to the outside skin, cut the pulp in each section with a single jab of the knife, taking care not to cut the skin between the sections. The entire pulp of each section, which will be found to be loose on both sides and ends if the cutting is correctly done, can then be readily removed with a spoon.

In another method of preparing this fruit for the table, all the skin inside of the fruit is removed and nothing but the pulp is left. This method requires a little more time and care than the previous one, but the result justifies the effort.

After cutting the grapefruit into halves, remove the seeds with a sharp knife. Then, with the same knife, cut the grapefruit from the skin all the way around the edge, also, cut down each side of the skin between the sections, so as to separate the pulp from the skin. With the pulp loosened, insert a pair of scissors along the outside edge and make a slanting cut toward the core.

Then cut the core loose from the outside skin. Repeat this operation for each section. If the cutting has been properly done, the core and skin enclosing the sections may be lifted out of the grapefruit and will then be in the form of a many-pointed star. As only the pulp remains in the outside skin, the grapefruit can be eaten without difficulty.

SERVING GRAPEFRUIT

When grapefruit has been properly ripened, it is rather sweet, so that many persons prefer it without sugar; but when sugar is desired, the fruit is very much more delicious if it is prepared some time before it is to be served, the sugar added to it, and the fruit placed in a cool place.

If this is done in the evening and the grapefruit is served for breakfast, a large amount of very delicious juice will have collected through the night. At any rate, grapefruit is best if it is sweetened long enough before it is served to give the sugar a chance to penetrate.

So much variety exists among salads that it is somewhat difficult to give a comprehensive definition of this class of foods. In general, however, salads may be considered as a dish of green herbs or vegetables, sometimes cooked, and usually chopped or sliced, sometimes mixed with fruit or with cooked and chopped cold meat, fish, etc., and generally served with a dressing.

For the most part, salads take their name from their chief ingredient, as, for instance, chicken salad, tomato salad, pineapple salad, etc. Just what place salads have in the meal depends on the salad itself. A high-protein salad, such as lobster salad, should take the place of the meat course, whereas, a light salad of vegetables or fruits may be used as an additional course.

IMPORTANCE OF SALADS.

Salads are often considered to be a dish of little importance; that is, something that may be left out or added to a meal without affecting it to any great extent. While this may be the case in a meal that is composed of a sufficient variety of foods, salads have a definite place in meals as they are planned in the majority of households.

Often there is a tendency to limit green vegetables or fresh fruits in the diet, but if the members of a family are to be fed an ideal diet it is extremely important that some of these foods enter into each day’s meals, a fact that is often overlooked.

There is no more effective nor appetizing way in which to include them in a meal than in the serving of salads. In addition, salads make a strong appeal to the appetite and at the same time are beneficial so far as the health of the family is concerned.

PURPOSES OF SALADS.

Because of the wide variety of salads and the large number of ingredients from which a selection may be made in their preparation, salads can be used for various purposes. The housewife who gives much attention to the artistic side of the serving of food in her home will often use a salad to carry out a color scheme in her meal.

This is, of course, the least valuable use that salads have, but it is a point that should not be overlooked. The chief purpose of salads in a meal is to provide something that the rest of the foods served in the meal lack.

Even though it is not desired to use the salad to carry out a color scheme, it should always be made an attractive dish. As is well known, nothing is so unappetizing as a salad in which the ingredients have not been properly prepared, the garnish is not fresh and crisp, or the dressing and salad ingredients have been combined in such a way as to appear messy or stale looking.

There is no excuse for such conditions, and they need not exist if proper attention is given to the preparation of the salad.

SELECTION OF SALADS

Although salads, through their variety, offer the housewife an opportunity to vary her meals, they require a little attention as to their selection if a properly balanced meal is to be the result. Salads that are high in food value or contain ingredients similar to those found in the other dishes served in the meal, should be avoided with dinners or with other heavy meals.

For instance, a fish or a meat salad should not be served with a dinner, for it would supply a quantity of protein to a meal that is already sufficiently high in this food substance because of the fact that meat also is included. Such a salad, however, has a place in a very light luncheon or a supper, for it helps to balance such a meal.

The correct salad to serve with a dinner that contains a number of heavy dishes is a vegetable salad, if enough vegetables are not already included, or a fruit salad, if the dessert does not consist of fruit. In case a fruit salad is selected, it is often made to serve for both the salad and the dessert course.

How did the people eating the traditional Mediterranean diet pack so many vegetables into their daily meals? Easily and deliciously. In the Mediterranean, vegetable consumption is not just a matter of eating any vegetable at any time, in whatever state is most convenient. Vegetable selection is a matter of pride, vegetable preparation an art, and vegetable consumption a pure pleasure. Most essentially, in the Mediterranean, vegetables are chosen according to what is in season.

Outdoor produce markets throughout the Mediterranean offer the season’s best, freshest, most vibrant vegetables. Your local grocer, farmer’s market, or produce stand is also likely to feature the freshest locally grown produce. Even if the vegetables in season in your area aren’t those in season in the Mediterranean, eating the freshest seasonal produce is still eating in the Mediterranean way.

Seek out the best sources for vegetables in your area, and you may discover that vegetables taste much better than you think. Here are a few more Mediterranean-inspired tips for adding vegetables to your day. You’ll wonder how you ever ate without them!

• Looking for a fast-food lunch? A wedge of hearty wheat bread, a small chunk of feta or other cheese, a few slices of ripe tomato, a handful of leafy greens drizzled with olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and a ripe peach or other seasonal fruit for dessert take less time to prepare than going through the drive-through. Bring your Mediterranean lunch to work with you and everyone will wonder what upscale deli supplied your meal.
• The next time you make spaghetti, stir a shredded carrot and a finely chopped green or red pepper, a few mushrooms, or a handful of chopped spinach into the sauce. Vegetable additions add color, flavor, and nutritional power to your pasta dinner.
• Instead of grilling burgers, grill vegetables, Mediterranean style. Slice onions, peppers, zucchini, portabella mushroom caps, eggplant, and tomatoes into thick slices, drizzle with olive oil, and grill. If you want to add a Middle Eastern flair, skewer the vegetables into shish kebabs. A chunk or two of chicken or lamb among the vegetables would be authentic and would add an extra dash of protein. Serve with lemon wedges.
• Drizzle those plain vegetables with a little olive oil and a sprinkling of fresh grated cheese, or garnish with a splash of tomato sauce or a few sun-dried tomatoes. Tomato sauce also adds culinary interest to broiled fish.
• If you can relate to former U.S. President George H. W. Bush when it comes to broccoli (his aversion to this beautiful vegetable was well known), maybe you just haven’t had it cooked really well. Try steaming broccoli just until it is very bright green and tender. Toss with a little olive oil, sea salt, minced garlic, and a few flakes of red pepper. Serve and eat immediately. Perfectly cooked broccoli is a joy. Overcooked or old broccoli is enough to make anyone dislike the stuff.

• Leafy green salads are an important part of many Mediterranean meals. Get in the habit of including a bowl of leafy greens with olive oil and a little lemon juice or vinegar with at least one meal every day. A few extra chopped vegetables and a little grated cheese will make your greens even more interesting and nutrient-rich. (Just remember to forgo the creamy dressing in favor of a dressing with an olive oil base.)

Do you think you don’t have enough time to chop up a salad? Take advantage of food industry technology and splurge on ready-to-eat bagged veggies and greens. Selections are plentiful, many types are organic, and they come prewashed. What could be quicker?

• Eat pizza in the Mediterranean style. Unlike American pizzas, Mediterranean pizzas are typically thin, light concoctions with just a few toppings. Fresh tomato sauce and one or two featured vegetables (mushrooms, garlic slices, onion, zucchini, broccoli, peppers) and a very light sprinkling of mozzarella or Parmesan cheese on a fresh-baked (or store-bought, if you are pressed for time) whole-grain crust makes a perfect light dinner.

Many Mediterranean pizzas don’t even include cheese. In the mood for something more substantial? The more veggies, the better! Add roasted eggplant, mushrooms, red peppers (better than green if you want that lycopene punch)-you name it! See how much your pizza can hold. Load up and enjoy!

• Are you or your kids getting bored with peanut butter sandwiches? Add chopped or shredded carrots for a surprising, refreshing, flavorful crunch.
• Pumpkin is an American vegetable, but its nutritional value is Mediterranean in spirit! Stir canned pumpkin into hot oatmeal for breakfast with a little cinnamon and brown sugar. Add a generous spoonful to applesauce for a light dessert, or stir some into vanilla yogurt for an added zing.
• Microwave a sweet potato or yam until soft for a quick, carotenoid- and fiber-rich snack, or try baked sweet potato fries or yam chips, brushed lightly with olive oil and baked at 400 degrees until lightly browned and fork-tender, about twenty minutes, or longer if you’ve got a large pan full.

The one thing you can do to make your diet more “Mediterranean” is to begin eating more fresh vegetables today. Whether or not they were traditionally grown and consumed in the Mediterranean, the very concept of eating the vegetables grown on the land around you captures the essence of the traditional Mediterranean diet. Vegetables add beauty to your plate, excitement to your palate, and a host of vital substances to your body.

Who can resist a perfectly ripe piece of fruit? Tender, blushing peaches; rosy slices of watermelon; mahogany plums dripping with garnet-colored juice; crisp, crunchy apples; luscious, sunny oranges; sweet, mellow bananas; succulent berries in a rainbow of hues. Few things are more pleasurable than eating really good fruit.

Fruits are full of great nutrition. So let’s look at this wonderful fruits:

PEARS

Known throughout the Mediterranean for centuries, pears are second only to apples as the favored baked fruit. Baked pears are far less common in this country, although we aren’t sure why. A fresh baked pear is a mouth-watering, sweet, buttery treat, and easy to prepare. Ripe pears are tasty, too-juicy, sweet, fragrant, and tender.

Most pears purchased from the supermarket aren’t yet ready for eating, however. Pears are far more edible when they ripen off the tree, so green pears are picked and shipped (convenient, since the unripe pears are harder and sturdier, so they travel better).

Unripe pears are long-lived, and rival apples when it comes to long-term storage potential. Chill them and they’ll last and last (the harder varieties like Bosc and Comice can keep for up to seven months). A week or so before you are ready to eat them, bring them to room temperature and ripen in a brown paper bag.

When purchasing pears, look for firm fruit without cuts, bruises, or blemishes. Superficial nicks are fine if you plan to eat the pears that week. Bruises and soft spots should be avoided. Pears need to sit for a few days to soften sufficiently for eating once you bring them home. A ripe pear yields slightly to pressure on the stem end, and spoils quickly. Keep it in the refrigerator for a couple of days at most.

Pears are generally available all year in the United States, but their peak season is August through October. Sample the different pear varieties in most supermarkets: Anjou, Bartlett, and Bosc are among the most widely available, but you’ll often see other types. Asian pears are crisper and are best in the fall.

Pears may not sport the orange color that distinguishes carotenoid-heavy fruit, but they have plenty of other nutritional properties to recommend them. Pears are full of vitamin C, and fresh raw pears are particularly high in fiber.

They also contain many other vitamins and minerals. Dried pears are great for snacking and are a more concentrated source of nutrients.

PLUMS

Plums are no strangers to the traditional Mediterranean diet. Spiced plums cooked with sugar, cinnamon, and cloves is a French specialty, served chilled. Many types of plums are available in the United States, including the juicy Japanese plums perfect for snacking and the drier European plums best suited for cooking. Plums are available from May through October.

Plums range in color from yellow to blue-black, with every shade of red, purple, and blue in between. Plums are best when tree-ripened, but because plums soften (without developing additional sweetness) after picking, ripe and unripe plums can both feel soft and ripe in the store.

If your market allows it, you will be better off taste-testing the store’s plums before buying. Plums are a nutritious and complexly flavored dessert.

Let us not forget plums in their dried form! Super nutritious prunes have a reputation for promoting regularity, but they do far more than provide fiber for our bodies.

Prunes are a concentrated source of many vitamins and minerals, and have high levels of caffeic and ferulic acid, phenolic acids demonstrated to have potent anticancer effects in animal studies.

Here are some interesting ways to include fruit in your diet:

• Freeze green grapes and watermelon cubes to use as ice cubes in beverages or to eat on a hot summer day instead of sugary Popsicles or high-fat ice cream.
• Toss dried fruit into a stir-fry.
• To jazz up plain brown rice, add a few raisins, chopped dried apricots, currants, and walnuts.
• Whenever possible, add fresh fruit to your bowl of cereal. Use dried fruit to add texture and flavor to hot cooked cereal. Also try stirring fresh blueberries into oatmeal.
• Whenever possible, add fresh fruit to your yogurt.
• Stir dried fruit, chopped apples, or chopped cherries into your next batch of homemade bread.
• Tired of peanut butter and jelly? Peanut butter and pear or even date sandwiches are more nutritious and far more delicious.
• As long as we are on the subject of peanut butter, don’t miss the ultimate kid-friendly treat: peanut butter and ripe banana sandwiches!
• Add crisp apple slices to your turkey sandwich instead of cheese.
• Add dried cherries to provide tang and interest to salads.
• Cranberry sauce isn’t just for Thanksgiving. Make it with apple juice concentrate instead of sugar and serve alongside any meat or as a spread for bread or toast.

More than beautiful and delicious, adding variety and interest to meals, vegetables brim with nutrients such as cancer-fighting folate and selenium, as well as other essential vitamins and minerals. Potent phytochemical storehouses, vegetables contain beta-carotene, lycopene, flavonoids, and thousands of other compounds nutritionists are only beginning to discover.

Phytochemicals are nonnutritive substances in plants that may serve a variety of protective functions in the human body, from blocking carcinogens and flushing them out of the body to strengthening the immune system.

Vegetables contain few calories in exchange for such high nutrient levels, making this the food group for serious indulgence. On top of all these benefits, vegetables contain fiber, which is linked to decreased cancer risk and also helps to fill you up and keep your digestive tract working smoothly.

Every vegetable contains its own unique package of nutrients and phytochemicals, so to reap the most benefit, eat a wide variety of vegetables. Studies show too much variety in other food categories, such as meat or sweets, can actually lead to over consumption and overweight, but eating a variety of vegetables is inversely proportional to body fat.

In other words, the more vegetables you eat, the less body fat you are likely to have.

The great variety and range of flavors, textures, and colors make vegetables the perfect food group around which to base a meal.

Remember to sample vegetables from all the following categories. A handful of veggies from each category thrown into a soup pot with some chicken stock or vegetable stock and some dried oregano, fresh basil or thyme leaves, and a clove or two of minced garlic makes a fantastic, Mediterranean-inspired vegetable soup!

• Cruciferous Vegetables. These vegetables, which include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, bok choy, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and greens like watercress, mustard, rutabaga, and turnip, are so named because their flower petals are arranged in a cross shape (crucifer means “cross-bearing”).

Cruciferous vegetables have many nutritional benefits, and none more so than broccoli, a nutritional “star” rich with fiber, vitamins A and C, folate, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and a host of phytochemicals including beta-carotene found to be active in the human body.

Many cruciferous vegetables feature prominently in traditional dishes: cabbage in minestrone soup or boiled and then baked with olive oil and garlic; steamed broccoli with garlic, olive oil, and hot peppers or cooked until tender and tossed with a variety of pasta shapes;

• Solanacae Vegetables. This family of vegetables includes the tomato, pepper, potato, and eggplant.These vegetables are good sources of vitamins A and C and potassium. Tomatoes have recently been in the spotlight because of a phytochemical called lycopene that gives them (as well as watermelons and red grapefruit) their red color.

Consumption of lycopene, which is particularly concentrated in tomato sauce and tomato paste, has been linked with reduced risk of prostate cancer and some other cancers.

When tomatoes combine with eggplant in fragrant dishes such as ratatouille or eggplant Parmesan, these vegetables make a mouthwatering treat.

Other favorite dishes include peppers roasted with eggplant; potatoes boiled with garlic cloves and mashed together; and any or all of these vegetables roasted, sautéed, or lightly boiled and tossed with pasta, rice, or polenta, or eaten on their own. (Fresh tomatoes with mozarella cheese, anyone?)

• Umbelliferous Vegetables. These vegetables have umbrella-like leaves. They include carrots, celery, parsnips, fennel, and the herbs parsley and cilantro. Rich in beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin C, these vegetables further expand the vegetable lover’s culinary repertoire.

Raw fennel makes a sublime palate cleanser between courses; carrots add color, crunch, and flavor to salads and a sweetness to soups; and braised celery is a Mediterranean staple.

• Cucurbitaceous Vegetables. Offerings from this family of vegetables include the gourds and melons, those fleshy fruits and vegetables that grow on vines. These include pumpkins, summer squash, winter squash, zucchini, cucumbers, honeydew melons, and watermelons.

Cucurbitaceous vegetables contain high levels of vitamins A and C, betacarotene, phosphorous, iron, and fiber. While squash isn’t typically considered a part of traditional Mediterranean cuisine, zucchini is the one exception.

• Allium Vegetables. These vegetables (some considered herbs) include those Mediterranean staples, garlic and onions. They also include shallots, chives, and leeks. Allium vegetables contain a host of cancer-fighting phytochemicals, and may also have antibiotic properties. Flip through any Mediterranean-inspired cookbook and you’ll see garlic and onions featured in many recipes.

Garlic makes a fantastic and surprisingly mellow featured ingredient in Spanish garlic soup. Who can forget the rich aroma and savory taste of French onion soup brimming with tender sweet onions, flavored with a splash of brandy, and topped with a slice of French bread and a little grated cheese?

The Italian version of liver and onions contains far more onions than liver, and stifado, a Greek beef stew, contains more onions than beef.

Whether or not you are a fan of wine, you very well may be a fan of the noble grape. Whether green, red, or blue black, grapes are fun to eat, deliciously juicy, and as sweet a fruit as anyone could wish for. Grapes are one of the oldest cultivated fruits known to man, and hieroglyphic evidence exists that the people of ancient Egypt were growing grapes and making wine.

Some grapes are native to North America, but the Mediterranean region was the first to cultivate grapes, transforming them from small, sour fruits to the juicy globes of sweetness we know and love today. European grapes brought to North America from Europe sparked the consumption of fresh grapes, the making of raisins, and the California wine culture.

Even today, Italy leads the world in the production of table grapes. (Chile is second and California is third.) However, in the United States, 97 percent of the table grapes available come from California. Other states producing grapes include Arizona, Michigan, and New York.

The most popular eating grape in this country is Thompson seedless, a delicious variety of green grape. Because it is seedless, Thompson grapes (and other seedless varieties) make convenient snack foods.

Grapes are available all year, adding to their convenience. They are harvested ripe, so choose any grapes that look plump and fresh, are firmly attached to their stems, and have a healthy bloom (the white powdery cast to fresh grapes).

Green grapes should have a golden cast, and red and blue black grapes should have a deep, even color. Grapes brought to room temperature before serving are the most flavorful. Rinse just before serving.

Grapes (especially the red varieties) are rich sources of flavonoids, the substances in wine suspected to offer so many health benefits

Grapes also contain caffeic, ferulic, and ellagic acids, phenolic acids with strong antioxidant properties that give both grapes and wine their color and flavor as well as the characteristic tartness.

Grapes additionally contain the phytoestro gen resveratrol, a phenolic fungicide that may support a healthy heart. (Peanuts also contain resveratrol.) A small bunch of fresh grapes makes a satisfying conclusion to any meal. Raisins are also great for snacking, in breads, and in recipes where fruit is cooked.

MELONS

A highly perfumed melon evokes ancient times in exotic lands. Watermelon is native to Africa and was first cultivated there; the first recorded watermelon harvesting was nearly five thousand years ago in Egypt, according to the National Watermelon Promotion Board.

Pharaohs stocked watermelons in their tombs, and legend has it that the Roman governor Demosthenes, after ducking half a watermelon that was thrown at him during a political debate, set the watermelon on his head and thanked the thrower for the helmet to wear while fighting Philip of Macedonia.

Watermelons are thought to have grown along the banks of the Nile even before 2000 b.c.e., and cantaloupe seeds brought from Armenia as a gift to the pope were first planted in Cantalupo, Italy-hence their contemporary name.

Melons of all types spread all over the Mediterranean region centuries ago and have been a part of the Mediterranean diet ever since. Whether scooped out of their rinds with a spoon for dessert or cut into small slices and wrapped in strips of prosciutto as an antipasto, melons are a Mediterranean favorite.

While the melons grown in the Mediterranean aren’t widely available in this country (such as the dark green Spanish melon), other melons, such as juicy cantaloupe and honeydew melons, are available during much of the year, although they are in season in late summer through fall. Once only available during the summer when they are in season, watermelons are now also available all year, depending on where you live.

To pick a perfect honeydew or cantaloupe, look for a fruit with a pleasing melony scent at the smooth end. It should yield slightly to pressure at the stem end and be heavy for its size without cracks or spots. Cantaloupe should have a golden netting over light yellow. Honeydew melons should be creamy white or light yellow in color with a slightly oily film on the outer rind.

Melons that stand for a day or two at room temperature will be juicier and more aromatic. Watermelons should also seem heavy for their size and their bottom side should be pale yellow, signifying that the watermelon ripened on the ground. Folklore suggests balancing a broom straw on top of a watermelon to determine ripeness. If the straw rotates slowly, the melon is ripe.

Melons are heavy on nutrition. They contain many vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber. The watermelon’s red color is the result of the powerful antioxidant carotenoid lycopene, that cancer fighter also present in tomatoes and red grapefruit thought to reduce prostate cancer risk and possibly breast cancer risk. Cantaloupe is high in vitamin C and beta-carotene (obvious from its orange color). Honeydew melons are also good sources of vitamin C.

Although melons do not cook well, raw melons make a lovely dessert or even part of the main meal, served in slices, cubes, or balls alongside meat or grain-based dishes. For a truly Mediterranean appetizer, serve slender cantaloupe and honeydew slices wrapped in strips of prosciutto (an admittedly pricey dry-cured Italian ham), or Canadian bacon or thinly sliced ham. All versions are tasty.

Few things are more pleasurable than eating really good fruit. So why don’t we eat more, and why do we so often fall short of the recommended absolute minimum of two servings of fruit per day ?

Why do Americans seem to prefer a box of store-bought cookies or cake from a mix for dessert ?

Citrus fruit is plentiful in America, grown in abundance in Florida, Arizona, and California. It travels well, keeps well, and is plentiful all year in every state, making it a convenient (and self-packaged) food. Citrus trees are also familiar fixtures in the Mediterranean, as the climate is just right.

Therefore, including lots of fresh oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, lemons, and limes in your diet is quintessentially Mediterranean. And don’t forget the more unusual citrus choices, for variety: kumquats, tangelos, and tangors, if you can get them.

The orange juice industry has made it known that orange juice contains the folic acid so important for women of childbearing age. Deficiencies of folic acid have been linked to fetal abnormalities, and the United States Food and Drug Administration has stated that women of childbearing age can dramatically reduce the risk of having a child with neural tube defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly by consuming enough fruits and vegetables to assure adequate folic acid intake.

Although some legumes and vegetables are even richer sources of folic acid, the orange still ranks as a good source.

Citrus fruits’ real claim to fame is its high concentration of the antioxidant vitamin C. Although vitamin C is present in most fruits, one medium orange supplies the entire recommended daily allowance (currently 60 milligrams, although recent studies have suggested that 100 to 200 milligrams daily best saturates cells with vitamin C).

Many studies have linked vitamin C consumption with reduced cancer risk. In addition to vitamin C’s antioxidant properties (discussed in detail in the previous chapter), vitamin C gives the immune system a boost and aids the body in the absorption of iron, particularly that from plant-based sources, which aren’t as readily absorbed by the body as the iron in animal meats.

If you down a glass of orange juice with your iron-fortified cereal (for an extra C boost, throw in a few strawberries, too), your body will absorb more iron than it would without the extra vitamin C (for more on iron, see Chapter Seven).

Vitamin C is also important for maintaining the body’s collagen supply. Collagen is necessary for healing wounds, strengthening blood vessels, and maintaining bones and teeth. Collagen has also been linked to a decreased risk of cancer metastasizing (spreading through the body).

Too much vitamin C (in daily megadoses of over 1,000 milligrams) could lead to kidney stone formation in certain people, and even higher doses have been shown to cause abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and nausea.

Such megadoses would be virtually impossible to achieve from food, and are only a problem when people take vitamin C supplements, so we recommend getting your vitamin C from food sources- and what better food source than citrus fruits?

In addition to vitamin C, citrus fruit has other star qualities. Red grapefruit has been the subject of recent cancer research because of its high level of lycopene, the phytochemical that has been linked to lower rates of prostate and possibly breast and colon cancer. Red grapefruit is sweeter than yellow grapefruit-just one more reason to enjoy it.

Even those who don’t normally appreciate grapefruit’s puckering tang might enjoy the sweeter red variety. Don’t worry about the color of the rind when choosing your citrus. Most commercially produced citrus is waxed and much of it is dyed. The citrus rind and citrus oil are also potent sources of the phytochemical limonene, a monoterpene often used in household products like detergent and furniture polish (which you should not, of course, eat!).

Limonene has exhibited extremely strong anticancer effects, even causing complete regression of mammary tumors in laboratory rats. Try slicing organic citrus rind and candying it for a unique treat, made even more special when dipped in chocolate (for special occasions only-despite the orange rind, this is basically candy).

Many cookbooks contain recipes for candied lemon, orange, and grapefruit peels.

Store citrus fruits in the refrigerator to keep them fresh the longest. Citrus can also be stored in a cool, dry place but will need to be eaten more quickly. Make sure the citrus can breathe. Airtight bags or containers tend to encourage molding. If allowed to come to room temperature, citrus fruits will be juicier and more fragrant.

Fat. Does the word make you cringe? Fat is bad, bad, bad . . . isn’t it? Eating fat makes us overweight, gives us heart attacks, causes cancer, wrecks our health . . . doesn’t it? If it says “fat free,” it must be healthy . . . isn’t that true?

Yet, if fat is so bad, how is it that in certain Mediterranean regions such as the Greek island of Crete during the 1950s, where heart disease and other chronic disease rates were startlingly low, fat consumption was about equal to fat consumption in America?

Cretans during this time in history were among the longest-lived people in the world. Yet their diet was full of fat.

According to researcher Ancel Keys, Cretans consumed 3 to 4 ounces (or about 1?2 cup) of olive oil per day, per person.That’s a lot of fat! Keys reported that the people of Crete drenched their salads in it, dunked their bread in it, poured it on their potatoes.

Some Cretan farmers even drank a wineglass full of the stuff for breakfast! Why weren’t the people on this tiny island suffering from the same health problems as Americans during the 1950s and 1960s, those health problems we’ve been told had (and still have) everything to do with too much fat in our diets?

Perhaps Crete is an anomaly? Yet studies from other countries reveal similarly striking results. Heart disease rates in the southern, or rather the Mediterranean, regions of Italy, Spain, and France were also remarkably low, even though percentage of fat calories varied greatly around the region.

Yet not every country could get away with fat consumption to the degree enjoyed in the Mediterranean. Keys’s studies of fat consumption and diet also included Finland, the country with the most coronary heart disease and the shortest life spans in Europe.

Keys examined middle-aged men in Finland to determine why coronary heart disease was so common in this country, even among men who were thinner and more physically fit than many of the overweight, less fit American men in Keys’s studies. Blood cholesterol levels of the Finnish men proved to exceed average levels in American men.

Subsequent dietary surveys revealed that the typical diet in Finland was extremely high in saturated fat. According to Keys, meals included “great mounds of butter,” and it was not unusual to see “grown men down a couple of glasses of rich milk.” Keys also relates watching Finnish loggers take “slabs of cheese the size of slices of sandwich bread, smear them a quarter of an inch deep with butter and eat them with a beer as an after-sauna snack.”

Other studies conducted by Keys revealed that among patients with very high blood cholesterol levels, diets very low in fat produced dramatic drops in cholesterol levels within one week, and studies examining the effects of different types of fatty acids-saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated-on blood cholesterol levels revealed that saturated fatty acids tended to raise blood cholesterol levels the most.

It would seem, then, that the type of dietary fat, not just fat in general, is specifically related to the risk of developing coronary heart disease and other chronic diseases. Does this mean some fat is “good” and some fat is “bad”? That we should eat all of one and none of the other?

Actually, the fat issue is a complex one, and not simply a matter of “bad” and “good,” as the media often imply. For instance, just because the Cretans drowned their food in olive oil doesn’t mean we can do the same and remain slim with unclogged arteries. The residents of rural Crete had far more active lifestyles than most Americans today.

Also, scientists now know that fat per se isn’t bad. On the contrary, fat is beneficial and even necessary to a healthy, fully functioning body. However, certain types of fat in differing proportions do apparently tend to be more or less beneficial to health.

Americans eat a lot of saturated fat, mostly from animal sources. The residents of Crete during the days of Ancel Keys’s research were eating almost all their fat from plant sources, namely olive oil.

What’s the difference? While oil of any type is 100 percent fat and has the same number of calories as any other oil, each oil or fat type has a different composition-its own ratio of saturated to monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fatty acids.

And the fatty acid makeup of an oil appears to make all the difference. The fatty acid composition in, say, a cheeseburger, is far different from the fatty acid composition of a calorie-equivalent portion of olive oil.

Let’s look back at Greece. According to Keys, at the time of his research, the general Greek population received approximately 20 percent of their calories from olive oil alone, with total fat intake ranging around 35 percent. (People living on the island of Crete had total fat intakes exceeding 40 percent of daily calories, again, mostly in the form of olive oil, as reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.)

Keys describes the rural Greeks, who were accustomed to traditional eating habits and who couldn’t afford richer foods, as “remarkably healthy.” The wealthier population of Athens, on the other hand, tended to eat food more inspired by the French school of cooking (more prevalent in non-Mediterranean, northern France), which is relatively heavy on butter and cream compared to olive oil.

Although no study has proven a direct correlation between these varied diets in Greece and heart disease, Keys could not “help but mention” that Athens had no shortage of wealthy coronary heart disease patients.

Keys’s observations significantly complicate the simplified message Americans have been accustomed to hearing over the past fifteen years or so: that fat is bad and we should eat less of it.

Fat is not “bad.” We need fat to function. The trick is how to consume it in a way that maximizes our health and gives us the best possible protection against chronic diseases like coronary heart disease and cancer