Our first berry crop of the year - California offers up a great climate for year-round gardening.

My husband and I have small farm outside of Los Angeles that we’ve been nurturing for the last few years.  Just this week we harvested our very first crop of fresh blueberries and raspberries.

These delicious fruits are nutrition powerhouses – full of antioxidants, vitamin C, potassium and fiber – and we’re enjoying them just as they are for dessert, on top of our yogurt, and in our protein shakes.

People often ask me if there are certain foods that they should – or shouldn’t – eat at the same time.  Some people have heard, for example, that “if you don’t eat proteins and carbs at the same meal, you’ll lose weight” – but a study published about ten years ago¹ debunked that idea.  On the other hand, there is another concept around ‘food combining’– sometimes called food synergy – which recognizes that certain foods offer bit more nutritional benefit when eaten together than if you eat them separately.  Think of it as a nutritional ‘one and one makes three’.

• Colorful veggies with a little fat.  Many fruits and vegetables contain compounds called carotenoids – natural pigments that give foods like tomatoes, carrots and spinach their beautiful hues – from the pigments lycopene, beta-carotene and lutein, respectively.  Carotenoids function as antioxidants in the body, which is one reason why fruits and vegetables are such an important part of a healthy diet.  But if you eat your veggies with a little bit of fat, your body is able to take up more carotenoids.  So adding some healthy fat from avocado or olive oil to your salad will help you absorb the lutein from the romaine lettuce, the beta-carotene from the carrots, and the lycopene from the tomatoes. 

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