Terrific Twosomes

Like peas in a pod, there are certain foods that just go together. Whether it’s peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and fluff (the “Fluffernutter” – a New England staple), cereal and milk, meat and potatoes or hot dogs and baked beans, these and other foods have been wedded for time immemorial.

No one really knows how these foods met or how they’ve stood the test of time. One thing’s for sure, though: It’s not because they bring out the best in each other. The fiber found in baked beans doesn’t enhance the protein quality or uptake of nutrients found in the average frankfurter…because there aren’t much of any. And the monounsaturated fat found in peanuts doesn’t provide the fat solubility needed to absorb the vitamins found in fluff…because there aren’t any.

But fear not, because there are some heavyweight honchos out there that do, in fact, bring out the best in one another. When eaten in combination, these perfect pairings provide a host of benefits to the body that aren’t available when eaten solo.

Adam Baer of Best Life magazine – a magazine for men, but with lots of health tips applicable to women – compiled a great list of so-happy-together foods that naturally enhance the body’s energy levels. Baer compiled 14 in all, but here are three of my favorite dynamic duos (all of these have been given solo spotlights in prior articles of mine):

The Avocado-Tomato Tango

Two things have to be in every salad before I’ll eat it: lettuce and tomato. Avocado is climbing that list of salad necessities. The Avocado is unlike 99.9 percent of other vegetables, in that it contains a pretty good dose of fat, the healthy kind (4.5 grams of monounsaturated fat one-fifth of an avocado). When eaten with other foods rich in nutrients, like tomatoes, the body is better able to absorb key nutrients like lycopene. Lycopene is known for its anti-cancer qualities and is found chiefly in tomatoes.

Salmon with a Side of Soy

You won’t find a bigger fan of salmon than me. Around the health world, the “salmon fandom” is alive and kicking; you’ll be hard pressed to find critics of its nutritional greatness (particularly if it’s wild salmon, as opposed to farm-raised). The same can’t be said for soy. Soy has received its fair share of criticism lately due to reports that it lowers a man’s sperm count, not to mention a bevy of other sordid side effects. But research from Loma Linda University shows that when soy is eaten in its natural form – like edamame (pronounced ED-uh-MAH-may) – it increases the bioavailability of vitamin D for the tissues to absorb (the media darling of vitamins, if you’ve been paying attention to the news these days). And what food happens to be rich in vitamin D? You guessed it – salmon.

Blueberries + Grapes = Great!

Everyone knows about the brilliance of blueberries, how they’re full of antioxidants and can act as a sort of fountain of youth for those who eat them regularly. But what about grapes? Are grapes great? I settled this dispute in a past article, finding that the “grousy grape gripers” were coming to hasty conclusions about grapes being nothing but sugar-soaked fruits. Here’s the latest reason why they’re wrong. Researchers from Cornell University found that when blueberries were eaten in combination with other fruits, like grapes, the antioxidant bioavailability increased. In other words, there was a greater amount of antioxidants to be absorbed by the body when grapes were eaten with blueberries than if blueberries were eaten solo.

How ‘bout them apples, er, grapes?

A pad of butter and a biscuit may match nicely, bacon and eggs may seem ‘egg’cellent, but neither makes the other better from a nutritional standpoint. If you really want to get the most out of your meals, keep my favorite terrific twosomes in mind.

Sources
MSNBC