Eat Your Greens, Eat Your Reds

Red Foods Can Help Promote a Healthy Heart and May Help Prevent Cancer

Don't you just love strawberries. Tomatoes are pretty tasty too. Something that both of these foods have in common is that they are both red. Which means that they are enriched with the phytochemicals lycopene and anthocyanin, and very good for you.

Phytochemicals are protective components that are naturally occurring and found in plants. The phytochemical lycopene is believed to help protect the body from different forms of cancer, such as cervix, colon, stomach, bladder and prostate cancer, and promote a healthy heart. Anthocyanin could be responsible for improving the heart's health as well. Red foods like red wine and apples contain anthocyanin and tomatoes that have been cooked are full of lycopene.

It is a good idea to try to include a lot red foods with your meals, such as by having lots of fresh tomatoes with your salads, and try to incorporate fresh strawberries with your snacks and desserts. That task won't be hard to do this summer.

The strawberry season just began in the state of California. Organic and fresh are the popular choice of strawberries and the state will be producing plenty. One farmers market, Henry's Farmers Market, in San Pedro is having their annual Strawberry Fest started March 21. They will feature many creative strawberry dishes, such as strawberry salsa, strawberry soup and strawberry bruschetta, for people to sample and of course there will be plenty of fresh strawberries for everyone to take home as well.