This book is so worth reading. Since you may not get to do that here are some of my favorite highlights.
In the last 10-15 years, so much new information has become available to us through the use of newly available science & testing. For instance, who knew that the main highly touted health benefit of garlic is rendered null & void if you just cook it immediately after cutting it. HOWEVER…if you wait 10 minutes, that does NOT HAPPEN! So very good to know!
Eat Purple food. Why? It consistently has more phytonutrients!
Here in Texas you probably have some DANDELIONS growing outside. Did you know that compared to spinach, one of our present-day “superfoods”, dandelion leaves have eight times more antioxidants, two times more calcium, three times more Vitamin A, & Five times more Vitamin K & Vitamin E. If you taste them raw, you’ll notice at first that it is chewy & bland. Then, in a flash, a bloom of bitterness will start at the roof of your mouth & spread down the back of your throat. If you pay close attention, you will note that your tongue & mouth are becoming faintly numb—–undeniable proof of the plant’s painkilling properties.
I like to chop them & saute them with diced onions & my herbal seasoning salt. Then I freeze them to add to soups, etc. when they are not in season, which happens as soon as the Texas heat sets in. I find that the sweet onion cuts the bitterness.
The bitterness in greens has been bred out of our greens over thousands of years of agriculture, thus also removing many highly beneficial phytonutrients. Our ancestors had much stronger bones than we now do & they had no access to dairy. They got their calcium from their greens! Dandelions being a prime source. Jo calls this ‘breeding out the medicine”.