Dietary supplements are great and in fact it’s helped most of us regain or maybe even obtain a better health level but as wonderful a gift as they are, I’m a little old school about nutrition and I firmly believe that still, nothing beats the real deal -Which means I don’t agree with some who think that just because they take supplements they can skip the food that actually provides that nutrient – usually it would be a vegetable.
We all have foods we like and dislike but we need to learn to balance that. Dietary supplements can only do so much, they are not intended to be the replacement of your body’s source of nutrition- hence they are named supplements, which are defined in the dictionary as ‘Something added to complete a thing, make up for a deficiency, or extend or strengthen the whole.
The one vegetable I must recommend to all of you is the wonderful watercress and if the only time you’ve ever heard about it is from one of Liz Hurley’s beauty secret spills then read on because the watercress is more than just a quick beauty fix.
The watercress is likely the most ancient of green vegetables known to man and its use has been recorded in the history of the Chinese, Persians, Greeks and Romans. Each culture prepares the vegetable differently, some as salad, some as juice, others as soup but all agree on how nutritious the little green sprigs are. Watercress is an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, E, manganese, and carotenes. It also a good source of calcium, fiber, iron and copper, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Selenium, Zinc and Lutein -zeaxanthin.
Watercress is also believed to contain anticancer compounds. They are still testing the vegetable for certainly but in clinical tests ran on a number of volunteers; the compound was proven to inhibit the growth of breast cancer, so looks like hope yet.
And another interesting fact to note is how there’s actually an annual festival held every on the third Sunday in May in Alresford. So if you ever find yourself around the area during May… do drop in to see how the town celebrates this green vegetable and learn what you can do with it from the experts.
