some facts about melons...

I recently enjoyed eating a melon I purchased at my local farmer's market, called sharlyn melon.  I loved its sweet and butterscotch taste so much I made this video:

Melons, like this one, are loaded vitamins and taste.  While they are not superfoods, they do pack a lot of nutritious punch.  My only negative I can say about them is their sugar and carb count.  I constantly watch my carb intake, so I have to enjoy this delicious food in moderation.

But that's just me.  What about you?

Some reasons we all, but especially you, should embrace this tasty fruit:

•         low in calories
•         no fat
•         high in vitamin C and A
•         great for smoothies, fruit salads, and breakfast
•         taste awesome!

How does one tell when a melon is ripe?  Glad you asked...

And don't forget one of the most popular melons of all time...

I love the sweet taste of melons, but consume them in moderation with a nod to my low-carb diet.  They are worth it, though, for all of the above reasons.

I try to visit my local farmer's market every week.  It is there where I have discovered many of the fruits and veggies that I have shared with millions of people across the world.  One of my favorite things to do, something that makes me what I am and gives me wonderful fulfillment.

Until next time...

peace,

Mike
livelife365
wecouldchangetheworld.livelife365.com

What Is Guava?

Whenever I have the good fortune to visit Maui, I often partake in the regional produce.  Across the street from the condo where my wife and I stay, a farmer’s market, loaded with local fruits, veggies, and other homemade products, conducts a brisk and relaxed, aloha-spirited exchange of goods and smiles bartering for our hard-earned mainland cash.



Each time I visit Hawaii I make it a point to try something different, something healthy, while learning as much about it from the friendly island folk as I can, helpful souls who take the time to explain, no doubt for the hundredth time, what it is they are vending.

Over the past few years I have been lucky enough to discover:

* Papaya 
 
* Passion fruit
 
* Star fruit
 
* poi

Recently, I grabbed a handful of green and yellow orbs, asked my friend across the table what they were, and happily discovered guava, adding that tasty and healthy fruit to my growing repertoire of nutritional delights.

What is guava?

So glad you asked.

Guava grows on trees (in fact, my local amigo at the market informed me that in his backyard grew a prolific guava tree that produced the very fruit in my hands, but he was constantly battling his Vietnamese potbellied pig for them; yes, pigs, and most animals, love guava!) in tropical climes like Hawaii - also Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, and even Florida.

Guava has both a sweet and sour taste, depending on ripeness (you gotta try it yourself to fully understand), with little edible seeds one has to navigate as you munch your way through one.


But taste alone is not what makes guava a worthwhile venture to discover.  Guava is also considered a super food -  and that’s a good thing!

Why, you ask?

* loaded with dietary fiber
* four times the vitamin C as an orange
* low in calories
* no fat or cholesterol
* good source of folic acid, potassium, copper, and manganese
* antioxidants! (high in carotenoids and polyphenols)
* vital part of POG

Huh?  Um, what the heck is POG?

Oh, POG is an Hawaiian fruit drink made from Passion fruit, Orange juice, and, you guessed it, Guava.  (stay tuned for a couple of videos from my recently concluded trip to Maui about POG in the coming weeks)

Guava can be enjoyed in many different ways:

- smoothies
- juices (like POG)
- ice cream
- with fish
- or right off the tree (watch out for pigs, though)

You need not travel all the way to Maui to taste guava (though that’s not a bad idea, is it now?), just search your local produce aisles and ask around.  I wish you luck, because besides tasting amazing, guava is a super food worth discovering.

Until next time…

peace,

Mike

Pineapple, Anyone?

Even though I have returned to the mainland, back to my happy routines and the colder weather, my thoughts often shift to those tropical days on my lanai, with the wind and surf serenading my aloha spirit, and the taste of fresh island fruit, like pineapple, dancing on my tongue. With that in mind, please enjoy my latest video effort:

HOW TO...EAT A PINEAPPLE



peace,

Mike

Fruit or Vegetable? Who Cares, Just Eat Tomatoes Every Day

One of my favorite things I like to do this time of year is visit the local farmer’s market and load up on my fresh fruits and vegetables for the week. This past Saturday, I was there—tasting apples and a variety of flavored nuts (almonds, in this town, it’s all about almonds!), while carefully selecting cucumbers, peppers, squash, and that market staple, tomatoes. Boy, do I love fresh summer tomatoes!

Recently, tomatoes have been getting a bad rap, with all the salmonella scares. And don’t get me wrong—there are several crops infected with these serious bacteria. The good news: most of the tainted crops have been removed from the marketplace, and none have been traced back to any local area farms. I still suggest exercising caution (wash and rewash all of your produce, not just tomatoes), but do not stop eating these nutritious and tasty…um, vegetables? Fruits? Ah, let me get back to you on that.

To even suggest that tomatoes sold in your grocery store are of the same species as those bought fresh (some are picked that morning!) at your local farmer’s market, is to compare eating frozen pizza to a fresh-from-the-oven slice from your favorite pizzeria. There is no comparison. Same with tomatoes. Store-bought tomatoes are months-old, stored and refrigerated for who-knows-how-long before being placed in the produce section.

My suggestion—Don’t buy them!
My other suggestion—Grow your own!
My last suggestion—If you can’t grow your own, then support your local farmer’s market and load up on this wonderful…ahh, vegetable…I mean, fruit? Chew on that for a bit longer and I promise I will get back to you.

Why are tomatoes so good for you? Lycopene. This is the chemical that makes tomatoes red. A review of over 50 different studies showed consistently that the more tomatoes and tomato products people eat, the lower their risks of many different kinds of cancer. The evidence is stronger in the prostate, lung, and stomach. The tomato is also an excellent source of vitamin C (one medium tomato provides 40% of the RDA) and a good source of vitamin A (20% of the RDA).

Okay, well and good, Mike, but the summer-fresh tomato season is short, and you suggest we shy away from the grocery store tomatoes. What do we do for the other eight months?

Can it.

Beg your pardon?

The tomatoes. Can them.

Oh, I thought you meant…

Never mind that. For those months in between the too-short farm-fresh tomato season, I suggest, especially if you grow your own, to eat as many as you can, freeze some, and then can, or jar, the rest. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how fresh and tasty they remain months after you have plucked them from the vine. As for the rest of you who don’t grow your own—buy them canned. There are several excellent canned tomato products to choose from. I look for organic and watch the sodium levels. While these are not as tasty as the summer fresh fruit (veggie?), they still, in my opinion, are many times tastier that those sad excuses sitting forlornly in your grocer’s produce section. And here’s a bonus: processed tomatoes contain even more lysopene because the process helps release concentrated carotenoids. Even in ketchup!

What’s your favorite tomato dish? Growing up in an Italian household, where my mother made a tomato sauce once a week, I love pasta. I could drink marinara sauce! (I’m kidding…I use an i.v. drip). But summertime, I love nothing better than slicing up a fresh tomato (still warm from sitting on a window sill to ripen. Do not put fresh tomatoes in the fridge—it reduces flavor and texture, turning them into clones of their pathetic cousins from the grocery store) and eating it between slices of lightly toasted bread, a touch of mayonnaise, maybe a slice of cheese, and salt and pepper. My mouth is watering. Hope yours is too.

So, what’s the verdict?

Yeah, wow, tomatoes are good for you and taste great, especially in the summer. Gonna run out and—

No, not that. Fruit or vegetable?

Ummmm…

A: To really figure out if a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, you need to know what makes a fruit a fruit, and a vegetable a vegetable. The big question to ask is: does it have seeds?

If the answer is yes, then technically, you have a fruit. This means that tomatoes are a fruit. It also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans and walnuts fruits as well.

What does it all mean? Who knows? What I do know is this: call them what you want, but just go out there and eat summer-fresh tomatoes every day while they last. They taste great, and may just save your life.

Until next time…

peace,
Mike