Healthy Living: Stuffed Tomatoes to Complement Your Dish

You can eat right without losing the taste. Eating healthy sometimes requires adjusting our taste buds to food of higher nutritional value. Stuffed tomatoes is an excellent recipe that is full of nutrients that support your fitness goals, doesn’t require much time, and holds its natural tastes.

If you’re looking to make a simple side dish to complement your rice or sit in sizzle with your steak consider stuffed tomatoes. It is a low calorie option that doesn’t take much effort to prepare and complements a wide variety of pallets. This is a helpful recipe that improves on just about any dish you are planning to serve.  

It is beneficial to incorporate a healthy amount of tomato into your diet. Research has shown that the tomato protects against cardiovascular disease, ultraviolet light, osteoporosis, and cognitive dysfunction (Burton-Freeman & Reimers, 2011). It also acts like an antioxidant that removes harmful pollutants from the body. 

182 calories

Directions:

-Cut tops off of tomatoes and scoop out pulp.

-Use blender to chop olives, carrot, garlic clove, oregano and vegetable broth.

-Place pulp mix in frying pan and sauté with wine or vegetable broth. Cook a couple of minutes until tender. Let cool for a couple minutes.

-Mix in bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and basil.

-Stuff each tomato with the pulp mixture and replace tops.

-Put stuffed tomatoes in greased baking dish. Cook at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. 

Ingredients:

-         4 tomatoes

-         1 carrot

-         1 stick celery

-         1 onion

-         1 garlic clove or salt

-         Oregano

-         2 tsp olive oil

-         1 tbsp white win or vegetable broth

-         2/3 cup bread crumbs or healthier alternatives.

-         4table spoon parmesan cheese.

-         Basil 

Burton-freeman, B. & Reimers, K. (2011). Tomato consumption and health: emerging benefits. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 5 (2).

The Health and Aging Benefits of Red Wine

Artwork: Dr. Murad Abel

“Red red wine you make me feel so grand I feel a million dollars when your just in my hand”. The song Red Red Wine by Neil Diamond may just have some healthy truth in it. As it turns out red wine is healthy for the heart and can encourage a youthful look. If you are going to drink something you might want to pick the option with the most benefits. Instead of reaching for red bull and vodka try something like a classic red wine.

According to the Mayo Clinic red wine has antioxidants that increase the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol that protects the arteries of the heart (1). The antioxidants are called polyphenols and they protect the lining of blood vessels in the heart to ensure that they do not get clogged. 

 According to a study at the University of Leicester two glasses of wine can lower the chances of developing cancerous tumors by 50% (2). Most physicians will recommend a single glass of wine a day. This is great for everyday usage. However, most people who dine out are likely to have more than one and choosing red wine is a better option.

Red wine also has the amazing ability to reduce aging and make you look younger.  Your skin will be more elastic, spots will be less likely, and small wrinkles may not form as easily. The advantage of wine rests in the polyphenols ability to mop up the damaging free radicals that create aging and age-related diseases (3).

The magic is in the fermentation process and uses grape skins and seeds that are eventually removed but still leave the beneficial results (4). Not all wines are the same.  Smaller wineries with more organic products are better than larger wineries that use lots of chemicals. The type of wine will also make a difference.  According to the website Prevention (5) the top three types of wine are:

Pinot noirs: Contain grapes with the highest concentration of resveratrol from cold and rainy environments. 

Madirans and Cabernets: Made from tannat grapes with high levels of procyanidins. 

Syrahs and Merlots: Often made with blue color grapes with high concentrations of procyanidins.