Eating these foods alone will not make you healthy, nor should you binge on them. But these are unorthodox health foods that you would not normally think to eat.
1. Beet Greens
Those green leaves you cut off when preparing beet are very good for you, are cheaper than Swiss chard, does more or less the same thing. So next time you are at your local grocers or supermarket, try to keep it on.
2. Cinnamon
Sprinkle some onto your coffee or anything you fancy. Some doctors believe that cinnamon can help control blood pressure and cholesterol.
3. Raw Milk
Remember when you could get raw milk (that unpasteurised milk) from your local farmer? While there is a massive debate raging over this, raw milk is back in vogue, as a flurry of articles suggests.
4. Vegetable Juice
Not only meant for ageing hippies, this drink can be plain vegetable juice, or mixed with some other ingredients. You could drink tomato juice, pumpkin juice, or beet juice, among others. Be careful, however, that you do not consume too much sodium when drinking vegetable juice.
5. Beans
Beans on toast is only one way to enjoy this staple. There are many different types of beans available, many of them in your local stores.
6. Water
Not technically a food, but water should still make an appearance in every diet. There are many myths surrounding water, including the one about drinking at least eight glasses of it. But we can all agree that water is magical and should be enjoyed regularly.
7. Eel
Known as unagi in Japan, eel is a delicacy that is high in vitamins, protein and unsaturated fatty acids. Supposedly, you haven’t had sushi until you had eel.
8.Sea Vegetables
Besides hijiki, which may contain small amounts of arsenic, it is safe to consume most sea vegetables. Though rich in minerals, iodine, vitamin K, magnesium, iron and calcium, sea vegetables are little known outside of Japan. Some more well-known sea vegetables are nori, kelp, kombu, wakame, arame and dulse. These form part of a balanced Japanese diet and can be used in a macrobiotic diet, not only in sushi!
9. Spelt
Thanks in part to the organic movement, there is a return to spelt, which is a cousin to common wheat that has been growing in Europe for about 300 years. Those who cannot digest wheat can eat spelt instead.
10. Blackstrap Molasses
Conventional sugar is made from refined sugar cane, and molasses is a byproduct. Molasses contains more protein than the same amount of red meat and is a great source of iron as well as calcium. Experiment with molasses, and use it whenever you want to add some distinctive flavour to dishes.