Three Superfoods for a Healthier You on a Budget

Black fungus, tomatoes, and garlic are some of the most common foods we eat. What you might not know is that if you master the correct ways to eat them, these most common foods can be even more beneficial to your health.

Black fungus

Cold-dressed black fungus

To prevent the formation of blood clots, doctors usually prescribe aspirin as a preventive and therapeutic medication. Black fungus is the "aspirin" in the world of food. The adenosine in it has therapeutic effects of lowering blood lipids and blood viscosity, inhibiting platelet aggregation, and alleviating atherosclerosis and preventing thrombosis. The phospholipid compounds in black fungus, such as lecithin, cephalin, and sphingomyelin, can delay the degenerative changes of brain cells, improve brain function, and enhance memory, making it very suitable for middle-aged and elderly people to eat.

Recommended consumption method: Soak high-quality dried black fungus in cold water for 1-1.5 hours, then wash it thoroughly. Boil it in boiling water for 5-10 minutes. The daily amount is about a small rice bowl, which can be eaten as a snack, a cold dish, or a main course. Too little will be ineffective. You can cook a small pot at a time, let it cool, and store it in the refrigerator. Heat up a bowl each day to eat.

Need to pay attention: Do not soak in hot water, otherwise it will not rehydrate properly. Do not cook for too long, as heating it for too long will destroy its active ingredients.

Tomato

Scrambled eggs with tomatoes

Many years ago, it was discovered that lycopene in tomatoes can prevent cancers of the uterus, prostate, ovary, pancreas, bladder, etc. There are many ways to eat tomatoes. Some people like to eat them raw as a fruit or in vegetable salads. Others cut them into small pieces and add some sugar for an excellent taste. These methods can increase the intake of vitamin C, but their effect on preventing cancer is minimal. The reason is that the anti-cancer component in tomatoes, lycopene, is bound to protein and wrapped in plant fiber. When eaten raw, it cannot be "broken down" in the gastrointestinal tract, so the lycopene cannot be utilized. It was once thought that lycopene was fat-soluble, so it had to be stir-fried in oil to obtain it. However, the latest research has found that as long as it is heated sufficiently, the "wall" can be dissolved.

Recommended consumption method: For cancer prevention, tomatoes should be cooked into tomato soup, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, or stir-fried dishes to obtain lycopene. Since large red tomatoes contain more lycopene than pink ones, large red tomatoes should be prioritized for "cooking and eating".

Need to pay attention: If you are going to cook it until soft, most of the lycopene will dissolve into the soup, and there will be little left in the tomato itself, so you should drink the soup as well.

Garlic

Okra and quail eggs with garlic dressing

Garlic has at least the effects of being antibacterial, scavenging free radicals, improving immunity, protecting the cardiovascular system, regulating blood sugar levels, and anti-tumor. In recent years, the preventive and inhibitory effects of garlic on colon cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, and stomach cancer have received more attention.

In our country, the way most people eat garlic is not correct: some eat raw cloves, while others add it to dishes when cooking fish, meat, poultry, and vegetables to remove the fishy smell and enhance the flavor. These methods cannot play an anti-cancer role. Because the components of garlic itself are not anti-cancer (garlic itself has no odor), only after cutting it to destroy the garlic cell wall, allowing the alliin in garlic to contact with the alliinase present in garlic cells, can allicin, which has a strong pungent odor and anti-cancer effects, be generated.

Recommended consumption method: Cut garlic into pieces or small pieces, let it sit in the air for tens of minutes, and then mix it with cold dishes to eat. This can add flavor and have anti-cancer effects.

Need to pay attention: Never heat it, otherwise the allicin will be destroyed and it will lose its anti-cancer effect. After eating garlic, you will have bad breath. If you eat some peanuts and chew some tea leaves, the bad smell can be removed.