3029 Adding some color to my life

Once I eliminated all the food triggers from my diet, life at lunch got a bit boring. Not that a sandwich and chips are so beautiful, but I liked the crunch. So I've been trying foods I rarely, or never ate, either because they don't agree with me, or I just didn't like the taste. One thing I'm eating a little of each day, to ease myself into liking, then loving (hopefully), is chopped bell peppers. In the past I've used them in my paintings, but I don't think I ate these.

Summer's Bounty
They are pretty on a salad--red, yellow green, and Meijer's sells small cartons already chopped, so I don't have to buy several and throw half a soft bell pepper away if I don't eat it. Also, they do have a distinct flavor that truly doesn't trigger my taste buds to ask for more!

According to the World's Healthiest Foods website, they are a wonderful addition to my diet, and will protect me from free radicals. I'm not positive what a free radical is, but I think they are like the political radicals, running around with placards shouting deceptive ideas hoping we'll lose the war against heart disease, diabetes and cataracts. In their little red, yellow and green antioxidant uniforms, peppers police the pro-disease rallies of the radicals and throw them out of the parade, tying them up with fiber and hauling the dirty rotten scoundrels off to jail for trial as traitors to our systems.

Red peppers contain lycopene which might help with cancers of the cervix, bladder and pancreas. Peppers contain a lot of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and folic acid, and their consumption is associated with reduced risk of colon cancer. So we've got below the waist covered, right? What about above the waist and neck? If I were a smoker (thank God I'm not) the vitamin A in peppers might help protect me against lung inflammation and emphysema. Long lived smokers have probably been eating peppers! But there are people who get lung cancer who don't smoke, so eating foods in the red-to-yellow family, like bell peppers, pumpkin, papaya, tangerines, oranges, peaches and corn, offer some protection. Some day if I have to have cataract surgery, the red bell peppers will reduce that risk.They're tasting better already!

Bell peppers are in the nightshade family along with eggplant, tomatoes and white potatoes.

bell peppers
Healthy Living
weight loss
nutrients
cardiovascular disease
triggers