Eat Lots of Food

That's the advice given in this article from Britain's The Express. And no, they don't suggest that you simply stuff yourself this coming Thanksgiving. That just wouldn't be healthy.

It has to do with the fantastic variety of edible objects. We hear all the time about the benefits of antioxidants in blueberries, calcium in milk, protein in nuts, vitamin A in carrots, and so on.

But we human beings are creatures of habit. Out of nature's vast cornucopia, we tend to choose our few favorite dishes. "Pasta? Again?... Fantastic!" And then, in a fit of guilty conscience, we devour vitamins and other nutritional supplements in order to live a "healthy" lifestyle.

The idea put forward in the article is the concept of synergy. A variety of foods, when eaten together, actually increase the benefits found in each one. That's right. An increase of benefits beyond what we'd get from consuming each item individually. That's a hefty reward for eating that last green bean.

   But rather than just a narrow range of foods being responsible for boosting health, the research showed that the answer was a widely varied diet that might include oily fish, porridge oats and blueberries. Nutritionist Angela Dowden said: “The key is definitely to introduce these kinds of foods into the diet. It is a very healthy diet and completely proves the point that it is about healthy eating as a whole, not just doing one thing.

    “It is a lifestyle change instead of tweaks here and there. It could be that it is just one of the foods that is producing these effects but it is much more likely that it is an additive affect of them all contributing.

I'm overwhelmed by the amount of common sense present in the article. I'm inspired to create a really interesting experiment. At your next Thanksgiving feast, whether in Peoria, Peoria Heights, East Peoria, or Kalamazoo, don't disregard any dishes. This is an order. Even if Aunt Minnie has brought her world-famous appleseed cornbread. A bite of everything. It's synergy, don't you know.