Ginger

Eliminate added salt in cooking; replace with herbs and flavoring like lemon juice.

Eat at least 2 3/4 lbs of mixed salad and vegetables per day, consisting of "Green-Green” and “Green” foods. Of these, at least 3/4 lb should be mixed salad. Also include at least 5 cups of “Green-Green” leafy vegetables or 2 1/2 cups of other vegetables per week.

When cooking and eating, use herbs and flavorings like lemon juice.

Don't forget herbs and spices. They are full of healthful micronutrients (hence their pungent tastes and aromas). Get into the habit of using copious quantities of "Green" natural herbs and spices in all your dishes. Wean yourself and your family off processed sauces and table salt.

We know that there are many active compounds in the foods we eat, particularly fruits and vegetables. We are familiar with the "classic" micronutrients that have been identified over the past 100 years: vitamins A, B, C, and so on, and minerals like iron, selenium, zinc, and iodine. However, we now know that there are thousands of other micronutrient compounds that play a part in the smooth functioning of the body. In this book, we call them "background" micronutrients. For example, there is the family of carotenoids, of which there are over 600. They give the color to carrots, oranges, tomatoes, and melons. There is the phenol family with over 5,000 members. They too are present in all fruits and vegetables, and strongly present in tea, coffee, and wine. And there are the 7,000 terpene compounds, which are omnipresent in all plant foods, particularly in spices and aromatic herbs. We must not forget the thousands of bioflavonoids, yet another vast range of compounds that are essential to health.

It is an interesting thought that in ancient times, no one had a means of boiling water. It was not until the invention of kiln-fired pottery in Egypt around 6000 B.C.76 Deadly Harvest that water could be heated and infused with herbs to give it flavor. Within a heartbeat of learning how to make pots, these inventive people also discovered how to ferment beverages to make forms of beer and wine. In short order, most civilizations adopted, or discovered for themselves, local variations on these basic beverages.

Back in the Middle Ages, monks were experimenting with making alcoholic "elixirs" designed for medicinal purposes, with closely guarded recipes using fruits, sugar, herbs, and spices. We know these elixirs today as "liqueurs."

Herbs and spices are usually rich in aromatic micronutrients, which accounts for their pungent flavor. This is all to the good, yet normally the quantities we eat are an insignificant part of the diet. For this reason (we suppose), the U.S. Department of Agriculture diet guide for 2005 has nothing to say about them. We do not give them a high profile either.

Jacob Schweppe, a jeweler in Geneva, read Priestley's papers and, by 1794, was selling highly carbonated waters to his friends. He added other mineral salts and flavors, such as ginger, lemon, and quinine (to make tonic water). Schweppe moved to London and built a worldwide soft drinks empire.