The Power of Purple
Purple fruits and vegetables are the black belts of food.
I do not want to sound like your mother, but I will tell you this many times, “Eat your vegetables!” Most of us are not like the average person, we are eating a more balanced diet than them, but is your diet boring and lacking in some diversity? One might ask, “Is your diet an open mat full of green and white belts?” More than likely it is. Meaning, you’re only eating primarily green vegetables and basic starches. This is fine, but it could be better. Add in purple to your “open mat” and you are now stepping up to a whole new level. Purple fruits and vegetables are abundantly available, but on average, the least consumed on a daily basis. It has come to that time in your journey to get promoted, to go to purple.
50 Shades of Purple
Purple foods are packed full of nutrients that are not found within other fruits and vegetables. It just so happens that these nutrients are powerhouses that push almost all purple foods into the realm of “superfood.” The chemical found in purple foods that makes them stand out among the crowd, color and nutrient-wise, is anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are beneficial towards heart and eye health, cancer prevention and increasing your antioxidant intake. Think for a second, any time you see “antioxidant” drinks in your local health food stores, what color are they primarily? A shade of purple, hmm, that’s an interesting connection. I also use the term “purple” loosely. All foods that are shades of blue, black and darker reds fall within the realm of “purple.”
Purple Herbs: Don’t let this title fool you. I am not saying to eat that, but by adding in purple basil or lavender into your daily diet you will be boosting your vitamin A, vitamin C and calcium intake. They also say herbs are good for the eyes.
Benefits of Purple
Anthocyanins are not the only benefit from purple foods. Depending on which you go with, they all bring their own compounds to the table. For instance; a purple carrot is packed with Provitamin A carotenoids, which is a powerful antioxidant, but only gives you 6% of your daily value of Vitamin C, whereas one cup of red cabbage offers you up 66% of your daily value of Vitamin C. Overall, purple foods help fight cancer, ulcers, urinary tract infections, lowers cholesterol, they do it all. But which purple foods should you be eating, just purple vegetables? Sure, purple vegetables are great, but then again, purple fruits and berries pack the same benefits, but on steroids.
Key Benefits of Purple Berries
Antioxidants: You hear this word a lot in the health food world. Why is that? The tissues and cells in our bodies “rust” over time, especially with poor diets and exercise. Yes, you read that correctly, exercise can harm your body if you are not preparing and repairing your body via a solid diet. The oxidation is one of the leading contributors to disease. Luckily for us, Mother Nature came up with a defense to that submission, the Antioxidants Defense. Blue, black and purple berries are packed full of anthocyanins, the antioxidant mentioned numerous times above. These antioxidants essentially go into our system and hunt down and destroy the free-radicals that build up there. Antioxidants are the Navy Seals of nutrients.
Heart Health: You may have seen the slogan, “You cannot teach heart” written within a gi. This is true, but what you can do is help protect and improve yours with berries. The anthocyanins help fight the oxidation of the bad cholesterol, which is the leading factor in heart disease. By reducing LDL cholesterol, you are easing your heart’s function. A better beating heart means better cardio and cardio is a major factor on the mats.
Stress and Vision: I am combining these two because if you are like me, they are a major part of your life. I have worn glasses my entire life and the last thing I want to do is lose my vision, but the reality is as we age, our vision will be effected, and not in the positive way. You’ve never seen a 90-year-old man with night vision, but maybe we could, if he ate purple berries his whole life. Anythocyanins aid in the regeneration of rhodopsin, which is the substance in our eyes that helps adjust to darkness. Has the thought of losing your vision stressed you out? Or is your body stressed out because you just stepped off the mats? Well, luckily we have a double whammy with purple berries. Certain berries, predominantly elderberries, help reduce and regulate glucose, magnesium and other stress-induced chemicals within the body from intense exercise. I am sure there is a joke to be made about losing vision as we age and “elder” berries being the cure.
Common Purple Fruits & Berries
Acai, blackberry, blueberry, cherry, cranberry, elderberry, fig, and plum.
Common Purple Vegetables
Asparagus, beets, cabbage, carrots, eggplant, endive, kale, and potatoes (purple skinned or purple fleshed)
Purple Products
Q5 Warrior Purple: You might not always find the time, day in and day out to get your purple fix, but there are ways to remedy this. No, not carrying a soggy zip-lock bag of berries around with you, but by Staying Alpha by carrying a baggie of Q5 Sports Nutrition’s Warrior Purple supplement. Bill, over at Q5, has taken the time to develop an all natural powder using blueberry, blackberry, black cherries, black raspberries, black currants, plums, elderberries, bilberries, figs, eggplant, purple cabbage, acai, camu camu, mangosteen, and goji. This powder is the real deal and packs a very naturally delicious flavor-stacked high kick to the face via Mother Nature.
Purps: A relatively new company created by multiple time World-Champion Pro Surfer and jiu-jitsu enthusiast, Kelly Slater. Kelly set out with a few friends, Dr. Chris Shaumburg, the food scientist and Pat Tenore, the brand guru, to create a revolutionary purple super food based product line. Their focus is to use a unique blend of 6 purple foods (mangosteen, maqui berry, acai berry, grape, blueberry, blackberry,) three exotic and three domestic products. The ingredients are then used to created 4 different blends to fit within the mainstream of multi-vitamin shot, multi-vitamin powder for travel, energy supplement and hydration drink. Dr. Chris suggests that the 12 oz. energy supplement is the most popular entry product for the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community. Once you get hooked you will start to see that it might be easier to stock up on the multi-vitamin shot, too, which is designed for daily use to help turn you into a beast nutritionally. The Mendes brothers have been known to enjoy Purps, so don’t be surprised if you start seeing more and more of their products.
Recipe
Braised Purple (Belt) Cabbage
Purple belt in color, black belt in taste.
Ingredients
1 head Purple Cabbage, core removed, thinly sliced
8 Bacon Slices, cut into strips
1 Red Onion, thinly sliced
1 cup Vegetable or Chicken stock
1 cup Red Wine
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar or Balsamic
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar (Optional)
1/4 cup Raisins or Currants, chopped (Optional)
1 Apple, peeled, chopped (Optional)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Black pepper
1 dash Nutmeg, ground
Method
1. Prepare all of your ingredients and have them ready to rock. Search for “Red Cabbage” on grapplergourmet.com for selecting and preparation tips.
2. Heat a medium sized pot over medium heat and pop the bacon in. Cook until it is crispy, remove the bacon but leave the fat in the pan.
3. Add in onions and cook for 2 minutes. Remember to season them lightly with salt.
4. Add the bacon back in along with the cabbage and stir to mix. Cook for 10 minutes.
5. Add in wine, vinegar, stock (or water if you do not have any stock), and salt, and pepper. Cover and cook at a simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Remove the lid and stir in sugar, currants and apple if you are using them.
7. Cook for another 10 minutes uncovered until most of the liquid is absorbed and the cabbage is tender. How thin you cut the cabbage will determine the length of cooking time.
8. Adjust seasoning and enjoy with some pork chops! This is easily cooled and is enough for many helpings throughout the week. Less cooking during the week means more time to train!
Conclusion
There is no reason you should be skimping on shooting for purple, even if you are a black belt. The benefits of purple foods are clearly high caliber and perfect for the jiu-jitsu lifestyle. There are so many different shapes, shades and sizes of purple foods available. There is no reason to not have a few of them in your fridge from now on. If you have a hard time forking over your paycheck for tons of fresh produce, if you do not live in an area that is not as bountiful as Southern California, or are a minimalist and would rather have all of the work done for you, check out Purps and Q5. Supplements are exactly that, supplements for when you cannot get enough of a nutrient or food category. Always opt for fresh fruit, but hey, it’s the effort that counts. Go out there, grab the first purple you see and start rolling. Eat well, train hard. Oss!