I live in a part of the country where palm trees are commonplace. I recently moved to a part of town where date farms used to fill the space. And it's not uncommon this time of year, to see fruit and yogurt stands advertising "date shakes". I finally decided to learn more about the nutritional value of dates, and learned that they are one of the few food sources of choline. Choline is a building block for acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that is very important for memory function. Many Alzheimer's medications are designed to help enhance acetylcholine metabolism.
One of the lesser known symptoms of PCOS is memory/concentration trouble and "brain fog". Diabetes and Alzheimer's disease have a strong metabolic connection. So it seems that women with a predisposition to diabetes should be paying attention to ways to get choline into their diet.
In addition, dates are a good source of fiber, iron, B vitamins, potassium, and magnesium.
And this one is fun! I'm giving you a healthy version of our local date shake to try, a banana-date smoothie.Ingredients
1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup skim milk, 1% is fine too
1/2 cup dates, fresh, pitted and chopped
2 bananas, sliced
8 ice cubes
Directions
Place everything in blender and blend until the ice cubes are well incorporated.
Serve!
Source: www.recipezaar.com
If you are in Phoenix, this coming weekend is a date harvesting event on the Arizona State University Campus, which will include a lesson on harvesting, a cooking demonstration, and some tasting. Click here for more information.Between the smoothie recipe and the cooking demo, here's hoping you remember to eat your dates...and in the process, encounter a few dates to remember!
2 comments:
http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/
dates are actually not a suggested food for women who are IR (insulin resistant) a common diagnoses associated with PCOS.
A food does not need to be considered "bad" simply because it is high glycemic. It is the context in which that food is used that must be considered. My concern with the glycemic index, as much as I think it is credible, is that it is too rigid and causes food fears that create other deficiencies. I view the contribution of choline and magnesium as being significant enough to consider learning how to combine dates with other foods in order to take advantage of what they have to offer. My finding with women with PCOS is that they have restricted their way out of a long list of foods that have healing potential...because they have paid too much attention to glycemic index and not enough attention to the big picture. In this smoothie recipe, the dates were combined with two different proteins and recommended for a morning food...both ways to encourage the efficient use of the carbohydrates that were consumed. I hope that makes sense. Of course, if you still disagree, it is your prerogative to not include dates in your diet. It is completely your call! :)
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