We have all known for some time that certain foods have a higher nutritional value than others. But we are also slowly realising why certain ingredients and vegetables are healthier.

The topic of wholefood cuisine has been a buzzword for some time now and has attracted many interested parties who listen patiently when they are told to "eat less food that has already been stripped of its nutrients during production, eat lots of fruit and vegetables, etc.".

Nevertheless, many of us find it difficult to swap white flour for wholemeal flour, or our morning cornflakes for muesli. This may sometimes be due to habits that are already too ingrained and have also affected our taste, but even this can be trained.

Difficult, but by no means impossible, if you keep reminding yourself of the importance of a healthy diet and gradually change your habits. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Often there is simply a lack of new ideas to enrich the menu with healthy alternatives. Here are two tasty and very healthy foods that you may not yet be familiar with, or that you may be familiar with in a different form, but which can easily be incorporated into healthy cooking:

The avocado

The avocado is a healthy food that was hardly seen or known in our country ten or fifteen years ago. Today you can find them in almost every supermarket and this fruit, which is sometimes also called egg fruit, is also well represented in organic food shops.

The avocado is particularly suitable for salads. It has a light, creamy flavour. It is very rich in various nutrients such as magnesium, vitamin B6 and polyunsaturated fatty acids. For a salad, it is best to use a fruit that still reacts somewhat firmly to pressure, because if it is too soft, it becomes creamy.

In this already very soft, creamy state, it is best made into a spread by mixing it with a little lemon juice, olive oil and salt and spreading it on toast or serving it as a dip. The avocado is also used to make guacamole, which is well-known in Mexican cuisine.

Spinach

Ever since the cartoon character "Popeye", spinach has been regarded as a food that gives you strength and is definitely a healthy food, but spinach is above all an important source of magnesium and the coenzyme Q10, which protects our brain. Most of us only know spinach as a mash that ends up on many people's tables, served with the typical fried potatoes and fried egg. Unfortunately, you don't see the fresh leaves quite so often in the vegetable section, but rather the ready-made product that comes from the freezer.

Fresh spinach leaves are also very tasty as a salad and can be served as a vegetable side dish. Instead of boiling them in water, as you might think, rinse them well with cold water and then place them, dripping wet, in a pan on the highest heat until they sizzle. As soon as the leaves have collapsed, remove the pan from the heat. Served with roasted pine nuts and a little fried bacon or a dash of olive oil, they are a real treat.