These nutritionally dense foods are packed with fiber.

You might think that slice of bread on your plate is necessary to get the fiber you need to be healthy. Think again. Bread isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and there are plenty of foods that can give you all the fiber you need on a daily basis. These 10 fiber-filled all-stars including avocados, cinnamon, raspberries and eggplant have far more fiber and nutrition per calorie than wheat, and lots of other health benefits, too. Combine as many as you can in one dish, like black beans with oregano, mustard greens, avocados and barley, for one of the healthiest meals of your life.

Figs

Figs are a deliciously high-fiber fruit, containing 6.58 grams in an eight-ounce serving. You can get dried figs year-round but there’s nothing quite like a juicy, fresh fig. These fruits are a great source of calcium and are also high in potassium and manganese. According to a 2008 study, there’s another compelling reason to consume figs as often as possible: fiber from fruits may help prevent post-menopausal breast cancer.

Avocados

Rich and creamy, avocados can seem like a splurge. While they are dense in fat and calories, spreading a little bit on your tortilla or chopping it up for salad not only adds a lot of flavor to your meal, it also boosts your fiber intake. At 14 grams apiece, avocados contain more fiber per ounce than any other fruit. Of a single avocado’s 24 grams of fat, only 4 are saturated, so they help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and raise “good” HDL levels. They’re also rich in lycopene, beta carotene, lutein, magnesium and the vitamins B, E and K.

Beans

Beans pack the biggest fiber punch of any food, with navy beans topping the charts at over 76% of your daily value per one-cup serving. Dried peas, lentils, pinto beans, black beans and lima beans are also fiber all-stars, providing over half of your daily value. Most types of beans are high in protein, folate, iron and B-vitamins, and very low in fat. Legume consumption has been associated with increased heart health.

Barley

This grain doesn’t get a lot of love. Always in the shadow of its more famous counterparts wheat, oats and rye, barley is used more often as animal fodder or to make beer than it is in our daily diets. But barley is appealingly chewy and sweet, and when it comes to fiber, it’s right up there with beans. A cup will provide over 54% of your daily fiber requirements. The fiber in barley is insoluble, so it provides bulk as it passes through your body, improving the health of your intestines and lowering cholesterol. It’s a great source of selenium, which lowers risk of colon cancer and helps metabolize thyroid hormones.

Eggplant

This deep purple-skinned vegetable is often cooked down to such a mushy state, it’s hard to believe there’s much fiber in it. But in fact, eggplant has nearly three grams of fiber for every 19.7 calories. This means that unlike bread, which is high in calories for just a few grams of fiber, eggplant is an ultra-efficient means of reaching your daily requirements. Nutritionally dense, eggplant will provide you with lots of manganese, potassium, folate, B6, K and C per serving.

Raspberries

So plump and juicy, ripe raspberries are hard to resist – and you shouldn’t even try. With just 63 calories, a cup of raspberries will give you over half your vitamin C and manganese, and a third of your fiber. Their low calories and nutrient density make them another high-value fiber-filled food, and all those phytonutrients with antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-carcinogenic properties just make them taste even sweeter.

Greens

Mama says eat your greens, and you should heed her wisdom. A cup of mustard greens is one of the healthiest additions to your dinner plate, with 11.2% of your daily value of fiber, 524% of your vitamin K, 177% of vitamin A and 59% of vitamin C and just 21 calories. Collard greens have even more fiber at 5.32 grams per 49.4-calorie serving, Swiss chard boasts 3.67 grams, spinach has 4.32 and kale has 2.6. Even romaine lettuce has nearly 2 grams of fiber in a 16-calorie, 2-cup serving.

Cinnamon

Who would have thought that a spice could contain so much fiber? Sprinkling a teaspoon of cinnamon on your cereal, oatmeal or fruit will provide 5% of your daily fiber needs. Cinnamon also has anti-microbial properties and can help lessen a food’s impact on your blood sugar levels by slowing the rate at which the stomach empties, which is why adding it to a sweet treat is always a good idea. It’s also got lots of calcium and manganese, and research has found that it boosts brain function. Ground cloves come close to cinnamon in fiber content with nearly 3% of your daily value in a teaspoon.

Pears

Seasonal variations in different varieties of pears make them available year-round, and though they seem to be cousins of the apple, pears are actually in the rose family. There are 5.2 grams of fiber in a single, roughly 100-calorie pear. Try baking them into a pie with raspberries and cinnamon, or pair them in a salad with mustard greens and walnuts.

Herbs

Load up on the parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, not to mention oregano, dill, coriander and fennel. Herbs are an easy way to add extra fiber to any savory meal, and oregano should be your top choice as it’s got 1.53 grams in two teaspoons. Thyme and rosemary each pack over a gram, while coriander seeds have 2.12.

You might want to check out these articles as well:

Bad Fiber: Why Bread Isn’t Best

15 Best Foods to Boost Your Metabolism

Can You Stomach Wheat? How Giving Up Grain Might Be Better For Your Health

Photos: 3liz4, bad, bad lechery brown, fotopedia

10 photos to inspire your citrus consumption this winter. 

Come the holiday season, I always have a box of satsumas. Yes, satsumas. Not mandarins or tangerines; satsumas. Because they’re easy to peel, seedless and perfect for holiday laziness. Plus the box they come in is perfect for eco-friendly wrapping of gifts.

Be it satsumas, oranges or grapefruits, we’re in high citrus season, and as we like to say, when life gives you lemons, take pictures.

Citrus Tart

Grapefruit Pie

Satsumas 

Orange Basil Popsicle

Grilled Grapefruit Tart

Orange Yogurt Smoothie

Bruleed Grapefruit

Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

Satsuma Sorbet

Lemon Cream Tart 

Images: Mama’s Gotta Bake, LUNCH, sonyaka, menn, Emily, michelle tedjakusuma, Pinku Neko, Chase Aaron, 추영, melba castillo, VincenteSF

On my hikes through the mountains here in western North Carolina, I often pass all manner of trees and shrubs heavy with fruit and nuts, and wonder whether if I could be bringing home enough free local food to feed me and my husband for a week. Here, we have black raspberries, acorns and so many other things ripe for the picking. And whether you live in a rural area or in the middle of a big city, you do, too – the mulberry tree at the park, for example, or a neighbor’s ‘ornamental’ sour cherries.

The best way to forage for nuts and berries, whether in the woods or an urban environment, is simply to take a walk, armed with a good foraging guide relevant to your area. If you spot something tasty on a neighbor’s property, chances are, they’ll give you permission to take a bit for yourself.

The following six wild berries and nuts are easy to identify, commonly found all over the U.S. and easy to harvest. When picking edibles, whether wild or cultivated, avoid plants within 100 feet of a major road or highway and those that may have been sprayed with chemicals.

Fruit

Mulberries – They look sort of like raspberries or blackberries, but instead of growing on thorny canes, they grow on trees. Mulberry trees are often found in public areas including parks, and are known for making black squishy messes on sidewalks and cars, so why not harvest some and make some mulberry cobbler? Pick the darkest ones for best flavor.

Rose Hips – You know those little red berries that appear on rose bushes once the blooms have withered? Best harvested after a frost when they become soft and ripe, rose hips are full of vitamin C and have a slightly sour flavor that’s reminiscent of roses without being floral. They’re often used for syrup, jam and tea.

Neighborhood Fruit Trading – Perhaps your neighbor has an orange tree so full it’s arching toward the ground, or you spotted unharvested pears dropping in a nearby park. Fruit trees on private property often produce more than the owners can handle, so it’s always worthwhile to ask if you can take some off their hands. And if you’ve got fruit growing in your yard and want to trade some of it for other varieties, share the love and reap the bounty through trading websites like neighborhoodfruit.com.

Nuts & Seeds

Walnuts – When growing on the tree, walnuts resemble tennis balls. Once they drop, break open that green hull and you’ll find the familiar textured shell you’re used to seeing in store-bought walnuts. Wear gloves when handling them – the shells contain natural dye (which can be harvested as well). To sort out the bad ones, drop them all in a bucket of water and discard the ones that float. Let them dry out for a few weeks in their shells before cracking.

Hickory Nuts – These tasty nuts might be present all around your neighborhood, but they’re rarely on grocery shelves due to the difficulty of cracking the shell. Ready for harvesting in early autumn, hickory nuts are rich and sweet and their shells can be used to impart a smoky flavor on barbecued meats. See Mother Earth News for tips on cracking them.

Pine Nuts – While many of the pine trees in America produce nuts that are too small to bother with, the Southwest is particularly populated with fine pine nut-producing trees like Pinyon, Ponderosa, Jeffrey and Stone Pines. Harvesting pine nuts is really easy, and they’re delicious in salads and of course, as a crucial element of pesto.

Images: seph swain, mauroguanandi, ndrwfgg, andydr, chris breeze, tandemracer, babbagecabbage

While I may strive to eat healthy, it isn’t always easy. I still have sudden cravings for Fritos or frozen pizza, as buried taste memories re-surge from my heedless junk food days. I still have my moments of devouring a bag of potato chips or a recent favorite, corn nuts, but overall, I try hard to avoid such snacks. Still, we all sometimes need a snack. Question is: what should we be snacking on?

Here are 12 real food alternatives to falling prey to the “junk food jones.” Some of these may seem high in fat, and they are, such as olives, nuts or cheese. However, the idea is quality not quantity. Enjoy the good things in life, but within reason, and you’ll find you are more than satisfied.

The trick is to keep real food snacks around, or bring them with you, so you’re not tempted with impulse buys near the register when you’re filling up at the gas station or buying office supplies. It’s all about retraining your palette and your habits.

1. Nuts: Almonds, Pistachios, Cashews

I’ve gotten in the habit of keeping a bag of roasted almonds in my bag at all times. Yum!

2. Fresh Fruit

I’ve been really enjoying oranges recently, especially tangerines. Other easy fresh fruit snacks are grapes, apples or pears.

3. Dried fruit

Great on the go.

4. Vegetables with hummus

An excellent source of fiber all around.

5. Rice cakes with natural peanut butter or almond butter

Or celery with peanut butter. Remember the old days of “ants-on-a-log?”

6. Cheese

Yes. Really. But good cheese! I’m still a believer that a few slices of cheese are better than eating a bag of potato chips. Try eating with rye crackers, thinly sliced, toasted pain au levain bread or simply on its own. My current favorites are aged gouda or goat gouda, gruyere, and manchego.

7. Olives

Greek olives are nice to have on hand, especially when you’re eating cheese. You may need to shop around a bit to find your favorite style and olives can vary in quality depending on where you buy them from.

8. Roasted vegetables

I’m a big fan of sweet potato fries. Mind you, when I say sweet potato fries, I don’t mean the ones at the pub down the street. Oven roast your own with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh thyme. Delicious! Asparagus, which is currently in season, is another great option. Eat the spears like fries. Or, make a roasted beet salad to have on hand with onions and feta cheese.

9. Straight up avocado

With salt. What’s not to love.

10. Natural granola or fruit bars

Try 18 Rabbits or Larabars.

11. The combination. Plain yogurt with granola, fruit and nuts

This is like dessert! Try experimenting with different fruit combinations or adding shredded coconut or a dusting of ground flax seed.

12. Dark chocolate

Instead of reaching for cookies, try this alternative. A few squares of dark chocolate are inimitably satisfying.

Images: inside_man, minianna.com, givingitatry, aggleton, prakhar, Sashertootie, JC handmade, mwhammer,  MGF Lady Disdain,  aSILVA, CaseyJ

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but the excess fruit from a neighbor’s yard can make your diet richer and it won’t cost a dime. Shouldn’t we share the wealth?

That’s the thinking of Neighborhood Fruit, created by San Francisco urban farmers to reduce the tragic waste of fruit, which is forbidden in their vision of sustainability. Their website lets subscribers find and share fruit locally both in backyards and on public lands.

Since planting the seed in June, they’ve attracted between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors a month and located a total of 10,000 trees nationwide and growing.

Much of the fruit the nation consumes is grown in water-intensive orchards far from our homes and shipped at the high cost of fuel. Instead, co-founder Kaytea Petro sees a future where the bulk of seasonal backyard fruit is utilized and shared between neighbors for snacking, baking, putting up organic preserves, even setting up a lemonade stand – any good uses you might have for the bounty.

“I first thought of the idea when I lived on Bernal Hill and my neighbor had an apple tree with a lot of excess fruit that she would never share,” says Petro, who decided to refine the fruit network notion for her graduate thesis at the Presidio School of Management, where she received an MBA in sustainable business.

“We’re a nationwide tool that helps people connect locally,” says Petro. “The typical user is someone with a plum tree who knows what a pain it is when the fruit comes in because it all comes in at once. Those seeking the fruit are into making pies and jams or to show their city kids where food comes from.”

The mechanics of connecting are simple. I register my lemons and oranges and when the fruit arrives, I put out the word on the site. “Come and get it!” I decide if I want to pick it myself or have interested takers come over with their bushels to help pick what they want.

It seems to be attracting those who don’t want to go through the red tape of becoming a registered producer who sells at the farmers’ market, the only way to sell fruit legally.

“It can be a lot of paperwork,” observes Petro, who adds that 25% of her users are people with fruit trees. And for obvious reasons, those with trees in L.A., Miami and Austin see more of a year-round yield than those in Boston and Seattle.

In addition to making connections, Petro and co-founder, Oriana Sarac, manage a monthly newsletter, The Grapevine, featuring the voices of gardeners, bee keepers and other experts in the field, as well as a blog for sharing timely articles, recipes and success stories.

They call their neighbor fruit sharing network Fruitfillment. Anyone who believes in this vision for making use of our abundance knows the ripe concept is fulfilling a mission, indeed.

Images: DieselDemon, Seph Swain, Neighborhood Fruit

They’re already talking about their costumes, those candy-crazy girls of mine. That’s how I know fall is here, just a wink and a nod after packing them up for summer camp.

Design-wise, it’s one of the easiest seasons for stylists since it involves scavenging for leaves and twigs to tweak our vignettes for free. Ah, there’s that “F” word, again, a favorite at EcoSalon.

Want to spruce up your rooms for autumn without much of a budget? Take one of the following paths most traveled by the frugal M. Stewarts among us:

The Centerpiece: Leaf it Alone

The Toast and Tables blog gathers no moss but plenty of leaves for centerpieces (images below). The simplicity is enticing. You can also make your own wreath with bundles, or layer them along the mantle to be set aglow by beeswax candles.

The DIY Twiggy Cabinet Door from Apartment Therapy

Bring the outdoors in by assembling twigs to embellish the typical cupboard cabinet (image below).

Basket Cases for Giving Thanks to the Autumn Bounty

Most of us have a caterer’s supply of baskets stored in the house. Fill a few with aromatic apples, Indian corn, leaves, pumpkins and other colorful objects for a cornucopia of delights. Don’t forget to toast your pumpkin seeds and put them in a bowl on the coffee table for another tasty treat of fall.

Scatter Bowls of Fall Potpourri with Old Fashioned Living’s Blend of Earthy Balsam Scents

Collect dried leaves and flowers from the ground, blend with fragrant oils and make your own yummy potpourri. Follow the DIY recipe and bring the woods and celebration of the equinox into your nest.

Image: J. Charpentier

Felt Leaf Napkin Rings and Placecards for Your Fall Dinner Party

Design Sponge has the skinny on these orange and brown napkin rings and cards (images below), easy to make with felt, scissors, glue, buttons, thread and your imagination. I love the chic, homemade texture of these festive gems.

Main Image: Design Sponge

There is something about berries that screams summer to me. Where I live in England it’s the height of strawberry season right now and the berries are cheap and plentiful. They are also succulent and sweet with the summer sun -  unlike the watery tart versions you get from supermarkets out of season. For the next few months we will have a berry bonanza with raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, red currants, white currants, black currants, and finally in the autumn, blackberries.

For my fifth birthday I begged my mother to make a strawberry shortcake – I think I must have been inspired by the saccharine Strawberry Shortcake doll that was popular with the under-seven set at the time. The only problem? We lived in Bathurst, a small inland city a few hours west of Sydney, and my birthday was in midwinter. There was snow on the ground and fresh strawberries were non-existent. My mother ended up making the strawberry shortcake with tinned strawberries. She was horrified but my five-year-old self was perfectly delighted with the result.

These days, you can buy imported berries at any time of year. In winter, in London the supermarkets are filled with cheap blueberries that have been air-freighted from Peru. EcoSalon readers are almost certainly aware of the terrible environmental impact of such a luxury but never mind the food miles, the fruit is inevitably disappointing as well.

Fortunately, there are better ways to extend the taste of summer fruit into the cold months – and now is the time to think about it. If you grow berries yourself, unless you have a large family, you probably cannot keep pace with the berry eating and need to think about preserving the harvest. If not, you can still join in the fun by visiting a pick-your-own farm (preferably an organic one, since conventionally-grown strawberries are one of the most pesticide-ridden fruits and vegetables) or taking advantage of discounts at the farmers’ markets.

The simplest way to preserve berries is to freeze them. The trick is to lay the berries out on a baking tray and freeze them individually before bagging them up – otherwise, the berries will stick together.

Or you can go for the time-honoured route and try your hand at jam-making. I tried it for the first time with my aunt in Scotland two years ago and it was actually far easier than I thought. It was also quite fast – it took longer to pick the berries than to make the jam. At the simplest level, it is simply cooking up fruit and sugar.

The standard rule is to have equal quantities of fruit and sugar – a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit (or a kilogram of sugar to a kilogram of fruit). You can play around with this a little if you like – for example, 16oz of raspberries to 14oz of sugar will make a jam that is slightly less sweet. Be aware that the sugar is necessary to preserve the fruit so if you cut back, it will not last as long. Some people use apple juice or honey instead, but I have never tried this.

The best option is to buy special preserving sugar, though if you can not find this, the closest match is granulated or raw sugar. You can buy preserving sugar with or without added pectin – the natural agent that makes the jam set. Some fruit, such as black currant, is naturally high in pectin anyway – you can tell from the stickiness of the raw fruit. Strawberries on the other hand are low in pectin and traditionally you would add lemon juice as the setting agent.

Before you start, wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water and then put them in the oven at about 100C (210F) (but don’t put the lids in for too long if they have plastic on the inside). This will sterilise the jars and also make them hot so they don’t crack when you put the jam in.

Stew the fruit in a pot, with just a splash of water to stop it sticking to the pot. Stir and wait for the fruit to start to fall apart – when you don’t want it to fall apart any longer, add the sugar. Stir and cook the fruit mixture for 10 to 20 minutes – it depends on the fruit but you can tell it is done when the mixture develops a gloss. Keep a saucer in the fridge and when you think the jam is done, you can test it by dropping a teaspoonful on to the cold plate – it is done if it sets. (Take the jam off the heat while you do the test and put it back if needed).

When it’s ready, spoon the jam into the jars and twist on the lids immediately to seal it in – you might hear a lovely pop as the seals go upwards. Apparently if you are using cellophane and wax you need to wait until the jam is cold, but I’ve never tried this. It should keep for about a year in the cupboard – refrigerate once open and use within a month or two. If you get good at it, it makes a wonderful gift for friends and family.

If your first attempt does not work out, don’t worry. There’s another name for over-cooked jam – toffee. You might not be able to spread it on toast, but it is perfectly delicious in its own right.

Image: abbybatchelder

According to Environmental Working Group (EWG) research,  you could easily be consuming an average of 10 pesticides a day and not even know it. But that’s only if you are eating the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables around.

These 12 conventionally grown fruits and  vegetables, or the “dirty dozen” as EWG calls them are: peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots and pears.

EWG, by the way, is not recommending that you stop eating these fruits and vegetables. Instead, they recommend that you simply buy organic.

Why not download a copy of EWG’s convenient and easy to read A Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides to take with you when grocery shopping? Not only does it list which fruits and vegetables to buy organic, but also lists the “Clean 15″ conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables that have the lowest pesticide levels. Definitely a guide worth having.

They also stress that rinsing the fruit and vegetables might reduce but not eliminate any pesticides that are present.

Image: thegreenparty

There’s no weekend excursion you relish more than getting your hands on the local harvest at organic farmers’ markets, but picture this instead: You’re craving a crisp salad garnished with savory herbs. You step outside into your garden, pick some tomatoes, peppers and basil, and enjoy a natural meal without ever stepping foot beyond your yard. If the idea of cultivating the food you consume seems intimidating, it’s a lot easier than you think to get your thumb to go green.

Before you begin, start a compost bin. You’ll be surprised at all the different things you can toss in to make use of waste.

In the meantime, decide which vegetable and herbs you want to plant. Consider the soil acidity required for them to grow. To increase the pH level, apply lime. To decrease it, apply sulfur.

Choose a spot in your yard that gets ample sunlight year-round. Remove any pebbles or debris.

Smooth a thin layer of your nutrient-rich compost over the soil and mix them together with a shovel or pick.

If you plan on growing peas or beans, fence off this area to provide support for their stalks. Plus, it will keep away all those hungry bunnies.

Mark off rows for the various crops you’ve chosen and leave plenty of room between them for growth.

Dig to the depth specified for each type of seed and evenly distribute them along the row.

Cover the seeds and pat the soil down firmly.

Water your freshly planted seeds using a spray bottle instead of a hose, which won’t unearth or saturate them.

Once your vegetable and herb garden starts to flourish, attentively pull out weeds from the root and repel insects with a natural blend of chopped garlic and mineral oil.

Image: lepiaf.geo