Eat Those Vegetable Peels

The outer coverings are rich in potassium and healthy sodium

Starting today, leave the peel on your vegetables. Don't peel your carrots, potatoes, or apples, and forget about pulling the strings off the celery.

Eating vegetable peels not only provides some of the best roughage to scrub out the intestinal tract, but also additional potassium and sodium. Potassium is sometimes called "brain food" and will help your alertness and mental being, and the sodium in these peels will help with stiffness in joints.

You might be wondering why you'd want more sodium, but don't worry about the sodium from this particular source. Because it's not sodium chloride (like table salt), it won't cause any of the problems associated with table salt.

Quick Prep Tip

When you get home from the grocery store or produce market, go ahead with cleaning and preparing the fruits and vegetables that are eaten raw (carrots, celery, radishes, cauliflower, apples, plums, strawberries, cherries, etc.). Then place them in re-sealable containers.

We've noticed that if they're ready to eat, everyone will eat more of these "fast foods" rather than go for the other prepared snacks like chips—which are high in fats and the salts you should avoid.

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