An Excellent Combination of Raw Fruits and Veggies
There’s plenty of great benefits for your health that come along with eating your fruits and veggies raw, especially if you buy organic. Certain foods actually lose quite a lot of their nutritional value once cooked. (1) Indeed, quite often once people start to consume more raw foods, they notice an incredible increase in their energy levels and an improved sense of overall well-being.
And this crudo salad features quite a combination of raw fruits and veggies. It’s got carrots, fennel, zucchini, radishes, apple, mint, basil leaves, red chili, and my favorite addition of them all, beetroot. I just love using beetroot for all kinds of different types of food in my paleo diet; it’s great for making juice, smoothies, and added into salads like this one.
Beetroot, Great for Pre-Workout
Beetroot is a great food to eat for a pre-workout boost as well, as it boosts the nitric oxide levels in your blood. (2) When this happens, you experience an increase in blood flow and a nice boost to your endurance levels as well. Not only does it provide excellent benefits for your cardiovascular system, it also helps to relieve hypertension and lower inflammation in your body.
That’s not to say the rest of the salad ingredients don’t offer numerous excellent health benefits either. Carrots are of course a great source of beta-carotene, the apple provides plenty of vitamin C, and there’s plenty of antioxidants and phytonutrients found in the zucchini and radishes as well. The lemon juice, basil, mint, and chili pepper all add a nice extra element of flavor to go along with the raw ingredients, making it a sweet and tangy salad offering that offers a lot of taste with each and every bite.
This crudo salad is packed full of nutrients and delicious flavors. The colorful variety of raw fruit and vegetables make it a perfect salad for anyone who tries to keep their diet as natural as possible. The only complaint you could levy at this salad is that perhaps it’s a little bit lacking in the protein department. That’s certainly true, but I prefer to enjoy salads like this either as an appetizer or a standalone snack anyway. The sheer amount of nutrients it does have definitely helps make up for the lack of protein.
However, if you’re looking for some salad options that do contain a solid amount of protein, here’s a couple of great paleo-friendly recipes to get you started:
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a few other great salad recipes that include different combinations of fruits and veggies, then be sure to check these recipes out:
Ingredients
- 1 medium carrot, julienned
- 1 small fennel, thinly sliced
- 4 baby zucchini, thinly sliced
- 4 radishes, thinly sliced
- 1 medium apple, cored and thinly sliced
- 1 medium beetroot, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp mint, chopped
- ¼ cup basil leaves, chopped
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- ½ lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 red chili, de-seeded and finely chopped
- salt, black pepper to taste
Directions
- In a bowl filled with iced water, put the carrot, zucchini, fennel, radishes and apple, and leave for 5-10 minutes. Drain well and pat dry with kitchen paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon zest and juice and red chili.
- Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
- Add the beetroot, vegetables, basil and mint.
- Toss well and serve.