BONNIE TAUB-DIX, MA, RD: Many people are under the misconception that canned or frozen vegetables have less vitamins and minerals than fresh and that sometimes is actually not true. Because, sometimes, when fresh vegetables are picked, let's say, in California and they're put on a truck and they have to travel across the country in the heat, in the cold, coming to New York, for example. Well, those vegetables could lose a lot of vitamins and minerals in transit. Whereas if they were picked in California and flash-frozen and then sent here on a frozen-food truck, then that vegetable could actually have more vitamins and minerals in it than fresh.
ANNOUNCER: Which foods pack a punch of iron?
BONNIE TAUB-DIX, MA, RD: To pack a punch of iron in your diet, you might want to eat enriched whole grain breads and cereals; spinach is high in iron. Believe it or not, prune juice is loaded with iron and also canned beans and dried fruits, such as dried apricots. What's important to also know about foods that are high in iron is that, when you eat them at the same time that you eat foods that are high in vitamin C-so, for example, if you're eating spinach, which is high in iron, and you have it with a grapefruit for dessert, that the vitamin C enhances the absorption of iron.
ANNOUNCER: You can get protein only from meat. True or false.
BONNIE TAUB-DIX, MA, RD: It's a misconception to think that protein only comes from meat. Poultry is a great source of protein, so is fish and egg and cheese and milk and also beans are also a very good source of protein, especially when you couple them with grains, such as rice and beans combined together. Peanut butter has protein, tofu has protein. Many soy products also have protein.
ANNOUNCER: Salads are a low calorie food. True or false.
