As part of our guiding principle to create meals that are Better for You, we fill your plate with the highest quality, nutrient-rich, plant-based ingredients to support healthy weight, improve gut health, and help prevent diet-related chronic diseases. Many of these ingredients are known as 'functional ingredients' due to the health benefits they provide beyond mere nutrition.
“I’m going to eat a healthier diet this year!”
Have you ever said this to yourself? This may be something you considered as the new year began, or when you were informed of an adverse health statistic during a doctor’s visit. As we know, diet plays a large role in overall health, and can work concurrently with medication, exercise and lifestyle modifications to functionally reduce (or prevent!) chronic health conditions. The term “functional foods” may be new to you, though the foods that fall into this category likely aren’t, and should be some of the foods you’re reaching for as part of your health journey. We’re here to tell you what functional foods are, how they fit into a healthful diet, and where to find them in your current diet, and in Thistle meals. Let’s dig in!
Diving into Functional Foods
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines the term as “a foodstuff that provides a health benefit beyond basic nutrition, demonstrating specific health or medical benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease.” This definition aligns nicely with a principle we honor at Thistle: food is medicine. There are certain compounds found in the ingredients we use that support general wellness and can also help target specific medical conditions. Thistle loves using functional ingredients, and you’ll find them in just about every meal we deliver!
Functional ingredients also come in two varieties – unprocessed, whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains; and processed, such as fortified orange juice or fortified buttery spreads. Fortification, for reference, is defined by the World Health Organization as “the practice of deliberately increasing the content of one or more micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) in a food or condiment to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health.” Both processed, and unprocessed functional foods can have a place in a healthy diet, and have been shown to have numerous possible benefits for a plethora of medical conditions. Some functional foods act preventively, like fruits and vegetables, whose fiber content helps prevent gastrointestinal issues and keeps blood sugar stable. Others act reactively, like buttery spreads fortified with plant sterols. Plant sterols have been shown to compete with cholesterol due to its similar chemical structure, helping reduce the amount absorbed in the body. Thistle meals contain minimally-processed, slow metabolizing nutrient-dense foods sourced mostly from plants. To highlight some of our favorites, let’s first take a peak at a week of meals.
Our Fantastic Functional Ingredients
Our Strawberry-Rhubarb Muesli breakfast includes a favorite functional food – oats! Oats, and oat bran have been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol (also thought of as “bad” cholesterol) by binding to cholesterol to support excretion and by supporting cholesterol metabolism. The meal also contains cinnamon, another functional ingredient, which supports blood sugar regulation when consumed regularly.
Thistle’s popular Kale Caesar Salad features a delicious, tahini-based Caesar dressing. Tahini is made from ground sesame seeds, an ingredient that was shown to support normalization of blood pressure in a small trial. Garlic is another functional ingredient in this meal, which has consistently been shown to improve blood markers like blood sugar and blood lipid levels.
Another customer fan favorite meal is the Thistle Pad Thai. Ginger is a star ingredient in this meal, a functional ingredient with anti-inflammatory properties. Thistle’s Fight Shot is another great source of ginger as well!
Thistle customers love the 24 Carrot Gold Muffin so much that we’ve made it available, to local customers, every week! The muffin does more than pack a taste punch; it is also replete with beneficial, functional ingredients! One standout ingredient is flax seed, which has been shown again and again to support the normalization of cholesterol levels in individuals with high LDL cholesterol. The muffin also includes cinnamon and ginger, which, as previously mentioned, are rockstar ingredients themselves!
Also available each week to local customers are our jar salads. These tasty and convenient meals offer a variety of flavors and nutrients. Cabbage is prominent in our jar salads, a seriously underrated vegetable from the Brassica family. Not only is cabbage versatile, but it also has numerous positive benefits on complications of type 2 diabetes, including regulating increased blood sugar levels, decreasing damage to commonly impacted organs like the kidneys and liver, and preventing comorbid issues like oxidative stress and obesity.
Not to be forgotten are Thistle’s juices and shots, each of which feature one or more functional ingredients, including spirulina (shown to have hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic and antihypertensive properties, mangosteen (shown to have anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties), and echinacea (shown to have antibacterial and antiviral properties.) Thistle loves taking these magical ingredients and crafting healthy and tasty treats for you to enjoy!
Make It a Habit
While navigating the world of healthy eating, functional foods should take a prominent position in your diet! Not only can they provide medical nutrition therapy for existing conditions like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, but can act preventively against disease states and support overall health goals like reduced inflammation and overall stable energy. With ready to enjoy meals, snacks, juices and shots, Thistle meals make eating functionally, and deliciously, a breeze!
As part of our guiding principle to create meals that are Better for You, we fill your plate with the highest quality, nutrient-rich, plant-based ingredients to support healthy weight, improve gut health, and help prevent diet-related chronic diseases. Many of these ingredients are known as 'functional ingredients' due to the health benefits they provide beyond mere nutrition.
“I’m going to eat a healthier diet this year!”
Have you ever said this to yourself? This may be something you considered as the new year began, or when you were informed of an adverse health statistic during a doctor’s visit. As we know, diet plays a large role in overall health, and can work concurrently with medication, exercise and lifestyle modifications to functionally reduce (or prevent!) chronic health conditions. The term “functional foods” may be new to you, though the foods that fall into this category likely aren’t, and should be some of the foods you’re reaching for as part of your health journey. We’re here to tell you what functional foods are, how they fit into a healthful diet, and where to find them in your current diet, and in Thistle meals. Let’s dig in!
Diving into Functional Foods
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines the term as “a foodstuff that provides a health benefit beyond basic nutrition, demonstrating specific health or medical benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease.” This definition aligns nicely with a principle we honor at Thistle: food is medicine. There are certain compounds found in the ingredients we use that support general wellness and can also help target specific medical conditions. Thistle loves using functional ingredients, and you’ll find them in just about every meal we deliver!
Functional ingredients also come in two varieties – unprocessed, whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains; and processed, such as fortified orange juice or fortified buttery spreads. Fortification, for reference, is defined by the World Health Organization as “the practice of deliberately increasing the content of one or more micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) in a food or condiment to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health.” Both processed, and unprocessed functional foods can have a place in a healthy diet, and have been shown to have numerous possible benefits for a plethora of medical conditions. Some functional foods act preventively, like fruits and vegetables, whose fiber content helps prevent gastrointestinal issues and keeps blood sugar stable. Others act reactively, like buttery spreads fortified with plant sterols. Plant sterols have been shown to compete with cholesterol due to its similar chemical structure, helping reduce the amount absorbed in the body. Thistle meals contain minimally-processed, slow metabolizing nutrient-dense foods sourced mostly from plants. To highlight some of our favorites, let’s first take a peak at a week of meals.
Our Fantastic Functional Ingredients
Our Strawberry-Rhubarb Muesli breakfast includes a favorite functional food – oats! Oats, and oat bran have been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol (also thought of as “bad” cholesterol) by binding to cholesterol to support excretion and by supporting cholesterol metabolism. The meal also contains cinnamon, another functional ingredient, which supports blood sugar regulation when consumed regularly.
Thistle’s popular Kale Caesar Salad features a delicious, tahini-based Caesar dressing. Tahini is made from ground sesame seeds, an ingredient that was shown to support normalization of blood pressure in a small trial. Garlic is another functional ingredient in this meal, which has consistently been shown to improve blood markers like blood sugar and blood lipid levels.
Another customer fan favorite meal is the Thistle Pad Thai. Ginger is a star ingredient in this meal, a functional ingredient with anti-inflammatory properties. Thistle’s Fight Shot is another great source of ginger as well!
Thistle customers love the 24 Carrot Gold Muffin so much that we’ve made it available, to local customers, every week! The muffin does more than pack a taste punch; it is also replete with beneficial, functional ingredients! One standout ingredient is flax seed, which has been shown again and again to support the normalization of cholesterol levels in individuals with high LDL cholesterol. The muffin also includes cinnamon and ginger, which, as previously mentioned, are rockstar ingredients themselves!
Also available each week to local customers are our jar salads. These tasty and convenient meals offer a variety of flavors and nutrients. Cabbage is prominent in our jar salads, a seriously underrated vegetable from the Brassica family. Not only is cabbage versatile, but it also has numerous positive benefits on complications of type 2 diabetes, including regulating increased blood sugar levels, decreasing damage to commonly impacted organs like the kidneys and liver, and preventing comorbid issues like oxidative stress and obesity.
Not to be forgotten are Thistle’s juices and shots, each of which feature one or more functional ingredients, including spirulina (shown to have hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic and antihypertensive properties, mangosteen (shown to have anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties), and echinacea (shown to have antibacterial and antiviral properties.) Thistle loves taking these magical ingredients and crafting healthy and tasty treats for you to enjoy!
Make It a Habit
While navigating the world of healthy eating, functional foods should take a prominent position in your diet! Not only can they provide medical nutrition therapy for existing conditions like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, but can act preventively against disease states and support overall health goals like reduced inflammation and overall stable energy. With ready to enjoy meals, snacks, juices and shots, Thistle meals make eating functionally, and deliciously, a breeze!
