Top 10 Superfoods

[farmerjumperdon]

There seems to be interest here in healthy foods. A good countermeasure to the diet-by-blood-type thing too. Got it from healhatoz.com. I everything on here, except the mushrooms. I've never been able to get over the taste or consistency of mushrooms, especially cooked.

(So there is something behind "An apple a day keeps the doctor away.")

1. AVOCADOS
Benefit: Many people avoid them because they are high in fat. Avocados can help reduce cholesterol, and decrease the risk of cancer and diabetes. They also contain antioxidants.
Nutrients: Vitamins E, C and B6, potassium, fiber, vitamin K and folate.
Recipe tip: Spread on toast and melt low-fat cheese on top. Add sliced tomato.
2. APPLES
Benefits: Apples are loaded with antioxidants. They have vitamin C, which keeps your blood vessels healthy and helps you absorb iron. That means a reduced risk of cancer and heart disease, especially if you eat the skin.
Nutrients: Fiber and vitamin C.
Recipe tip: Chop and toss into a green salad.
3. BERRIES
Benefits: All berries are highly nutritious. Eating blueberries regularly may improve short-term memory and slow the aging process. They may also help people with many diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes and heart disease. Studies show that blueberries fight cancer better than other fruits.
Nutrients: Fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K and manganese.
Recipe tip: Mix with yogurt or cottage cheese. Add a small handful of crushed nuts.
4. BROCCOLI
Benefit: Broccoli is part of a family that includes spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale and collard greens. It is highly nutritious and may help prevent diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
Nutrients: Calcium, potassium, folate, fiber, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin K and manganese.
Recipe tip: Sauté with a small amount of olive oil, garlic and chicken broth.
5. SALMON
Benefit: Try to eat at least two fish meals per week, especially wild salmon, herring and sardines. They provide the most heart-healthy omega-3 fats. Eating fish helps cut your risks for heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, stroke, diabetes and arthritis. It may also help with depression.
Nutrients: B vitamins, phosphorus, protein, selenium and omega-3 fats.
Recipe tip: If possible, choose wild salmon. It is less likely to contain chemicals like mercury. Brush fish with a mixture of orange juice and orange marmalade. Bake until done.
6. BEANS (includes beans, split peas and lentils)
Benefits: Beans provide energy that lasts for hours. They are high in fiber, which can lower your risk for heart disease and help control your blood sugar. They also may help fight cancer. All legumes - especially soy - are important in vegetarian diets because they are high in protein.
Nutrients: Fiber, vitamin B6, folate, manganese, protein, copper, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, thiamine, calcium and zinc.
Recipe tip: Add rinsed, canned beans to your favorite salad.
7. MUSHROOMS
Benefits: Mushrooms - especially shiitake - have powerful effects on the immune system. They may help prevent and treat cancer, viral diseases, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Nutrients: Fiber, protein, vitamin C, folate, iron, zinc, manganese, vitamin D, B vitamins, phosphorus, potassium, copper and selenium.
Recipe tip: Sauté with a small amount of olive oil along with onions and zucchini. Add to your favorite tomato sauce for a heart-healthy pasta topping.
8. WALNUTS/ALMONDS
Benefits: These nuts are packed with nutrients. They're also good for your heart. The monounsaturated fat in almonds can help lower your cholesterol if you substitute them for other fats. Walnuts have small amounts of omega-3 fat. Although nuts are high in fat and calories, they can actually help with weight loss. Their protein, fiber and healthy fats provide a feeling of fullness, which can keep you from overeating.
Nutrients: Magnesium, vitamin E, fiber, riboflavin, magnesium, iron, calcium and vitamin E.
Recipe Tip: Toast a whole-grain English muffin and spread with low-fat cream cheese. Top with a handful of crushed walnuts or slivered almonds.
9. FLAXSEEDS
Benefits: Flaxseeds have omega-3 fats, which can help reduce the risk of heart disease.
Nutrients: Magnesium, phosphorus, copper, fiber, thiamin, manganese, potassium and zinc.
Recipe Tip: Sprinkle ground seeds on cold or hot cereal, yogurt or cottage cheese. Add them to smoothies.
10. POMEGRANATES
Benefits: This food has gained a lot of attention lately. Pomegranates have up to three times the antioxidants of red wine and green tea. The juice can help prevent heart disease and stroke. Drinking pomegranate juice long term may also help slow aging and protect against certain cancers.
Nutrients: Vitamin C and potassium.
Recipe Tip: Toss the seeds into a green salad or a fruit salad. Mix them into yogurt or add to cooked oatmeal.

[Trocisp]

A balanced diet is easy to achieve without forcing yourself to eat certain things so many times a day/week.

[hhEb09'1]

I everything on here, except the mushrooms. I've never been able to get over the taste or consistency of mushrooms, especially cooked.Can't get over it either, love it! :)A balanced diet is easy to achieve without forcing yourself to eat certain things so many times a day/week.Nobody has to force me to eat those things. I've ate them regularly for over thirty years, except flaxseeds--I only got that when I chewed on my oil brushes.

[Trocisp]

Nobody has to force me to eat those things. I've ate them regularly for over thirty years, except flaxseeds--I only got that when I chewed on my oil brushes.Yep, that's what I mean. Forcing yourself into a certain diet doesn't help. You have to do it through habit. Rather than saying "I need to buy X amount of this food, and X amount of that food," you should buy foods that are healthy in general to get yourself into the habit.

It should come as normal, rather than forced.

[farmerjumperdon]

No forcing mentioned, none intended. It is still a choice.

Just some good info on healthy foods.

[hhEb09'1]

Rather than saying "I need to buy X amount of this food, and X amount of that food," you should buy foods that are healthy in general to get yourself into the habit.

It should come as normal, rather than forced.How do you get in the habit, unless you do it? :)

[Argos]

Ok. I´d add brazilian nuts for selenium, but eat it sparingly [1 nut a day is enough, that´s what I do]. I also can´t see avocado as something salty, to be eaten with cheese. They´re eaten with sugar and a few drops of lemon down here.

[Trantor]

I own an avocado tree that I planted from seed back in 1989. The original seed came from a couple of big and beautiful avocados from the Dominican Republic. When in season from September thru December(I live in Florida)we eat them almost every day. Usually, our prefered way of eating them is to cut them into large chunks and then apply either lemon juice or Italian salad dressing, and then spinkle with salt and pepper. Cajun spices instead of salt and pepper is also great. This works great as a substitute for a salad or as a side dish.

[Gillianren]

My mother has avocado trees--Hass, I believe, which is native to either Pasadena or Whittier, depending on whom you ask--but for some reason, she almost never has avocados. She almost always loses all of them to a windstorm well before they're ripe. (Like when they're either blossoms or kumquat-sized.) One year, though, the wind hit when they were ripe, and she had so many avocados she had to give away huge amounts of them. I vividly remember having at least a dozen paper grocery bags stored in the stairway to our attic that year and my mother pretty much handing a bag to anyone who showed up at our house.

[farmerjumperdon]

I vividly remember having at least a dozen paper grocery bags stored in the stairway to our attic that year and my mother pretty much handing a bag to anyone who showed up at our house.

I can identify with that. Same way around here with apples. From mid-August until about the first snow, nobody leaves without a bag of apples. I think we are going to get a cider press for this fall.

[Trantor]

Gillianren,

That is interesting about the Hass variety. I love all types of avocados and I do eat Hass when my tree is not in season. I've never had much trouble with the wind knocking down small young avocados. Even during the 2004 hurricane season, when three hurricanes passed thru Central florida, I somehow managed to keep most of my fruit. My biggest problem is that when the fruit is small(in the second month after flowering), pesky squirrels love to eat them. They only eat the pit and leave bits and pieces of what would have been beautiful fruit, all over the yard! So, as you can imagine, it's a war! All manner of weapons are employed; ultrasonic pest control, sticky goo on the tree trunk, fox urine, and of course the ole reliable weapon of last resort - the BB gun! Once the fuit gets to be more than about two inches or so in size, the squirrels have a harder time getting to the pit, so they tend to go after other types of food.

[Chuck]

I have a balanced diet. I eat all the meat that I can balance on my plate.

[Abbadon_2008]

I'm shocked and dismayed that they didn't add tea to the list. Of course, tea would go well with any of the above-mentioned foods.

I drink about half a gallon per day, on average.

[farmerjumperdon]

I'm shocked and dismayed that they didn't add tea to the list. Of course, tea would go well with any of the above-mentioned foods.

I drink about half a gallon per day, on average.

A reminder that my beverage of choice (sweetened lemonade) could be improved on. On a hot, or even just warm summer day, I drink about a gallon. I do like tea also, but because I have such a sweet tooth I sugar it the same as my lemonade.

[sarongsong]

I'm shocked and dismayed that they didn't add tea to the list...PBS is currently airing "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life" (http://www.amenclinics.com/ac/bitn/bitn_detail.php?articleID=168);
Top Twelve Brain Foods:Avocado
Blueberries
Broccoli
Green Tea - contains theanine (helps to relax and concentrate)
Oatmeal
Oranges
Red Bellpeppers
Salmon
Spinach
Tuna
Turkey
Walnuts

[mugaliens]

I've never been a fan of pomegranates, but I like everything else on the list.

I'm surprised that coffee wasn't mentioned. Isn't it supposed to be one of the most powerful antioxidant's in the world? Way more powerful than green tea? Thought I read that somewhere...

[Noclevername]

Way more powerful than green tea? Thought I read that somewhere...

On a coffee can? ;)

[mugaliens]

On a coffee can? ;)

No, in/on something reputable, like Scientific American or somewhat reputable like Popular Science.

[GeorgeLeRoyTirebiter]

I've read that coffee is the primary source of antioxidants in the average American diet, but that has more to do with the dearth of high-antioxidant fruits and vegetables in said diet than in the properties of coffee itself.

[novaderrik]

how can that be a list of the top ten super foods if Lasagna isn't even listed?
or Snickers bars..

[01101001]

4. BROCCOLI
Benefit: Broccoli is part of a family that includes spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale and collard greens.

One of these things is not like the others...

Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, kale and collard greens are among the cruciferous vegetables (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruciferous_vegetables), family Brassicaceae.

Spinach is family Amaranthaceae, the amaranths. It doesn't appear to be related until you get up to class Magnoliopsida, dicotyledon plants.

[farmerjumperdon]

how can that be a list of the top ten super foods if Lasagna isn't even listed?
or Snickers bars..

Reminds me of a line I often use about the food groups:

There's the pizza group, the salsa/guacamole group, the deep fried group, the ice cream group, and the all-other-desserts group.

[redshifter]

Damn, they left out cheeseburgers and chocolate...