Some foods are just better for you than others. For many years, nutritionists and health professionals have been heralding the benefits of foods such as broccoli, spinach, apples, and tomatoes. These well-known superfoods are an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients, and many people have actively tried to increase their consumption of these foods.
But there are other superfoods that are equally beneficial that you might not know about.
Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has identified a number of these foods. They’re easy to find in your local grocery store, but chances are you’re not eating them on a regular basis.
Adding the following superfoods to your diet is an excellent way to increase your nutrient uptake and spice up your diet.
1. Beets
Jonny Bowden encourages us to think of beets as red spinach. Just like spinach, this vegetable is one of the best sources of folate and betaine – nutrients that work together to lower your blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammatory compound that can damage your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease.
How to eat: Take a fresh, raw beet and grate it over your salad. Not only is it healthy, but the crimson color adds a splash of color to your meal.
2. Cabbage
One cup of chopped cabbage has just 22 calories, and it’s loaded with valuable nutrients, including sulforaphane. Stanford University determined that sulforaphane boosts levels of certain cancer-fighting enzymes higher than any other plant chemical.
How to eat: Add cabbage to a burger for an extra crunch, or try making an Asian-style slaw as a tasty accompaniment to a meal.
3. Swiss Chard
Half a cup of cooked Swiss chard provides a massive amount of lutein and zeaxanthin. These plant chemicals, known as carotenoids, protect your retinas from the damage of aging.
How to eat: Chop it up and sauté it with garlic. It goes great with grilled steaks and chicken.
4. Cinnamon
This old-world spice helps control blood sugar, which influences your risk of heart disease. Cinnamon’s active ingredients, methylhydroxychalcone polymers, increase your cells’ ability to metabolize sugar by up to 20 times.
How to eat: Sprinkle cinnamon into your coffee or over your oatmeal.
5. Pomegranate Juice
This popular drink, which people in the Middle East have been drinking for decades, provides 50% of your daily vitamin C needs when you drink just four ounces. Israeli scientists also found it significantly improves blood flow to the heart.
How to drink: Have a glass of juice on its own or combine it with sparkling water.
6. Pumpkin Seeds
Eating pumpkin seeds is the easiest way to get more magnesium in your diet. French researchers recently determined that men with the highest levels of magnesium in their blood have a 40% lower risk of early death than those with the lowest levels.
How to eat: Add them to trail mix or sprinkle them over your salad.
7. Sardines
You can’t run out of good things to say about sardines: they’re high in omega-3s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, and manganese, as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Have them on toast, mixed with your salad, or mash them up with Dijon mustard and onions and enjoy them as a spread on crackers.
8. Frozen Blueberries
Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetable, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil. They’re chocked full of antioxidants and associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blend them in a smoothie or combine them with yogurt and muesli.
If you’re already eating these superfoods on a regular basis, let us know how you’re integrating them into your diet!
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try pumkin seeds and a few nuts in oatmeal in the morning… or even cold cereal. I found it an easy way to get them in my diet.
Very interesting information I’m going to try
everyone the way you suggested. thanks, carol
Just this week I found a great way to combine beets and cabbage in a great soup called borscht. There are many variations of this recipe on the internet. Give it a try
Thanks for this interesting article.
I will tray to eat these superfoods on a regular basis.
If you have information on special foods to eat for breast cancer please let me know.
All the best,
Doina
Just wanted to note that Pumpkin seeds are also supposedly good for increasing the libido– but for healthiest choice only eat raw, unsalted ones!
Pumpkin seeds are also supposed to increase your libido but for healthiest choices-only eat raw, unsalted seeds!
I love sardines!!! — tomato sauce
The tastiest sardines are Crown Prince, either Kippered Snacks which are naturally smoked, have no fishy taste and melt in your mouth or their Bristling Sardines, also very tasty. Each has 2 grams of Omega 3 per can (serving). Their smoked oysters have 1.2 grams per can. They’re good on saltines or other crackers. Send in the bar codes from 5 cans and get 5 coupons for 50 cents off, which Krogers will double.
Richard, Dallas
I had heard that cinnamon causes happiness, so I have tried it in almost everything and it’s true. The smell makes me smile and knowing what it’s doing for my heart –well, makes me happy!
What a wonderful article! Great to be reminded of other fabulous, healthy foods.
One of my favorite for breakfast are blueberries. strawberries, 1/2 banana mixed with organic vanilla yoghurt. Or mix 1 ripe banana with 2 eggs, fry like a pancake, top it with blueberries and strawberries, YumYum!
Your choices of super foods made me so happy — validation for what I’ve been doing for my body already! The fruits on your list are the only thing I haven’t incorporated yet since I have digestive issues and am not combining fruit with other food categories at the moment. May do some experimenting with the blueberries though. I LOVE beets, cabbage,sardines,pumpkin seeds, chard, cinnamon and have them all frequently. Yum. Thank you
I find sardines to be very tasty particularly when roasted!
We saute the sardines in a frying pan with olive oil, onion, and spinach. We eat them with white rice and soy sauce.
sardines mashed up, add Ranch dressing yummy for a samich or on crackers
Spouting is the way to go and wheet Grass. Eat living food.
Thank You,
I’am a personal trainer & I will pass this information on to my clients.I eat at least 4 of these foods during the week,I do not like sardines,how about salmon,added to my diet.
Cheers
Cathy
I blend blueberrys into my smoothies on a regular basis.
Cinnamon also goes great in a cup of unsweetened herbal tea. (Particularly Rasberry or Apple)
Ha, I am Roger Cannon. I just wanted to THANK YOU for all the information you sent me. I didt know now much I was missing on. But because I am begening to realize what I have been missing. thank you again Roger Cannon
I love beets and make beet soup during summer months when they are more readily available. When not using it in soups, I use them in all salad and sometimes I just eat them by themselves.
Thank you for the info on cinnamon and for reaching
out to all of us about getting healthier with food.
I have added SALBA to my diet and it works wonders
for my stomache. It also lowered my Mom’s high blood pressure. There is so much nutrition in 1 tsp
that I don’t need to buy vitamins any more.Salba has been referred to as a “Super Food”. I buy it at Super supplements in the U.S.A. It is available
here in Canada at health food stores.
thanks a lot.…very informative…
I wanted to share another way of eating Chards– after boiling to tender peel and slice over a bowl of green salad combined of:lots of lettuce(any kind),green onions or just onions,tomatoes,cucumber,1 minced glove of garlic,choped parsley. then ad lemon juice, olive oil,1 teaspoon of apple venegar, salt. mix well and eat ENJOY!!!!
Thanks for all the tips on healthy diet. I teach Yoga& Meditation & I will recommend it to all my students. Keep us posted with more info & give some recipes for healthy eating.
Just tries sardines in mustard sauce. Was skeptical, but knew of health benefits. Anyway, I didn’t even get to mash or make a spread out of the can. Once I put that first one in my mouth the can was as good as gone. Surprise! No fishy taste. — Brunswick brand. Fit Finnegan.
Make an omelette (one whole egg & one egg white)use a safe non stick pan if there are such things these days, oil gently with a little olive oil, and add finely diced Swiss Chard which have been blanched then left for a moment on kitchen paper, mix with a low fat cheese, add your favourite herbs add to your omelette as a filling , pop under a hot grill. does this make sense hope so.
oh and enjoy
Remember to buy sadines canned in water, not oil!
We eat lots of them. Have proof they keep skin young looking. We also eat beansprouts for live food and frozen or otherwise blueberries!
My Mom always made beets. I loved them. My favorite was to juice them. Put them through a juice extractor. Pour the juice over ice and add freshly grated nutmet.
Swiss Chard — Saute freshly sliced garlic in olive oil. Toss in the thoroughly washed and shredded chard, including the stems sliced thinly. Add freshly grated black pepper and salt to taste. Toss to wilt. Yum!!
My Mom always made beets. I loved them. My favorite was to juice them. Put them through a juice extractor. Pour the juice over ice and add freshly grated nutmeg.
Swiss Chard — Saute freshly sliced garlic in olive oil. Toss in the thoroughly washed and shredded chard, including the stems sliced thinly. Add freshly grated black pepper and salt to taste. Toss to wilt. Yum!!
for cancer — check http://www.alternatecancercure.com ( talk to Allen)
and earth clinic — cancer and latest posts. i have no $ interests in that… just want to help. Wishing u the best of health.
salba is chia seeds. can be bought for $6.99 a pound on the net .
Sardines contain virtually no mercury…
I would rather have no mercury and will eat a dark green salad with a vitamin