Simply put, foods that are nutrient dense, more essential nutrients by volume and fewer calories. Say for example, you’re hungry after you’ve already had lunch and start looking for a snack mid-afternoon. Your choices include apple or a glazed donut.
Both are about the same size. The donut has 200 calories and 1 gram of fiber. It tastes good and if there are more in the box, you can eat the second or third before you are full because one donut will not fill you up.
Apple has 80 calories and is packed with vitamins, phytochemicals and 3.6-4.6 grams of fiber. Eating an apple and it will satisfy you for dinner because its density is equivalent to that of three glazed donuts. Low calorie foods with high nutrient density are clearly good for weight loss and maintenance, and most of them also considered “super foods” for a host of other reasons.
You will see many things in a short and a long list of super foods. The general rule of thumb, when you are shopping, be on the edges of the store where you’ll find produce, lean meats and low fat dairy items. It is a super food territory.
The center areas in grocery land are processed, packaged foods that may or may not be good for you, order you can not do without a PhD in label reading. Even then, there is no guarantee of full disclosure with respect to the subject.
But once you learn what foods you like that are also nutrient dense superfoods, your choice will be much simpler and guess work out.
The bottom line is this. What you eat affects your health. You may well make decisions that maximize nutrition. In doing so you support weight loss and a chance for a longer life without cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and cognitive impairment of aging. Let’s choose from cancer to further explore these assertions.
According to the American Cancer Society and American Institute for Cancer Research, eat right, exercise more, and not smoking can eliminate more than 50 percent of cancer. By making better lifestyle choices, more than half of cancer diagnosis made each year can just go away!
This overwhelming effect comes from a diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables and healthy meats like fish. These foods present the necessary fiber and reduce inflammation in the body. They contain antioxidants and nutrients that eliminate the activity of free radicals and tissue damage they cause.
Fruits and vegetables linked to low cancer include (but are not limited to): carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale, papaya, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, cress, bok choy, broccoli, blueberries, blackberries and garlic.
Various studies population point to the importance of raising the level of vitamins A, B, C, E, D, and certain types of carotenoids reduce the risk of cancer – elements delivered by these fruits and vegetables.
Clearly understand the specific nutritional system linked to plant-based foods is necessary to make your choice. This information is not for the vitamins and minerals, however. Biologically active compounds called phytonutrients are also important for their role in protecting the body against many types of diseases, not just cancer.
Super Foods and nutrient content density go hand in hand.
