Super-foods are becoming a very common topic for discussion among the health-food community and even among common parlance. Food items such as quinoa, black rice and avocado aren’t as foreign as they once were to consumers.
Here, we’ll take a glance at five of the top super foods available right now at most local grocery stores and highlight some of the specific aspects to each that make them so useful to the health of your body.
1. Avocado
The avocado is nutrient dense. One avocado contains up to 1/3 of your body’s daily requirement of vitamin K. Another interesting and little-known fact about the avocado is that it contains twice the amount of potassium as a banana, long thought to be the best way to receive it. This special over-sized berry also contains an ingredient known as glutathione which has been shown to have preventative effects against certain types of cancer.
2. turnip
A rutabaga or turnip earns the super food title by being so rich in phytochemicals. While research is still preliminary, it is believed that these phytochemicals can have antioxidant and cancer-fighting properties. The Rutabaga is also a modern vegetable, in that it is a cross between a turnip and a cabbage. When mashed, it tastes more flavorful than mashed potatoes and with a much better health impact that the old spud.
3. Black Rice
This type of usually-tinted rice was once only allowed to be consumed and cultivated by Chinese royalty. A super food due to its high content of cancer-fighting anthocyanins. In addition to its super-healthy properties, the forbidden black rice is actually perhaps the most delicious rice ever.
4. Brussel Sprouts
Another potential cancer-fighter, this green veggie gets its moniker of super food due to its rich content of Vitamin C as well as Vitamin K1, both essential for immunity. Like the black rice, Brussel Sprouts are rich in antioxidant compounds which are known to fight off many forms of cancer.
5. Kale
While it has had a difficult history of battling negative taste associations, Kale is actually delicious and nutritious. It comes down to how you prepare the green super food, to determine the taste you’ll get in the end. It’s also a part of the cabbage family and shares many of the same health properties as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts while remaining more lettuce-like in appearance and texture. Be forewarned that depending on your method of preparation, Kale could end up having a slightly bitter taste.
Some people likely don’t realize that super foods can be found in so many types and varieties. Proponents of eating super foods on a regular basis suggest that society is misguided by thinking of food and medicine as separate experiences.By eating foods that have strong nutritious aspects, we are optimizing the outcome of a given dining habit or experience.
Take a look at the five ingredients above and think about how you could concoct meals that utilize one or many of these ingredients. Finding out which foods are especially nutritious and working those foods into your diet should have a profoundly positive affect on your overall health shortly after the new diet has been put into place.
