Superfoods

Former Member

The definitive list.

I'm trying to include 'superfoods' into my diet, to be healthier. The foods I eat that I believe are 'super' are broccolli, apples and er... What are the other superfoods please?

Former Member

I'd imagine things like spinach, blueberries?

I've always found the world's healthiest foods quite a good resource linky

Former Member

I'm convinced that if you eat normally, you have no need for 'superfoods', regardless of what Gillian 'utterly pointless' McKeith says...

Former Member

There was a programme on the bbc ?yesterday talking about superfoods - apparently this term will be restricted from use on packaging unless the packaging can also state exactly what the food will do.

They also said that it is better to have little and often of so called superfoods or specific supplements instead of a few meals a week chocka with them because the body will just excrete any excess nutrients that it cannot use at that time.

all fruit and veg are gonna be superfoods imo as all have vitamins, nutrients and fibre - you need lots of variation in the types of fruit and veg you eat to get as much variation in the type of nutrients.

Former Member

Delia_rocks wrote: »

I'm convinced that if you eat normally, you have no need for 'superfoods', regardless of what Gillian 'utterly pointless' McKeith says...

Isn't what's normal quite subjective though? What's normal for me isn't for say a bodybuilder

I prefer the name Awful Poo Woman myself

Former Member

Delia_rocks wrote: »

I'm convinced that if you eat normally, you have no need for 'superfoods', regardless of what Gillian 'utterly pointless' McKeith says...

Not to worry, I don't take inspiration from general tv shite, and if I were to it wouldn't be from that awful poo lady.

I bought some blueberries today as I read that they were good for you. No idea what I'm going to do with therm yet and they look pretty horrid actually.

Former Member

Throw them in a blender with some other fruit and make a smoothie?

Former Member

Spinach is a good one.

Highly underused in cooking generally and has wonderful uses like being iron rich as well as the usual benefits of veg.

Former Member

becuase it turns weird when you cook it, kinda thin and stringy. I must be doing something wrond though- what do you do with your spinach?

The smootie's a good idea. Have a blender too!

Former Member

katralla wrote: »

The definitive list.

I'm trying to include 'superfoods' into my diet, to be healthier. The foods I eat that I believe are 'super' are broccolli, apples and er... What are the other superfoods please?

How do you define a "Superfood"?

I imagine a truly superfood would be one you can eat without cooking as cooking would destroy some of the good stuff in them.

So I'd vote for tomatoes

http://really-useful.y2u.co.uk/Food/Ru_Food_057_Tomato_Healthy_A1.html

Former Member

I dunno. they're supposed to do things like heal and prevent disease. Tomatoes must surely count.

Former Member

katralla wrote: »

becuase it turns weird when you cook it, kinda thin and stringy. I must be doing something wrond though- what do you do with your spinach?

The smootie's a good idea. Have a blender too!

I buy young, tender spinach and either steam really briefly or boil the kettle, put spinach in colander and pour water over really quickly just to warm it up and wilt it slightly. Or you can mircowave it for just a few seconds.

Smoothies are good :thumb:

Former Member

avocados are supposed to be, aren't they?

Former Member

Avocados are an aphrodisiac... apparently.
I eat asparagus. Not because they're a superfood, I just enjoy the amusing aroma of my urine.
Add blueberries to your bowl of Special K in the morning to get number 1 on your 5 a day...

Former Member

I think pomegranates are, and gogi berries - or so I was told anyway..

Former Member

Mmmmm I love spinach and brocolli!

I like to fry some garlic in a bit of olive oil and add the spinach and some black pepper. It's yumyum

Superfoods to me are veggies/fruit which are dark green, orange, red, purple and nuts and seeds!

Former Member

DG wrote: »

How do you define a "Superfood"?

They are food which contain antioxidants and certain vitamins which help prevent cancer and heart disease etc.

Former Member

im sure i read something recently about this whole "superfood" thing being a complete con, somethings are better for you than others but the "superfood" labelling seems to be this years fad.

ETA: there is a list here if that helps

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfood

also states the EU has banned people advertising things as SUPERFOOD without the backing of credible scientific evidence

Former Member

Delia_rocks wrote: »

Avocados are an aphrodisiac... apparently.
I eat asparagus. Not because they're a superfood, I just enjoy the amusing aroma of my urine.

lmfao

Delia_rocks wrote: »

Add blueberries to your bowl of Special K in the morning to get number 1 on your 5 a day...

Tried that- fookin yak!

**helen**

koe_182 wrote: »

im sure i read something recently about this whole "superfood" thing being a complete con, somethings are better for you than others but the "superfood" labelling seems to be this years fad.

:yes: it's an interesting one. We've got an interview about them with a nutritionist who refused to name any - have a listen:

http://www.thesite.org/healthandwellbeing/fitnessanddiet/healthyeating/superfoodsuncovered

Former Member

tells me then init!

**helen**

katralla wrote: »

tells me then init!

Well not necessarily - those foods are really, really good for you

Former Member

there is a great article on t-nation somewhere about superfoods.. I'll try and dig it out

Former Member

**Helen** wrote: »

Well not necessarily - those foods are really, really good for you

yeah but superfoods is easier to say than "reallyreallygoodforyoufoods"

Former Member

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=867137

There you go! lol

Its a bit extreme in the quantities but I still enjoyed reading it

I've had the dubious pleasure of eating lunch or dinner with hundreds ? maybe thousands ? of bodybuilders, weight lifters, athletes, and fitness bunnies and the undeniable truth is that almost all of them eat like crap.

Despite what they might think, a chicken breast and some steamed rice is not a healthy meal, and that's what they eat most of the time, occasionally substituting a potato for the rice. Sure, it's a lot better than what most Americans cram down their gullet, but it sure doesn't feed the machine.

These assorted athletes and wanna-be athletes are able to function adequately on their fowl dinner, but that's because the body can take a lot of abuse. I remember reading an article about a Japanese man who had survived for 15 months on nothing but popcorn. Think his nutrition was adequate? Well chances are yours ain't much better, bubba.

My diet has rarely been beyond reproach, but doggone it, I'm getting better about it; a lot better. I've consulted the writings of our own resident nutritionists ? Berardi, Lowery, and Barr ? in addition to books like SuperFoods by Steven Pratt, M.D., and I've come up with my own list of 13 "Power Foods." However, I didn't look at foods as a nutritionist; rather, I looked at them from the perspective of my training as a microbiologist.

Each food was chosen because it appears to have incredible, almost drug-like effects on human physiology. While I make no guarantees (there isn't a nutritionist alive who can), eating these foods often will quite likely change your health and change your life.

These are foods I buy each week, usually on Sunday. I buy specific quantities and my goal is modest: to finish off the amount I bought by the next Sunday. Maybe it's a little sloppy or haphazard, but who the hell has the time to plan and prepare each meal?

My way is simple. And it works.

Here are my choices in no particular order, along with the reasons why I've included them and the amount you should try to eat each week:


Broccoli

In 1992, a study conduced at Johns Hopkins found that broccoli consumption prevented the development of tumors by 60% and it reduced the size of tumors that did develop by 75%.

Clearly, broccoli, like Stacy's mom, has got it going on.

Broccoli contains more polyphenols than any other common vegetable. It also contains large amounts of indoles, which are potent estrogen blockers.

Other super powers possessed by broccoli include an ability to boost the immune system, build bones, fight birth defects, and to ward of degenerative eye diseases.

Ways to eat them: You might want to consider buying broccoli sprouts when they're available as they're 10 to 100 times more powerful than mature broccoli spears.

To eat them, use them in stir-fry dishes or puree them and mix them in soup. Of course, there's always my way, which is to steam them and serve drowned in olive oil and blanketed with red chili flakes.

How much to eat: 1/2 to 1 cup daily


Wild Salmon

Ordinary salmon wear pocket protectors and study to be engineers. Wild salmon, on the other hand, go to raves and listen to that crazy salmon music.

Nahh, I'm talking about eating salmon that were raised in the wild, like Alaska. Farm-raised salmon are fed corn and grain and they develop fatty acid profiles that aren't much different than most of our animal food sources.

In other words, the farm-raised variety is woefully deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids, which is pretty much the whole reason you'd want to eat them in the first place!

Sadly, most of the time when you order salmon in a restaurant, you're getting the farm-raised variety. It's best to ask before you order.

Most of you are well aware of the beneficial effects of salmon oil, but here's a mercifully brief refresher course in case you're not.

Salmon oil reduces the risk of coronary artery disease; controls hypertension; controls inflammation; prevents cancer; prevents degenerative eye diseases, and it may well boost your metabolism, making it easier for you to lose fat.

Keep in mind that the Omega-3 fatty acids in fish are, obviously, marine based, and that the Omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts and flaxseed are plant based. As such, it's best to include both kinds in your diet.

Ways to eat it: Bake it, broil it, steam it. Or just buy Salmon oil capsules or bottled liquids.

How much to eat: 24 ounces (3 8-ounce servings)

Note: Biotest is expected to have their own extremely pure Omega-3 fatty acid product in the warehouse any time now.


Grass-Fed Beef

Most of you probably know that the vast majority of beef in the US is corn-fed. Hell, they advertise it like it's a good thing: "We have corn-fed beef at $9.99 a pound!"

Well it's not a good thing.

Here's what I wrote about the subject in a previous article:

"Nowadays, most cattle spend an average of 60 to 120 days in feedlots where they're fattened up before being slaughtered. Obviously, most of us know that heavily marbled beef isn't exactly part of a healthy diet but there are other things going on that you need to know about. Feeding cattle corn instead of grass drastically upsets the balance of essential fatty acids found in their meat.

"The modern American diet is criminally short on Omega-3 fatty acids and these fatty acids, when consumed in optimal amounts, can potentially prevent coronary artery disease, hypertension, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, and various inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. Conversely, the American diet is high in Omega-6 fatty acids. While Omega-6 fatty acids are important to health, too, bad things happen when the ratio of these fatty acids is altered; namely, the aforementioned maladies.

"Many scientists guess that man evolved eating an Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acid ratio of 1 to 1 from both meat and plant sources. An acceptable modern day ratio would be approximately 3 to 1. Trouble is, corn-fed cattle, in various studies, have exhibited ratios of 21 to 1, 11 to 1, and 20 to 1. Not good. Grass-fed cattle, on the other hand, exhibit ratios of 3 or 4 to 1.

"Similarly, the meat from grass-fed cattle contains significantly higher amounts of CLA, which supposedly lowers the risk of cancer."

I hope one part of that sunk in, the part about grass-fed cattle having a ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 of 3 or 4 to 1.

That makes grass-fed beef about as good a food as wild salmon. And we weight lifters shouldn't forget that grass-fed beef contains relatively large amounts of creatine. Maybe that's why we feel stronger when we eat it.

Lastly, grass-fed beef has a lot less saturated fat than corn-fed, and that in itself is noteworthy.

Ways to eat it: What, I gotta' tell you how to make a steak?

How much to buy: 24 ounces (3 8-ounce servings)


Walnuts

People who eat walnuts have fewer heart attacks. One study actually found an inverse relationship between walnut consumption and all deaths.

I don't know how a walnut could keep you from being hit by a runaway streetcar, but I do believe it's one healthful little nut. Walnuts are one of the few rich sources of plant-derived Omega-3 fatty acids (alpha linolenic acid), thus complimenting the animal-derived Omega-3 fatty acids we get from another Power Food, salmon.

They're also high in plant sterols, which reduce cholesterol. Combine that with their arginine-powered ability to keep the insides of blood vessels smooth and you can understand their effect on heart health.

In addition to all that, they're the nut with the highest anti-oxidant activity, and they contain rich amounts of magnesium and copper, two minerals that are typically deficient in the American diet.

Ways to eat them: By the handful, on top of a Grow! pudding, or on top of a salad.

How much to eat: 8 ounces (1-ounce or one small handful a day)


Olive Oil

Hell, if it were socially acceptable, I'd go to the bar and order a whisky with an olive oil chaser. That's how much I like this Power Oil.

A health study in 2005 compared the effects of different types of olive oil. The first type, "extra virgin" contains the highest amount of polyphenols, while the other olive oil was a lesser blend containing one-fifth the polyphenols in the first type.

Those using the extra virgin olive oil on their bread exhibited a marked increase in arterial wall elasticity, while those that ate the lesser stuff exhibited no change.

Lesson learned: use extra virgin olive oil.

Aside from making arterial walls more elastic, olive oil has many of the same benefits that walnuts do.

As far as bodybuilders and other athletes are concerned, adding olive oil to your meals is a necessity in that most of us, in an attempt to balance out our fat intake, have increased saturated fatty acid intake and Omega-3 intake while neglecting monosaturated fats like olive oil.

While other oils contain their fair share of monounsaturated fats, olive oil is the king with 72% of its fatty acid compliment being monounsaturated.

Want to control your food intake and lose fat? Steam some vegetables and drown them in olive oil and red chili flakes and serve with your favorite cut of meat. This simple act, done 5 to 6 times a week, will melt the pounds off.

Ways to eat it: By the tablespoon, on a salad, in a Grow! shake, or poured over your steamed vegetables.

How much to eat: 3 Tablespoons a day


Blueberries

If for some reason, you stubborn person you, were to only eat one food from my list, this is the one I'd recommend.

This humble little berry contains a greater number of antioxidants than any other known fruit or vegetable. Just one serving contains more antioxidants as five servings of carrots, apples, broccoli, or squash.

Just a couple of years ago, the Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate one cup per day had a perpetual increase in the amount of antioxidants in their blood. Maintaining this physiologic state, they guessed, probably plays a big role in the prevention of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and degenerative eye diseases.

There's also a study that's probably of particular interest to readers of this site: people who ate large amounts of blueberries every day performed 5 to 6 percent better on tests of motor skills than a control group.

Ways to eat them: Buy them dried, fresh, or frozen (they're not a crop that's heavily treated with pesticides, which is often of concern when buying dried fruits).

Turn them into a jam and spread them on toast. Throw them into the blender with your Grow! Mix frozen ones into your oatmeal.

How much to eat: 1 cup a day


Flaxseeds

Flax seeds are, bar none, the best source of plant-derived Omega-3 fatty acids. Including them in a diet that contains reasonable amounts of saturated fats (about 30% of fat intake), reasonable amounts of olive oil and walnuts (about 30 to 40% of fat intake), and a combination of plant-derived Omega-3 fatty acids and animal or marine based Omega-3 fatty acids (grass-fed beef and salmon) along with a modest amount of Omega-6 fatty acids is probably the perfect prescription.

In addition to being a rich source of plant-derived Omega-3 fatty acids, flaxseeds also contain fiber, protein, and magnesium. They also contain lignins, which are phytoestrogens.

While I know the mere mention of phytoestrogens is enough to make you want to mainline a quart of pure Testosterone, a small amount of phytoestrogens isn't a bad thing. In fact, I've seen men lose their bitch tits simply by including flaxseeds or flax oil in their diet.

Ways to eat them: Make sure you grind your flaxseeds ? the nutrients are difficult to absorb from the whole seed. Once they're ground, store them in small airtight jars and sprinkle them on your oatmeal, your salad, or into your Grow! shake.

How much to eat: About two tablespoons a day. That means you can grind up about a half-cup at a time.


Pumpkin

I don't expect you to go out every October and hoard pumpkins. Canned pumpkin is available all year round and the canned version is actually more nutritious than the raw version.

What makes pumpkin so cool is its synergistic blend of phytonutrients. In fact, pumpkin contains the richest supply of carotenoids known to man.

These carotenoids are suspected to modulate immune responses, enhance cell-to-cell communication, and protect against various cancers. One carotene in particular ? alpha carotene ? is even suspected by some to slow aging.

While you might assume that pumpkin is glycemically incorrect, you're probably thinking about the pumpkin puree that Granny uses to make her pies. Pure canned pumpkin, on the other hand, has only 42 calories a half-cup, along with 5 grams of fiber, which is more fiber than most breakfast cereals.

Ways to eat it:Mix a little in with Grow! and some Jell-O Instant Sugar-Free Fat-Free Pudding Mix and blend in skim milk until you get the desired consistency.

How much to eat: 1/2 cup 3-4 times a week


Spinach

The next time you order a salad, screw the typical Romaine salad or worse yet, the iceberg lettuce salad; spinach is where it's at.

Spinach is another one of those vegetables whose nutrients and phytonutrients display a wonderful synergy.

Consider that spinach contains carotenoids like zeaxanthin and beta-carotene, along with antioxidants like CoQ10 and glutathione, and the insulin modulator alpha lipoic acid. Not only that, but spinach is fairly rich in plant-derived Omega-3 fatty acids, too.

All of this equates to a vegetable that lowers homocysteine levels, risk of degenerative eye disease, and many types of cancer. In fact, there are epidemiological studies that show that the more spinach eaten, the lower the risk of almost everytype of cancer.

Ways to eat it: Spinach is a vegetable that should be eaten both raw and cooked. Cooking it makes the carotenoids more bioavailable, but it degrades Vitamin C and folate, so eating a combo of cooked and raw seems to be the best bet. Cook spinach in an omelet, or steam it and add olive oil and salt. Or make a raw salad and top it with walnuts and olive oil.

How much to eat: 18 ounces (raw) per week


Tomatoes

Tomatoes are on my list for one main reason, or rather, one main nutrient: lycopene. This member of the carotenoid family could be the silver bullet in preventing prostate cancer.

Consider the 1995 study that showed men who ate ten or more servings a week of tomatoes reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 35% and their risk of aggressive prostate cancer by 50%.

And while quite possibly being as potent an anti-oxidant as beta-carotene in general, lycopene is also thought to raise the skin's natural SPF (sun protection factor).

Unfortunately, this chemical is rare in foods so the next time you see a ripe, juicy tomato, give it a hug.

Unbeknownst to most, though, is that the coveted lycopene is bound up in the cell walls and fiber. That means that you pretty much have to eat cooked or processed tomatoes to get at the lycopene. That also means that tomato paste, barbecue sauce, and ketchup are valid sources of lycopene. Yipee!

Ways to eat it:Since lyopene needs fat to get it into the bloodstream, it's best to eat your tomatoes or tomato products with a bit of olive oil. You can also use sun-dried tomatoes in sandwiches, in addition to using salsa to top your meat dishes. And of course, there's always pizza.

How much to eat: 1 serving per day of processed tomato and 3-4 servings per week of fresh tomato


Turkey Breast

Hey, it's practically the leanest piece of meat on the planet...well, with the exception of Linday Lohan's emaciated chest. It's inexpensive and has a nice array of nutrients including the exotic selenium, but everybody in the business just loveschicken.

Chicken must have a helluva' good PR man because turkey is clearly superior in so many ways.

Want to know how lean turkey is? Three ounces of flank steak ? the leanest beef available ? has 4.5 grams of saturated fat. An identical amount of turkey has only 0.2 grams of saturated fat.

We called chicken to provide us with its stats, but nooooo. At the risk of sounding cliché, chicken was chicken.

Ways to eat it: The same way you'd eat chicken.

How much to eat: As much as your ever-lovin' heart desires or your wallet can afford.


Yogurt

A microscopic view of the beasties in yogurt.

My grandma Olga, a famous Finnish Powerlifter, once told me, "Little one, take care of your gastrointestinal tract and it'll take care of you."

Then she struck me with some salted herring.

Still, the lesson stuck with me.

Gastrointestinal problems are likely at the root of a lot of health problems. After all, if you can't digest food, assimilate its nutrients, and dispose of waste, what good are Power Foods?

Enter yogurt. And I'm talking about plain non-fat yogurt, not frozen yogurt or any of those sugary concoctions that are faintly disguised desserts.

Yogurt that contains live active cultures of bacteria encourages the growth of "good" bacteria and hampers the growth of the "bad".

Once you do that, you might help your body fight cancer, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowl syndrome, ulcers, and diarrhea.

You might even increase nitrogen retention, so that you'll build more muscle from the proteins that you eat.

While live-culture yogurt is considered a "probiotic" in that it contains living beasties, you also need to ingest "prebiotics," which are nondigestible food stuffs that the beasties live on.

Luckily, a lot of the Power Foods I've listed contain prebiotics (broccoli, spinach, flax seeds, etc.).

Ways to eat it: Mix a tablespoon or two into your Grow! shakes, or add to oatmeal.

How much to eat: 1 cup per day


Shiitake Mushrooms

Mushrooms contain zinc, essential amino acids, and a host of vitamins, but I'm not really interested in all that.

The reason I've labeled Shiitake mushrooms as a power food is because they appear to possess some pretty interesting anti-viral properties, including some much-desired anti-cancer powers.

In fact, the Japanese have licensed a Shittake extract called Lentinan as an anti-cancer drug. It's shown promising effects on bowel, liver, stomach, lung, and ovarian cancers.

Apparently, Lentinan stimulates the production of T lymphocytes and natural killer cells.

Proponents of mushrooms like the shittake and others collectively call these fairly mysterious anti-viral and immuno-enhancing compounds Host Defense Potentiators (HDP).

While the proof of their powers isn't conclusive yet, I'm willing to make a small leap of faith and continue to include these 'shrooms in my diet.

Ways to eat them: Chopped up and thrown into spinach salads or an omellete.

How much to eat: 3 ounces per week


Off to the Grocery Store

You might think some of my recommendations as to quantity are unrealistic or just plain hard to achieve. That's okay. Do the best you can. It's like when complete newbies ask me how often they have to train to get into a reasonable semblance of shape.

I tell them once a week is better than zero times a week; twice a week is better than once a week; three times a week is better than twice a week....

The same goes for my dietary recommendations. Eat the foods on the list as often as you can. Once a week is better than zero times a week; twice a week is better than once a week....

Of course, the better you adhere to the training program or the nutritional program, the greater are the rewards, be they in physique, athletic ability, or iron-clad health.

**helen**

SuzyCreamcheese wrote: »

yeah but superfoods is easier to say than "reallyreallygoodforyoufoods"

this is terrrue.

Former Member

evening Helen :flirt:

Former Member

I like your list and the explanaitions. Balls are those blueberries nasty though. If I put them in a smoothie, won't they infect the other ingredients with their nastyness, is all I keep thinking

Former Member

Haha yeah I doni't like blueberries neat either!

My nipper will sit and eat 100's lol.. erg.

Former Member

I found a way to eat them! Put them in a bag with mixed white and red grapes and don't look while you're eating, tastes fine that way.