If you are standing in a roomful of people and you ask them what the best foods to eat are, you might be shocked and surprised by the answers that you get......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
And in some groups of your friends, you might be actually horrified by what you hear. After all, there are some people who are obviously embracing their obesity and the rampant health risks it brings with it. And there are those who are so militant about what they put into their mouths that you are shocked they have not taught their bodies to run on anything but (purified) air and (filtered) water. You may think you have to choose one of these two extremes, but it doesn’t have to be this way. There is a middle ground. The best foods to eat can be both tasty and good for you. You don’t have to choose between good health and good taste if you know exactly what you are looking for.
The Best Foods to Eat Look Like What They Are
If you eat an ear of corn at a Fourth of July picnic, you know exactly what you are getting. You know what it will taste like and you know how much you are going to enjoy it. Pick up something called “corn nibblers” from the frozen food section of the local grocery store, and you might be shocked to learn that corn is actually listed third on the ingredients list and doesn’t resemble any kind of corn that you have ever eaten before. Battered, fried, and filled with other ingredients including enough preservatives to keep you fresh for years, these should be called fried cakes of fat with a little corn. The foods that you eat should resemble their natural state as much as possible. Pull the corn off of the cob, and it is still corn, but more importantly, it still looks like corn.
Julie Holland, MD, wrote a recent column that appeared in Glamour magazine advocating that women (and men) return to their cave person selves- including eating real food. The diet should focus mainly on fruits and vegetables, things that grow in the dirt or hang from trees but also should include fish and lean meats and dairy foods. Foods that are full of preservatives and chemical additives should be avoided. But the list of foods that are not the best should not be mistaken to include all treats all of the time. If you can commit to eating healthy foods 85-90% of the time, your body can handle a little bit of sugar or other unhealthy food.
Remember that chicken should look like chicken parts, not small circles or dinosaurs. Fish should look like fish and not little sticks of minced up bits of unspecified fish.
The Best Foods to Eat: Specific Examples
In the world of protein, the egg is considered to be the perfect food. It’s high in protein, low in calories, and lower in cholesterol than previously thought.
Protein is rated based on digestibility with the egg ranking at 100%, so all the protein contained in the egg is digested and used by the body. In the book “The New Abs Diet for Women,” power foods are listed as the best foods to eat, including the egg, which in addition to protein is also high in Vitamin A and B 12. The other foods listed as “superfoods” include:
- Almonds and other nuts
- Beans and other legumes (they have three times the soluble fibre of oatmeal and are also high in magnesium, which can help promote cardiovascular health)
- Spinach and other green (especially dark green) vegetables
Dairy - Instant oatmeal (steel cut is even better, however)
- Turkey and other lean meats, especially skinless poultry
- Peanut butter
- Olive oil
- Whey protein powder
- Raspberries and other berries
Other super food choices:
Avocado: high in mono-unsaturated fat and may help lower cholesterol.
Chile: high in vitamin C and the compound capsaicin which may help with weight loss and may also shrink fatty tissues.
Quinoa: a powerful source of complete protein and is actually higher in protein than most whole grains. It can be used to replace rice in any dish or can be added to soups and salads.
Papaya: high in potassium, folic acid and has more vitamin C than an orange. Papayas could lower cholesterol levels and minimize inflammation.
Cilantro: contains antioxidants which help to prevent diseases. It is also used by Latin Americans to settle the stomach and is common as an ingredient in salsa and other spicy dishes.
Pumpkin seeds (also called “pepitas”): contain phytosterols which may help to reduce cholesterol and are loaded with protein.
Coconut water: naturally fat-free and low in sodium, coconut water is high in potassium. It has half the calories in popular beverages.
Why the Best Foods to Eat Sometimes End Up in the Trash?
Some of the parts of the fruits and vegetables we eat end up in the compost pile or worse, in the trash. You might try eating the peels of many of the foods that you eat right now to get the added boost of nutrients that you are normally just throwing away. For instance, the fibre in the potato is what helps you keep hunger at bay, and half of it is in the skin.
Almost all of the quercetin in an apple is in the peel. This antioxidant helps to ward off certain types of cancer. The peels of kiwis are high in vitamin E. Orange peels have d-limonene, which may protect against skin cancer. Broccoli stalks have an entire day’s worth of vitamin C and can be just as tender as the florets. The peels of the carrot peels are high in beta-carotene.
The Best Foods to Eat Are Low in Sodium
While we know that a little bit of added salt enhances the flavour of foods when we are cooking, it is also important to know that there is a ton of sneaky salt in our foods that we may not be aware of, even in ice cream and cookies. It is estimated that up to three-quarters of the salt in our daily diet comes from packaged and processed foods. It is important to read labels carefully or to steer clear of these foods altogether.
Even foods that are listed as “lower” in sodium may still be fairly high in sodium. The experts suggest the 1:1 ratio. For instance, if there are 200 calories per serving, there should only be 200 milligrams of sodium or less in that serving.
The Best Foods to Eat Are Sometimes Not Foods at All
In addition to healthy whole foods, including the super foods that are listed above, there is the option to use protein supplements like Profect as part of your healthy diet. Profect, a protein shot from Protica is high in protein.
In conclusion, people need to eat nutritious foods and they also need to exercise to keep their body stay healthy such as waist trainer workout, jogging, cardio exercise, yoga and etc. Recently there has one blog is getting famous because sharing the effective ways to waist train to maintain their weight in standard levels.