‘SUPERFOOD’ HAS BEEN a buzz word in the food industry for a while now.
Generally it’s accepted as a food that’s super rich in nutrients, antioxidants or other wonder properties.
In reality, no food is a ‘superfood’ as such, but it’s become commonly accepted that ‘superfoods’ are foods that are particularly nutrient dense, or have additional benefits that may not be known at first glance.
There are plenty of fancy ‘superfoods’ and supplements making the rounds at the moment – from spirulina to goji berries – promising all sorts of anti-aging, health-boosting properties, but we’ve rounded up 7 of the best ‘superfoods’ you’ll find in your supermarket, so you don’t have to go too far for a delicious health boost.
Packed with vitamins (all of them), more potassium than a banana and a host of monounsaturated fats (that’s the good fats), avocados are enjoying their moment in the sun – having been previously considered a ‘bad’ food due to the aforementioned fat content. Not only does it have all that goodness, meals that contain avocado tend to keep you feeling fuller for longer – so get that guacamole into you.
Bananas are filled with potassium as well as high in various vitamins such as B and C but their real super-power is the fact that they’ve so much tryptophan – which is an amino acid that converts to serotonin. Serotonin is a mood-elevating brain neurotransmitter, so you know that’s good to get.
Dark green leafy vegetables are well-known to have more vitamins and minerals than their lighter-coloured compatriots, and kale (or curly kale as we used to know it as) is no exception. Like spinach, kale has lots of iron, potassium and Vitamin K.
It’s delicious in smoothies (believe it or not) and colcannon (of course) as well as the easy-to-make nutritious snack, kale chips. Here’s reader selfsustainable’s recipe for kale chips:
Nuts were another food long maligned for being too fatty before getting a nutritional resurrection in recent times.
Walnuts, in particular, have lots of healthy oils in them, which is good for the brain (they even look like little brains) and as a result are packed with the fat-soluble vitamins A and D. Omega-3 oils are also anti-inflammatories and the high levels of Vitamin E (tocopherols) may help with heart disease.
As mentioned above, the high quantity of oil in avocados and walnuts can only mean one thing – oil is good for you. Of course it has to be the right kind of oil, monounsaturated oil from non-animal sources. Avocado and walnut oil can be found in bottles as well as in the fruit/nut themselves and other great oils are olive, rapeseed and coconut.
Different oils have different ‘smoke’ points – meaning how high a temperature they burn at, so make sure to check before cooking with your oil as it might not be suitable for cooking – but it’s always suitable for dipping bread into or tossing with a little vinegar into a fresh salad.
A lot of the foods featured here are ‘brain foods’, that help the brain in some way – usually through the oils contained within. Salmon is another super brain food filled with Omega 3 and 6 which help with serotonin production leading to a more elevated mood.
Other benefits are it’s full of lean protein which keeps you fuller for longer and it’s got lots of selenium which is an anti-inflamatory and can help with joint suppleness.
It’s hard to get through the day without some little treat, and if you must have something, you can’t do better than a high percentage cocoa (75% and above) dark chocolate. Full of antioxidants and making the news right now that it might help with cardiovascular disease, we can’t think of any reason not to indulge (in moderation).
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