Six Superfoods to Know By Nina Planck

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Every day, we need fresh fruit and vegetables for fiber, potassium, vitamin C, and antioxidants, and you can fill up on produce without filling up on calories.  But some vital nutrients come in richer packages. These superfoods are packed with nutrients— and flavor.

Dates stuffed with Almond Butter View Video

Peanuts are all-American, but don’t get in a nut rut. Try almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts. Heart-healthy nuts are rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and antioxidants.  Walnuts are one of the best vegetarian sources of the omega-3 fats that fight obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Brazil nuts are incredibly rich in antioxidant selenium, a fertility food for men. For vitamin E, try almonds. Making fresh nut butters at home is a snap: just put them in the blender or food processor.

You can add a little olive oil (or even milk or water) to thin it down. If you’re snacking, nuts will keep blood sugar steady.  When you’re eating nuts on the go, watch for added sugar, corn oil, and salt.  I buy raw, unsalted nuts—organic when I can—and add unrefined sea salt at home.  You can also toast them gently in a low oven.  My favorite home-grown nuts are hazelnuts from Holmquist Orchards in Washington.

All beef is a great source of iron, B vitamins, and zinc—three nutrients many Americans don’t get enough of.  But grass-fed beef has other virtues.  Back in the Stone Age, all our ancestors ate was grass-fed game. That’s because game animals are herbivores.  About fifty years ago, we started to fatten cattle on grain instead of grass. But their natural diet is better for us. According to Stone Age nutrition expert Loren Cordain, grass-fed beef resembles the wild game our ancestors ate. It contains less fat, less saturated fat, more CLA (an anti-cancer fat), and more omega-3 fat than grain-fed beef.  Check out www.EatWild.com for more on grass-fed meats and where to buy them.

Olive Oil Dipping Sauce View Video

The Queen of Fats contains monounsaturated fats (which reduce inflammation), phenols (cancer-fighting antioxidants), and vitamin E. Skin, red blood cells, heart, nerves, sperm—it’s hard to name a body part that doesn’t depend on vitamin E.  Buy cold-pressed, extra-virgin oil. It contains more phenols and its vitamin E is undamaged. Never burn it. Sauté vegetables gently or use the green-golden liquid at room temperature  to dress salads and make cold sauces, like pesto.

Our Stone Age ancestors made do with ripe fruit (in season) and the occasional raid on a bee hive. That’s why our bodies still love concentrated carbohydrates: once they were hard to come by.  But it’s better not to eat too much sugar. Try these whole, natural sweeteners instead.  Unfiltered, raw honey contains pollen to beat allergies, propolis (one of many phytonutrients in honey), and enzymes to aid digestion.  It’s been a health food for centuries, used to treat delicate digestion and heal wounds.  Molasses is the nutritious by-product from boiling sugar cane down to white sugar. Blackstrap molasses is from the third boiling, which concentrates nutrients. Unsulphured molasses is a surprisingly good source of iron; it also contains magnesium, calcium, copper, manganese, and potassium. People swear a daily spoonful cures all kinds of ailments, from anemia to constipation to skin trouble. Honey and molasses are folk remedies with few detractors.

Coconut Chicken Soup View Video

The coconut is an unusual fruit: it’s rich and the fat is mostly saturated.  Around 1900, American bakers—commercial and domestic—proudly used coconut oil, which makes superlative cookies. Even doctors endorsed it. Then coconut oil became taboo and man-made trans fats took over.  The coconut is making a comeback with science to back it up.  In the South Pacific and other tropical places, traditional diets are rich in saturated coconut oil, yet they don’t get heart disease.

Now we know that coconut oil improves the HDL ratio your doctor is watching. Coconut flakes, coconut milk and cream, and coconut oil also contain an antiviral fat called lauric acid. It’s one of the immune-boosters babies get from breast milk.  To boost yours, make coconut chicken soup with a pint or two of chicken stock, a can of coconut milk, and freshly grated ginger.  I buy an organic brand called Tropical Traditions.

Here’s one superfood that’s easy on the waist line and popular with kids. The bark of the cinnamon tree, native to Sri Lanka, turns out to have extraordinary health benefits.  It seems to reduce LDL, regulate blood sugar, prevent arthritis, inhibit cancer cells, and cure yeast infections. And who doesn’t like cinnamon?  Sprinkle in on French toast, oatmeal, hot buttered toast, a glass of warm milk, or a cup of hot chocolate. Cinnamon is great on bananas sautéed with butter. Organic spices may not be irradiated, and I think they taste fresher and stronger.

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