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Harvard Health Blog
10 superfoods to boost a healthy diet
- By Katherine D. McManus, MS, RD, LDN, Contributor
No single food — not even a superfood — can offer all the nutrition, health benefits, and energy we need to nourish ourselves. The 2015–2020 US Dietary Guidelines recommend healthy eating patterns, "combining healthy choices from across all food groups — while paying attention to calorie limits."
Over the years, research has shown that healthy dietary patterns can reduce risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. Dietary patterns such as the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet and the Mediterranean diet, which are mostly plant-based, have demonstrated significant health benefits and reduction of chronic disease.
However, there are a few foods that can be singled out for special recognition. These "superfoods" offer some very important nutrients that can power-pack your meals and snacks, and further enhance a healthy eating pattern.
Superfoods list
Berries. High in fiber, berries are naturally sweet, and their rich colors mean they are high in antioxidants and disease-fighting nutrients.
How to include them: When berries are not in season, it is just as healthy to buy them frozen. Add to yogurt, cereals, and smoothies, or eat plain for a snack.
Fish. Fish can be a good source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, which help prevent heart disease.
How to include it: Buy fresh, frozen, or canned fish. Fish with the highest omega-3 content are salmon, tuna steaks, mackerel, herring, trout, anchovies, and sardines.
Leafy greens. Dark, leafy greens are a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium, as well as several phytochemicals (chemicals made by plants that have a positive effect on your health). They also add fiber into the diet.
How to include them: Try varieties such as spinach, swiss chard, kale, collard greens, or mustard greens. Throw them into salads or sauté them in a little olive oil. You can also add greens to soups and stews.
Nuts. Hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, pecans — nuts are a good source of plant protein. They also contain monounsaturated fats, which may be a factor in reducing the risk of heart disease.
How to include them: Add a handful to oatmeal or yogurt or have as a snack. But remember they are calorically dense, so limit to a small handful. Try the various types of nut butters such as peanut (technically a legume), almond, or cashew. Nuts are also a great accompaniment to cooked veggies or salads.
Olive oil. Olive oil is a good source of vitamin E, polyphenols, and monounsaturated fatty acids, all which help reduce the risk of heart disease.
How to include it: Use in place of butter or margarine in pasta or rice dishes. Drizzle over vegetables, use as a dressing, or when sautéing.
Whole grains. A good source of both soluble and insoluble fiber, whole grains also contain several B vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. They have been shown to lower cholesterol and protect against heart disease and diabetes.
How to include them: Try having a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. Substitute bulgur, quinoa, wheat berries, or brown rice for your usual baked potato. When buying breads at the supermarket, look to see that the first ingredient is "100% whole wheat flour."
Yogurt. A good source of calcium and protein, yogurt also contains live cultures called probiotics. These "good bacteria" can protect the body from other, more harmful bacteria.
How to include it: Try eating more yogurt, but watch out for fruited or flavored yogurts, which contain a lot of added sugar. Buy plain yogurt and add your own fruit. Look for yogurts that have "live active cultures" such as Lactobacillus, L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, and S. thermophilus. You can use yogurt in place of mayonnaise or sour cream in dips or sauces.
Cruciferous vegetables. These include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, and turnips. They are an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, and phytochemicals including indoles, thiocyanates, and nitriles, which may prevent against some types of cancer.
How to include them: Steam or stir-fry, adding healthy oils and herbs and seasonings for flavor. Try adding a frozen cruciferous vegetable medley to soups, casseroles, and pasta dishes.
Legumes. This broad category includes kidney, black, red, and garbanzo beans, as well as soybeans and peas. Legumes are an excellent source of fiber, folate, and plant-based protein. Studies show they can help reduce the risk of heart disease.
How to include them: Add to salads, soups, and casseroles. Make a chili or a bean- based spread such as hummus.
Tomatoes. These are high in vitamin C and lycopene, which has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
How to include them: Try tomatoes in a salad or as a tomato sauce over your pasta. You can also put them in stews, soups, or chili. Lycopene becomes more available for your body to use when tomatoes are prepared and heated in a healthy fat such as olive oil.
Image: marylina/Getty Images
About the Author
Katherine D. McManus, MS, RD, LDN, Contributor
Disclaimer:
As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.
No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
Comments
In my opinion… it is not enough to eat healthy foods, but we should add herbs and maybe checking that the food that is eaten is as organic as possible, and that there are no unnecessary spraying or… grow some of your food in your garden or on your balcony.
Recently I investigated the subject and came to an interesting book The Lost Book of Remedies, how to find them and how to grow on your own for batter health..
I am waiting now for the” super drinks”. There must be something outside water. ?
Difficult to understand how early man survived without access to the wide range of foods suggested. Our ancestors did not have the ability to, “combine healthy choices from across all food groups.” Our ancestors were not at one with nature. Nature tried to kill them and starve them out; they survived anyway, sometimes with more meat, sometimes with less, thanks in part to the ancient flexibility of our guts. it has been suggested that our shift to eating more meat historically might have allowed investment in bigger brains which might, in turn, have required us to eat more meat so as to feed the bigger brain and simultaneously made our large intestines and their fermentation less necessary. In summary, our bodies are all fully-equipped to deal with meat and natural sugars , and harder to digest plant material. I prefer to eat seafood and some red meat., and some fruit.
Are you just gonna ignore the average lifespan of our ancestors?
It was the invention of fire and cooking foods that promoted bigger brains.
Wow very nice food healthy food tips..
They need to admit in America that most people cant tolerate gluten so we all eat plenty of other food period. I am 37 and people think I’m young looking- easy fix when you eat lots of veggie burgers and broccoli ravbbe plus healthy choices
I wonder how true these “truths” still are…given the level of mercury and plastics in sea water, how much pesticides, fungicides, sprayed on our produce.
Does drinking hazelnut coffee without cream or sugar contribute to a healthy diet?
I believe Dr. Steven Gundry in Plant Paradox is totally correct in his elimination of whole grains, tomatoes (and other nightshades) and legumes from a healthy diet…too many gut damaging lectins, mainly in the bran of wheat and rice.
Interesting reading with quite a few unexpected placements of foods like raw pork fat placed eighth: Top 100 foods according to multi-component rating based on the following sources is offered by BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180126-the-100-most-nutritious-foods
Is there any proven strategy for attracting YOUNG adults to this site?
They are the least informed group of consumers when it comes to eating healthy. It is imperative that we reach this demographic if we are to
save the human race from ever more man-made diseases promulgated
by by-products of plastics in our foods.
This is interesting to me…..Can you overdo the amount of fat content in your diet.
Great food choices. Can fermented porridge offer the good bacteria for those who do not consume dairy milk?
Some farmed salmon has far higher levels of PCBs then wild caught fish. Because many farmed salmon are, like all ‘farmed’ animals kept in large numbers in way too small of spaces, pesticides and antibiotics are used to keep disease/pest levels down. Not so with wild salmon. Sea lice are a big problem w/farmed salmon, yet another pesticide must be added to the farmed salmon environment to control those sea lice. It’s rare for wild salmon to have a problem/overload of sea lice.
PCDBs are found in the feed of farmed salmon, these are flame retardants that have become almost ubiquitous in the environment but are found in at far higher levels in farmed then wild caught salmon.
These chemical compounds are endocrine disruptors.
Not all fish, not even all salmon are equally nourishing or a “superfood.”
As for vegetables & fruits, I’d check the Environmental work group for which fruits, veg, legumes and whole grains are best to buy organically grown and which are fine if you buy conventionally grown. It’s smart o limit your and your family’s exposure to pesticides and herbicides. Doesn’t hurt to support methods of farming that best protect the environment either as long as you can afford to. Those who have the space & time or access to community garden space, might want to try growing some of their own veg/fruit. Fresh ripe tomatoes, etc. usually taste the best.
do meat qualify
Great List and I just want to mention that I am very new to blogs and honestly liked this website.
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