Superfoods claim to have superpowers like turning back our biological clock, giving us glowing skin and overcoming and preventing cancer, not to mention energy and vitality.
The only problem with this standard super food idea, is that most super foods are super foods based off of a new marketing scheme.
Their superiority is narrowly focused thus lacking the ability for humans to sustain themselves on them.
I love the idea of super foods but it doesn’t matter how many polyphenols and anti-cancer phytochemicals we consume if we don’t have enough nutrients on board.
Nutrients like vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids that enable enzyme activity, build and repair our DNA lattice, form the structure to our cell membranes and act as building blocks to every neurotransmitter, hormone and tissue in our body we are going to be under performing, living in dysfunction and definitely not feeling super about our body.
So what are superfoods?
Superfoods are considered super because they have a specific phytochemical compound that supports a specific response in the body.
So in view of the idea of superfoods, ask yourself how many other foods would I need on board for me to sustain a life of robust health if I ate a steak vs açaí berry? Or a piece of salmon vs kale?
According to our friends at the CDC, chard and spinach top the list of foods we should be eating to stave off disease. I will admit I was actually surprised they mentioned a non-processed food item.
Usually General Mills enriched food items top their must eat list, but in view of spinach and chard, there is no human that could last even a month on spinach and chard.
In fact we would end up with kidney stones long before enjoying the super benefits of these foods.
However, take eggs, fresh fish, or grass-fed beef. You could sustain your life potentially indefinitely with these items because of the vitamins, mineral, proteins, fatty acids contained in them.
Now I am not recommending anyone try this but I think this is a foundational approach we want to take when looking at sustaining our body at its highest level.
Superfoods vs Super supportive foods
Do you eat foundational foods that are loaded with nourishment consistently? If yes, then go about adding in whole or what I would call super supportive foods consciously to your routine.
And what would some of these extra foods be?
On the vegetable front, I would pick Broccoli sprouts.
On the fruit front, I would pick blueberries, raspberries, blackberries.
On the nut front, I would pick brazil nuts, as they are loaded with selenium which is often lacking in our diet. Remember 3-4 brazil nuts is sufficient, to get your selenium needs met.
On the root or starch front, I would pick purple potatoes or red, orange fleshed root vegetable. Things like beets or sweet potatoes. When looking for a food that is loaded with that extra bit of phytochemical, disease-proofing power you want to take a look at the flesh.
If the flesh is red, orange, blue, purple all the way through, you are getting a food loaded with phytochemical power. The colorful pigments and anthocyanins really do pack a strong anti-inflammatory punch and turn on genes that promote all things life and health.
I would also put avocados and olives into the super supportive food category as they are hyper-digestible and loaded with life-sustaining fats.
Olives in particular are a great source of Vitamin E which many are lacking. They also when added to many high vegetable meals, greatly increase the satisfaction and satiety factor of the meal.
Finally I want to remind you of the benefits of garlic. Garlic has antimicrobial properties, overall immune-enhancing and balancing properties. It is also helpful for blood pressure and decreasing excess clotting.
In fact a 2017 study showed that just eating garlic twice a day could lower blood pressure in people with metabolic syndrome.
Garlic intake has promising studies related to lowering risk of prostate, colon, stomach, esophagus cancer. It kills yeast, feeds beneficial bacteria. Garlic is a super supportive food.
Finally, eat your egg yolks. So many of us are deficient in iodine because we are not eating seaweed or using iodized salts. Egg yolks are probably the easiest place for most of us to get a naturally occurring punch of iodine. Remember, without iodine, your thyroid can’t do what a thyroid wants to do.
