30 foods you should eat more often

by pewpewpew
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January 02, 2009

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Do you want to stop getting sick so much? Do you want to lose weight? Do you wish you had more energy? Do you wish you could concentrate better? Do you want to prevent heart disease and cancer? Do you want to look better and have healthier hair and skin? Do you want to promote your health by eating nutritious foods that also taste delicious? Do you want to save your own life? Put down the potato chips and start munching on spinach and broccoli, washing it down with kombucha. These are 30 of my favorite foods that are not only super tasty, but are also great for your health. Eat away.

Sea vegetables

Sea vegetables provide the widest range of minerals of any food. They contain large amounts of iodine, vitamin K, B-vitamin folate, magnesium, iron and calcium, as well as riboflavin and pantothenic acid, two necessary B-vitamins. Sea vegetables also contain lignans, which are plant compounds with cancer preventative properties. Lignans inhibit angiogenesis, or blood cell growth, which is what causes cancerous tumors in the human body. Eat plenty of sea veggies like kelp, nori, kombu, wakame, dulce, and hijiki.

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Flax oil

Flax seeds contain 1/3 oil and the rest is protein, fiber, and mucilage, so it’s a great source of essential fatty acids. Flax seed oil contains tons of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in just the right proportions, which has a variety of health benefits, from brain functioning to mood improvements to the building of strong cellular membranes. To eat flax oil, put it in a protein shake or drink it by itself. You can also stir a teaspoon of flax oil into tea or another drink. Or, simply take flax supplements!

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Raw local honey

Raw honey is definitely an acquired taste, but I think it’s a delicious and more nutritious alternative to processed honey. Raw honey contains phytonutrients, and some of the same resins found in propolis, which contain cancer prevention properties. These resins include caffeic acid methyl caffeate, phenylethyl caffeate, and phenylethyl dimethylcaffeate, which have been found to inhibit colon cancer in animals! However, by processing and heating the honey, these phytonutrients lose their nutritional benefits, so raw is really the way to go. Also, eating local honey helps fight pollen allergies by helping the body to build immunities.

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Yerba mate

Yerba mate contain 196 active chemical compounds that are good for your health, while green tea only has 144. Yerba mate also contains huge amounts of polyphenols, which are anti-oxidants that prevent cancer and protect the body against cellular destruction. Saponins are also a great property of yerba mate, and protect the body against disease by stimulating the immune system. Plus, each infusion of yerba mate contains vitamins A, C, E, B1, B2, Niacin (B3), B5, and B Complex. Have you ever wondered why so many old people in South America drink yerba mate all day? Maybe they got to be so old because yerba mate is so good for you!

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Fennel

Fennel is scrumptious and very, very good for your health. Though it’s a vegetable, fennel can also be used as a spice. It contains many phytonutrients, like rutin and quercitin, and tons of antioxidants. Fennel also contains anethole, which is an anti-inflammatory agent that helps blocks certain cancers from forming. Fennel is a great source of vitamin C, and its fibers, potassiums, and folates aid in cardiovascular and colon health.

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Miso

Miso has a ton of health benefits that support immune function, energy production, bones, and blood vessels. A small dose of miso contains large amounts of trace minerals zinc, manganese, and copper, and for these health properties, miso is considered by many to be a healing food. Studies have found that Japanese immigrants to Hawaii have shown 60% fewer chance than Americans in developing breast cancer, and many studies attribute this fact to permented soybean products like miso, natto, and soy sauce.

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Squash

My favorite squash, pictured above, is spagetti squash. It tastes great as a pasta substitute and it’s also super healthy. Just one cup of squash gives you a day’s worth of vitamin A. Squash is said to promote men’s health, as well as prevent atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease.

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Lentils

Lentils are so delicious and so good for you – what a wonder food! These tiny gems contain tons of magnesium, fiber, and folates, which help in heart health. Lentils and other legumes are the highest in fiber of all the vegetables, and these dietary fibers protect against digestive problems like irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulosis. Lentils give energy, stabilize blood sugar, and contain lots of iron for health.

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Tempeh

Everyone should eat more tempeh. Tempeh is a delicious food made from fermented soybeans and contains the protein and health benefits of soybeans, as well as some of its own nutritional qualities. The soy protein in tempeh leads to lower cholesterol levels, and a few bites of tempeh (just 4 ounces) contains 42% of your daily recommended value of protein (and at only 225 calories. Tempeh is also a great source of magnesium, which is a blood vessel relaxant that aids in proper cardiovascular function. Tempeh is also delicious and can be incorporated into a variety of Asian and fusion dishes.

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Kale

Kale is a leafy green, and leafy greens are by definition good for you. But kale contains some unique properties that make it an extra special vegetable. Kale has more nutritional value in the least amount of calories than any other vegetable out there. One cup of kale has, in fact, over 1,000% the daily value needed for vitamin K. A flavenoid in kale called maempferol is also said to protect the body against ovarian cancers. Kale also contains tons of phytonutrients that help your body’s detoxifying capabilities and help the blood cleanse itself and disarm free radicals before they damage the body’s cells and DNA. Kale is also great for the eyes! It contains carotenoids which help repair the damage done to the eyes from excessive light, and is also a great source of vitamin A, due to the vegetable’s high beta-carotene content. Vitamin A is necessary in promoting healthy eyesight.

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Sweet potato

Sweet potatos and yams have huge amounts of carotenoids, with impressive levels that are six times the recommended daily value for vitamin A! They also have unique root storage proteins that have great antioxidant capacities that help to reduce harmful free radicals. This anti-inflammatory food contains lots of traditional nutrients like copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium, iron, and vitamin C and manganese as well.

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Tahini

Tahini is made of crushed sesame seeds and has a nutty, savory taste. Like most things, raw tahini is more nutritious than roasted tahini, and is often used by people who are on raw food diets as a substitute to peanut butter. It’s delicious as a dip or spread over bread, and is a wonderful source of calcium, protein, B vitamins, essential fatty acids, and the amino acid methionine. Because the main ingredient of tahini is sesame oil, it is high in calories and ought to be used in sparing amounts as a healthy fat in your diet. The calories are good ones, in moderation, as the fats in tahini are unsaturated rather than saturated, and the fatty acids in the paste are beneficial for your skin and hair.

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Maitake mushrooms

The maitake mushroom is the Elvis of all medicinal mushrooms — it reigns king. This is a tree fungus that tastes amazing, and are one of the most effective sources of beta-glucans in the vegetable kingdom. Beta-glucans stimulate immune response and in promoting immune health, maitake mushrooms are said to prevent certain types of cancer. The FDA has approved a compound called maitake D-fraction that is said to be an effective agent in preventing advanced breast and prostate cancers, as well as lung, liver, and brain cancers too.

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Avocado

You can’t eat too many avocados (they are packed with calories) but in moderate amounts, avocados are delicious and extremely good for you. The fats in avocado are the heart-healthy monosaturated variety, and the essential fatty acids in this fruit (not a vegetable) are great for skin and hair. Avocado in the right portions are great for the heart, by helping decrease bad cholesterol in the body. Avocado also helps your body’s ability to absorb nutrients from other vegetables, particularly carotenoids, and in doing so, promotes optimal health overall. Great!

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Agave nectar

Instead of eating so much sugar, you should use agave nectar as a substitute. Agave nectar is a delicious sweetener that originates from the agave cactus plant. It is also said to have medicinal properties, as the Aztecs used a combination of agave nectar and salt as dressing for wounds and a balm for skin infections. Unlike sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, agave nectar has a good glycemic profile, and doesn’t produce the high insulin spikes as sugars with a high glycemic index. Therefore, it’s a good sweetener to use while dieting, and some diabetics can even use agave nectar in a safe manner. This is a necessary sweetener for the health conscious!

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Fish

Fish is one of nature’s healthiest foods. Fatty fish like salmon contain large amounts of heart and brain protecting omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, and is also a great source of selenium, which is necessarily for immune defense functions. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish 3 times a week! However, many studies caution against eating farmed raised fish, because they are much less healthy overall than fresh caught fish, and kept in small confines where disease spreads easily. Farm raised fish die prematurely at rates up to 30% and require strong doses of antibiotics to keep them alive, and these drugs leave residues in human food that is then consumed by us. Lesson: eat fish, but eat wild-caught fish.

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Almonds

Nuts are good for you, end of story. In moderate amounts, nuts contain tons of healthy fats (monounsaturated fats, like those found in olive oil), and a serving of almonds every day can lower cholesterol 14%. Tons of vitamin E, potassium, and magnesium top almonds as the healthiest of all the nuts.

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Goji berries

Goji berries come from Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and the Tian Shan Mountains of western Xinjiang, in China. You can get your goji berries from a health food store (and be prepared to pay top dollar) or you can go to Chinatown or an Asian food store and get them on the cheap, for just as good! This is a Chinese medicinal food that works on the liver, lungs, and kidney, and is a yin balancing food. Gogi berries – also called wolfberries – contain tons of antioxidants, like zeaxanthin, which aids in protective light-filtering.

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Quinoa

This Andean grain from South America has been an important part of the diet of that region for the last 6,000 years and now is a popular staple among bougie neo-hippies everywhere. Quinoa (pronounced “keen wah”) is the highest protein content of any grain, 12%–18% protein, and unlike other grains like wheat that are low in lysine, quinoa has a balanced content of amino acids. Quinoa is high in magnesium, phosphorus, iron, and dietary fiber, and it’s completely gluten-free, which makes it easy to digest. It’s very easy to prepare (simply boiled in water) and delicious at eat.

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Tofu

Tofu, in addition to being my personal favorite food, is packed with isoflavones, which is a cancer-fighting compound that fights against certain kinds of breast and prostate cancers. Also, 90 mg of isoflavones daily improves bone density, and half a cup of tofu has 30 g! Soy is also a huge source of protein, especially soy protein, which can lower your total cholesterol. Tofu gets a bad rap for being bland, but it has the ability to take on the taste of any other food out there, so it’s a great meat substitute if you prepare it properly.

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Yogurt

Yogurt is delectable to eat, both savory and sweet, and is healthy for you to boot. Some people even say that yogurt can add years to your life if you study the life expectancies of cultures that incorporate lots of yogurt into their traditional diets. Yogurt is a great source of iodine, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin B (riboflavin), as well as protein, vitamin B12, and zinc. Yogurt boosts immune responses, lowers cholesterol, increases fat loss by increasing metabolism, helps bone growth, and is great for the digestive tract and reduces chance of colon cancer, as well as promoting a healthy mouth. And those are just a few of the effects of yogurt! Yum.

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Wheat germ

Wheat germ is the reproductive part of a wheat plants that allows for germination, and it’s a great source of nutriends that include niacin, riboflavin, folate, thiamin, magnesium, phosphorus, itamin E, iron, potassium, and zinc. Wheat germ is easy to eat as well — just sprinkle it into yogurt, eat it in a protein shake, or make granola bars or bread with it! Some people even like to just dig into wheat germ like it’s cereal: milk, spoon, bowl.

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Oysters

Oysters are delicious and healthy at the same time. Eating only six oysters doses you with five times the recommended daily value for zinc, which is critical for immune function. Oysters contain properties that aid nerve functioning, protect against blood clotting, and contain enzymes that help with digestion. Not to mention, oysters as super low in calories and super delicious and easy to eat. Just be careful that your oysters are high quality – bad oysters contain biotoxins.

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Kombucha

Kombucha, a fermented probiotic tea, is an expensive addiction to develop. One of these Synergy bad boys will set you back anywhere from $3 to $5, depending on where you shop. Kombucha helps maintain a healthy digestive system by supporting the intestinal microflora. The probiotic functions support bacterial balance in the digestive tracts, by creating harmony between good and bad bacteria and by supporting healthy bowels. Kombucha also works as an appetite suppressant, and at only 70 calories, is a very good dietary supplement. Not to mention, kombucha tastes amazing, especially the fruit flavored variety produced by GT’s Kombucha.

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Acai juice

Acai juice is remarkable for your health. A single serving of acai berry juice can provide anthocyanins in amounts of over thirty times that of red wine. Anthocyanins are great for circulation and heart functioning, and prevent likelihood of blood clots, improve blood circulation, relax blood vessels, and prevent arthrosclerosis. Acai also includes all the beneficial fatty acids of olive oil, with much lower calories. Be prepared to shell out the big bucks for a single shot of acai juice, however. While many specialty health food store provide this Amazon elixir, a bottle of acai juice, like those above, costs $50. Expensive, but delicious. I love a shot of acai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) in my berry smoothies.

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Spinach

Obviously, spinach is good for you. Popeye the Sailor Man ate it to build his superhuman muscles, and our moms have been telling us since the dawn of time to eat more of it. There are 13 different flavonoid compounds in spinach that act as cancer prevention agents and health promoting antioxidants. Lesser well known benefits of spinach include making you smarter. Studies show spinach shields the brain against oxidative stress and declines in brain function due to aging. The vitamin E in spinach helps protect the brain’s loss of functioning due to aging by as much as 40%, some studies show. Eat a bed of spinach with your fish for a super boost of brain power!

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Wheatgrass

Wheatgrass is a stereotype for the health food industry, and the backlash against wheatgrass enthusiasts has begun a long time ago. However, the facts don’t lie, wheatgrass is totally good for you and its supporters aren’t going anywhere. Wheatgrass, which are the young grass of the common wheat plant that get juiced or powdered into drinks, is so packed with nutrients that 1 ounce of wheat grass juice is the equivalent of 2.2 pounds of vegetables. Because wheatgrass is so high in chlorophyll, which is structurally similar to hemoglobin, wheatgrass is also good for blood flow, prevention of blood clots, and detoxification of the body.

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Blackberries

A single cup of blackberries as 10 grams of dietary fiber, which is more than most protein bars sold at health food stores. Blackberries are packed with vitamin E and has tons of antioxidants that act like anti-inflammatories which help the body fight infection. Blackberries are also a good source of salcylate, which lowers risk of heart disease. In addition, blackberries contains vitamin C, phenolic acids and folate, all of which promote body functions and health.

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Broccoli

Well, duh, of course we should eat more broccoli. A member of the cabbage family, broccoli is high in phytonutrients, sulforaphane, and indoles, which are proven to have anti-cancer effects. Studies have proven broccoli can help prevent prostate, ovarian, and bladder cancer. On top of this, broccoli has a host of other health benefits, which make broccoli a true superfood. A single serving contains 72 mg of calcium, 78 mcg of folic acid, and all the vitamin C your body needs in a whole day. The list of great effects goes on: cataract prevention, healthy skin, immune system booster, cardio-protective, birth defect prevention, stomach health, stronger bones, and blood detoxification are just a few of the health benefits of broccoli, my favorite vegetable of them all.

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Garlic

More garlic please! Garlic has been used since the dawn of civilization as a folk remedy against everything from the common cold to the bubonic plague, not to mention its use in fighting vampires! In real life, though, the health benefits of garlic are easy to detect. First, garlic is has a powerful antioxidant effect that protects the body against free radicals. Garlic is a known cholesterol reducer that promotes heart function and general health and balancing. Weirdly, garlic can also repel mosquitos and help cure acne. My favorite aspect of garlic is that it’s a natural antibiotic that the body does not build resistance to, so that the effects stay just as strong over time in protecting the immune system. Not to mention, almost everything tastes better with garlic.

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Apricots

Apricots are amazing for you, and they’re so delicious and pretty too. Apricots are a huge source of beta-carotene (which gets turned into vitamin A in the body) and produces 35% of the recommended daily value of vitamin A in just one serving. The vitamin A in aprocots help aid and protect eye functioning. Apricots also contain lycopene, which is an carotenoid that helps protect men against developing prostate cancer. Apricots are also a great source of dietary fiber and are wonderful for the digestion.

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