Super Foods

So maybe Brad Pitt has it all, but unfortunately, no single food does. We need a variety of foods to keep our body looking as fine and functional as Brad’s.

However, some foods are slightly more potent in their health benefits. Namely because of the nutrients they contain.

The foods listed below contain anti-oxidants, and/or omega oils, and/or fibre. All of these have a role in keeping your body in tip, top condition, because they play a role in removing nasties or improving cell health.

Super foods include:

Fruit and Vegetables

Especially berries, citrus fruits and tomatoes

Green leafy vegetable and especially Brassica vegies

These provide fibre, anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals

Oats, oat bran and pulses

Contain soluble fibre.

Nuts

Particularly almonds, walnuts, and macadamias

Provide essential oils such as the omega 3 and 6 as well as fibre

Tea

Green and black teas

A good source of anti-oxidants

Those Magic ingredients

Anti-oxidants

Anti-oxidants are like pac-men. They chase around after “free radicals” and neutralise them. Free radicals cause damage to the body and are produced when oxidation occurs. We can’t stop this process but we can clean up the free radicals by eating foods high in anti oxidants. Anti-oxidants are found in:

Fruit and vegetables – flavonoids , carotenoids,  Vitamin A, C, and E, and minerals such as copper, zinc and selenium. These are found in highest quantities in green leafy veg, orange veg, and onions but are present in most other fruit and veg

Tea – contains catechins and theaflavins – especially high in green tea, but also black tea.

Berries, grapes, rosemary and oregano – anthocyanins

Tomatoes – lycopenes

And yes, red wine does have anti-oxidants as well, but excessive wine intake does not improve your health!

Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids

These super fats help reduce inflammation, lower blood pressure, prevent irregular heart rhythms and improve blood flow. They slow the build up of fatty substances in the blood vessels and prevent blood platelets sticking together to form clots.

Omega friendly foods include walnuts, pecans, linseed, omega enriched eggs, soy drinks, soy and linseed breads, as well as oily fish such as salmon and tuna or white fish such as bream, ling, perch and whiting. Also oils such as canola or flaxeed, olive, walnut or soybean. Omega 6’s are found predominantly in Grapeseed and peanut oil, sunflower and safflower oils, nuts and seeds.

Fibre

Fibre is found in plant foods. There are essentially two types of fibre:

Insoluble fibre, or roughage. Examples include the skins on vegetables and wheat fibre eg all bran. It is indigestible fibre and it helps keep you regular.

Soluble fibre is found in fruits, vegetables (often as the pectin or fleshy parts of the food), as well as in oats, oat bran and legumes / pulses. It is broken down in the bowel and absorbed by the gut wall to keep it healthy.

A menu that will help you increase your “superfood” intake could look a little like this:

Breakfast:

fresh squeezed juices with an emphasis on the vegetables. Try juicing carrot, beetroot, celery, parsley, spinach, ginger, lemon, orange and pineapple.

A slice of toast with tomato and avocado

Morning tea:

Berries with yoghurt, nuts and seeds

Cup of black tea

Lunch:

Tuna and salad sandwich (soy and linseed bread)

Cup of green tea

 Afternoon tea:

Vegetable soup with miso

 Dinner:

A lean piece of meat or chicken

Vegetables lightly steamed

A sauce made from the gentle simmering of olive oil, tomatoes and onions

A cup of green tea

Eating like this is like taking one of nature’s great big vitamin pills!