The Healthiest Foods On Earth
The most important consideration in constructing a healthy diet: Eat whole foods
that have had minimal processing.
By Jonny Bowden, Forbes.com
Hold on to your shopping carts: There is no perfect diet for human beings. At
least not one that's based on how much protein, fat or carbohydrates you eat.
People have lived and thrived on high-protein, high-fat diets (the Inuit of
Greenland); on low-protein, high-carb diets (the indigenous peoples of southern
Africa); on diets high in raw milk and cream (the people of the Loetschental
Valley in Switzerland); diets high in saturated fat (the Trobriand Islanders)
and even on diets in which animal blood is considered a staple (the Massai of
Kenya and Tanzania). And folks have thrived on these diets without the ravages
of degenerative diseases that are so epidemic in modern American life-heart
disease, diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, osteoporosis and cancer.
In Pictures: The Healthiest Foods On Earth
The only thing these diets have in common is that they're all based on whole
foods with minimal processing. Nuts, berries, beans, raw milk, grass-fed meat.
Whole, real, unprocessed food is almost always healthy, regardless of how many
grams of carbs, protein or fat it contains.
All these healthy diets have in common the fact that they are absent foods with
bar codes. They are also extremely low in sugar. In fact, the number of modern
or ancient societies known for health and longevity that have consumed a diet
high in sugar would be ... let's see ... zero.
Truth be told, what you eat probably matters less than how much processing it's
undergone. Real food-whole food with minimal processing-contains a virtual
pharmacy of nutrients, phytochemicals, enzymes, vitamins, minerals,
antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and healthful fats, and can easily keep you
alive and thriving into your 10th decade.
Berries, for example, are phenomenally low in calories, high in fiber and loaded
with plant compounds that improve memory and help fight cancer. Studies have
consistently shown that nut-eaters have lower rates of heart disease. Beans are
notorious for their high fiber content and are a part of the diet of people-from
almost every corner of the globe-who live long and well.
Protein--the word comes from a Greek word meaning "of prime importance"-is a
feature of every healthy diet ever studied. Meat, contrary to its terrible
reputation, can be a health food if-and this is a big if-the meat comes from
animals that have been raised on pasture land, have never seen the inside of a
feedlot farm and have never been shot full of antibiotics and hormones.
Ditto for raw milk, generally believed to be one of the healthiest beverages on
the planet by countless devotees who often go to great expense and inconvenience
to obtain it from small, sustainable farms. Wild salmon, whose omega-3 content
is consistently higher than its less-fortunate, farm-raised brethren, gets its
red color from a powerful antioxidant called astaxathin. The combination of
protein, omega-3s and antioxidants makes wild salmon a contender for anyone's
list of great foods.
Another great food: eggs-one of nature's most perfect creations, especially if
you don't throw out the all-important yolk. (Remember "whole" foods means
exactly that-foods in their original form. Our robust ancestors did not eat
"low-fat" caribou; we don't need to eat "egg-white" omelets.)
There are really no "bad" vegetables, but some of them are superstars. Any
vegetable from the Brassica genus-broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale-is
loaded with plant chemicals called indoles, which help reduce the risk of
cancer.
In the fruit kingdom, apples totally deserve their reputation as
doctor-repellants: they're loaded with fiber, minerals (like bone-building
boron) and phytochemicals (like quercetin, which is known to be a powerful
anti-inflammatory and to have anti-cancer properties). Some exciting new
research suggests that pomegranate juice slows the progression of certain
cancers. Other research shows it lowers blood pressure and may even act as a
"natural Viagra."
Tea deserves special mention on any list of the world's healthiest foods. The
second most widely consumed beverage in the world (after water), all forms of
tea (black, oolong, white, green and the newer Yerba Matte) are loaded with
antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Some types (green tea, for example)
contain plant chemicals called catechins which have decidedly anti-cancer
activity.
Finally, let's not forget members of the Alliaceae family of plants-onions,
garlic and shallots. Garlic has been used for thousands of years for its
medicinal properties; hundreds of published studies support its antimicrobial
effects as well as its ability to lower the risk of heart disease. A number of
studies have shown an inverse relationship between onion consumption and certain
types of cancer.
A healthy diet doesn't have to contain every one of the "healthiest foods on
earth," but you can't go wrong putting as many of the above mentioned foods in
heavy rotation on your personal eating plan.
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., is a board-certified nutritionist and the author of
seven books on health and nutrition, including The 150 Most Effective Ways to
Boost Your Energy and The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.
__________________ "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~
Thanks Kind2C, I heard recently that Florida and other places have bumper crops of strawberries this Spring, making them cheaper in
the grocery stores. Kroger has them 3 1lb boxes for $5.00
Yuuuuuuummmm!
Thanks Kind2C, I heard recently that Florida and other places have bumper crops of strawberries this Spring, making them cheaper in
the grocery stores. Kroger has them 3 1lb boxes for $5.00
Yuuuuuuummmm!
Our nearby Sunflower natural supermarket had 1lb. containers for 97 cents each. I bought 10 lbs. , we've been stuffing our faces every evening for a healthy snack. Before the strawberries, I bought 12 (6oz.) containers of blackberries for under a dollar each, and blueberries before that in the same price range.
The only thing these diets have in common is that they're all based on whole
foods with minimal processing. Nuts, berries, beans, raw milk, grass-fed meat.
Whole, real, unprocessed food is almost always healthy, regardless of how many
grams of carbs, protein or fat it contains.
The French believe this. They are not even afraid of nearly raw hamburgers. They have a gormet dish with raw ground beef and garlic. The garlic probably kills all the parasites. Some of their citizens have told me that food is healthier when there is the least processing. No thanks on some of that.
Strawberries will whiten your teeth. Some reaction of hydrogen peroxide and anthocyanin, which are high in the strawberry.
__________________
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- Jim
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." �Eleanor Roosevelt
Jonny Bowden is right on, I follow him and he seems to know his stuff. A whole food diet is not only right, it is what was available up to now.
There were very few cultures that counted carbs, fat, and calories. Most were happy to have food. Now we have very little real food, but lots of processed food. We are overfed and undernourished.
So far none of the healthcare providers seem to understand the fact that our health is on the line when we eat the standard American diet of processed foods.
Fresh whole foods, fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains, are the key to physical, emotional and spiritual health. Add a lot of color to your plate for a healthy life style.
Healthiest Foods On Earth
, we've been stuffing our faces every evening for a healthy snack. Before the strawberries, I bought 12 (6oz.) containers of blackberries for under a dollar each, and blueberries before that in the same price range. 
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