1. Add Superfoods to Your Diet
Superfoods
are natural foods that are nutritive powerhouses. They work to ensure
your body gets what it needs to be healthy. Loaded with nutrients,
superfoods can help you lower your cholesterol, reduce your risk of
heart disease and cancer, stabilize your moods, and more importantly,
boost your metabolism. According to nutritionist Elizabeth Somer, author
of The Essential Guide to Vitamins and Minerals, a healthy diet
incorporating a variety of the superfoods discussed in this chapter will
help you maintain your weight, fight disease, and live longer. One
thing these foods all have in common? “Every superfood is going to be a
‘real’ (unprocessed) food,” Somer points out. “You don’t find fortified
potato chips in the superfood category.”
2. Eat Nutrient-Rich Vegetables
Everyone
knows that vegetables are good for us, but some vegetables are healthier
than others and can help metabolism. In fact, many vegetables will
satisfy—or nearly satisfy—your daily requirements for several vitamins.
From dark leafy greens rich in calcium, iron, and magnesium to the
cruciferous vegetables like bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, turnips, and
water cress that have cancer-preventing antioxidants to nutrient-rich
vegetables like carrots, potatoes, yams, and tomatoes, vegetables are
always a good thing to snack on and include with each meal.
3. Love Those Omegas
Omega-3
fatty acids are great for promoting heart health because they protect
against deadly arrhythmias by making the heart cells more stable and
less prone to overexcitement. In one study, those who ate fish just once
or twice a week were 40 percent less likely to die suddenly from a
cardiac arrhythmia. In addition, omega-3 fatty acids may decrease the
risk of a stroke, and they are excellent at maintaining good blood sugar
levels. Studies have even suggested that they may play a factor in
weight loss. Thus, it’s important to make sure they’re a staple of your
healthy diet. Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in wild salmon, mackerel,
herring, dried butternuts, black walnuts, soybeans, sardines, lake
trout, Chinook salmon, cooked pinto beans, fortified eggs, flaxseed, and
walnuts. These superfoods also have the added benefit of being high in
monounsaturated fats, which can lower cholesterol.
4. Eat Flax
Loaded with
omega-3 fatty acids, flax bolsters cell membranes and helps your body
respond more efficiently to insulin, thereby improving glucose
absorption, which in turn helps stabilize blood sugar levels. In other
words, flax is one superfood you can easily incorporate in your diet and
reap major metabolic benefits. You can buy flaxseed oil at most
supermarkets or health food stores, or toss ground flaxseeds (if they
aren’t ground, they don’t provide the same benefits) on your granola or
oatmeal. Flax is also readily available in many types of bread; just
check the ingredients!
5. Eat a Nut
Nuts are
high in fat, but they contain minerals, fiber, and nice amounts of
protein. All nuts and seeds are small powerhouses. They are so powerful,
in fact, that just having a serving of nuts five times a week can
significantly reduce your risk for heart disease. However, nuts are high
in calories and should be eaten in moderation; think of a serving as a
tablespoon or two. Look for nuts that are unsalted; it’s not important
whether they are roasted or unroasted. Nuts are great sprinkled on foods
high in vitamin C, such as fruit and vegetables, because the vitamin C
increases the body’s absorption of the iron in nuts.
6. Eat Walnuts in Particular
The walnut
is the only nut that provides significant amounts of alphalinolenic
acid, one of the three omega-3 fatty acids. Because your body cannot
produce this acid, it needs to be provided daily from other sources.
Seven walnuts can fulfill your daily need for these essential fatty
acids. Omega-3s are brain food. Their high amounts of unsaturated fat
help lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol in your blood and increase HDL, the
“good” cholesterol. By eating a handful of walnuts a day, you can also
reduce your risk for heart disease.
7. Munch on Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds, also known as
pepitas, nestle in the core of the pumpkin encased in a white-yellow
husk. This superseed contains a number of minerals such as zinc,
magnesium, manganese, iron, copper, and phosphorus, along with proteins,
monounsaturated fat, and the omega fatty acids 3 and 6—all of which
will help boost your metabolism. Today the superpowers of pumpkin seeds
have been found to help prevent prostate cancer in men, protect against
heart disease, and have anti-inflammatory benefits.
