If you could only select five foods to survive on, potatoes, kale, trail mix, grains, and beans would get you pretty far.
Using Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate as a guide, we recommend eating mostly vegetables, fruit, and whole grains, healthy fats, and healthy proteins. We suggest drinking water instead of sugary beverages, and we also address common dietary concerns such as salt and sodium, vitamins, and alcohol.
These include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, and turnips. They are an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, and phytochemicals including indoles, thiocyanates, and nitriles, which may prevent against some types of cancer.
Iceberg Lettuce
It has almost no nutritional value, less than one gram of fiber per cup, and only 10 calories.
Everyone should have at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. An adult portion of fruit or vegetables is 80g. The guide below will give you an indication of typical portion sizes for adults. Children should also eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day.
While a healthy vegetarian diet that includes a variety of different foods can provide all of the nutrients you need, a diet consisting of only vegetables doesn't. Vegetables don't contain sufficient amounts of certain vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B-12 and vitamin D.
Depending on their age and sex federal guidelines recommend that adults eat at least 1½ to 2 cups per day of fruit and 2 to 3 cups per day of vegetables as part of a healthy eating pattern.
Good choices include oranges, blueberries, apples, avocados, and bananas, but there are many more to choose from. Fruits are an excellent source of essential vitamins and minerals, and they are high in fiber. Fruits also provide a wide range of health-boosting antioxidants, including flavonoids.
Mushrooms have been a part of the human diet for thousands of years, with evidence of fungi as a staple of Stone Age dietary habits dating back as far as 19,000 years ago.
Leafy green vegetables like spring greens, spinach, cabbage and watercress are great energy foods. This is because they're rich in energy-boosting nutrients such as magnesium, potassium and vitamins A, C and K.
Avocados are a perfect example, and one of our favorite superfoods. Not only are they incredibly nutrient dense, but they're also a creamy, tasty compliment to so many of our menu items. Here are four impressive reasons avocados are one superfood that should be on your plate as often as possible.
Thanks to the amount of essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that's packed into each Daucus carota subsp. sativus, many experts have elevated this humble veggie to the level of “superfood.” Here are some fun carrot facts to chew on.
Despite some negative attention, bananas are nutritious and may even carry the title of the first “superfood,” endorsed by the American Medical Association in the early 20th century as a health food for children and a treatment for celiac disease.
Eggs are also a great source of heart-healthy nutrients like potassium, folate and B vitamins. Some research suggests that up to two eggs per day actually improves heart health. As with anything, moderation is important, especially if you enjoy eggs daily.