Smart Food Choices
Index of Diseases / Health Conditions ... Medicinal Foods, Herbs, Spices & Household Items
The below provides a general overview on this topic and may not apply to everyone. Any treatment protocol should be discussed with a qualified healthcare practitioner ... Please refer to: Medical & Legal Disclaimer.
When choosing your daily menu, please consider the following:
Healthiest Food Items ("Super Foods"):
- Tard cherries
- Red grapes
- Tomatoes
- Blueberries
- Strawberries
- Oatmeal
- Spinach
- Nuts
- Avocado – lowers bad cholesterol
- Oily fish (salmon) - lowers blood pressure
- Dark, raw chocolate
Healthy Salad Choices:
Smart Salad Choices: Choose darker salads to build a vitamin- and fiber-packed foundation by delivering more than half of your daily vitamin A and all of your vitamin K, plus some folate and vitamin C).
Poor Choices: Lighter greens tend to offer less nutrition. Iceberg lettuce, for instance, delivers only about 7% of the A you need, some K, and not much else.
Good-for-you Salad Toppings:
Good Choices: 1 tablespoon of walnuts or sunflower seeds will provide good-for-your-heart fats that help your body absorb the nutrients in all those veggies. If you craving cheese, add. 1 tablespoon of Parmesan/
Avoid:
Cheddar Cubes -- you will quickly eat more than you need
Croutons & Crunchy Asian Noodles-- they may look harmless but at 100 calories per 1/4 cup, they're usually high in calories and refined carbohydrates, sodium and trans fats.
Salad Dressings:
Smart Choices: Mix your own simple vinaigrette with heart-healthy olive oil, vinegar, mustard and a grating of pepper.
Poor Choices: Skip ready-made salad dressings. Even the low-fat or fat-free versions are usually loaded with salt, sugar, and unhealthy additives.
The Best Vegetables:
Bright Veggies: Colorful vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, cherry tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, beets, provide us with more fiber, minerals, vitamins, and disease-fighting antioxidants than their paler companions, like celery and cucumbers.
Protein:
Choose lean proteins: Chickpeas and kidney beans are great sources of fat-free protein (6 grams each). Sliced hard-boiled eggs are another smart choice, just limit the yolk to limit the fat.
Poor Choices: Avoid ready-made chicken, tuna or crab salads as they are usually made with high-fat mayo. Three-bean salads are typically is afloat in oil and full-fat cottage cheese, as it is high in artery-clogging saturated fat.
Healthy Deserts:
Smart Choices: Mix healthy fruits, such as melons, apple, berries, pineapple, kiwi -- and top with 1 to 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts or sunflower seeds for a sprinkling of good fats and crunchy flavor. Adding of low- or non-fat yogurt or cottage cheese will add some good-for-you protein.
Poor Choices: Syrupy canned peaches, apricots, pears, etc. They have far more calories and fewer nutrients than fresh fruit.
Click here to identify the health benefits of the different fruits and vegetables to enable you to choose those that support your specific health profile.
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