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Superfoods
Nutrition | February 03, 2015
These superfoods are foods that are particularly rich in macronutrients, micronutrients, and phytonutrients. Many of them are also relatively low in calories and high in fiber. I try to build my diet around these superfoods for the following reasons:
1. It gives me a handy list for grocery shopping that guides my food selection.
2. It’s easy to remember the nutrition facts of the most common ingredients I buy on a weekly basis, therefore I don’t need to fall into the trap of counting calories and it works great with my portion sizing method.
3. It keeps me on track with my healthy lifestyle providing an affirmative nutrition plan – one that is based around what I should eat, rather than focusing on what I shouldn’t eat.
21 Superfoods List
Proteins:
1. Red meat
2. Salmon
3. Omega 3 Eggs
4. Chicken
5. Protein Supplements (Vita-whey, hemp protein, chickpea protein)
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Vegetables and Fruits:
6. Green Leaf Vegetables (spinach, kale, collard)
7. Cruciferous Vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, bok choy)
8. Low GI Fruit (mixed berries, orange, kiwi, peach, apricots, pear, apple, grapefruit, bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, squash, pumpkin )
9. Root vegetables (carrot, ginger, sweet potato)
10. Bulb and Stem vegetables (onion, leek, garlic, celery, asparagus)
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Other Carbohydrates:
11. Mixed beans
12. Quinoa
13. Whole Oats
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Good Fats:
14. Mixed nuts & Seeds
15. Avocados
16. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
17. Fish Oil
18. Coconut Oil & Coconut Milk
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Drinks / other
19. Green Tea
20. Coffee
21. Water
Private Member |
curitiba, parana, brazil
Hi Zuzka, nice post! What do you think about bananas, papaya and mango? Are they considered high GI fruits? The portion size of these fruits to be eaten in the breakfast would be a cupped hand also? Thanks a lot.
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
Yeah, most tropical fruits are high in GI so those would be WEM either for breakfast or post workout (depending on your body type) and it would be considered other carbs so 1 cupped hand.
Private Member |
curitiba, parana, brazil
Thanks for your reply Zuzka, really felt very happy to see it in my inbox! 🙂 I read you avoid bread, which food options would you suggest for breakfast? Nowadays I am eating gluten free bread that I prepare at home with rice flour, tapioca starch and corn starch because I do love bread and it is very hard to leave it… I have tried pancakes also and tapioca sometimes. I have soy milk with coffee and one banana and a slice of papaya. Do you think is it more for breakfast? I feel very hungry in the morning…I have reduced eating carbs also and now I am feeling good and saw lot of improvement in my muscles and leaner body also…Thanks dear.
Private Member |
HI Fernanda! I just bumped into your post. Would you maind sharing your bread recipy? I love eating and making bread and it is the one thing I cannot give up. Thank you
Private Member |
curitiba, parana, brazil
Hi Silvia! Are you from Sri Lanka? I have been to Rameshwaram…close to Sri Lanka…I want to visit your country one day! So nowadays I am eating homemade bread with gluten but I have a nice recipe with peanut flour. I will prepare it today and let you know if it works well. The starch recipes I am not using anymore because it is high carbo. Do you have instagram? Follow me there, Fernanda Desai. See you, take care.
Private Member |
Hi Fernanda! sorry for late reply but I had two mad weeks. I am actually from Italy but we live in Sri Lanka at the moment. We lived in Tamil Nadu about 10 years ago when we didn’t have kids. With children, Sri Lanka is a much easier place than Tamil Nadu. We love it here, included the children. So highly recommended. Unfortunately my phone doesn’t support instagram but thank you for your reply…always interested in new bread-lovers’ recipies! take care
Private Member |
I always like your clear and good researched food recommendations. Thank you Zuzka!
Private Member |
A joy to read! Sadly I don’t like any green veggies (nightmare) other than peas but I do love all other foods you mentioned and I recently tried quinoa for the first time a few days ago….It’s simply amazing! I’d love your input on bananas also as I have one a day with yogurt!
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
I would suggest leaving bananas with yogurt for breakfast or post workout meal. I love bananas 🙂
Private Member |
Zuzka, have you ever heard of Dr.Joel Fuhrman? I have all his books Eat to live it’s my favorite. Let me know what you think. Ciao 🙂 xo
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
I have not, I will look it up 🙂
Private Member |
Let me know what you think. He is awesome Zuzka, ciao
Private Member |
I concur!! Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s “Eat To Live” is an amazing book – be sure to read the newer, updated edition. I did his program years ago and it was extremely effective, and I never felt better. I also liked that he was an ex-figure skater, like me. 🙂
Private Member |
Hi Zuzka, Yes, I always have my banana and yogurt at teatime (5pm) as I’m an intermittent faster who fasts for 20 hours a day so I don’t eat breakfast or lunch…many thanks for your reply 😉
Private Member |
Hi Zuzka, how do you like to cook your leafy greens and give them flavour but not add too much fat? Also kind of embarrassing but veggies like cauliflower and broccoli give me stomach cramps and make me sorta bloated, so I avoid them even though they are so nutritious. Do you have any ideas to help with that? Ps Thank you for the great list! I love reading your blog and have been following you since you started doing YouTube workouts. You’re the real deal, even my army husband works up a sweat trying to keep up to you 😉
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
Hi Taylor – what a pretty name for a girl.. anyways 🙂 Whenever I sauté spinach or kale, it doesn’t usually require too much oil, and you can always sauté them in a little bit of water with spices without even adding any oil or just a table spoon. When it comes to cauliflower and broccoli, I used to have the same exact problem when I used to eat any carbs at any time and a lot of them. Sometimes it’s not the food itself, but more a combination of different foods in your system that creates problems. I don’t get bloated anymore since I have cut down significantly on bread and other carbs. I really like mashed cauliflower with broccoli and chicken for example and it doesn’t get me bloated. Over the holidays I was eating a lot of carbs that I normally don’t (Christmas time is the only time I break my habits) and I noticed all the negative responses of my body to that type of diet. I would suggest you try my FM and WEM strategy and see if it makes any difference.
Private Member |
pilot butte, saskatchewan, canada
wow! almost the same as me!! I feel good now
Private Member |
Hey Zuzka! Great post! Love to read your blog! What about Greek yougurt? You have mentioned it in your previous videos, but not any more. Also I love cheese, it is so hard to give it away! What your recommendations would be? Thank you!
Private Member |
NIce to have this tip… actually I got a real problem as I eat super healthy, I workout almost every single day, I avoid at maximum sugars, refined and industrial food but absolutely not able dropping my bodyfat % … :-((((
So I don’t know what to do… Am I still eating too much ? I will give a try calculating my portion according to your tip and see the results..
I got great results of muscle gain and sculpting but UNDER this lay of fat :-(((( so my mesurements increase instead of the contrary which make me feel unhappy…
HELP !!
Private Member |
Hi Zuzka, thank you for all your recipes ideas!
I was wondering what type of cheeses you eat and what amount you think its ok to have. I used to eat a lot of cheese but stopped a year ago as I and started exercising and changed my eating habits completely.I do eat cottage cheese mainly for breakfast and goat or feta cheese in my salad.
What’s your opinion? Thank you! 🙂
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
I try to stay away from cheese that is too processed and I like to buy raw milk cheese in farmers market or whole foods, but I like all kinds of cheese. It’s dense in calories, so I try to stick to very small portions. I would add a little bit of cheese into a salad or on top of my low carb pizza, etc.
Private Member |
Thank you for the advice, I will definitely keep the portions small!
Private Member |
Thank you Zuzka for the reply! You are wonderful and always a great inspiration!
Private Member |
curitiba, parana, brazil
Hi Zuzka, I would like to know your opinion about dairy products like milk, yogurt. What do you have for breakfast daily and do you do the called cheat day or junk food day once in a week? I am very curious about your diet, if possible give us more details or talk about it in some coffee talk! Thanks, see you take care.
Private Member |
have you ever heard of vita fiber? if so what are your thoughts about it?