These 5 great feel good superfoods are arguably the most healthy foods you can eat on a daily basis for general health, wellness, vitality and longevity. All of these foods have different disease fighting attributes and should be included an any well rounded whole food plant based diet.
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Feel Good Superfoods Part 1 – Bountiful Berries
Berries give you protection against cancer, a boost to your immune system and protect the liver and brain.
Greens are the healthiest vegetable and berries are the healthiest fruit, partly due to their rich colors and plant pigments. Leaves contain the green pigment chlorophyll, which activates photosynthesis, giving greens all those great antioxidants.
Berries, on the other hand, evolved to have bright, contrasting colors to attract fruit-eating animals like us. This helps these colorful fruits disperse their seeds. The same characteristics that give berries their colors also give them all those healthy antioxidants.
In general, the more vibrant and colorful the fruit or veggie the healthier it is and more antioxidants it has.
Red onions have 76% more antioxidants than white onions, red cabbage has 8 times the antioxidant amounts as green cabbage. And this trend continues. When shopping for fruit and vegetables go for the bright, vibrant colors to get the healthiest produce.
Berries are second only to herbs and spices for containing the most antioxidants. As a group they average 10 times more antioxidants than other fruits and veggies and have 50 times more antioxidants than animal foods.
Amount of Antioxidants in Various Fruits and Berries
The best berries to eat are the ones you like and will eat the most. However, some fruits and berries have more antioxidants than others. Below you can find the antioxidant power number for your favorite fruit.
- Apple 60
- Banana 40
- Mango 110
- Strawberries 310
- Cranberries 330
- Raspberries 350
- Blueberries 380 (wild blueberries may have twice as much!)
- Blackberries 650!
Are Frozen Berries as Good as Fresh?
Yes! Studies on strawberries, cherries and raspberries suggest that most of the nutrients are retained, even when frozen. While I prefer fresh berries, I mainly eat frozen as they are more convenient, keep for longer, are available year round and are usually cheaper.
I use frozen berries in my muesli and oatmeal and they are great for smoothies.
Feel Good Superfoods Part 2 – Musical Beans
Beans are a great meat alternative. Like meat, beans are loaded with protein, iron and zinc but unlike meat, legumes also contain nutrients like fiber, folate and potassium.
Beans are low in saturated fat and sodium and free of cholesterol. The most comprehensive study on diet and cancer ever published recommends eating whole grains and legumes at most meals. Not weekly or daily, at most meals!
Incorporating beans and legumes into most meals can be tricky, but here are some ideas.
- Soy Beans – Tofu and tempeh are quick and easy pre-made soy products that are great as a meat replacement.
- Tempeh is mildly savory with a nutty, earthy flavor that sometimes gets described as similar to mushrooms. It provides a neutral base for nearly any dish, readily taking on the flavor of a sauce or condiments. It is a great ground beef replacement or can even be made to taste like bacon or sausage.
- Tofu is a relatively tasteless soy cake, but that’s what’s great about it. Tofu is there as a base for you to manipulate. It is a blank slate that needs and wants seasoning, marinating, flavor and proper cooking so that it can become anything you want.
- Edamame – Frozen edamame is quick and easy to cook either on the stove top or in the microwave and makes a great snack or appetizer.
- Miso Soup – Miso soup is quick and easy to make and goes great as an appetizer for almost any meal.
- Peas – Have a bag of frozen peas in the freezer and add to soups, stews, pasta and rice dishes. Add them right at the end for some extra color, taste, fiber and protein.
- Lentils – Lentils are cheap, fast cooking and don’t require soaking. They are super healthy, having more than 25% protein, and make quick and easy sprouts.
- Cook lentil and bean soups, stews and curries. One of my main meals is a lentil, bean, quinoa curry stew. I cook it in my instant-pot, which I love, then eat it for a few days before freezing the rest for later.
Feel good Superfoods Part 3 – Crunchy Cruciferous Vegetables
Cruciferous vegetables include arugula, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, horseradish, kale (black, green and red), mustard greens, radishes, turnip greens and watercress.
Benefits of Cruciferous Vegetables
The miracle component of this family of veggies is sulforaphane, which is formed almost exclusively in cruciferous veggies. Sulforaphane and cruciferous veggies can help:
- manage type 2 diabetes
- prevent DNA damage
- protect your brain and eye sight
- reduce nasal allergy inflammation
- treat autism
- activate defenses against pathogens and pollutants
- boost your liver detox enzymes
- protect against cancer by
- preventing metastatic cancer spread
- help prevent lymphoma
- target breast cancer stem cells
- reduce the risk of prostate cancer progression
Strategies to Get the Most Sulforaphane from your Cruciferous Veggies
The tricky thing about sulforaphane is that it is destroyed by cooking and isn’t actually activated in the plant as is. It will only form once the plant is damaged or chewed and eaten. Cutting or chewing cruciferous veggies activates enzymes which form sulforaphane releasing all of its glorious health benefits.
To get the most sulforaphane either eat cruciferous veggies raw (not always ideal) OR chop them up, wait 40 minutes, then cook them as much as you want. At that point the sulforaphane has already been made in the 40 minute wait time.
Other ways to get more sulforaphane is to add mustard seed powder or raw cabbage, daikon radish, horseradish, or wasabi – all cruciferous vegetables – to your cooked cruciferous veggies. The mixture of cooked and raw cruciferous vegetables form almost as much sulforaphane as the totally raw vegetables.
So, if you don’t have 40 minutes to spare between chopping and cooking, or if you are using frozen cruciferous veggies (they get blanched – quickly cooked – before freezing), just sprinkle mustard seed powder on and its almost like eating it raw!
Adding a bit of chopped cabbage or shredded daikon as a garnish or spicy horseradish, wasabi or mustard seed powder as a condiment allows you to skip the 40 minute waiting period and still get your super healthy, cancer fighting sulforaphane!
Feel Good Superfoods Part 4 – Flavorful Flaxseeds
Flaxseed is one of the world’s oldest crops. It was most likely first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent, a region east of the Mediterranean know as the birthplace of agriculture.
Flaxseeds are one of the richest sources of essential omega-3 fatty acids and provide a good amount of protein and fiber. They have around one hundred times more cancer-fighting lignans than other foods. Research shows flaxseeds prove helpful against breast and prostate cancers; controlling cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood sugar levels; reducing inflammation; and successfully treating constipation. Flaxseeds have also been shown to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive individuals.
Contrary to what you may have read. Flaxseeds do not lower testosterone. The pilot study usually cited for this measured testosterone levels in men both 30 days before and 1 day before prostate surgery. All of the men in the study were given flaxseeds to eat during those 30 days. There was no control group. The study showed that testosterone levels were reduced when measured right before prostate surgery and some people (not the study authors) wrongfully concluded that flaxseeds were to blame.
Subsequent, proper studies with control groups (some men were given flaxseeds, and others were not) have proven that men typically have lower testosterone right before prostate surgery and flaxseeds have nothing to do with it. The subsequent study hypothesized that pre-surgery stress was to blame for the testosterone reduction.
Another study which placed men on a 6 month flaxseed-supplemented diet showed that no statistically significant change in total testosterone occurred.
To use myself as an example. I eat flaxseeds every morning with breakfast and a recent blood test through Inside Tracker showed my testosterone at 939 ng/dl. This is well above the average testosterone levels for men under 25 (692 ng/dl) let alone for men in my age group 45-49 (546 ng/dl).
Ways to include flaxseeds into your diet
Its best to ground flaxseeds up before ingesting. When you eat them whole many of the flaxseeds will pass strait through you without releasing their nutty goodness.
- Add flaxseeds to your morning muesli or porridge.
- Add them to muffins, bread, cookies or any other baked goods.
- Use flax meal as an egg substitution.
- Add flax meal to mayonnaise or mustard when making a sandwich or salad.
Feel Good Superfoods Part 5 – Glorious Greens
If your mom always told you to eat your greens she was right. Dark green, leafy vegetables are the healthiest foods on the planet. As whole foods go they have the most nutrients per calorie. Of all the food groups studied by a team of Harvard University researchers, greens gave the strongest protection against major chronic diseases. This included a 20% reduction of risk in heart attacks and strokes for every additional serving of greens per day!
As with berries, frozen greens are great for convenience, cost and availability and have similar amounts of nutrients as their fresh counterparts. Having a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer is great for greening up any warm dish.
Salads are a quick and easy addition to any meal. Using an extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar dressing to add nutrients and nutrition without many added calories.
Adding these 5 feel good superfoods to your whole foods plant based diet will increase your energy, health and vitality and help prevent against many diseases. They taste great, add color and variety and can easily be included in meals, as a snack or on their own.
Enjoy!
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