Simple Nutrition Insights

Superfoods: Boost Your Diet with Nutrient-Dense Powerhouses

• Leonila • Episode 51

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Can specific foods supercharge your health and energy levels? Join Leonila Campos, a registered dietitian, as she uncovers the secrets behind superfoods and their exceptional health benefits in this episode of the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast. We'll explore the nutrient-packed world of berries, leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish, revealing how their vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants can support your well-being. Learn practical ways to incorporate these superfoods into your daily meals to boost energy and ward off diseases, and discover the powerful anti-inflammatory properties of ginger and turmeric.

But that's not all—we'll also spotlight the critical role of variety in a balanced diet. Leonila shares tips for diversifying your meals with a broad range of fruits and vegetables, ensuring you get the full spectrum of nutrients your body needs. From sneaking veggies into soups and smoothies to encouraging kids to embrace a rainbow of produce, you'll find valuable advice for every member of your family. Plus, understand why whole foods often trump supplements and get guidance on gradually introducing new foods to your diet. Don't forget to check the show notes for extra resources and share your thoughts or suggestions for future topics. Stay healthy and inspired—we can't wait for you to join us again!

Superfoods: Boost Your Diet with Nutrient-Dense Powerhouses

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Speaker 1:

Hey, welcome back to another episode in the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast. I am your host, leonida Campos, registered Dietitian, and today we are diving into the world of superfoods. We're going to talk about what they are, why they are beneficial and practical ways to incorporate them in your daily routine. So let's get started. My friend, okay, I usually get this question a lot, right, like, what are some of the foods that I should be adding that are going to help me just stay healthy and strong? Are there any particular foods that you recommend I should just eat? And so, really, when it comes to just nutrition in general, right, we want to make sure that we're adding a variety of foods, and I've talked about these all the time. We just don't, we don't want to. You know, specifically when I, after I, talk to you about these particular foods, right, I don't want you to just think, oh, I'm not going to eat any of the other foods because I want to just eat these foods. No, take this information and add it into in addition to what you are already eating, because you're going to get more of those benefits to you. Right, because a combination of those things, not just to say, well, I'm just not eating those foods. Yet I'm going to eliminate these other foods that I'm eating, like these other wholesome foods, so I can just focus on those foods. Not necessarily. You can still add them right and get lots of benefits and nutrients from that combination. But first let's start with defining what a superfood is, or what we mean by superfoods. These are nutrient-dense foods that are especially rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other compounds that are beneficial to our health. Some popular examples include berries, leafy greens, nuts and seeds, and your fatty fish like salmon, because of their high content in omega-3, which is anti-inflammatory. So superfoods aren't a magic bullet, right? So I want to make sure that, again to emphasize that not because we're going to go into these specific foods that you're going to forget about these other foods, right? You can add them as part of your plan to get more of that wholesome nutrition, so they can play a significant role in a balanced, healthy nutrition plan. Incorporating a variety of these foods can help improve overall health, boost energy levels and even aid in disease prevention. So let's talk about some of these popular superfoods and their benefits.

Speaker 1:

Let's start with berries. So blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, boysenberries all kinds of berries right? They are packed with antioxidants and antioxidants. What they are? They are components, right, chemical components that help to reduce oxidation, right, and this is at a cellular level. So they fight um free radicals right, which contribute to oxidation. It affects our inflammation, our immunity. So they fight free radicals right, which contribute to oxidation. It affects our inflammation, our immunity. So berries are packed with antioxidants and they also which, in particularly, vitamin C right is one of your antioxidants and vitamin C is great for your skin health and immune support.

Speaker 1:

So you want to add berries right to your daily nutrition, any kind of berries, right? I had a client tell me the other day you know, I don't like the skin of blueberries, maybe, because it's, like some, you know, thin and maybe mushy. So what we talked about is trying frozen blueberries, right, so eating them frozen instead of obviously, if you let them thaw out then it becomes mushy, but eating the berries frozen, right, that helps because they're they're super firm, so you're not going to have that issue. So that's one of the ways right that you can add these type of berries, but there's so many other ways that we're going to talk about them in a moment. Um, another superfood right are your leafy greens spinach, kale. Um, all your. Your greens right, arugula, mustard greens. They are high in fiber, vitamins a, c and k, in minerals like calcium and iron, so they are excellent for bone health and digestion. Right, because of your fiber. So adding them in any form. Right If you want to add them in your salads or in your sandwiches or in your smoothies. Right, in your soups.

Speaker 1:

There's many ways that you can add them too. The next one are your nuts and seeds almonds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, ground flax seeds or regular flax seeds, bristil nuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts there's a ton of variety of nuts and seeds that we can add, and they are great sources of healthy fats, protein and fiber. They can also support our heart health and keep us feeling full longer. Right, it helps with satiety. That is one of the tips that I usually give my patients. Right, if we are going to have meals in between or snacks. Right, adding a protein or a healthy fat with some kind of fruit or vegetable to help with that satiety. Right, because our healthy fats are going to help us with that satiety a little longer by combining those food groups. Right, we'll help with that too.

Speaker 1:

The next one is your fatty fish, like salmon. Right, because it's rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are crucial for brain development from brain health, for that to reduce inflammation. It also helps with our eyesight, it helps with our skin, it helps with our immunity. So omega-3 fatty acids are essential, and so we have to get them from food or a supplement, but you can also get them from ground flax seeds, but you can also get them from algae. So those are some of your plant sources of omega-3. The next one are your roots, like ginger and turmeric. Specifically, turmeric contains curcumin, which has a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and so it's great for reducing inflammation and supporting joint health because of that inflammation. So we can add it in different ways. Same thing with ginger. Ginger also has been shown to help with digestive health and inflammation too, so again, you can add those as well.

Speaker 1:

But this is just a short list, right? Just some of the superfoods quote unquote that are more commonly used that we can find. But there's other foods that contain similar properties, right, and those higher amounts that we can still add. So when we think about your dark, red or blues, we think about beets, right, that's another example of a superfood. So we think about all the roots, right? Or garlic and onion, which also have anti-inflammatory properties. So, Again, this is just it's not an inclusive list, right? There's so many other foods out there, too, that have similar components that you can add and just have more of that variety.

Speaker 1:

So some practical ways to incorporate these superfoods how can we add them, right? So here are some ways that we can incorporate them easily in our daily meals. So, for example, for breakfast, we can start our day with a smoothie packed with berries, spinach, chia seeds and a scoop of protein powder to have the high protein to help with that satiety. Then you have your antioxidants, you have your fiber. You're having some of those anti-inflammatory properties, right, and you can start your day like that, right, you're helping your body to heal, right At a cellular level, which is going to help. You're going to be able to see that right In your energy levels. You're going to be able to see that in just how strong your immune system is and just how you feel in general. Another example for practical ways to incorporate superfoods Take an example of our snacks.

Speaker 1:

Right, try a handful of almonds or mixed nuts and seeds. You can pair that with, like I mentioned, like a piece of fruit or vegetable. Right, you can have almonds and carrots, or you can have almond butter on apple right. Or you can have a rice cake with almond butter and chia seeds right. That's an example of combining or adding these superfoods in that snack form. For lunch, we can add leafy greens right, like kale or spinach, to salads and sandwiches, as I mentioned, or wraps or soups, if you want to add soups right, that's another way to add that too. You can even add seeds right and nuts to your salad to make it more satiating, more balanced. You can add hemp seeds to have that nuttiness and that crunchiness too. That's a great way to add those seeds. How about for dinner? We can incorporate salmon twice a week, and that way you get those omega-3 fatty acids that you need.

Speaker 1:

You can add it in so many ways. You can add turmeric right and lemon, so that way you have that extra superfood there as well. One of the things that I didn't mention, I guess turmeric and ginger are kind of, in a way, a spice, but you can add other spices right to add to your foods and you're not adding calories right for when it comes to herbs and spices, but you're adding tons of flavor but also tons of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties to think of basil, oregano, parsley, thai leaves right. There's so many herbs and spices that have a lot of health benefits. So, if you have bland food, right, explore some of these spices. Oftentimes when I have clients come to me and they say, you know, those might have to be, you know, bland or have no flavor, and that is not the case, right, again, these herbs and spices are considered calorie free, and so you can add so many of them, right, increase the flavor of your food without adding excess amounts of salt or sodium, but you're still going to have that flavor, and that's what we want. Because when we think about changing our eating behaviors right, we have to be able to sustain them, and if we're not sustaining them because the food is bland and we just don't want to eat it, then that is going to be a huge challenge, right? So, trying to to figure out what the challenges are, if flavor is one of them, right. Herbs and spices, lemon juice or lime juice or balsamic vinaigrette, right? So something like that to help with the flavor of the food, um, okay, how about a few more recipes here? Right, we talked about the very spinach smoothie, right, how to add that? We talked about the turmeric salmon, but there's so many other ways where we can add some of these superfoods. Right, if we want to add turmeric or ginger, often we can have it as a tea. Right, we'll have it after a meal, after lunch or dinner, right, and that helps to settle our stomach. We we're also getting those antioxidants. We're getting those anti-inflammatory properties.

Speaker 1:

Berries Honestly, you can add berries to anything. You can even add them to your salads. You can add them to your smoothies. You can have them on your Greek yogurt or pan-based yogurt with some seeds that you add as well. Right, with you know, some seeds that you add as well. You can make, you know, you can mash them and put them on a piece of toast, right, with some nut butter. You can have them. That way, you can eat them by themselves. You can freeze them and eat them like that, right, those are some of the ways. Same thing with leafy greens, right? Let's say, if you don't like eating spinach cooked, you can eat it raw. You can put it in a smoothie, right, you can put it in soup. So there's so many ways that we can add these foods without eating them in a way that we don't like eating them. So that helps.

Speaker 1:

But again, thinking of these foods, not so much as a magic bullet, right, but again as a complement of the foods that you're eating, and you're eating more of these wholesome foods. Or, if you're not right, if you're like I'm not eating any kind of plant sources, I'm not eating any of these foods, I don't know where to start. Oftentimes helps and this helps children specifically right is adding them with the foods that you are more familiar with, just so that way your brain is like okay, we have something new. But I also feel comfortable because I have something that I'm used to and I can handle. Right, that might be helpful.

Speaker 1:

Other ways is adding them in soups, right, because if you're adding other veggies that you enjoy, right, adding that new vegetable. That might help again with that process of wanting to try it. If it's in a smoothie form, right. Oftentimes other flavors will mask the specific flavor of the fruit or vegetable that you're adding. So if you're adding already you know your liquid, either milk or almond milk or other milk alternative and you're adding your protein powder, you're adding fruit or maybe almond butter, and then you add frozen spinach. You're not going to taste the frozen spinach. You're going to see it, right, possibly you're not going to taste it, so that's one of the ways to also do it. Um, let's see. Yeah, those are some examples there, right?

Speaker 1:

But again, when it, when it comes to really creating these super what's the word I'm trying to say here Like balance, super balanced meals, right, where you really optimize your nutrition because you're adding a variety of foods, don't just focus on those super foods that we're talking about today, right, but focus on the general, on the overall picture, right, of your meals. So, for example, if on a week-to-week basis, month-to-month basis, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm only eating broccoli every time, right. Or I'm only eating cauliflower every time, how about adding more of these types of vegetables, right, that we talked about? Or I'm only always eating bananas and oranges, okay, next time I'll try some berries, right, just to increase that amount of antioxidants that I'm adding. And you can start that way, right? So don't change everything at once.

Speaker 1:

If you're absolutely not adding any of these foods, focus on one or two of them that you can add. You know, every so often, however, amount of time, you need to feel ready to try another one, right? And the other thing, too, is that fruits and vegetables like your natural foods, right, the flavor changes every time, even in the packet of blueberries, where you have one and maybe that's sour, and then you have another one and that's sweet. So, keeping those things in mind, right, because it's not like these processed foods that have the same flavor, same texture every time, because they have been made for that, right, they have all these quality control processes that they go through to keep them the same. Hence why, like you know, love them so much? Because there's no variability. But when it comes to your natural foods, that's different, right, because they are going to be different. And so, keeping those things in mind, right, not because one of them is sour or bitter, the other ones are going to be as well. Right, and I tell that to my youngest son because you know he loves raspberries, he loves all kinds of berries, and so if he has a few that are sour or bitter, he's like these are sour. So I encourage him to try other ones, right, that might be sweet, and you know, 90%, 99% of the time he finds some that are not as bitter or sour. So, absolutely right, keeping that in mind, and also that it can take over 15 times to, you know, when you try something new to you for you to like it, right?

Speaker 1:

I say that to a lot of parents to struggle with kids not wanting to eat a certain food. It's the matter of doing, you know, adding. It's a matter of adding it in different ways, trying it in different ways, and it can take time. Our taste buds change every 15 days or so and so as we continue to be exposed to them and introduce them, we kind of get used to that flavor, right, and that helps us, just like when we stop eating something that is so sugary or salty, right after two weeks of not eating the same amount and we reintroduce it, it's going to be overpowering, right, because our taste buds are new, our bodies have adjusted and adapted to the new change, so that same way as well.

Speaker 1:

So, anyway, my friend, I just wanted to talk about these foods right when it comes to, I know there's like so many supplements out there that say superfood right or whatever. If you can get it from food, it's best, because, again, you're not only going to get that particular vitamin, mineral or fiber, you're going to get so many other nutrients right, versus like a supplement that is only focused on having, you know, vitamin C right, or mineral calcium, and that is it right. You have more of this wholesome food right that is going to provide more of that that our bodies need. So focusing on the wholesomeness of the food first, versus the supplement, is a good idea. And then, if you're really struggling right to get them, talking to your doctor, talking to your dietician, about other ways that you can do or that can help you to get some of these superfoods, to get the benefits. All right, my friend, I do have a handout for you, right, a quick resource that you can reference back.

Speaker 1:

So check out the show notes. You'll find it there. And if you have any questions, if you have a particular topic that you want me to talk about, send me a text. Remember that when you go into the description of the episode you're going to see, at the top write send us a text. So send me a text. If you have any topics that you want me to talk about or any feedback. I would really appreciate that. And that is it. Okay, my friends. So you take care, remember to stay strong and stay safe out there, and I will see you in another episode. Bye, bye, for now.