Six Foods EVERYONE Should Be Eating

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What’s up, gamers?  Back in June, I put out an email survey asking for feedback on a new exclusive email bonus!  There were four options to choose from, including “Six Foods EVERYONE Should be Eating,” “My Five Favorite Weight Loss Tricks,” “The Complete Abdominal Domination Workout,” and, “The Ten Minute Total Body Workout.”

The official winners (it was basically a straight-up tie,) were the abdominal domination workout, and the ten minute total body workout.  So, rather than go with just ONE of those options, I’m going to do them both!  There’s going to be a little bit of production time involved since I’m going to be doing them in written AND video walk-through form, so in the meantime, EVERYONE gets to see the two runners-up, Six Foods and Five Favorite Weight Loss techniques here on the blog in written form!

If you’re interested in The Complete Abdominal Domination Workout and The Ten Minute Total Body Workout, go ahead and subscribe to the email list if you haven’t already.  They’re email list exclusives, and they should be going out sometime this month.

Now, without further ado…Six Foods EVERYONE Should Be Eating!

1) Blueberries

Blueberries are awesome.  They’ve got a lovely mild, sweet taste, and to me nothing says “summer” like some juicy, ripe blueberries and strawberries.  You know what else is awesome about blueberries?  They’re basically the healthiest berry in existence.

Packed with more vitamins and minerals than you can shake a stick at, blueberries also contain incredibly high concentrations of phytonutrients and antioxidants.  These have been linked to cancer prevention, as well as a reduction in incidence of other chronic diseases.  As if that weren’t enough, blueberries are also high in fiber, which helps to promote healthy digestion (and keep you…ahem…”regular.”)

Don’t go in for blueberry juice, or extract, or other nonsense.  Eat ’em whole, or throw them in a smoothie!  If they’re in season, grab them fresh!  If not, they’re usually available in the frozen foods aisle!  Enjoy!

2) Kale

Kale rose to prominence as a “superfood” in the last ten years, and for good reason!  Like blueberries, kale is very high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and fiber!  Unlike blueberries, though, kale is not always the tastiest thing in the world.  It’s generally too tough to be eaten raw, like its milder cousins lettuce, spinach, and broccoli.  So, the solution is to cook it!  My favorite way to prepare kale is to drizzle it with a little olive oil, toss a little salt over it, and cook it in the oven for twenty minutes or so.

Voila!  Kale chips!  A healthy alternative to other snack foods.  Super low calorie, and super nutrient dense.  Love it!

3) Avocados

Avocados are a really funky vegetable.  Actually, they’re not a vegetable!  Technically, an avocado is a fruit…a berry, in fact!  It’s also fantastically healthy for you!  Like its other berry cousins, the avocado is packed with tons of vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients.  They also contain more potassium than a banana!  Unlike its other berry cousins, avocados are also high (for a fruit) in another essential nutrient: fat!

Now, stick with me here for a second, we still have some fat-phobic people in the world.  The fat in avocados is a GOOD thing.  They’re full of monounsaturated fats from oleic fatty acids!  These are good for your brain, good for your heart, and have even been linked to a longer lifespan and a decreased incidence of cancer.  Awesome, right?

The best part is the many ways you can incorporate avocado into your diet.  Some people like quacamole, others like it on sandwiches, or in sushi.  Personally, I like avocado so much that I’ll even eat it straight, with a little dusting of salt.  Just keep in mind, that while the fats in avocado are good fats, they still lead to a pretty high caloric load, so keep an eye on your portions!

4) Coconut Oil

Coconut oil may not look super appetizing, with its gloopy, cloudy appearance, but trust me, this stuff is great for you.  Coconut oil sets itself apart from other oils because it’s made up of medium chain fatty acids.  These differ a bit from the long chain fatty acids found in other plant-based oils.  Medium chain fatty acids are easier for your body to breakdown and digest.  Your body converts them to energy more quickly, and because if this they are less likely to be stored as fat for later use!

Additionally, medium chain fatty acids can help contribute to lower levels of LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol,) and higher levels of HDL cholesterol (“good cholesterol.”)  This leads to better heart health, lower blood pressure, and lowers your overall risk of heart disease.

Usually, you can substitute coconut oil for any other oil recommendation in a recipe, especially if you’re cooking (since coconut oil tends to be semi-solid at room temperature.)

5) Sweet Potato

Sweet potatoes are like the regular old white/russet potato’s super-powered cousin.  They’ve got all the great starches and carbohydrates of regular potatoes, with tons of vitamins packed in there as well, including an absurd amount of beta-carotene.  As if that weren’t enough, they’re also higher in fiber than regular potatoes, and fiber is goooood.

Confession time: I don’t really like sweet potatoes all that much, at least prepared straight.  They’re a little too sweet for me.  However, I’ve found they’re great if you slice them into fries, drizzle them with a little olive (or coconut) oil, and bake them in the oven for twenty minutes.  Add a dash of salt, and you’ve got some delicious home-baked sweet potato fries.

Just keep in mind, like avocados, sweet potatoes can be a little high in calories (90 calories per serving.)  They’re also higher in sugar than regular potatoes, so if you’re going low carb for some reason, make sure to keep an eye on that.

6) Greek Yogurt

Last, but not least, we’ve got Greek yogurt.  Greek yogurt is the souped-up version of regular yogurt.  It’s higher in protein, usually a little thicker, and tends to have a higher concentration of active bacteria cultures.  Greek yogurt has gained popularity in America in the last decade or so (like kale,) and it’s easy to see why!

Basically everything we’ve covered so far is high in fiber, which is great for your digestion.  Greek yogurt helps with digestion as well, by providing live active bacteria cultures that help you digest food!  As if that weren’t enough, it packs a whopping 17 grams of protein per serving, which is as much as three eggs!  Definitely an awesome food to add to any meal (or as a great between-meal snack!)  Just keep in mind there’s a lot of brands out there that add lots of sugared-up fruit puree to their yogurt to flavor it, so keep an eye on your calories!

Challenge Mode:

Use all six of the above ingredients in one superfood smoothie!  Um…no promises on how good it tastes.   You also might want to cook the sweet potatoes, first…  If you actually do this, send me a video on Snapchat.  I want to see!

Live boldly, change the word, and continue to be awesome!

Dan “DaRatmastah” Wallace