Which Superfoods Are Right for Me?

With current, easy access to convenience foods, Americans have drifted away from consuming foods in their natural form. The ease of being able to pull a can out of the pantry or a box out of the freezer can be quite tempting when it comes time for preparing meals. This convenience has a down side, however. Typically, to become more convenient, a food must be processed and refined, which usually involves adding non-beneficial ingredients and eliminating beneficial ones.

As a rule, the fewer ingredients a food contains, the better. For instance, convenience foods generally contain higher levels of sodium, fat and sugar, food additives, food coloring and preservatives. In terms of optimum health, the addition of these extra ingredients is not helpful.

As you look at the best way to get the most out of your food choices, looking at ÒsuperfoodsÓ makes sense. Even though there is a lack of standards in the identification of these superfoods, it is worthwhile to consider foods with ÒsuperÓ status in managing a health supportive diet.

With information being so easy and quick to obtain via the Internet, consumers have at their disposal all the information they need to make good food decisions. Unfortunately, all this information can sometimes be overwhelming. Because there are so many superfoods identified among a lot of different lists, people can have difficulty in even deciding which they should eat.

One very good approach is to look at your own, individual situation and ask yourself the following questions:

What are my lifestyle goals?
What do I want to accomplish with my diet?
Do I have specific health concerns I want to address though my diet?
What types of foods fit my lifestyle, schedule and preferences?

Someone with issues of bone health may want to make a special effort to include regular amounts of spinach on the menu. A person needing to manage cholesterol levels can work toward that goal by increasing the amount of walnuts and yogurt in the diet. The individual with heart concerns can support a heart-healthy diet through eating salmon, walnuts and beans. Focus on weight loss can be supported through food sources of calcium.

In the case of lifestyle and preferences, nuts may be great sources for omega-3s and protein, and beans wonderful for providing antioxidants and fiber. But if you just flat out donÕt like nuts and beans, these foods wonÕt work for you. The one thing you can count onÑthere are good superfood choices that will provide great sources of protein, omega-3 fats, fiber and antioxidants that will fit your particular lifestyle and preferences.

There is no single best answer for which superfoods are best. Clarifying the goals you have for your eating program will help you make decisions that are best for you.

The nice thing is, our eating habits can be easily modified to accommodate changing preferences, health needs and lifestyle, so choices made today donÕt have to be choices that remain with you forever. You may also find yourself changing some of your choices as the seasons change and food become more or less readily available.

You will gain the biggest advantage in the most areas by looking first at foods classified as superfoods. Past that, you most certainly can still find foods that will help you accomplish your purposes, even if they donÕt happen to be on a superfoods list.
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