We all hear about superfoods. Eat this and you'll be forever healthy. That's good marketing, not solid truth.
As a health coach, my mantra is: Eat a combination of high nutrient foods. Mix them up. Notice how your body feels when you eat them.
Here's a sampling of some marketed foods that may not be the end-all and be-all:
- Kind Bars - with nuts, dark chocolate and dried fruit, it looks pretty good. But these foods are bound together by forms of sugar, ranging from 1 1/4 to 3 1/4 teaspoons per bar. Not good. Eat these foods in their pure form; not wrapped up in sugar
- Kale - yes, kale is a whole food and classifies as a superfood. But if you don't like it, you won't die of malnutrition if your plate holds other high nutrient greens that you actually enjoy.
- Coconut water - like all concentrated fruit juice, this is a high sugar food. Drink plain water and eat a banana instead
- Pomegranate juice - also not a good choice -- an 8 oz, serving has about 8 tsp. of sugar. Eat the seeds and check out my easy way of removing them here.
Rule of thumb: be suspicious of all marketing efforts that present any food as a must-have. Instead focus on variety and simple whole foods that agree with your body. That's all you need.
If you are not sure how to unravel food truths from food ads, order my book Food Becomes You - Simple Steps for Lifelong Wellness for a solid foundation in healthy eating.