Lose weight! Boost immunity! Improve your love life!
If there were a pharmaceutical drug that did all three, there’d be a stampede to the pharmacy, but for now, no such pill exists.
My advice? Build your own—not a pill, but a plan—an eating strategy that packs power, nutritional value, and a host of benefits into every bite. Where to start?
Simply load up on the Super 7—the seven most nutritionally valuable foods you can buy. What makes them super? Few calories, little sugar or salt, plus lots of soluble fiber, nutrients, and health-boosting phytochemicals—and not a drop of guilt, should you over-indulge! So, if you want to weigh less, look and feel great, the magic pill you’ve been looking for is in the organic produce aisle and at the seafood counter. Here are the Super 7—the building blocks of excellent nutrition and sustainable wellness:
1. AVOCADO
Avocados contain myriad nutrients—oleic acid, lutein, folate, vitamin E, monounsaturated fats, and glutathione among them—which can help protect your body from heart disease, cancer, and degenerative eye disease. Avocados taste great and are easily integrated into any meal—or even a fruit smoothie. Add a half an avocado to smoothies to add creamy texture and a powerful nutritional boost.
2. BEANS
Dense and delicious, beans help raise levels of the hormone leptin which curbs appetite, and they deliver a powerful combination of B vitamins, calcium, potassium, and folate. All of this will help maintain healthy brain, cell, and skin function—and even helps to reduce blood pressure and stroke risk. Pretty amazing, eh? To increase your intake, trying eating them as a filling side-dish instead of bread or potatoes. Beans will help keep you feeling fuller longer and deliver an excellent source of sugar-free energy through much of your day.
3. BLUEBERRIES
Tasty, sweet, and packed with disease-fighting phytochemicals, flavinoids, and soluble fiber—all of which can help prevent serious diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stomach ulcers, and high blood-pressure. In sum, blueberries are nearly miraculous! They also help tame inflammation throughout the body and can reduce “bad” cholesterol—so dig in for better health. While most of us are used to enjoying blueberries at breakfast, they’re also perfect for dessert. Having a snack attack? Instead of ice cream, curl up with a small bowl of frozen blueberries and pop ‘em in your mouth, one by one.
4. CRUCIFEROUS VEGGIES
Want to lower your cancer risk? Put the cruciferous on your list, namely broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kale and bok choy. Research suggests cruciferous veggies have the ability to inhibit the growth of some types of cancer cells, and even stop others, by reducing the production of free radicals. How to stuff more cruciferous veggies into your diet? Don’t wait ‘til dinner—start your day with them—add cruciferous veggies at breakfast to bulk up your morning meal, add more color to your plate and pack more nutrients into your day.
5. SPINACH
If you remember the old-time the cartoon character Popeye, you’ll recall that he practically lived on spinach. Now granted, he was eating the canned stuff and I’ll bet his spinach wasn’t organic, but the message was clear—spinach was a superfood even back then, long before we knew much about what it could actually do. So what makes spinach super? It’s a treasure trove of vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients, loaded with nutritional goodies like vitamin A, B2, B6, C, K, and E. There’s also protein, fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, and potassium. In other words, spinach is incredibly nutrient-dense and I’d suggest including it in just about every meal to help protect and support health from head-to-toe.
6. WALNUTS
Walnuts—you don’t need to eat a lot of them to tap into their power. Just a few a day will deliver a healthy dose of omega-3s, alpha-linolenic acid, melatonin, copper, manganese, and the hard-to-find gamma-tocopherol form of vitamin E which helps protect your heart. Walnuts on your plate may also protect your brain and help slow the onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Not a nut fan? Crush or chop walnuts to add to cereal or fruit, or blend in two tablespoons of organic walnut butter to your fruit smoothies to reap the benefits of the mighty walnut.
7. WILD SALMON
Wild salmon is a rich source of protein, vitamin D, selenium, B2, B3, B6, B12, and those all-important omega-3 fatty acids. So exactly what can wild salmon do for you? Quite a bit, including protection from cancer, cardiovascular problems, macular degeneration, depression, and cognitive decline—that’s a lot of pluses in a pretty compact package. The best salmon to buy? Wild caught, Alaskan salmon, which routinely ranks low in contaminants and high in nutrients. Wild salmon’s benefits start to kick in at about 2 servings a week, so there’s no need to overdo it.
Dr. Frank Lipman is an acclaimed Integrative Physician and the founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City. For over 20 years his personal brand of healing has helped thousands of people reclaim their vitality and recover their zest for life. Focused on sustainable wellness—instead of quick fixes—he offers patients a customized blend of Western medicine with acupuncture, nutritional counseling, vitamins and herbs, relaxation techniques, physical therapy, and bodywork. In 2010 he developed Be Well by Dr. Frank Lipman, a line of leading-edge supplements and health programs. He is the author of Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again and Total Renewal: 7 Key Steps to Resilience, Vitality and Long-Term Health.
For more on Dr. Lipman, please visit his resourceful WEBSITE or on FACEBOOK or TWITTER.
