Your Diet and the Top 10 Super Foods: the Key to a Healthier Lifestyle

By Travis Van Slooten

A healthy and balanced diet consists of a wide range of different foods to provide you with all of the nutrients your body needs. This means that no one healthy food is really any better than another. That said, the following top 10 super foods are must-have additions to any healthy diet.

Leafy Greens. Take your cue from Popeye whose best-kept secret to incredible strength is spinach. We can't all be super strong like he is, but we can still benefit greatly from the vitamins and minerals found in spinach and other green leafy vegetables.

Citrus Fruits. It's a known fact that Vitamin C is a great help in building up our immune system. Grapefruits and oranges are only two of the citrus fruits that are rich in vitamin C and other nutrients, plus they're fun to eat too.

Tomatoes. Whether it be tomato sauce on your pasta, sliced tomatoes in your sandwich, or grape tomatoes eaten by themselves as a snack, tomatoes are excellent sources of vitamins and lycopene, both essential to a healthy diet.

Avocados. Avocados by themselves provide more health benefits than other foods combined. They are one of the best sources of fiber, and contain 60% more potassium than bananas.

Brown rice. White rice is refined, a process that strips away a lot of its natural nutrients. Brown rice, however, is not sent through this process, so it retains all of the things that make it such a healthy food. This probably explains why it is a staple in countless cuisines around the world.

Salmon. Fish is a great source of protein, which is essential for every diet, healthy or not so healthy. Sidestepping the obvious environmental issues for a minute, farmed salmon tend to be high in fat and low in nutrition; however, fish in any form is still a great substitute for the protein found in red meat.

Milk. Calcium deficiency is a common problem among many Americans, yet it can be easily remedied by starting your day with a glass of milk. Go low fat milk to get all the calcium without the extra fat.

Sweet Potatoes. You can find just about everything you would need from sweet potatoes, from fiber to nutrients, and in a great-tasting and filling healthy food.

Water. One can never overemphasize the importance of water in our body, as it makes up 60% of our body mass. Many may not even consider it as food but it is actually a superfood.

Acai Berry. Last but definitely not least, acai berries are incredibly high in nutritional value and are used as a primary food source by the natives of Brazil. Unfortunately, they are all but impossible to find in fruit form in the United States, but acai berry supplements are a great way to still reap the benefits of this super food for those that can't find them growing naturally in the backyard.

All of these foods, drinks and supplements are key to living a healthier lifestyle. You can find all of them in pretty much any grocery store, but you may have to check online to get the supplements you want. Acai berry is fairly easy and certainly affordable. - 30414

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