Former Fat Guy Blog

Real People Real Results - Understanding how food, fitness and mental attitude affect weight loss

Nutrient Density

Nutrient dense foods have the highest nutrient-per-calorie ratio, meaning that they supply more nutrients compared to the number of calories they supply.

In contrast to this, energy dense foods supply more calories compared to the number of nutrients they supply. In general, energy dense foods are high in fats and refined sugars. It is of great concern that the American diet is becoming more and more energy-rich but nutrient-poor.
super food kale
Nutrient density overall is on the decline. Modern vegetables, whole grains and other nutrient-dense foods provide less nutrition now than they have in decades past. This is an alarming trend given that currently available vegetables and fruits are still your most broadly nutrient-dense foods with superior health-promoting qualities.

According to Dr Joel Fuhrman, the include a large number of dark leafy green vegetables including kale, spinach and swiss chard.

Top 10 Super Foods

One consideration for good health is that of increasing the amount of nutrient rich food that we consume. If our diet is filled with high nutrient density foods like kale, collards, turnip greens or bok choy, then our body is satisfied, has less cravings and eats less. The weight loss implications of this are easy to understand because with high nutrient density foods, we are more fulfilled on less calories.

The following 10 super foods are based on Dr Joel Fuhrman’s research. The more of these you can put into your diet, the way they were brought to you (raw or lightly cooked), the better your health should be.

Top 10 Super Foods

super food kale

  1. Collard, mustard & turnip greens – Nutrient Score: 1000
  2. Kale – Nutrient Score: 1000
  3. Watercress – Nutrient Score: 1000
  4. Bok Choy – Nutrient Score: 824
  5. Spinach – Nutrient Score: 739
  6. Brussels sprouts – Nutrient Score: 672
  7. Swiss chard – Nutrient Score: 670
  8. Arugula – Nutrient Score: 559
  9. Radish – Nutrient Score: 554
  10. Cabbage – Nutrient Score: 481

There are actually 30 super foods in Dr Fuhrman’s list of nutrient dense foods but for the next , you’ll have to visit my other weight loss website.

Notice that there are no fruits, dairy products, meats, nuts or seeds in the top 10 foods, just dark green leafy vegetables. Shows you the powerful nutrient punch they provide.

How Often Do You Eat Salad : Poll

Dark leafy greens have the highest nutrition density scores based on identified phytochemicals, antioxidant activity and total vitamin and mineral content. We should be eating dark leafy greens with each meal or at least a few times per day for optimum health.

According the Dr Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat to Live, Raw leafy green vegetables such as dark green salad mix, romaine lettuce, kale, collards, dandelion greens, mustard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, parsley and daikon greens fit the bill, with solid green vegetables being second highest on the chart.
how often do you eat salad
Now, knowing that, do you eat them on a daily basis?

Would you know Kale if you saw it on your plate?

Or do you even eat vegetables at all?

It’s a good question and the source of this week’s poll.

[poll=8]

Taking vegetarianism out of the picture for a moment. If you choose to eat meat (I do, on occasion), does this mean that you forgo including an abundance of dark leafy greens or other vegetables? or do you round out your meat consumption with high fiber vegetables and the nutrient dense vegetables as suggested above?

I’m curious.

Inspiration


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Determination


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Satisfaction


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