Top 20 Super Foods

With all things great there has to be a solid foundation, otherwise what is created will crumble before long. 

In order to continue to bring you uniquely deliciously and healthy snacks I needs a base from which to work. I stumbled upon this fantastic list of the Top 20 Super-Foods, from which I can begin creating and cooking my own recipes. These super-foods are a nutritional road-map of ingredients if you will.  

First let's discuss what a super-food is:

a common definition is that a superfood is one which has high concentrations of essential nutrients with proven health benefits, with few properties generally considered to be negative (such as being high in saturated fats or artificial ingredients, food additives or contaminants). An often-cited example of a superfood (or superfruit) is blueberries. They contain high concentrations of various antioxidants, anthocyanins, vitamin C, manganese, and dietary fiber, they have a compound, pterostilbene, which acts to protect the heart in the same way as cholesterol-lowering drugs, are low in calories and are most often organically grown.[1]

With all that said, not all claims of a food being super are true or even recognized by the scientific community! The term SuperFood has become a marketing tool and the name simply slapped on a label.  You'll have to use caution and know what foods are actually verified as a superfood.

Examples of these "well verified" superfoods would be:

 Berries, nuts and seeds in general, dark green leafy & flower vegetables (such as kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, brussel sprouts and broccoli), apples, citrus fruits, fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines, vegetables with bright, dark or intense colors (such as beets and their greens, and sweet potatoes), many legumes (peanuts, lentils, beans (with some beans being significantly higher in certain nutrients than others)), and whole grains as a group (gluten and other allergies notwithstanding). Dark (ie, over 70% pure) chocolate is also included in many superfood lists, although many of its claimed merits are still the subject of heated debate in scientific circles.[2]

Top 20 Superfoods: 

1. Beans & Lentils
2. Black Rice
3. Blueberries
4. Cherries
5. Coffee
6. Concord Grapes
7. Dark Chocolate
8. Dried Plums
9. Eddamame
10. Figs
11. Green Tea
12. Kale
13. Kiwi
14. Mushrooms
15. Quinoa
16. Salmon
17. Squash
18. Strawberries
19. Sunflower Seeds
20. Walnuts

As you can see from the list we have quite a foundation to work with! We already consume most; if not all, of these in our daily diets. So, for some of us the next step would be to bite-the-bullet on the expense and upgrade to 100% Organic. Which is a whole other topic of discussion!

So, what do you think? Are you eating enough of these superfoods?

Resources: [1],[2], Image:HealthCastle.com