The Top Ten Healthiest and Worst Foods



|The Top Ten Healthiest and Worst Foods | |

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|Ironmanlive's Sheila Dean shows you how to maximize your nutrition and minimize your waistline and points out the pitfalls of the flip side of the coin.|

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|For the past several months, we have been exploring the wonderful world of supplements and their role in the athletes' diet. After all, in a day where |

|protein bars, energy gels and supplement meal replacements have become mainstream, it's easy to forget about the importance of good old-fashioned |

|wholesome food and making sure we're getting the right amounts and types of it! |

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|The following is a list of basic foods that are loaded with nutritional ammunition. Choosing more of these foods will help to ensure that you are |

|getting your nutrient quota for the day. |

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|Maximize your nutrition and minimize your waistline with: |

|Broccoli - lots of vitamin C, carotenoids*, and folic acid |

|Beans - Inexpensive, low in fat, and rich in protein, iron, folic acid, and fiber. Choose garbanzo, pinto, black, Navy, kidney or lentils. Eat them as a|

|side dish or snack, in a tortilla with salsa, or in a soup. |

|Cantaloupe - a quarter of this delicious melon supplies almost as much vitamin A and C as most people need in an entire day. |

|Fat-free (skim) or low-fat (1% but not 2%) milk - excellent source of calcium, vitamins and protein with little or no artery-clogging saturated fat and |

|cholesterol. (Soy milk can have just as many nutrients- if the manufacturer adds them in) Kellogg's brand All Bran Original or Post brand 100% Bran. - a|

|half-cup serving of these cereals provides about one-third of the fiber you need for an entire day - to reduce the risk of constipation, diverticuloses,|

|and heart disease. |

|Oranges - great tasting and rich in vitamin C, folic acid, and fiber. |

|Salmon - The omega-3 fats in fish, especially fatty fresh fish like salmon, swordfish, and rainbow trout, can help reduce the risk of sudden-death heart|

|attacks. |

|Spinach, Kale, Collard Greens - load with vitamin C, carotenoids, fiber and calcium that your body can actually absorb. |

|Sweet Potatoes - a nutritional superstar - one of the best vegetables you can eat. They're loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Mix|

|in unsweetened applesauce or crushed pineapple for extra moisture and sweetness. |

|100% Whole-Grain Bread - It's higher in fiber and about a dozen vitamins and minerals than enriched while bread or "wheat" bread. Look for whole-grain |

|crackers that have the word "whole" in the first ingredient on the nutrition label. |

|*Caretenoids (kah-ROT-eh-noyds): pigments commonly found in plants and animals, some of which have provitamin A activity. Carotenoids are among the |

|best-known phytochemicals. Phytochemicals - (FIE-toe-KEM-ih-cals): nonnutrient compounds found in plant-derived foods that have biological activity, |

|specifically health benefits, in the body. (source: Understanding Nutrition 8th ed. by: Eleanor Whitney and Sharon Rolfes. West/Wadsworth, 1999.) |

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|On the flip side... Top Ten Foods that will minimize your nutrition but maximize your waist line! |

|Yogurt covered raisins - a little fruit and yogurt sounds like a healthy snack, right? But buyer beware! These things are coated with sugar palm kernal |

|oil, partially hydrogenated coconut oil and hydrogenated palm oil. A quarter-cup of raisins will give you a quarter of your day's fat maximum needs. |

|Instead for zero grams of fat, try sticking to the plain raisins. |

|Corn chips - The coconut oil that these are fried in is twice as saturated as lard. A cup will give you almost half of your daily limit for saturated |

|fat. Try baked, low-fat tortilla chips instead. |

|Fast food bagel sandwiches - no, not the bagel..it's the stuff inside. The fillings of these types of foods can yield up to 700 calories, 40 grams of |

|fat, 300 mg of cholesterol and 1600 mg of sodium. Try a turkey with 1 slice of cheese, lettuce and tomato for a tasty alternative. |

|Extra cheese pizza - Even if you split this baby with three other people, your two slices will end up with 760 calories and almost a full day's limit of|

|saturated fat and sodium. That's without sausage, pepperoni and anything else! Go for the veggie pizza instead. |

|Extra large chocolate chip cookies - a single cookie has more than 300 calories and as much saturated fat as a 12-ounce sirloin steak plus 7 teaspoons |

|of sugar. If you can't resist, try going for the oatmeal cookies or you could always share you cookies! |

|White chocolate Mocha Latte with whole milk and whipped cream - This is not your average cup of coffee! It's more like a milkshake packed with 600 |

|calories and 15 grams of saturated fat. Ditch the whipped cream and use skim milk instead and you'll save up to 200 calories. |

|King size french fries - a whopping 600 calories, 30 grams of fat (16gms of which are the artery-clogging saturated plus trans fats!) and a super-sized |

|waist line is what you'll get for super-sizing your fries at the fast food joint. Try eating a small order of fries or even better, how about a baked |

|potato instead? |

|Regular chicken noodle soup - Brimming with salt, a half a can averages about 1100 mg of sodium. That's almost half your daily quota. Go for the |

|low-sodium brands instead. |

|Chips fried in Olean (olestra) - This indigestible fat substitute's generic name is called sucrose polyester (sounds appetizing, eh?). Olean doesn't |

|provide any calories, but in many people it causes gastrointestinal distress - some people have said they suffered such severe cramps or diarrhea that |

|they had to see their doctor. Olean also reduces the body's absorption of carotenoids (defined earlier). How about the baked, low-fat potato or tortilla|

|chips, or for an even healthier crunchy snack, how about some raw veggies like carrots and celery dipped in a raspberry vinaigrette? |

|Restaurant skillet-style breakfasts that include eggs, home fries, bacon, sausage and cheese - is not exactly the healthiest choice out there, |

|considering the meal alone will give you 1220 calories, 70 grams of fat (19 of them saturated) and 1820 mgs of sodium. Of course, that's if you don't |

|throw in the optional sour cream and guacamole. For a healthier alternative, try a couple of scrambled eggs or egg whites with 2 or 3 pancakes or toast |

|and small side of fruit and cottage cheese. |

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