Good ole Hippocrates was a wise fellow. He said those
brilliant words virtually 2,500 years ago, long before doctors started
prescribing a pill for every symptom that ails us. If I were to slightly amend
this saying I would change it to say, “Let Food and Turkish Get Ups be Thy
Medicine”, but who am to mess with Hippocrates?
In Michael Pollan’s tremendous book, In Defense of Food, the author attempts to cut through all the modern
nutrition science to come up with the appropriate human diet. He states three
important (and simple) rules:
1. Eat Food
2. Not too much
3. Mostly Plants
Unfortunately, we now have to spend time to define what
“Food” actually is. Food does not come in a box or a bag. Nor does it contain
ingredients a non-chemist couldn’t pronounce. And it certainly doesn’t contain
High Fructose Corn Syrup or Hydrogenated Fats. Michael Pollan calls these
inventions “Edible Food-like Substances”.
Instead, Food comes from nature. Any human of any
generation would recognize an egg, fish, or head of broccoli as something that
would be a good idea to eat. After all, us humans evolved over the millennia
eating some combination, depending on where we lived, of meats, veggies,
fruits, nuts, and seeds. These foods allowed us to develop these nice, big
thinky brains and ultimately to develop our great civilizations.
This all brings me to a very nifty resource by the folks
at Precision Nutrition – ”21 Superfoods Reference Guide”. If you ever felt like
you had to ask, “What should I eat?” well this is your answer. The list is
broken down into five categories: Proteins, Vegetables and Fruits, Other
Carbohydrates, Good Fats, and Drinks/Other. If you simply stick to eating 90%
of your meals using the foods on this list then you would be following
Hippocrates sage advice from nearly 2,500 years ago and food would become your
Medicine. Then, do a couple Turkish Get Ups and call me in the morning!
Below is the 21 Superfood checklist. You can also go here to download a pdf file of the same list.
21
SUPERFOODS CHECKLIST
1. Lean
red meat (93% lean, top round, sirloin) = Protein – Lean meat
2. Salmon
=
Protein – Fish
3. Omega-3
eggs = Protein – Dairy
4. Low-fat
plain yogurt (lactose-free if you can find it) =
Protein – Dairy
5. Supplemental
protein (milk protein isolates, whey protein isolates, or vegan protein
sources) =
Protein – Powder
6. Spinach
= Carb – Vegetable
7. Tomatoes
= Carb – Fruit
8. Cruciferous
vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower) = Carb
– Vegetable
9. Mixed
berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc.) =
Carb - Fruit
10. Oranges =
Carb – Fruit
11. Mixed beans (kidney, navy, white, etc.) = Carb – Legume
12. Quinoa =
Carb – Grain
13. Whole oats (large flake) = Carb – Cereal
14. Mixed nuts (a variety of different types
of nuts including pecans, walnuts, cashews, brazil nuts, etc.) = Fats – Seeds and Nuts
15. Avocados =
Fat - Fruit
16. Olive oil (extra virgin) = Fat - Oils
17. Fish oil (salmon, anchovy, menhaden,
krill) = Fat - Oils
18. Flax seeds (ground) = Fat – Seeds and Nuts
19. Green tea =
Teas
20. Greens +® or comparable brand = Vegetable concentrate supplement
21. Liquid exercise drinks (quickly digested
carbohydrate and protein) = Recovery Drinks
Note:
Do
not select foods that you are allergic to or intolerant of.
