So many people today are overfed and undernourished...you have to think about that statement, overfed and undernourished. Most people today eat cereal from boxes, snacks from plastic bags, meals from frozen packages and salad dressings from bottles. What's the problem? Original foods, like wheat berries, rice, corn, and soybeans, are refined, depleted, or stripped away of their nutrition in some way.
Then, they are processed with unhealthy oils and sweeteners, making them unnaturally rich, high calorie foods that starve you of nutrition, fatten you up, and make you more vulnerable to type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, etc.
However, whole foods contain more fiber, bulk and water than refined foods. When you eat whole foods, you can fill up on fewer calories, a lot fewer. Dr. Joel Fuhrman, one of America's leading nutrition experts, analyzed food groups and ranked them based on their ratio of nutrients to calories. He calls this ratio "nutrient density". This means the more nutrition per calorie, the higher a food will score. Choosing foods with a high nutrient density are the healthiest foods for you and will fill you up with the least amount of calories.
Whole Foods Market, (which will be coming soon to our area), recently used Dr. Fuhrman's nutrient scoring system to rank foods. Here is an example:
Raw leafy green vegetables......100
Solid green vegetables.............97
Non-green, vegetables.............50
Beans/legumes.......................48
Starchy vegetables.................35
Whole grains.........................22
Raw nuts and seeds...............20
Fish.....................................15
Fat-free dairy.......................13
Wild meats and fowl.............11
Eggs....................................11
Red meat..............................8
Full-fat dairy..........................4
Cheese.................................3
Refined grains.......................2
Refined oils...........................1
Refined sweets......................0
As you can see, vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains have the highest scores--the BEST ratios of nutrients to calories. Flour products, oils and refined sweets have the LEAST nutrition per calorie--practically zero. They're also the most calorie-dense foods.
The foods with the lowest scores will fatten you up, make you carry extra weight, and cheat you out of the nutrients in the whole foods that they came from. So, you wind up fat, tired, deficient and plagued by chronic health problems.
So, if the whole foods are so much better for us, why were processed foods even invented? Well, the food industry wanted to make foods convenient and taste really good. But, of course, that wasn't their only goal...they wanted to cut costs using cheap ingredients. They would add second-rate ingredients like corn oil and high fructose corn syrup which are dirt cheap and toxic to our body.
The food industry also wanted to maximize shelf life, even when they KNOW the ingredients are bad for us. They processed the foods, (taking out the nutrition), then would need to add ingredients back in like stabilizers to keep the food "fresh" for an unnaturally long time.
One of the best examples of foods that are so bad for us are the fast foods, snack foods, fried foods and baked goods. The industry uses extremely cheap oils that lasts for several months at room temperature....they are the hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. When you read these oils in the ingredient list, put the food back...they are the WORST foods you can eat. And, you will be surprised at how many foods have hydrogenated oils in them including salad dressings and breads.
The more of the foods you eat with the higher nutrient score, the healthier you will be. You can eat all you want without having to count calories, fats, carbs, etc....they will fill you up and nourish your body with all kinds of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Not to mention, the foods with the lower scores will not only give you so many more calories per serving, but, those are the foods that will raise your cholesterol levels, increase your blood pressure, put you at a higher risk for heart disease, cancers, strokes, and all kinds of chronic medical issues.
So, choose the foods with the highest scores and eat as much as you want to....your body will thank you!!
Then, they are processed with unhealthy oils and sweeteners, making them unnaturally rich, high calorie foods that starve you of nutrition, fatten you up, and make you more vulnerable to type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, etc.
However, whole foods contain more fiber, bulk and water than refined foods. When you eat whole foods, you can fill up on fewer calories, a lot fewer. Dr. Joel Fuhrman, one of America's leading nutrition experts, analyzed food groups and ranked them based on their ratio of nutrients to calories. He calls this ratio "nutrient density". This means the more nutrition per calorie, the higher a food will score. Choosing foods with a high nutrient density are the healthiest foods for you and will fill you up with the least amount of calories.
Whole Foods Market, (which will be coming soon to our area), recently used Dr. Fuhrman's nutrient scoring system to rank foods. Here is an example:
Raw leafy green vegetables......100
Solid green vegetables.............97
Non-green, vegetables.............50
Beans/legumes.......................48
Starchy vegetables.................35
Whole grains.........................22
Raw nuts and seeds...............20
Fish.....................................15
Fat-free dairy.......................13
Wild meats and fowl.............11
Eggs....................................11
Red meat..............................8
Full-fat dairy..........................4
Cheese.................................3
Refined grains.......................2
Refined oils...........................1
Refined sweets......................0
As you can see, vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains have the highest scores--the BEST ratios of nutrients to calories. Flour products, oils and refined sweets have the LEAST nutrition per calorie--practically zero. They're also the most calorie-dense foods.
The foods with the lowest scores will fatten you up, make you carry extra weight, and cheat you out of the nutrients in the whole foods that they came from. So, you wind up fat, tired, deficient and plagued by chronic health problems.
So, if the whole foods are so much better for us, why were processed foods even invented? Well, the food industry wanted to make foods convenient and taste really good. But, of course, that wasn't their only goal...they wanted to cut costs using cheap ingredients. They would add second-rate ingredients like corn oil and high fructose corn syrup which are dirt cheap and toxic to our body.
The food industry also wanted to maximize shelf life, even when they KNOW the ingredients are bad for us. They processed the foods, (taking out the nutrition), then would need to add ingredients back in like stabilizers to keep the food "fresh" for an unnaturally long time.
One of the best examples of foods that are so bad for us are the fast foods, snack foods, fried foods and baked goods. The industry uses extremely cheap oils that lasts for several months at room temperature....they are the hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. When you read these oils in the ingredient list, put the food back...they are the WORST foods you can eat. And, you will be surprised at how many foods have hydrogenated oils in them including salad dressings and breads.
The more of the foods you eat with the higher nutrient score, the healthier you will be. You can eat all you want without having to count calories, fats, carbs, etc....they will fill you up and nourish your body with all kinds of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Not to mention, the foods with the lower scores will not only give you so many more calories per serving, but, those are the foods that will raise your cholesterol levels, increase your blood pressure, put you at a higher risk for heart disease, cancers, strokes, and all kinds of chronic medical issues.
So, choose the foods with the highest scores and eat as much as you want to....your body will thank you!!
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