A month or so ago, I wrote a blog here on the Campus Cooks website called “Flavors of Spring.” In that article, I talked about how the salad bar takes on a new life and a new importance in the house as the temperatures rise outside. It also talked about certain “zero calorie foods” which aren’t really foods with zero calories, but foods that are low enough in calories that those calories can be easily burnt away through everyday activities.
Just as we title some foods Zero Calorie, so we have also given certain foods the title Super Foods.
So, what exactly, are Super Foods?
In all honesty, the words Super and Food stuck together make me chuckle a bit. I hear old cartoons in my head, “Super foods activate! Form of an avocado! Shape of a salmon!” I can’t help but imagine a cartoon blueberry fully decked out with a Superman logo on his chest and a big blue cape flowing behind him.
Truthfully, there is no set definition of a Super Food. Basically, though, it means really healthy stuff. In fact, the healthier a food is, the more “super” that food is considered. For instance, kefir, a drink made of fermented milk with very high levels of probiotics is considered a lot more super than say, oh, a glass of whole milk drizzled with sugary chocolate syrup. But, take away all the sugar from that syrup and you’ll be left with dark chocolate which is full of antioxidants and is considered a super food.
All of that taking away and switching up can get a little confusing, so I’m going to give you a quick list of common superfoods that you can easily add to your diet if you haven’t already. In other words, here is a brief list of healthy stuff that can be easily added to your diet via the salad bar or even your snack area.
The easiest one is Spinach since it is probably waiting for you on the salad bar already.. Rich in Vitamin K, spinach is an easy to understand super food that can be added to your diet. Kale and cauliflower are two other easily found super foods that are great on a salad bar. How about olives? After all, if olive oil is good for you, the olive must be too, right!? How about an avocado? Toss some strawberries on your salad. Or add some blueberries, grapes, or oranges because all of them are common fruits that make the super list. And how can I forget arginine filled peanut butter. Yep, peanut butter gets to wear a cape too.
This is, by no means, an exhaustive list of super foods, but adding some of these items will give you a head start on your search for further super foods.
This article was written by: David Thornton
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