Superfood Sunday - What is a 'Superfood?'

To help me (and maybe you?) learn about nutrition i am starting a regular 'Superfood Sunday' post. Here i will write about different Superfoods each week on a Sunday, their nutritional contents and add in a recipes or two and ideas where we can incorporate the superfoods into our daily diets.

But to start i want to write about just what a superfood is...

A superfood is a nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being.
It is sometimes used to describe food with high nutrient or phytochemical content that may confer health benefits, with few properties considered to be negative, such as being high in saturated fats or artificial ingredients, food additives or contaminants.

While clean living, eating a balanced healthy diet and regular exercise is a common sense way to living a healthy lifestyle, choosing a healthy diet that is rich in superfoods is an easy step to improving how you look and feel.

Over 2,000 years ago the father of modern medicine - Hippocrates, wrote about the link between diet and health which is now being used in modern day medicine as doctors and dietitians look towards our diet to prevent and treat diseases. All foods have some nutritional value but some like superfoods have a whole lot more than others! In particular are plant based fruits, vegetables, wholegrain cereals, beans, nuts and seeds containing many vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and phytochemicals to increase our health and well-being. Superfoods can...

• Reduce cell damage such an antioxidants in blueberries
• Block growth of cancerous cells such as phytochemicals in broccoli and kale
• strengthen then immune system such as garlic and onions
• Produce anti-inflammatory effects and increase heart health such as omega-3's in salmon and tuna
• Increase mental focus and productive output 
• Lowers blood cholesterol and improves sugar regulation such as cinnamon 

Some studies suggest that eating certain foods can help you live longer and healthier and may even counteract the negative effects of smoking, lack of exercise and stress AND certain diseases or illnesses. While it may be easier to pop a vitamin pill every morning, real foods such as superfoods contain many active whose combination and interaction offer more health benefits. 

And best of all, most can be readily available and easy to incorporate into our diets!