Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ten Super Foods For Better Health!

At least one will suprise you...

1. Artery Crust
Judging by the label, Pepperidge Farm Roasted White Meat Chicken Premium Pot Pie has 510 calories and 9 grams of saturated fat. But look again. Those numbers are for half a pie. Eat the entire pie, as most people probably do, and you're talking more than 1,000 calories and 18 grams of sat fat.

1. Sweet Potatoes
A nutritional All-Star — one of the best vegetables you can eat. They're loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Bake and then mix in some unsweetened applesauce or crushed pineapple for extra moisture and sweetness.

2. Angioplasta
Romano's Macaroni Grill Spaghetti with meat sauce is just your average 1,100-calorie platter of white flour, fatty meat, and salt-laden sauce that delivers 35 grams of saturated fat. But Romano's Macaroni Grill Spaghetti and Meatbealls with Meat Sauce is in a class of its own. It's not often you find a 2,430-calorie dish loaded with close to 3-days' worth of saturated fat (57 grams) and more than 2 teaspoons of salt (5,290 mg of sodium). It's got more calories and sat fat than two Macaroni Grill Tuscan Rib-Eye steak dinners!

2. Grape Tomatoes They're sweeter and firmer than other tomatoes, and their bite-size shape makes them perfect for snacking, dipping, or salads. They're packed with vitamin C and vitamin A, and you also get some fiber, some phytochemicals, and (finally) some flavor.
3. Salt's On!
Progresso Traditional, Vegetable Classics, and Rich & Hearty soups are brimming with salt: Half a can averages more than half of a person's daily quota of salt. Instead try Progresso's Health Favorites reduced-sodium soups. All the flavor, but up to 50 percent less salt.

3. Fat-Free or 1 % Milk ............(Skim) .............(but not 2%)
An excellent source of calcium, vitamins, and protein with little or no artery-clogging fat and cholesterol. Likewise for low-fat yogurt. Soy milk can be just as nutritious — if the company fortifies it..

4. Everlasting Dove
Dove squeezes some 300 calories and an average of 11 grams of saturated fat (half a day's worth) into a half a cup of its Dove Ice Cream. That puts it in the same ballpark as Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs. With names like "Unconditional Chocolate," Dove is trying to link chocolate with romance. A scoop of its ice cream will fill your heart all right … but not with love.

4. Broccoli It has lots of vitamin C, carotenoids, and folic acid. Steam it briefly and add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and a sprinkle of lemon juice.
5. Factory Reject The Cheesecake Factory Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake has "layers of moist chocolate cake, chewy brownie, toasted coconut pecan filling, and creamy chocolate chip coconut cheesecake." Each five-inch-high slice weighs three-quarters o fa pound and has 1,380 calories and 32 teaspoons of sugar. By the time you hit the exit, your arteries have 33 grams of saturated fat and 5 grams of trans fat circulating in them that they didn't have when you walked in. It's a though you had ordered two McDonald's Quarter Pounders plus a large fries for dessert.

5. Wild Salmon The omega-3 fats in fatty fish like salmon can help reduce the risk of sudden-death heart attacks. And salmon that is caught wild has less PCB contaminants than farmed salmon.

6. Smooth Operatos “Say hello to a better beach body," says the Smoothie King web site. Many people assume that all smoothies are good for the body, whether it's on the beach or in the office. But Grape Expectations II, one of Smoothie King's "Snack Rights," contains 550 calories in a 20-ounce size. That's bad enough. But what about those who order the 40-ouncer? There's nothing right about a 1,100 calorie snack!

6. Crispbreads
Whole-grain rye crackers, like Wasa, Ry Krisp, and Ryvita — usually called crispbreads — are loaded with fiber and often fat-free.

7. Top Secret Popcorn alone is a good-for-you whole-grain snack...but not when Pop Secret gets hold of it. Pop Secret Movie Theater Butter Popcorn Snack Size Bags has 11 grams of bad fat, 7 of which are trans, in just one snack-size bag (6 cups popped). Instead, try Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop or Smart Balance Smart 'N Healthy, both of which are made with no partially hydrogenated oils.

7. Microwaveable or "10-minute"....Brown Rice
Quick-cooking or regular brown rice is more nutritious than enriched white rice. When the grain is refined, you lose the fiber, magnesium, vitamins E and B-6, copper, zinc, and phytochemicals that are in the whole grain.

8. Starbucks on SteroidsThe Starbucks Venti (20 oz.) Caffè Mocha with whole milk and whipped cream is more than a mere cup of coffee. Think of it as a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in a cup. Few people have room in their diets for 450 calories and 13 grams of bad fat that this hefty beverage supplies. But you can lose all the bad fat and all but 170 calories if you order a tall (12 oz.) with nonfat milk and no whipped cream.

8. Citrus Fruit
Great-tasting and rich in vitamin C, folic acid, and fiber. Perfect for a snack or dessert. Try different varieties: juicy Minneola oranges, snacksize Clementines, or tart grapefruit.
9. Tortilla Terror Interested in a Chipotle Chicken Burrito (tortilla, rice, pinto beans, cheese, chicken, sour cream, and salsa)? Think of its 1,040 calories and 16½ grams of saturated fat as three Subway Steak and Cheese 6-inch Subs. Plus, the burrito is loaded with 2,500 mg of sodium! Getting the burrito with no cheese or sour cream cuts the saturated fat to 3½ grams, but you still end up with 810 calories and 2,300 mg of sodium. Yikes!

9. Diced Butternut Squash
A growing number of grocery stores sell peeled, diced butternut squash that's ready to go into the oven, a stirfry, or a soup. Every half-cup has 5 grams of fiber and payloads of vitamins A and C.

10. Stone ColdInto the chocolate-dipped waffle bowl of a Cold Stone Creamery Gotta Have It Founder's Favorite goes, not just a 12-ounce, softball-sized mound of ice cream, but pecans, brownie pieces, fudge, and caramel. The tab: a startling 1,600 calories and 42 grams of saturated fat. That's roughly what you'd get if you polished off five single-scoop ice cream cones.

10. Spinach or Kale
These standout leafy greens are jampacked with vitamins A, C, and K, folate, potassium, magnesium, iron, lutein, and phytochemicals.

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