Excellent foods

I have a book on nutrition and weight loss that I have owned since I was a teenager. It was a refreshing change from all of the books and magazine articles that focused on losing "14 pounds in 14 days" and other similar gimmicks. This book is called Lose Weight Naturally - The No-Diet, No-Willpower Method of Successful Weight Loss by Mark Bricklin. The philosophy of the book is great and it also includes very detailed charts of the calories burned by different physical activities and the caloric and nutritional value of a variety of foods and drinks, which makes it a great reference tool.

There is one thing in particular about this book that I've always really loved. That is the N/C rating. N/C rating is short for Nutrient Value-Caloric Density Ratio and it measures the value of the calories that are contained in a food. Rather than just focusing on the number, it focuses on how much real nourishment you are getting for those calories, considering things like the levels of protein, calcium, iron, and other vitamins.

I often leaf through the alphabetical listing of foods with their calorie info and nutritional info to remind myself of which ones had an Excellent N/C rating so that I can remember to try to incorporate them into my shopping list and cooking. To save myself from having to scan through everything over and over again, I thought I might jot down some of the excellent (or superb and outstanding) ones here to use for my own reference and for yours too.

Excellent foods

• Apricots (raw and dried)


• Asparagus


• Beans, green


• Beans, lima


• Beans, mung (sprouted, raw)


• Beans, navy


• Beef, broiled sirloin or broiled round - lean only


• Beef and vegetable stew (home reciple, lean chuck)


• Bluefish


• Broccoli


• Brussel sprouts


• Cabbage


• Cantaloupe


• Carrots


• Cauliflower


• Celery


• Cottage cheese


• Cherries


• Chicken


• Chili con carne


• Cucumber (with skin)


• Eggplant


• Eggs


• Flounder


• Grapefruit


• Halibut


• Kale


• Lentils


• Lettuce


• Liver, beef


• Lobster


• Mushrooms


• Onions


• Oysters (raw)


• Peaches (fresh)


• Peas


• Pepper, green


• Plums


• Radishes


• Salmon


• Sauerkraut


• Soybeans


• Spaghetti (with meatballs, tomato sauce and parmesan cheese)


• Spinach


• Squash, summer


• Tofu


• Tomato


• Tuna, canned and drained of oil or canned in water


• Turkey


• Turnips


• Vegetable juice cocktail (but watch the salt!)


• Watercress


• Watermelon


• Wheat germ


• Yeast, brewer's


• Yoghurt, plain made with partially skim milk

It should be noted that this book doesn't include all foods in it. So just because something isn't on this list, doesn't mean that it isn't potentially an excellent food. For example, green peppers are listed above, but red peppers weren't in the book at all. Chances are red peppers would be rated as excellent too, but they just weren't included.

Print this list! Take it grovery shopping and see what percentage of your purchases you can make just from this list. One hint...shop the edges of the store and don't go into the aisles!

Comments

[Elita]

Broccoli is seriously one of the most amazing foods on the planet. More vitamin C than an orange, protein, calcium, fiber....and it tastes good!