What have we learned in the last 10 years about nutrition? No one is better equipped to answer that question than prolific author Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health.
- Fats should be back in our diets and on our plates. You may have been hearing for a while that fats should be back in our diets and on our plates. You’ve been hearing right. An overwhelming amount of research confirms that healthy fats contribute to overall good health. But this doesn’t mean fast-food burgers and fries, or tons of over-processed vegetable oils in your own cooking. Healthy fats are “smart” fats. By switching to smarter fats, you’re way more likely to hit your weight-loss goals and feel more energetic. What are smart fats? They include olive oil, Malaysian certified sustainable palm oil, grass-fed butter, coconut oil and yes, even organic lard!
- Palm oil is healthy. It’s rich in vitamin E and beta carotene, and supports heart and brain health. Substitute Malaysian palm oil for the more inflammatory oils such as canola, corn or soy. Palm oil also won’t break down into toxic substances when you cook with it at the appropriate temperature. And palm oil is not at all bad for the environment as long as it’s sustainably produced. Malaysia produces it sustainably and, as a country, has great environmental values. Most of the palm oil used in the U.S. is produced in Malaysia.
- Nutritional supplements are coming full circle. It used to be that supplement manufacturers took just one element from real food, often the cheapest. Or they created synthetic versions in a lab. No wonder they weren’t very effective and many healthcare professionals didn’t recommend them! While there’s still a lot of those on the market, reputable manufacturers are starting to source from natural, whole foods so you get a more balanced and complete blend of the nutritious compounds found in the food. A couple examples include:
-
- Cranberry: When you see “whole-fruit cranberry” on the label, you know you’re getting all those wonderful phytonutrients as nature intended. No surprise: researchers are discovering that whole-fruit cranberry has more health benefits! Just make sure if you open the capsule, it actually looks and tastes like cranberry, or else you’re not getting your money’s worth.
- Vitamin E: Complete vitamin E has eight forms. Together, studies show they benefit heart health and circulation. But almost all the vitamin E supplements on store shelves contain just one form, that happens to be the cheapest form to produce. The good news is that supplements made with Malaysian sustainable palm oil contain all eight forms, as all of them are found in the oil itself.
- Most of you can have your morning coffee, guilt-free. I drink coffee a lot. I drink Bulletproof mostly but also regular garden-variety organic. I’ve had many “coffee arguments” with my health-conscious friends about this, but I believe that if you don’t have a genetic sensitivity to caffeine, it’s a perfectly good “food” which actually contains a number of the same healthy antioxidants found in cocoa.
- Eggs are back on your breakfast menu. Really, one of nature’s most perfect foods, and, during the idiotic low-fat craze, one of the most unfairly demonized. If you’re still eating egg-white omelets — for any reason other than that you actually like the way they taste — you’re making a mistake. The yolk is a great source of choline (brain food), plus the twin superstars of eye nutrition, lutein and zeaxanthin.
The 10th Anniversary Edition of Bowden’s “150 Healthiest Foods on Earth” will be released in September, 2017.
About the author: Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, (aka “The Nutrition Myth Buster”) is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He’s a board-certified nutritionist with a master’s degree in psychology and the best-selling author of 15 books on health, healing, food and longevity, including his latest book (co-written with Dr. Steven Masley), “Smart Fat: Eat More Fat, Lose More Weight, Get Healthy Now!”