Superfoods and the reality
YOUR NEEDS MUST DETERMINE YOUR INTAKE
Iwas reading an interesting article in the Guardian. Award-winning freelancer Leo Benedictus has been receiving quite a bit of criticism for possibly an inaccurate interpretation of what superfoods actually are. In one paragraph of reading, you can already see superfoods being the villain and he scurries to find evidence to support his notion.
To summarise his entire article in “The Truth About Superfoods” is that superfoods are nothing more than a hipster’s hype and that people are gullible in believing all the advertising.
Before you decide which side of the fence you belong, let’s deconstruct what “superfoods” mean to the consumer and repack it back to something you can either add value to your life or can be forgotten.
Super according to Oxford English Dictionary in the informal sense means ‘‘very good, pleasant or excellent’’. Synonyms for super are ‘‘superior, magnificent or remarkable’’. I am sure you know what food means, so if we had to repack the literal meaning of the two words. It simply means a superior form of food. Nowhere in the literal meaning are words of magical or miracle cure, so how can one be so ignorant as to assume such a misunderstanding?
If I had to say to you, describe the most iconic superhero to date, sure, you can start by describing your dad. But I want you to think more along the fiction side of things like Superman. You would describe him as a superior human being, one that has unique super powers and whose job it is to protect us against the baddies. I know he is only fiction, but everyone knows exactly who he is, what he does and what value he adds. Let’s take the conversation back to vegetables using the same principles of understanding. If I had to say to you, which of the two green vegetables has more of a nutritional value, lettuce or kale? Which one would you choose? To help with a better understanding of the two, have a look at the comparison chart on the right. What you get from this comparison is that kale is the winner and not just a small margin, but between 300 to 500% more. The next time you’re having lunch and feel like a nutritious salad, which one would you order, one with lettuce or one with kale? The superior choice would be one with kale. Provided you like the taste of kale, it is a no brainer what choice you would make. Based on the comparison to lettuce, kale is a superior vegetable choice or you can just call it a superfood. If you had to choose all your fruits, vegetables, proteins, carbs and fats like this, would it be wrong of you to want superior nutrients for your health? It all boils down to balance and your needs. The needs for an IT professional sitting behind a computer all day versus the needs of an elite athlete training twice a day in preparation for a weekend event. If you take Michael Phelps during his preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, he was consuming close to 12 000 calories a day, that would be 10 000 more calories than an IT professional. Anyone can eat that amount of food if it is nutrient dense. In essence, more than likely Phelps would have consumed a lot of superfoods to get the nutrients needed to perform at a high level as well as to recover. It is important to understand the whole story when it comes to superfoods, rather than Leo Benedictus taking a one sided naïve view. Everything we eat has value, some more value than others. Balance is the key and if you are doing something extraordinary like competing at the Olympics, then you need to eat foods that are extraordinary in make-up.