By Matt O’Neil

Want to get more bang for your buck at the supermarket? Would you like to know that every calorie is working to get you healthy? Then why not try THE new food mantra ‘nutrient-rich eating’?

During the last decade, food marketers have busied themselves removing many nutritional nasties from our food. These ‘better-for-you’ foods are labelled ‘less fat’, ‘salt-reduced’, ‘low-sugar’ and ‘additive-free’, and are promoted as being healthier so you can get into shape.

But simply eliminating certain nutrients and food chemicals from your diet won’t guarantee optimal wellbeing. What is important are the ingredients that improve the health of your cells and optimise your metabolism. These are the vitamins, minerals and beneficial plant compounds (known as phytochemicals) that you want to pack into your pantry.

What is ‘Nutrient-rich’ eating?

Professor Adam Drewnowski from the University of Washington is leading the way to define the terms ‘nutrient-rich’ and ‘nutrient density’. He suggests that a nutrients-to-calorie ratio can translate to a ‘nutrient density score’ that will help people make better food choices.

This means that the pathway to optimum health will be easier because every calorie will count in terms of the nutrients you receive per calorie. Fast foods and sweet snacks offer many calories but few nutrients, obviously a poor choice.

Nutrition all-stars

Shining the nutrient-rich torch across a range of foods reveals that some foods shine brighter than others. This concept also reinforces the need for portion control, ensuring that you only eat amounts that provide a level of beneficial nutrients without excessive calories.

Here are some stand-out foods that are recommended:

Nuts – Nuts contain healthy fats plus vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, all helping to reduce heart disease risk, lower cholesterol and control weight. An average serve (30g) of mixed nuts provides about 20% of the recommended daily requirement of vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant. It also appears that moderate nut consumption is not a threat to weight gain because of their energy burning affects and ability to satisfy hunger.

Eggs – Once eliminated from diets due to cholesterol concerns, eggs are now recognised as nutritional powerhouses. Along with other nutrients, they can contribute up to a third of the daily requirement for iodine, essential for healthy thyroid function and maintenance of metabolic rate. Unless you are sensitive to the cholesterol in eggs, an egg a day is acceptable.

Milk – Often cast out of weight loss diets, dairy products are now acknowledged as assisting weight management. In population studies, the lowest consumers of dietary calcium tend to weigh the most and the highest consumers, weigh the least. Researchers are busy looking for the mechanisms by which dairy foods exert fat loss benefits.

Fish oil – In the 1990’s, a claim that taking a capsule of fat helps fat burning would be met with extreme scepticism. However, recent studies show that high-end fish and fish oil consumers may have a fat burning advantage. The studies show that the long-chain fatty acids in fish oil may enhance cellular membrane function to help release more stored body fat, particularly when combined with exercise.

Dark chocolate – Emerging studies suggest that eating small amounts of dark chocolate daily, say 25g or two small squares, can help improve blood pressure and cholesterol level. The antioxidants in the cocoa, which are more concentrated in the 70% and 85% dark chocolate, are believed to offer the benefits. Just remember that in this case more is not better!

Processed food CAN be nutrient-rich

Just because a food might be nutrient-rich does not mean those nutrients are available to our body. Together with the concept of nutrient density comes the ‘bioavailability’ of the nutrients. For example, the calcium in dairy products is absorbed better than the calcium in spinach which is bound up in the food.

Although processed foods tend to be less nutritious than their fresh counterparts, there are a few exceptions. For example, folate in the form of folic acid in breakfast cereals is more bioavailable than the folate found naturally in asparagus and other folate-rich vegetables.

Similarly, you will get more of the antioxidant lycopene from a can of tomato paste than from raw tomatoes. If you heat the paste in oil you will further enhance the release of lycopene into your body. Of course, choose a low-salt option for tomato paste.

Nutrient-rich snacks for people on the run

Too busy to think about nutrient-rich foods? Then try some of these power-packed snacks to help you through your day.

Berry smoothie – antioxidants and calcium
Mixed nuts and seeds – monounsaturated fats and vitamin E
Canned salmon – omega-3 fish oils
Natural yoghurt – beneficial bacteria and calcium

Your new nutritional mantra

Nutrient-rich eating is more than a healthy recommendation, it is a guiding philosophy that can communicate your true food values. If every time you plan a meal or snack you demand a nutrient-rich experience, then you will automatically choose wholesome foods. This will keep you in good shape for life - exactly what your body deserves.

Matt O’Neill is a top Australian nutritionist and regular on Channel 7’s Sunrise program. You can subscribe to Matt’s free email newsletter, download useful tools or enrol in a course at his website at www.SmartShape.com.au

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 6:04 pm and is filed under food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.