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Best Healthy Foods - 9 Groups

By Jonathan Wong

Without good nutrition, no fitness program is going to work. Thats the truth. But eating well is not just about keeping away from cookies and cakes. It is also about thinking about the opposite... Eat good quantities of quality food so that there is no room left for trash foods. Here are my top 9 "Best Healthy Foods" categories!

Best healthy foods: Water

Simply outstanding. Every other beverage is inferior so you really don’t need anything else. Even low levels of dehydration (1% of bodyweight lost in sweat) cause big drops in performance and health. Having water on hand makes you less likely to drink other nonsense drinks.

Water improves flexibility and muscle tissue quality. It also lubricates joints and is good for your skin health and appearance. Water aids digestion and is essential for cellular level chemical processes. Drinking regularly will help prevent overeating cold water even burns a couple more calories each day (which does add up in the long run).

Performance wise, proper water intake will reduce cramping. In my experience, I have found that the key component for preventing my athletes from cramping during competition is not fancy sports supplements or magic foods. The key is hydration. Colored urine is a no-no for any of my guys. Once they learn how effective this simple strategy is I don’t need to nag anymore. Bring water with you everywhere and drink constantly. More pee breaks are a decent tradeoff for the huge amount of benefits that water gives you. Bring a bottle around with you everywhere. Uh…the bottle is for water so that you are reminded to drink enough, the toilet situation you will need to figure out yourself. Water definitely makes the best healthy foods (well ok, it's a drink) list.

Best healthy foods: Animals

I know, most people call it meat. But I want to be clear that you must really see that the meat is from a natural source not a processed one, and for that it’s helpful to think of meat as animals. If you are seeing a piece of chicken, you can imagine that it was once a living, breathing animal. This is harder to do when you see a chicken cracker or chicken sausage which are vastly inferior to the actually piece of chicken.

Get lean cuts of meat. Animal fat is saturated and gets you those dreaded heart complications if you eat too much of it. Lean cuts of any meat are really great sources of protein. Chicken, beef, pork, lamb, deer, ostrich. Yup all good. If possible go for the grass fed or “free range” meats because they have a better omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. But if that’s too expensive on inaccessible then its ok. Get the regular meat and make up the ratio via the next item on this “3 star” list.

Best healthy foods: Eggs

Top notch source of protein. Minimal saturated fat (only 1.5g per egg compare this with 10-15g per hamburger patty). I can’t believe there are even doctors and nutritionists that tell us 2 eggs per week are all out bodies can handle. Parents say “no eggs kids, they are dangerous” but let’s go to a fast food restaurant and eat jumbo sized triple patty burgers…hard to figure out, but happens all the time. Did you know that the saturated fat in one hamburger patty is equal to that in 8-10 eggs?

Personally I eat about 6 eggs on average per day. Whenever I take a blood test, my good cholesterol is high and my total cholesterol is at the low end of normal. Eggs… they’re fantastic!

Best healthy foods: Nuts

High in monounsaturated fat. This means less heart disease, faster metabolic rate and better testosterone levels. Nuts are also high in fiber and taste really good. Keep away from the fried, oiled or salted ones. Get them raw and toast them yourself. They taste great and are a great healthy snack. Different nuts have different ratios of fat types, so eat a variety of types. Macadamias, almonds, cashews, peanuts, pistachios – all good.

Natural peanut butter is included in this category. Get those from supermarkets where they grind the nuts for you on the spot. The slight increase in cost is probably worth it over the overly sugared regular peanut butter.

Best healthy foods: Olive oil

Also a great source of healthy fat. Olive oil raises good cholesterol, contains vitamin E, reduces risk of colon cancer, lowers the risk of gallstones and is a good salad dressing. What’s not to like.

Best healthy foods: Fruits and vegetables

Carbohydrates have gotten a bad rap since the days of the super low-carb Atkins diet. Far more important than total carbohydrate intake however, is the type of carbohydrates that you eat.

Fruits and vegetables should be your main carbohydrate sources. Eat all kinds and all colors. Fruits and vegetables have huge amounts of micronutrients and anti-oxidants. Green vegetables also tend to have cancer preventing properties and the ability to help those who have high blood pressure. Fruits and vegetables also are high in fiber and taste really good as well.

Best healthy foods: Whole Grains

All the good things about whole grains are under the “fiber” section above. They have so much more fiber than their refined grain counterparts. For example brown rice has close to four times as much fiber as white rice (3.5g fiber per cup as opposed to 0.9g).

To further illustrate the superiority of whole grains over processed ones, the nutrient content of white flour is pretty pathetic compared to whole wheat flour. The nutritional value of whole wheat being 100%, white flour has the following shortcomings:

By now it should be clear that whole grains are the only grains to get on the best healthy foods list. Good sources of whole grains are whole grain cereals (you must be able to see the grains individually as opposed to some over colored, over sugared, processed version), brown rice, barley, rye and whole wheat flour.

Best healthy foods: Beans

Beans are great sources of fiber (benefits of fiber listed above). They also have protein but its vegetable protein which is inferior to animal protein. The list of good beans is long. Peas, lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, navy beans (there are many more types as well) are all good.

Best healthy foods: Green Tea

Awesome antioxidants, manages to lower total cholesterol, improves good to bad cholesterol ratio, tastes decent, and has 0 calories. This, along with water (as mentioned above) should be your main drinks.

About the Author:

Jonathan Wong is a certified Personal Trainer and Sports Conditioning Specialist located in Singapore. Clients from all walks of life come to him for fitness solutions. His passion is to ensure that his clients get the results they desire. His website is http://www.coachjon.com.