Adding Superfoods to Every Meal is Easy

It's easy to add superfoods to every meal, and it's risk-free. Whether you believe all the claims about extraordinary disease-prevention benefits of superfoods, they provide nutritional benefits that are hard to beat.

"Superfood" is not a medical or nutritional concept but a popular description derived from the media. It refers to a food that is believed to have health-promoting properties beyond nutrition, according to MedicineNet. Some of the claims surrounding superfoods are reasonably well-established while others appear more doubtful.

But some of the best superfoods are fruits and vegetables, already known to provide substantial nutritional benefit. The old rule about 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day is pass©. Centers for Disease Control now publishes a calculator to determine the optimal amount based on age, gender and activity level.

"When compared to people who eat only small amounts of fruits and vegetables, those who eat more generous amounts, as part of a healthy diet, tend to have reduced risk of chronic diseases. These diseases include stroke, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, and perhaps cardiovascular disease and hypertension.," the CDC website says.

It's easy to add superfoods, including fruit and vegetables, to every meal. Here are some examples:

Breakfast superfood ideas

If you're not a committed coffee drinker, try a cup of green tea at breakfast. Green tea helps keep off extra pounds, according to WebMD. It's rich in an anti-oxidant called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) that is said to fight cancer and increase mental alertness.

Along with that cup of green tea, eat some fresh berries. Virtually all berries contain ellagic acid, identified in lab studies as a blocker of colon, esophageal, liver, lung and skin cancers. Red berries contain anthocyanins which have been shown to inhibit lung, colon and leukemia cancer cell growth in lab studies.

This recipe for a cran-berry green tea smoothie combines green tea and several berries.

Lunch superfood ideas

For lunch, try plain, low-fat yogurt with fresh blueberries. The yogurt provides protein, calcium and potassium. It's rich in probiotics which may keep the intestines healthy and boost the immune system. The blueberries enhance the flavor and provide antioxidant benefits.

Caveat: in 2009, Dannon settled a lawsuit challenging its probiotic health claims; a New York Times article describing the lawsuit noted that there are thousands of probiotics and only a handful have been shown in clinical trials to have health benefits when eaten regularly.

Even if probiotic claims concerning yogurt are controversial, yogurt may help with weight loss. WebMD cited a study showing that yogurt eaters lost 22% more weight and 67% more body fat, including 81 % more stomach fat, than dieters consuming a diet with similar calories that didn't include yogurt.

A salad with dark green leafy vegetables contains folate, a tool for preventing heart disease. Adding tomatoes or red bell peppers introduces lycopene, which helps ward off lung and prostate cancer.

Dinner superfood ideas

Beans have long been recognized for their ability to provide complementary protein when combined with a grain such as rice. But beans also contain phytochemicals, with possible anti-aging effects. They are low on the glycemic index, making them an excellent choice for people concerned about developing diabetes. They're also fiber-rich, and filling.

Adding a dark green vegetable like broccoli, spinach or collard greens to the dinner plate introduces lutein, which lowers the risk of heart disease, stroke, and age-related macular degeneration. The phytochemical sulforaphane, found in cruciferous veggies like broccoli, can detoxify cancer-causing agents.

When it comes to adding superfoods to your meal, there isn't a downside.