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Getting the skinny on Super foods
Part one
Getting the skinny on superfoods is more important today than ever before.
I cannot emphasize this enough when it comes to living a long and healthy life.
To make things easy for us we have some great information on the internet from websites like 5aday.co.nz.
And fabulous health education in New Zealand primary schools like growing a vegetable garden.
I have been involved in helping out in the garden at a local primary school and I never saw a bored child.
The gardeners among them really stood out.
I was introducing them to a garden companion plant called Calendula.
But we were discussing an additional use for this flower. Yes! you can eat the petals.
We were discussing producing a product from this plant and creating a business from scratch.
Awesome to be part of this and awesome to see their eager faces.
And along the way these kids got to find out about an amazing super food.
I want to talk more about super foods, these are the foods that could well enable you to have the best life possible simply because each one of these foods empowers you to achieve a life free of illness and disease.
And that’s something that all of us would love to have.
But we almost expect as we age that we will end up getting some sort of disease.
According to WHO (the World Health Organisation) the top 10 causes of death are:
Ischaemic Heart disease, Stroke, COPD, Lower respiratory disease, Trachea Bronchitis Lung cancer, HIV AIDs, Diarrhoeal disease, Diabetes, Road injury and Hypertension.
And
You won’t have to look far in the nutrition world to hear statements like:
Our Kids Won’t Live as Long as Us
Here in New Zealand we have the same problems as the rest of the western world but perhaps to a lesser degree.
We don’t have the large school cafeteria serving the daily lunch menu in the same way they do in the United States or England for instance.
Famous chief Jamie Oliver has devoted substantial energy in his “Food Revolution” website to tackling this issue.
Seriously guys the work Jamie and his team have done for our children is absolutely priceless and in my opinion will have to be one of the greatest contributions to the health and stealth of our kids in over 50 years.
When it comes to brain food fried chips, donuts and pies just don’t make the grade.
They are empty foods high in sugar and saturated fats which do nothing for a growing child other than cause nutritional deficiencies, illness and obesity.
Most children, high in energy are able to run off the fats and sugars in these foods but when it comes to nourishing the growing brain they are a hindrance rather than beneficial.
Sugar is at the top of the list for dumb foods along with processed fast foods.
Serving children brain food like fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, fresh nuts, whole-grains, yoghurt and fish will dramatically improve learning and also reduce conditions like ADHD.
I suspect the incidence of ADHD can not only be attributed to the food served up to children in schools it can also be attributed to the ways in which we learn.
For instance, sitting in a class room all day is not for everyone.
Mixing the day with physical activity also helps especially with the children who are naturally active.
So over the next few weeks I will be discussing these life-saving foods in more detail until then check out my more than 100 superfoods.
And if you have a super food not on my list and consider it rates up there with the rest please let us know.
I hope you enjoyed this article, and we always love to hear from you.
