31 days.. day 2

Day 2: Munch on mushrooms

Fortunately I love mushrooms, and fortunately there were mushrooms in the house to cook with, so my dad incorporated them into our evening meal. Check one off the list for the 31 day challenge to a fitter, healthier me (I still haven't had the mineral water, but will get it at the airport for my flight back to SFO.)

Mushrooms, according to the article, are considered a super food due to their anti-viral and anti-cancer effects. The article goes on to recommend eating one a day - just like a vitamin - for an easy way to boost your immune system. And apparently the type of mushroom doesn't matter, so go ahead and pick your favorite variety. I'm not sure I would eat one every day, but I wouldn't mind increasing my intake overall.

The mention of the term "super food" got me thinking about the concept of dietary needs, nutritional benefits, and what actually constitutes a food as being super. A quick google search reveals hundreds of hits from various experts and pundits, all of which list different so-called super foods. Some lists are so extensive they seem to include every veggie and fruit known to man, which in my eyes defeats the purpose of making a distinction between any. According to WebMD (a fairly reputable source) here is a list of 10 everyday super foods, most of which appear at the top of the other lists I've seen, or at least one of their close cousins has. For example, one list may say kale whereas another list may choose spinach - basically make sure there's a dark, leafy green around.

So what is a super food? It's one that multitasks: it fights disease, fills you up without excess calories, and is versatile and therefore easy to incorporate in everyday meals. Makes sense to me. Though it also seems there is always some fad in the dietary world.. in my lifetime, eggs have gone from good to bad and back to good again. Now people are even raising their own chickens.

Which brings me to my final point: "super food" is really just a clever marketing term. It's not widely used in actual scientific communities because not enough research has been done on the individual foods themselves, though this may change in time as there is more interest, or more likely more profit, to be found in the area. I'm a firm believer in a well-balanced diet. Period. You can eat all the sweet potatoes you want, but if you're not eating anything else, you probably won't feel so super.