15 Superfoods You Need in Your Pantry Right Now

In this day and age, a lot of people are going green. They are eating healthy, exercising more, and trying to communicate with their bodies in order to achieve overall health. Superfoods are an essential part of this lifestyle change as they’re absolutely great for your body.

What Are Superfoods?

Superfoods are food that are chock-full of nutrients, beneficial vitamins and minerals that are great for a person’s overall health and well-being.

What’s great about them is they are easily available. Many of them can be found in your local grocery stores or health food stores.

So without further ado, here’s a list of just some super healthy superfoods that you must stock up on.

Sumac

Sumac is a pretty unusual spice. It is from the Middle East and has a citrusy, tangy, lemony flavor. Sumac is literally loaded with a lot of antioxidants.

This spice is one of the superfoods that’s great in fighting off cardiovascular issues, stroke, and diabetes. It also works for arthritis, skin inflammation, skin rashes, or inflamed gums and lips. It’s also good for treating respiratory problems, such as colds, flu, and bronchitis.

It acts as a diuretic and aids in the production of urine. It also helps in the elimination of toxic materials from the body. Also, it cures inflammation of the bladder, painful urination, bowel complaints, and an upset stomach.

Sumac powder is a woman’s best friend as well. It is externally applied to treat excessive vaginal discharge. It also treats menstrual cramps. If you’re breastfeeding, sumac boosts breast milk production.

Turmeric

This is another exotic spice that’s slowly getting recognition in the United States. It contains high amounts of dietary fiber, iron, manganese, and pyridoxine. Turmeric also provides the body with energy, healthy carbohydrates, healthy fat, and protein. For its vitamins, it has folate, niacin, riboflavin, and vitamins C, E, and K. Its mineral content composes of potassium, sodium, calcium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc.

Many people regard turmeric as the most powerful that fights against and reverses many diseases. In fact, many studies show that using turmeric is more effective than many prescription drugs.

Turmeric’s curcumin content contributes to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It is known as an effective antidepressant and is a safe treatment for people with mild depression. This spice also treats rheumatoid arthritis and is effective at treating breast cancer, colon cancer, and skin cancer. It’s great in diabetes management by lowering blood sugar levels, improving insulin sensitivity, and reversing insulin resistance. It is also an effective with gastrointestinal issues, such as inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease.

Moringa Powder

Moringa powder is one of the best superfoods out there. In fact, the National Institute of Health deemed it as the “plant of the year” in 2008.

For its nutrition content, it boasts of protein, fiber, and the vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, and E. And finally, it also has minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, potassium, and phosphorus.

It used to treat quite a number of diseases. First, it helps fight against cancer, diabetes, gastrointestinal problems, heart issues, and arthritis. It also wards off anemia, allergies, asthma, and chronic headaches. Moringa powder also helps with kidney stones, thyroid disorders, intestinal ulcers, fluid retention, epilepsy, and low sex drive. Plus, it’s great at beating away bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections.

Pecans

These nuts are great as a snack. They’re super healthy and flavorful. They only have a small amount of calories and carbohydrates. They also have healthy fat, like omega-3 and omega-6. Pecans also provide protein and essential amino acids. For their vitamin content, pecans contain thiamin, folate, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, choline, and vitamins A, B6, C, E, and K. And for the minerals, they have manganese, copper, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, iron, potassium, calcium, and selenium.

So how can pecans help you? Well, for starters, this high-antioxidant food prevents oxidative stress. Damage caused by oxidative stress leads to cancer, heart disease, and all kinds of other diseases. Pecans improve heart health by reducing systolic blood pressure and improving heart function.

Pecans also treat symptoms of osteoporosis, increase bone mass, and decrease bone loss. Many of the properties in pecans improve brain health as well. They help avoid the risk of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, learning disabilities, mental illness, and trouble focusing.

Purple Corn

Now I’m sure this is something new to many of you. I mean, come on. Corn that’s purple? I know it’s hard to believe, but it does exist. It is native to the Peruvian Andes. This is another of the superfoods that’s loaded with antioxidants to fight off harmful free radicals.

Just a small amount of the anthocyanin content in purple corn reduces cancer growth by half. It also killed 20 percent of cancer cells and didn’t do harm to the surrounding tissues. It’s also great at promoting heart health. This superfood protects against atherosclerosis, elevates the antioxidant capacity of the blood, reduces blood clots, and lowers high blood pressure. And finally, it can help avoid overweight and obesity.

Bone Broth

Now here’s another of the weird-sounding superfoods. But trust me, this one is packed with nutrients that’s great for your body. First, bones are roasted in order to improve the flavor. Then the bones are boiled for a long period of time, usually between 8 to 24 hours. This breaks down the collagen and extracts it as gelatin. It also releases some trace minerals from the bones.

Bone broth is very rich in protein. It also has both essential and nonessential amino acids, collagen, and nutritional compounds. These compounds are glucosamine, hyaluronic acid, glycosaminoglycans, minerals, electrolytes, and chondroitin sulfate.

This type of broth is easy enough to make and has plenty of benefits. First, it relieves arthritis and joint pain. The gelatin in bone broth fights against degenerative joint disease. It also supports the connective tissues in your body and helps the hair and fingernails grow strong.

The other compounds have numerous benefits to different parts of the body too. Basically, bone broth restores the intestinal lining, improves overall joint health and strength, promotes healthy aging, improves skin conditions, boosts cardiovascular health, and supports cellular health.

Maca Powder

The Andes Mountains must be bursting with tons of superfoods as here’s another one from the area. Maca powder is from the maca root, which has been used for generations because of its healing powers.

It is a good source of protein, fiber, carbohydrates, and healthy fat. It has over 20 amino acids, free-form fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.

Maca powder is great for women and female discomforts. It helps with balancing out hormones and improves the symptoms of PMS and menopause. For women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, it controls the estrogen levels. Also, maca powder helps with fertility, irregular menstrual cycles, and overall reproductive health. And bonus, it increases the sex drive of both men and women.

Another way it helps the body is it boosts energy and stamina. Maca powder also helps you gain muscle, increases your strength, and improves your exercise performance. It also protects the skin from harmful UV rays and improves learning and memory.

Avocado Oil

The avocado fruit is loaded with healthy fats, like oleic acid and essential fatty acids. It is also very rich in riboflavin, thiamin, and vitamins A and E.

To start off the benefits of this superfood, it’s great at improving the heart. It reduces cholesterol, and has positive effects on blood cholesterol levels. This fruit also increases the HDL “good” cholesterol. And finally for the heart benefits, it reduces blood triglycerides, LDL “bad” cholesterol levels, and high blood pressure.

The avocado is also great for improving eye health and lowering the risk of age-related eye diseases, reduces the symptoms of arthritis, prevents gum disease, improves the condition of the skin, speeds up the healing of wounds, and eases joint pain.

Watermelon Seeds

Now I know when kids eat watermelons, they immediately get into a watermelon seed spitting contest. But did you know that you can actually eat these seeds and get some nutrition? Well, you have to roast them first. After, you get a crispy, tasty, healthy snack.

Watermelon seeds are low in calories but have plenty of nutrients. They possess healthy fats and protein. For the vitamins, they have niacin, folate, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, and pantothenic acid. They contain a high magnesium content, along with manganese, phosphorus, zinc, iron, copper, potassium, calcium, and sodium.

Eating these seeds can do wonders for your hair and skin. They strengthen hair growth and prevents it from being dull and lifeless. For the skin, they make sure it is well moisturized. They also prevent acne and gets rid of blemishes, like fine lines and wrinkles. All these ensure you look younger than your age.

There are many components in watermelon seeds that can boost the body. They can help with the body’s metabolism, cardiovascular system, nervous system, digestive system, and sexual health. The seeds promote heart health and treat diabetes by lowering high blood pressure and regulating blood sugar levels.

Chaga Mushrooms

Now I know these mushrooms don’t look very appealing. But you have to look past the physical aspect and get right to the benefits it has.

It scores very high on the ORAC scale. That means it’s loaded with antioxidants that fight against harmful free radicals. This type of fungi is also rich in phytonutrients, glyconutrients, polysaccharides, beta-glucans, and sterols.

These mushrooms are a great immunity booster. In fact, many studies show the chaga to be one of the most potent natural foods for autoimmune diseases. They are also great at reducing inflammation within the body. Everyone knows that inflammation is one of the major causes of many diseases, like heart disease, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, and stroke.

Kale

Of course, we have to put this on the list. Though many people consider kale to be overrated, you can’t ignore the healthy benefits and tons of nutrients it has.

Kale is known to be one of the most nutrient-dense superfoods in the planet. It has vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, and K. It also has iron, phosphorus, manganese, calcium, copper, potassium, and magnesium. In addition, it also has antioxidants that are very powerful, like quercetin and kaempferol. Kale also possesses omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids.

Kale is great at improving heart health. It lowers cholesterol levels and LDL levels. At the same time, it increases HDL cholesterol levels and improves antioxidant function.

Kale is also a great detoxifier for the body. It completely removes harmful toxins from your system. It’s also beneficial to pregnant women to ensure healthy babies. Regularly eating this vegetable during pregnancy results in the child having an adequate birth weight, proper face and heart development, and healthy neural tube formation.

This is one of the superfoods that combat cancer effectively. Its components inhibit tumor cell migration, inactivate carcinogens, inhibit tumor blood vessel formation, protect cell from DNA damage, and induce cell death. Kale is especially effective against breast cancer, colon cancer, bladder cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, and liver cancer.

Green Tea

Green tea is a drink that’s a favorite for many Americans. It’s relaxing, soothing, and gratifying. And on top of that, it makes sure your body stays healthy as well.

It has absolutely zero cholesterol, zero fat, and zero sugar. That means sipping it up will practically give you no calories. For its nutrition content, it has potassium, sodium, calcium, iron, folic acid, pantothenic acid, magnesium, manganese, protein, and copper. It also contains vitamins B2, B3, B6, and C.

For the most part, green tea is an effective relaxer and eases anxiety. The amino acid l-theanine acts as a neurotransmitter that increases the alpha waves in the brain. These boost relaxation.

It’s also known as a great help in losing weight. It promotes fat oxidation and improves fat burning. It also helps increase metabolism.

This drink also helps with varied heart issues. Regular drinking of green tea lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke. It also widens the arteries, which means a lower risk of atherosclerosis.

Flaxseeds

Flaxseed is another one of the superfoods gaining popularity nowadays. Many people are adding these into their smoothies and meals because of the high nutrient content of flaxseeds.

Flaxseeds contain omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, healthy carbs, protein, lignans, essential plant compounds, and healthy fat. It has vitamins B1 and B6. For its mineral content, flaxseeds have manganese, magnesium, copper, zinc, selenium, phosphorus, iron, and potassium.

This superfood is a great defense against obesity and can help with weight loss. Its healthy fats and fiber will make you feel full for a longer period of time, so that means to snacking in between meals. Hand in hand with weight loss is a healthy digestive system, and flaxseed helps with that as well. They protect the lining of the digestive tract and maintains gastrointestinal health.

They also lower cholesterol levels, making sure the body won’t absorb bad cholesterol. It also traps bile and excretes the toxins via the digestive system.

And finally, flaxseed is effective in fighting against cancer, specifically breast cancer, endometrial cancer, and ovarian cancer. Lignans naturally balance the body’s hormones, reducing the risk of cancer.

Cauliflower

This cruciferous vegetable is a very good source of vitamin C. It has very close to zero grams of sugar, sodium, and fat. It has dietary fiber, protein, potassium, healthy carbohydrates, and sodium. For the rest of its vitamin content, it possesses folate, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, and vitamins A, B6, E, and K. No wonder many people boast about all the health benefits of cauliflower.

Cauliflower has chemo-preventive agents that halts the early phases of cancer development. It also shuts off tumor growth. Cauliflower is especially effective against colon cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, and lung cancer.

Its other components also protects the tissues of the retina from oxidative stress that results in blindness, cataracts, macular degeneration, and other eye diseases.

It also plays a part in brain development in fetuses. This cruciferous vegetable boosts cognitive function and improves learning, memory, and focus. It also fights against age-related memory decline and the brain’s vulnerability to toxins.

Teff

These super tiny seeds are the last in our list of superfoods you should try out. Despite their minuscule size, teff has a lot to offer.

These seeds have a high amount of fiber, protein, manganese, calcium, and iron. Aside from that, they also contain thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, and vitamin B6. They have magnesium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, potassium, and sodium.

Teff is a great help in overall circulation in the body. Its iron content increases oxygenation to vital organs and areas in the body. Iron also fights against anemia, which leads to fatigue.

Women need to make sure teff is around whenever they have their periods. Its high phosphorus content balances the hormones, relieving painful menstruation and abdominal cramps. Its copper content also helps boost the energy levels of women who feel sluggish during menstruation.

Finally, teff also aids in bone health. It reduces bone loss, avoids bone fractures, and strengthens weak bones. It also helps with the formation of bone regulatory hormones and enzymes vital in bone metabolism.

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