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Summary
On episode 212 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan shares 11 foods you should be eating regularly, the counterpart to his earlier episode on 11 foods to avoid.
He works through each one and why it earns a spot on the list: the fats and minerals in avocado and nuts, the case for wild-caught fish over farmed, the nutrition packed into leafy greens and organ meats, and simple additions like dark chocolate, flaxseed, and turmeric.
He closes with a reminder that eating a variety of colors and timing your water intake are just as much a part of good nutrition as any single food on the list.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Avocado delivers fat and potassium without the sugar of a banana. It gives as much or more potassium than a banana, plus healthy fat, electrolytes, minerals, and vitamins, without the sugar load fruit normally brings.
- Smaller, wild-caught fish beat bigger, farmed fish. Long-lived fish like tuna accumulate toxins in their fat over time, so smaller fish like sardines are a safer everyday choice, with a wild salmon or tuna once or twice a week.
- Torn kale a few minutes before eating boosts its nutrition. Kale releases its natural defense chemicals when damaged, so tearing it about 10 minutes before cooking or eating lets those protective, nutritious compounds peak.
- Nuts are healthy fat, but easy to overdo. Allan learned this himself eating too many nuts while trying to go pescatarian; raw, in-shell nuts stored in the freezer avoid the mold and toxin buildup that comes with nuts that have sat around roasted.
- Eating a variety of colors leads to faster satiety. A broader color range in vegetables and fruit means a broader nutrient profile, which means the body stops signaling hunger for missing nutrients sooner.
- Organ meats carry nutrients hard to get anywhere else. Allan's workaround for the “yuck factor” is grinding a small amount of liver, kidney, or heart into ground meat dishes like meatloaf so the nutrition gets in without changing the taste much.
- Dark chocolate at 85% cacao or higher is the version worth eating. At that percentage there is little room for added sugar or fillers, and a small piece delivers antioxidant phytochemicals along with the chocolate taste.
- Turmeric needs black pepper to be absorbed well. Black pepper significantly boosts the body's uptake of turmeric's anti-inflammatory compounds, including curcumin, so the two should be used together.
- Front-loading water earlier in the day supports digestion and sleep. Allan avoids drinking water right before or during meals so it does not dilute stomach acid, and tapers his water intake after about 2 p.m. to avoid nighttime bathroom trips.
“You cannot overeat leafy greens. Just cannot.”
Coach Allan