Nutritious foods provide our bodies with essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients while offering relatively few calories. Such foods include fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats.
These meals can also help reduce empty-calorie foods like sodas and desserts; focus on eating nutrient-rich food instead.
Fruits
Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are packed with essential vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients for relatively few calories. Enjoy a variety of these nutrient-rich foods daily to stay at peak performance!
Fresh fruits and vegetables contain essential vitamins such as C, folate, K, A and Calcium for your daily nutritional needs. Include them in salads, smoothies or snacks!
Spinach, kale and dark leafy greens are among the most nutrient dense vegetables, while sweet potatoes, zucchini, carrots, squash and pumpkin also rank highly for nutritional density. Berries offer additional phytochemicals that boost antioxidant status in smoothies or desserts.
Vegetables
Vegetables provide an abundance of essential vitamins and minerals at relatively low calorie counts. Vegetables play an integral part in many nutritious diets; experts advise eating a rainbow-style mix of veggies to get all kinds of antioxidants and vitamins into their system.
Examples of nutrient-rich veggies include kale (7 calories per cup), Brussel sprouts and broccoli; all boast high concentrations of vitamins C and carotene while providing other essential nutrients. In order to maximize vitamin and mineral retention, vegetables should ideally be eaten raw or lightly cooked so as to preserve their vitamins and minerals.
Nuts
Most people associate nutritious foods with fruits and vegetables; however, legumes and nuts also boast high nutrient density values. Nuts provide heart-healthy fats, vegetable protein, dietary fiber, vitamins (particularly folic acid and niacin), minerals, tocopherols phytosterols and phenolic compounds – making them excellent heart healthy snacks!
Though nuts contain plenty of fats, it’s wise to limit yourself to no more than an 1-ounce serving per day or five ounces a week for optimal consumption. Studies have demonstrated that regular nut consumption may reduce risk of gallstones while simultaneously improving insulin sensitivity and postprandial glucose and insulin excursions among diabetic participants [80]
Eggs
Eggs offer 6.3 grams of high-quality protein per 72 calories and are considered one of the few foods considered complete sources of protein, also providing choline and vitamin D.
These food staples can be enjoyed alone or combined with other healthful food choices like whole grains, fruits, vegetables and fish for an energy-to-nutrition ratio that helps meet many of Canada’s Food Guide recommendations.
Oatmeals can also be beneficial to older adults, as they promote muscle health and provide an easy source of protein. Not to mention they’re affordable and convenient! Oatmeal also increases satiety while possibly decreasing hunger in those suffering from chronic conditions like diabetes or depression.
Seafood
Seafood, including wild and farmed fish like salmon, tilapia or trout; shellfish such as oysters, mussels and scallops; cephalopod mollusks like squids and octopuses; and edible jellyfish is one of the most nutrient-dense foods available; packed full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants while being low-calorie foods.
Vitamins B12, niacin and vitamin D were the top contributors to 41 seafood species analysed when it came to their nutrient density scores, exceeding many cases the recommended daily intake (RDI) (see Supplementary Table 1). A taxonomic analysis may miss important within-group differences; thus setting caps at 100% of RDA protects from scores being artificially high for individual nutrients.
Berries
Cherries contain many essential vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamin C, potassium, fiber, copper and manganese. Furthermore, cherries contain heart-healthy plant compounds which may help lower blood pressure.
A large egg contains only 72 calories but packs in essential nutrients like protein, B12, selenium and brain-nourishing choline. Other nutrient-rich foods like whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes and nuts (in moderation) should also be considered options.
Diets that include nutrient-dense foods can help manage hunger and weight, as these foods contain vitamins, minerals and fiber while remaining relatively low in calories. Unfortunately, these healthy choices may be difficult to come by due to soil degradation and overproduction of processed food products.
