The super-food trend burst onto the front pages of press and media in the noughties with promises of foods that could kill cancer and increase lifespans by decades. In reality, we’ve just had medical advancements in analyzing the effect of certain food groups and understanding how diets affect the human body. This advancement has meant that we can now analyse the core ingredients of food and gain insights around which items of fruit have antioxidants and which meats contribute to faster muscle regeneration.
What is clear, is that simply eating a super food won’t cure all your maladies, nor will it protect you for the future by itself. Alison Hornby, a dietician and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association (BDA) told the NHS,
“If people mistakenly believe they can ‘undo’ the damage caused by unhealthy foods by eating a super-food, they may continue making routine choices that are unhealthy and increase their risk of long-term illness.”
Instead, super-foods should be viewed as a supplement to your existing dietary and exercise regime. They do have benefit in supporting health but shouldn’t be used over-reliantly. It’s no surprise therefore that more and more nutritionists and healthy eaters are looking at how to incorporate super-foods into their normal diet so they can enjoy tasty but nutritionally excellent meals.
We’ve analysed the latest trends and recipes and have come up with our favourite super-food and meal match-ups:
Cooking with ingredient replacements
One of the most interesting trends observed is the replacement of ingredients in meals with super-foods which, you can buy from brands such as clearspring. For example, a home cooked turkey curry recipe can combine the lean protein-packed meat of turkey with the antioxidant properties of a bacterial yogurt sauce replacement. Even ingredients like turmeric can be replaced with natural super-food alternatives.
Supplement retailer Healthspan offer Opti-Turmeric, a formulated turmeric alternative that is 185 x times better-absorbed and 7 x times fast-acting replacement compared to ordinary turmeric. This ensures that cucumin is absorbed into the body more efficiently and helps support cartilage formation as well as protecting the immune system.
Junk-food replacement with Super-food
Another popular trend is the replacement of traditional junk foods with super food ingredients. Take ice cream as a good example. Traditionally high in fat and sugar content, healthy eaters are now exploring super-food ice creams such as avocado ice cream and sweet potato ice cream.
Replacement of the traditional flavours with the likes of super-foods such as honey, avocado and cumin means that healthy eaters can still enjoy a luxury snack but still gain all the super-food benefits.
International super-foods
We’ve all heard of the traditional super-foods such as blueberries, honey and nuts, but have you heard of kefir, teff and amaranth? Probably not.
More and more recipes for super-foods are incorporating international super-foods, and sometimes ancient ingredients. Amaranth for example is a type of grain used by the Aztecs that is gluten-free and comes with an abundance of protein, calcium and vitamin C.
Supplements to your cereal
Increasingly becoming more common is the addition of supplements to cereals so healthy eaters can start their day fresh and energised. A simple addition of a fibre supplement such aspsyllium husks,to a bowl of porridge, oats or cereal can go unnoticed taste wise but provide the digestive system with a needed cleanse of toxins and other harmful materials.
Usually sold online and in major health and wellbeing stores, it can be sprinkled over lightly and transform an already healthy high-fibre breakfast into a super-food fuelled breakfast.