"Nutrient-Rich" Foods

I keep hearing about "nutrient-rich" foods. Do you have any ideas on how I could incorporate more into my diet?

Choosing more nutrient-rich (or "nutrient-dense") foods is how you can get more bang for the buck — or really, more bounce for the ounce — from the foods you eat from every good group.

Calorie for calorie, these foods provide a rich amount of nutrients (such as vitamins and minerals) and contain few, if any, saturated fats, trans fats and added sugars. For example, a cup of 1 percent milk contains 100 calories and offers a wide variety of nutrients: calcium, vitamin D, vitamin A, riboflavin and phosphorus, and also a good amount of protein, vitamin B12 and selenium. Compare that to a cup of non-diet soft drink, which has about the same number of calories but no nutrients to speak of.

Read more:

NutrientRich.com:

The problem with the referenced article is that it IS a "Trojan Horse". Do you have that picture in your mind? Enemy soldiers hid in a Trojan Horse that was given as a gift to the King of Troy. He accepted it and was then attacked from the inside when the enemy soldiers disembarked the horse.

Well, it's not different with the definition for nutrient rich foods that has been offered up by the Naturally Nutrient Rich Coalition and the new "MyPyramid", which promote steps to a healthier you.

Note: It's clear that you were to follow these steps as compared to the standard American diet (SAD and lifestyle, you will probably be a great deal healthier. That's not in dispute with this commentary. I applaud Government actions on this front. Just remember that the government is about maintaining a healthy economy and political interests as a priority over your health, which is why you need to beware of how you define nutrient rich or "nutrient dense" foods.

In the case of the new pyramid it's a Trojan Horse of nutrient poor foods, that are scientifically substantiated to clog your arteries, promote cancer, make it harder to stabilize your weight, speed up aging, and shorten longevity. The reference is to substantial intake of animal products and refined foods (grains in particular).

Originally there were the four food groups, which are now old. People got fat, eating foods high in animal products and refined grains at the base of the diet. Then came the new term "Nutrient Rich" or nutrient dense" which naturally gave rise to a plant-based pyramid because plant foods are the only foods that are actually nutrient rich and don't contain those food factors that you don't need from dietary sources.

Yet here's what happened. The same four food groups are now being marketed as "nutrient rich", because of useful but incomplete definition of nutrient rich foods. Animal products and refined foods are rich in some nutrients and marketed as such, but in fact they are nutrient poor being marketed in a nutrient rich wrapper.

See The Food Class System.

Just because a food is rich in some nutrients, 1 or more; does not make it a nutrient rich food. The definition of a Nutrient Rich Foods is far broader and way more powerful.

The effects of how you define nutrient rich foods are nothing short of crucial!

Here is a working definition for Nutrient Rich Foods.

How you incorporate nutrient rich foods into your diet and make the transition successfully, is what The Nutrient Rich Way is all about. The true way to eat to each nutrient rich foods is very different from what most people are learning.

More and more people are starting to eat a Nutrient Rich diet; nutrient rich foods for better health, peak performance and natural weight loss that are now more accessible.

Even the government has gotten on board with the new healthy trend in eating. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which puts out a new report roughly every 5 years, put out their last report in 2005, which indicated that most Americans consume too many foods that are high in calories but low in nutrients. To address this concern, the new Guidelines reinforced a long-standing and widely accepted cornerstone of nutrition – nutrient density, or enjoying more foods that are naturally rich in nutrients first.

What’s not understood, are the influences underlying these albeit new, dramatically improved and refreshing nutritional guidelines.

Nearly 4 years after the Jan 2005 release of the Dietary Guidelines, and in the early stages of this revolutionary consumer shift from nutrient poor to Nutrient Rich foods, companies are clamoring to label their diets and foods “Nutrient Rich.” Yet, without established standards around nutrient density or what is actually defined a “nutrient rich food”, it is difficult for the average consumer to determine if foods sold and marketed are really Nutrient Rich, let alone healthy. Meats, dairy and animal products are the foods in question.

The Naturally Nutrient Rich Food Coalition funded in large part by the beef board and dairy council, with University of Washington researcher Adam Drewnowski are working to establish a NNR (Naturally Nutrient Rich) score to label their foods as “Nutrient Rich”. NutrientRich.com applauds this effort.

It just so happens though, that meats, dairy and other animal products are the categories of foods that NutrientRich.com has declared nutrient poor – “rich in some nutrients but as whole food, “nutrient poor”.

According to the Food Class System™, animal products are second class foods that are in many ways disease-promoting when eaten in significant quantities, according to widely accepted nutritional research.

In Nutrient Rich Coalition studies, only a limited number of “nutrients” Fiber, vitamins, A, C, E Ca, K, Zn Folate, vitamin D, B 12 are referred to in determining if you are eating “nutrient rich”, even though up to 23 – 26 nutrient were used in their initial studies. John Allen Mollenhauer, founder of www.nutrientrich.com speculates that this is due to the nutrient limitations of dairy and animal products.

No doubt animal products are rich in some nutrients but as a whole food they are missing whole categories or nutrients and are very low in others, plus they include substances which the body does not need.

Two questions on consumers’ minds are:

1.    How do you determine if a food is Nutrient Rich?
2.    How do you lose weight and stay healthy eating Nutrient Rich foods?

One company committed to establishing a sound definition for a Nutrient Rich Food is NutrientRich.com, which established its Food Class System™ influenced greatly by Joel Fuhrman MD who eventually created the ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index).

Backed also by the findings of the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted (The China Study, BenBella Books, 2005) and a world class lifestyle health and science advisory team; NutrientRich.com was the first to establish the 3 Classes of Foods with a basic Nutrient Density Chart and Nutrient Profile Scores representing 24 vitamins and minerals, plus Flavanoids (where there is substantial research) and subtracting those nutrients known outright to promote disease from an overall ranking.

NutrientRich.com, now a leading promoter of the research, findings and products created by Dr Fuhrman, asserts that you can still eat small amounts of nutrient poor foods and still be eating a Nutrient Rich diet, on a total dietary intake basis, but that the basis of any diet should be predominantly (90% or more) Nutrient Rich foods to eat for health, first and foremost.

To learn more about the Nutrient Rich Diet, Eat for Health training, coaching and other Dr Fuhrman products, sign up for the Nutrient Rich food revolution newsletter, the new trend in eating for health, peak performance and natural weight loss at www.nutrientrich.com

Founded by wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle trainer and coach, John Allen Mollenhauer, NutrientRich.com was developed to help free millions of people stuck in dead-end diet traps; all of which prevent otherwise motivated people from living normally and naturally, at or near their ideal weight, and free of lifestyle diseases, like diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

Nutrient Rich is the most successful way to eat for health, peak performance and natural weight loss.
John Allen is also the founder of the Lifestyle Coaching Center, in Livingston NJ and the creator of the Performance Lifestyle Training and Support System where clients learn the healthiest way to achieve their goals.