In the current time, where a lot of people do not manage to eat a healthy, nutritious, and wholesome diet on a daily basis, the inclusion of superfoods becomes all the more important. Now, if you are thinking about what category of food items are given this particular tag, we would like to say that any food that comes packed with a lot of nutrients and are beneficial to the human body can be called as a “superfood.” A lot of food items actually come loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, protein, etc., without increasing your calorie load or count. Let’s delve further and find out what all superfoods should be in your diet if you are particularly aiming to lose weight and get into shape, without fearing about restricting precious nutrients and vitamins in your diet, take a look:
1. Chickpeas: Chickpeas or chole with their high protein, fiber, and complex carbohydrates give your body a lot of nutrition. What’s more, they keep you full for longer so that you do not reach out for snacks often. Chickpeas are also cholesterol free, good source of vitamin B6, and folate along with micronutrients like potassium, calcium, and selenium. In one cup of chickpeas (125 gm), you get around 210 calories, fat 3.8 gm, complex carbs 35 gm, fiber 9.6, and protein of 10.7 gm. All this nutrition makes it a wholesome food, so don’t forget to include chickpeas quite a few times during the week.
2. Sesame seeds: Sesame is a very under-rated seed but looking at the nutritional value it offers, it cannot be ignored anymore. Just a handful of sesame seeds sprinkled over your salad or in your roti can help you lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It is also rich in calcium, protein, and B vitamins. With its rich antioxidant content, it is good to fight life-threatening diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Talking about nutritional value, per 100 gm of dry sesame seeds, you get 573 calories with total fat content of 50 gm, carbs 23 gm, fiber 12 gm, sugar 0.3 gm, and protein of 18 gm.
3. Coffee: Yes, you heard it right! Don’t be surprised if we tell you coffee along with boosting metabolic rate and helping burn fat, it can supply a good amount of antioxidants, riboflavin, vitamin B5, manganese, potassium, niacin, and magnesium. Caffeine can also reduce the risk of someone developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even cancer. So, sip your cup of coffee with confidence the next time around because it’s doing you a whole lot of good, but certainly don’t overdo coffee, we recommend just about 2 cups in a day.
4. Green Tea/Matcha Green Tea: Green tea needs no introduction. This healthy alternative to regular tea is rich in antioxidants which help fight free radicals in the body. It can help with weight loss and also lower the risk of certain cancers. Matcha green tea is believed to have up to 137 times more antioxidants than regular green tea. Matcha green tea has both caffeine and l-theanine which provides a lot of energy.
5. Avocados: Avocados though high on fat, are counted in the top 10 superfoods in the world and that’s because it has lots of vitamins, minerals, good fats (monosaturated fat), phytonutrients, etc. It is a great fruit to keep heart in good condition. An average-sized fruit has around 80 calories but that’s no reason to worry because you get a whole lot of nutrients in a single fruit.
6: Quinoa: We all have heard a lot about quinoa being a superfood and that’s because with 222 calories, it has 39 gm of complex carbs, 8 gm of protein, and 5 gm of fiber. Quinoa is any day a much healthy alternative to rice and brown rice.
7. Eggs: Do we even need to go into details about the amazing benefits of eggs? In one egg, there are just about 75 calories with up to 7 gm of protein, 5 gm of fat, 1.6 gm of fat and a host of other minerals, vitamins, lutein, carotenoids, etc. If you are eating just two eggs each day, don’t skip on the egg yolk, they pack the most punch!
8. Oats: Rich in a high amount of fibre, oats release a high amount of carbohydrates into your bloodstream which results in high energy, at a steady rate. Consuming one cup of oats along with yoghurt can give you a steady amount of energy, not only for your exercise but throughout the day. In 100 gm of cooked oats, there are about 389 calories with high fiber (10.6 gm), good fat (6.9 gm), protein (16.9 gm), and carbs (66.3 gm). So, there’s no reason to dislike oats anymore.
9. Lentils: Indian lentils like kidney beans, black beans, masoor dal, moong dal, toor dal are all high in protein and iron content. A cup of cooked dal help boost metabolism, controls diabetes, helps in optimal brain functioning, aids in weight management, and helps maintain optimal blood pressure.
10. Almonds: Consuming just 5 soaked almonds each day in the morning would provide you with a good amount of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, and protein. It is considered immensely good for brain health.
11. Chia seeds: Chia seeds are considered an amazing source of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, iron, and of course protein. Chia seeds have five times more calcium than milk, more vitamin C than oranges, more potassium than banana, and much more omega-3 fatty acids than salmon fish. Just 2 tsp of chia seeds sprinkled over any salad or in almond milk will provide you all the nutrition you need.
12. Turmeric: To ignore turmeric as a superfood, would amount to ignorance because turmeric is a superfood, hands down. It is a natural antiseptic, antibiotic, blood purifier, and helps with fat burning and metabolism. Sip on turmeric tea to prevent inflammation and lose weight effectively.
13. Sattu: We believe sattu or roasted gram flour has not received enough appreciation from health experts. It’s also called “poor man’s protein” in India because it is highly rich in protein and acts as a coolant too. It boosts metabolism and energy to the body without adding lots of calories.
14. Moringa: We cannot even begin to tell you how amazing moringa is for health and overall wellness. Powdered moringa is made from leaves of moringa tree and are rich in iron, potassium, calcium, vitamin E, vitamin A, chlorophyll content, vitamin C, etc. It stimulates hair growth, increases immunity, boosts metabolism, detoxifies the whole body, and is rich in antioxidants.
15: Cow’s Ghee: Clarified butter or ghee is gaining huge popularity the world over because of the amazing benefits it provides to the human body including increasing immunity, keeping digestive system on track, cleansing the liver. It is also a great food item if you want to lose weight because it boosts metabolism up to a great degree. Just two tsp each day is just about enough to reap all benefits that it claims.
