SUPERFOOD!

Did you know that there are a few select foods that are powerhouses? They embody many of the essential nutrients our bodies need to thrive. Many foods are healthy in their own light, providing a punch of one or two vitamins; but few can stand alone as a nutritious feast. For example, you can eat broccoli or citrus provide for a Vitamin C boost, or you could eat mushrooms for added zinc.

At the same time, broccoli, oranges, and mushrooms are not a meal in themselves.

However, there is an elite group of foods that provide an astounding array of nutrition – all in one neat little package.

There are only a handful of superfoods that can basically sustain life.

It may surprise you… it’s not kale, beets, or sweet potatoes.

WHAT MAKES A SUPERFOOD?

One key element to my categorization of “superfoods” is how easily my body can take the vitamins, minerals, and nutrition from that food and put it to use. It doesn’t really matter how much nutrition is found in the food if my body can not absorb it.

This is where things get interesting. As far as I am concerned, the ‘superfoods’ are not the foods that have the most nutrition. The REAL ‘superfoods’ are the foods that I can GET the most nutrition from.

THE HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Did you know that the human digestive system is more similar to a canine than a cow?

Cows (and sheep and goats) are ruminants. They have LOOOOOONG digestive systems with several stomachs filled with plant-breaking-down bacteria. You see, in order to break down plants, you need a lengthy digestive system AND the correct bacteria in your stomach to get the nutrition from those greens.

On the other hand, wolves and dogs have short digestive systems that are crazy acidic. These short acidic systems are designed to break down meat.

The human digestive systems is short, we have one stomach, and guess what is found in our stomach?

ACID AND PEPSIN – exactly what is needed to break down meat, fish, and eggs.

The human stomach has virtually no bacteria (to break down plants) in it.

HANG ON TO YOUR HATS…

I was ALARMED when I found out that all the gloriousness found in kale, spinach, and leafy greens are practically null and void inside the human stomach.

All those B vitamins, proteins, and carotenoids that are found in vegetables may not be exactly what they seem.

When scientists analyze these plant foods in a laboratory, they contain good amounts of various nutrients.

WE’VE BEEN DUPED

In the lab, scientists use all sorts of methods and chemicals for extracting nutrients from plants… CHEMICALS THAT OUR HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEMS DO NOT POSSESS.

The substances needed to break down the vitamins in these so-called, plant-based, nutritional powerhouses do NOT EXIST IN THE HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

WHAT THE HECK?

This fires me up

So, basically, all the magical things that scientists need to get the vitamins out of the stupid leaves are not found in our bodies and we may as well be eating bigger steaks.

NOW – before you give up the salad, please know that there is a reason to eat the greens other than vitamins. Those leafy greens will provide fiber (so you can poop tomorrow morning) and antibodies (yay! living food) and antioxidants (especially if the salad was organic).

There are reasons to eat the greens – just perhaps not the reasons we thought.

Let’s move on to the superfoods that we can easily digest and get the most nutrition from.

SUPERFOODS TO EAT DAILY

It may not be possible to eat every one of these foods EVERY DAY, but I think it is reasonable to eat at least ONE of them each day.

Here are my five favorite superfoods-

#1: Fresh Pastured Eggs

An egg from a free-range hen who is scratching and pecking out a living delivers a powerhouse of nutrition in one tiny egg. Really, you could live off these eggs.

I’ll never forget the story I read aloud to my children years ago about a man who moved across the world to be a missionary in England. He had enough money to purchase his ticket from the United States to his new continent but had little money to survive once he arrived. In order to save what little resources he had left, he lived on JUST EGGS for months.

Baffled, I began to research the nutritional content of a free-range, fresh egg.

I was impressed and have tried to eat an egg every day since.

#2 Bone Broth

Do you want to find the fountain of youth?

Collagen.

One of the key contributors to wrinkles, elastin loss, and aging skin is the lack of collagen. Our bodies begin to lose collagen in our 20’s and eventually it catches up to us.

There are two factors that can really help the aging process – drinking plenty of water and consuming collagen in our diets.

Collagen will do more than make you look younger. It will make you feel better too.

All of our joints, connective tissues, and organs need collagen. We are filled with the stuff.

The best source of collagen is bone broth from pastured animals. Making your own is tremendously simple – just boil the bones in filtered with simple seasonings. Chicken bone broth recipe here. Beef Bone broth recipe here.

Bone broth is rich in nutrients, filled with protein and glycine. Bone broth helps our body’s detox and stay healthy. If you have ever experienced gut problems (IBS, food intolerances, food sensitivities, etc) consuming organic bone broth can heal and maintain a healthy gut microbiome.

The Carnivores Diet

The carnivores diet is just hitting the scene, but after reading the GAPS diet book, I have known for years that organic, pastured meat products are not only some of the healthiest foods, they are the easiest for our bodies to absorb and assimilate. Bone broth from these animals is a powerhouse that is unparalleled – the calcium, the minerals, the collagen. Crazy good for you.

#3 Raw Dairy Products

You probably knew I would include my sweet cow.

The truth is that processed, cheap, dairy products from Walmart are junk food. I’m not saying you can’t drink the $0.78 gallon of milk, I’m just saying, it’s not health food.

On the other hand, if you invest in raw butter, organic unpasteurized milk, and sour cream with live cultures; it is super healthy.

Raw dairy products are an amazing source of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), Omega-3’s, Calcium, Probiotics, so so rich in vital nutrition.

#4 Fresh Juice

If you want to get the most nutrition from vegetables, juicing is the way to do it.

It is nearly impossible to get the recommended servings of fruit and veggies by eating them whole – and our fresh produce today is inferior. In fact, to get the same nutrition from an apple grown in 1970 you would need to eat 5 apples today.

It’s true.

Our soil is recycled. Our land is overused. Our produce is genetically modified, picked before ripeness, travels across countries, is stored for months, and radiated. Produce is not the same as it was 50 years ago. In order to get the most nutrition, it is best to buy local, organically-grown produce and make fresh juice with a juicer.

#5 Fresh Milled Flour

Fresh flour contains 40 of the 44 known essential vitamins and minerals needed to sustain life.

It is hard to beat that. If you put some fresh butter on that bread – you basically have the proper nutrition for the human body.

‘nough said.

I go on rants on a regular basis trying to convince the world that gluten is not evil (unless you are celiac) and that all bread does not make you fat.

When you have a mill in our arsenal, you change EVERY SINGLE bread product into the healthiest thing you can eat.

In addition to providing an excellent source of fiber, protein, iron, several vitamins, and minerals, when you grind whole wheat berries for immediate use as flour, that flour contains 40 more nutrients than store-bought, bagged flour.

What’s a Wheat Berry?

If you were to walk out into a field of wheat, pick a stalk and shake the head, what comes out are the wheat berries. They are whole, unprocessed, and fantastically pure.

Wheat berries are the edible part of wheat kernels, and include the germ, bran, and endosperm of wheat. One of the qualities that make the wheat berry so different from other foods is that the berry is the seed and the fruit of the wheat plant.

What is even better is that whole grains basically never expire. If they are kept in a cool, dry environment they will keep for decades.

To learn more about the health benefits of homemade bread:

If you aren’t investing in and eating some of these superfoods, you can start this week. It isn’t hard. Grab some farm fresh eggs from the local farmer’s market, run to Walmart and get a juicer, or buy a mill and start making some bread to go with meals.

Your body will thank you!

XO,

Candi

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