No, it's not cranberries (or blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries for that matter)
No, it's not green tea (or that Bootea 'detox' stuff as they'll definitely be telling you about that).
No, it's not garlic.
And no, it's not Aloe Vera...
You see, I eat and enjoy all of the above (minus the Aloe Vera and Bootea) as part of my OVERALL "diet".
^^^ Read that again
The problem has come from nutrition gurus trying to apply the medicine way of doing things to nutrition:
"one drug treats this"
Now, this may "work" in medicine (I'm no expert in medicine).
But "one food treats this" isn't so straight forward in nutrition for the following reasons:
1) Nutrients compete for absorption so taking more of one may reduce the absorption of another
2) Certain nutrients taken together can enhance their absorption so you get more benefits
3) Eating a few "superfoods" won't outdo a poor diet. It's what you do on average that counts
4) Many of the studies on "superfoods" are in environments that are not the same as the human body.
For example, garlic has shown benefits in the lab...but this equates to a human eating 28 cloves in a day (which you're friends and family probably won't thank you for).
^^^ Maybe we can hide all 28 of them in the pasta sauce?
You're probably wondering what that superfood I was talking about is?
At just 39p for 200g - working out at 3.9p per serving - it's....
Tomato puree.... as super as any of the other hyped up "superfoods" with some VERY LIMITED association with a reduction in blood pressure and certain cancers.
But if someone really wanted to, they could market it as a "superfood", move it to the "health foods" isle and we'd probably end up paying £3.90 per serving instead of 3.9p per serving...
So what I'm leading up to is this:
There are no "good" or "bad" foods as such, but only "good" or "bad" diets...
You SHOULD be eating a diet full of nutritious WHOLE foods that are often labelled as "superfoods".
But none of this stuff really matters when trying to lose weight and tone up until you get the foundations in place.
And by this, I mean the right ratios of MACRO nutrition so you can have more energy, be more productive, and get lean without wasting time and money on "super" foods and supplements.
Speak soon,
Matt
PS. The word "superfood" is actually prohibited in the EU unless it is supported by credible evidence...but this doesn't stop "gurus" using it