Nutrient-rich foods have a high nutrient-to-calorie ratio, making them nutrition bargains, rather than only calorie, fat or sodium bargains.
July 14, 2010|By Sharon Palmer, Environmental Nutrition
The latest buzzword in healthful eating is not low-calorie, low-sodium or low-fat: It’s “nutrient-rich.”
What’s nutrient-rich eating? Just consider a 100 Calorie Pack of Hostess Twinkie Bites. Sure, it only contains 100 calories, 2.5 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat and 160 milligrams of sodium in three tiny cakes, but what kind of nutritional reward do you get for that 100-calorie investment?
Check out the ingredient list and you’ll find a string of processed, refined ingredients, cuing you to the fact that those 100 calories are basically empty ones.
Compare that to a 100-calorie bowl of fresh strawberries, containing two cups of strawberry halves packed with fiber, vitamin C, folate, potassium and manganese, along with a cache of other minerals and vitamins and health-protective plant compounds. See the nutrient-rich difference?
Nutrient-rich foods have a high nutrient-to-calorie ratio, making them nutrition bargains, rather than only calorie, fat or sodium bargains.
While it’s good to keep your intake of calories, fat and sodium under control, you can do that the nutrient-rich way or the nutrient-poor way…