The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time [Episode #776]

This week’s topic is: The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time

These trends are coming from a survey of 800 respondents in the nutrition field who are asked to select their top 10 choices. And for the second year in a row, everything on the list is plant-based, which comes as no surprise because we know that plant-based foods are whole foods.

They are rich, and not just macronutrients, but fiber and micronutrients and thousands and thousands of compounds, which science may and may not have yet identified. There is so much infinite intelligence in nature, and I have been promoting a largely or all plant-based diet now for well over a decade. And I think it’s not all or nothing, right? If you want to keep some animal products in, that’s okay.

None of these foods are weird or extremely rare or really expensive or difficult to find. They come from nature, they are widely accessible, and they are powerful. They’re packed with so many different antioxidants and flavonoids and nutrients and many different ways in which they deliver core nourishment to the body.

Have you been wondering about this very topic? If you want to know the answer to this question sent in by a Beauty just like you, listen now to find out!

Remember you can submit your questions at https://mysolluna.com/askkimberly/

[Question Answered]

Carol – Washington

Kimberly, I love the podcast so thank you for doing it. I’m really trying to upgrade my diet this year and eat really healthy. I started drinking your Glowing Green Smoothie every day in the morning but wondering what are some suggestions for the best foods I should be putting on my grocery list?

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Other Podcasts you may enjoy!:

• How To Transition To A Healthier Diet With Plant-Based Alternatives
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• How to Balance your Hormones on a Plant-based Diet with Dr. Neal Barnard

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Transcript:

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate. This is due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

Namaste loves and welcome back to our Thursday q and a show where we are back in the food cornerstone talking about The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time. And these trends are coming from a survey of 800 respondents in the nutrition field who are asked to select their top 10 choices. And for the second year in a row, everything on the list is plant-based, which comes as no surprise because we know that plant-based foods are whole foods. They are rich, and not just macronutrients, but fiber and micronutrients and thousands and thousands of compounds, which science may and may not have yet identified. There is so much infinite intelligence in nature, and I have been promoting a largely or all plant-based diet now for well over a decade. And I think it’s not all or nothing, right? If you wanna keep some animal products in, that’s okay.

My husband is an omnivore as well. But the best diet is a plant forward diet. And there should be meals, many meals that are fully plant-based, including in the mornings with our glowing green smoothie, ideally, um, lots of big salads, lots of veggies and veggie components. So that plants are the predominant element in our diet. And this is one of the through lines. This is one of the simple principles that we can stick to. It can get really confusing with all these millions of, um, new ideas and foods and studies coming out. And then we think to ourselves, well, what am I really supposed to do? And so I have always encouraged clients and readers to live by simple principles to align with nature. And so in nature, whole foods predominate in plant foods. And really, if we wanna be the most naturally beautiful, have natural energy, natural vitality, naturally glowing, beautiful skin, we do want to eat all these natural plant foods.

And today we’ll get into, um, specific ones for our show today, the top 10 big trending super foods, um, which I’m really excited to get, uh, get into. But I will tease it by saying, you know, none of these foods are weird or extremely rare or really expensive or difficult to find. And I’ve also been talking about this for years. That is super food that does, that isn’t what de defines. Those aren’t the, um, prevailing characteristics of superfood. It, you know, these foods can be common and ideally they should be common, but they’re powerful. They come from nature, they are widely accessible, and they are powerful. They’re packed with so many different antioxidants and flavonoids and nutrients and many different ways in which they deliver, um, core nourishment to the body.

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Remember that our newest book, baby You Are More More Than You Think You Are – Practical Enlightenment For Everyday Life, is out now in paperback and hard copy and Kindle <laugh>, wherever books are sold. Although I would definitely recommend getting yourself a physical version so that you can see, you can write the journaling prompts right in there if you feel like it. And there’s just a grounded quality, I think, to physical books, but it’s up to you <laugh>. So anyways, that is available now for you as well. All right, so let’s get into our best foods for 2023.

Question around the topic of: The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Kimberly, I love the podcast so thank you for doing it. I’m really trying to upgrade my diet this year and eat really healthy. I started drinking your Glowing Green Smoothie every day in the morning but wondering what are some suggestions for the best foods I should be putting on my grocery list?

And our question was inspired by Carol, who lives in Seattle, Washington. So sending you so much love. Carol, you right Kimberly, I love the podcast. Thank you so much for doing it. I’m really trying to upgrade my diet this year and eat really healthy. I started drinking your glowing green smoothie every day in the morning, but I’m wondering what are some suggestions for the best foods I should be putting on my grocery list? I love this, Carol. Thank you so much my love. And I am so excited that you are taking care of yourself. You are drinking the g g s, you are getting ready 4 20, 23. And so let’s go through these top 10 foods now. Okay? These are, um, wonderful foods that we can incorporate foods that are very easy to pick up.

#1. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Seeds

Okay, I’m gonna start number one with seeds. So a lot of seeds are available to us today, and seeds are incredibly powerful. They have the energy of regeneration. We plant seeds, they grow up into a big tree or a, uh, a fruit tree or bush or something incredible, right?

So there’s this potentiality in seeds and there’s many studies around seeds. We will, um, post some on the show notes@mysaluna.com, just a few. Um, I’ll mention here in 2019, in the journal, nutrients found that chia seed supplementation improved blood sugar and cholesterol levels in those with diabetes. Another study from 2017, uh, published in the Journal of Food Science and Technology, found that chia seeds improved constipation as well. So some of the best seeds, you hear me finding these studies on chia seeds, which is my go-to egg replacer, by the way, I just made a two-tier birthday cake. I’m very proud of myself, <laugh> for Buffy for his birthday. And I used chia eggs, which is basically one tablespoon of chia seeds and two and a half tablespoons of water mixed. So that’s another use for seeds. But in general, these seeds should be part of our life.

Chia seeds need to be hydrated, so you can make that into a, um, a gelatinous substance. You can make a pudding out of it. You can add that gel-like substance into smoothies like your power protein smoothies. I also love hemp seeds, another rich source of omega-3 fatty acids. And I love to put hemp seeds on our salads. I make hemp milk. I don’t like to ha I don’t heat these seeds up, so I prefer to have them raw and crunchy. And I tried to avoid roasted seeds, which can deena some of the amino acids, although there still are lots of minerals and other benefits to roasted seeds as well. But if you can get more raw seeds in it would be tremendous. Flax seeds are also wonderful. They are more subject to rancidity. So do keep them in the fridge and do, um, buy them in small amounts. Amounts that you will eat, you will consume more quickly. So, seeds, seeds, seeds

#2. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Blueberries

Number two is blueberries. And there is so much research now on blueberries from 2019. A journal in the molecular nutrition and food research found that blueberries helped to reduce inflammation. And a study from 2020 in the journal, nutrients found that blueberries help to reduce high blood pressure. So they’re helping, these little berries are helping to regulate these big systems in the body. They’re creating regularity, balance, energy in all these many ways. And so they’re also low in sugar. And so if you have blood sugar issues or candida or anything like that that you’re battling at the moment, berries in general are really great lower sugar option for you. The great news is that they’re we’re coming into the season of blueberries, so you should be able to get them fresh and inexpensive, um, at your local market or your local farmer’s market.

#3. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Avocados

So number three is good old avocados. And sometimes we get a little bit confused about fat. And my theory on fat is that we wanna consume whole fats as much as possible, like the seeds, the avocados. And yes, some healthy oils like coconut oil are wonderful. But this is interesting. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that adults who consumed avocado daily for six weeks had an improvement in cardiovascular health and overweight in obese adults. So avocados are an easily digestible type of fat that comes in a nut complete nutritional package, which to me is always the best. Now we’re getting nature’s, um, gift when it’s wrapped up like a beautiful orange that is whole and complete as it is before we juice it into orange juice, which can really spike your blood sugar. Avocados have, besides this wonderful rich fat, which is really important for brain and hormone function and your skin and many things, avocados are a rich source of vitamins.

C e k, b6 as well as betaine folate, magnesium, potassium. So I love avocados and wraps. I am a daily enormous wrap eater. When I get hungry mid-morning, or you know, it could be around 11 or so, i I eat a full avocado, usually in a gluten-free almond flour, coconut wrap, brown rice wrap. Sometimes they’re a little hard to find with hummus and sprouts and, um, tomatoes and sea salt. And it really is delicious and nourishing. And if you’re, uh, pregnant at this moment and you’re trying to increase your calories, avocados are, are great. Harder plant-based healthy food to do that.

#4. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Nuts

One of our super foods, number four, along those lines, number four is nuts. So nuts have a completely different constitution than seeds. It’s important to in incorporate both. I love pistachios, almonds, walnuts, pecans and nuts are incredible, incredible entities really chew them well and they will impart to these minerals and these amino acids and these fats.

They’re an incredible energy source for hiking. You know, good old fashioned trail mix with your favorite nuts mixed with goji berries is our family go-to. And we take that on hikes in Hawaii and just in general, it’s amazing how much energy you can get from these foods and they’re really tasty. A 2019 study also published in the Journal, nutrients found that consuming nuts was associated with a lower risk of cancer, including breast, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer. So again, back to nature’s powerhouses, um, those, you know, those of us, um, that are looking for a better deal for some of these foods, I suggest looking at places that carry them in bulk, those bins or even a place like Costco now has a lot of organic foods and nuts, um, online so that you can also store extra nuts in the freezer like I do. And so that way they’re more affordable and then you have them when you wanna consume them.

The other way that I love to use these nuts is in pesto. I’m a huge pesto fan. I don’t do a garlic pesto though, which I find a bit aggravating, but I’ll do pine nuts or pecans, um, walnuts, even lots and lots of basil, olive oil, sea salt and lemon juice and nutritional yeast. So that’s pretty much my pesto recipe and I love it on roasted cauliflower. I love it. Salads. So that’s another great way to get these delicious nuts in. And because you’re making a pesto, I love to use it, make it by hand in my mortar and pest pesco pesto <laugh>. But if you’re doing it in that crushing it, which feels really primal to me and I like to use these, these tools sometimes or simply in a food processor, you’re grinding up the nuts, which can be really dense.

Now, all the great yogis, by the way talked about foods because they knew it had an impact on our meditations and on our consciousness levels. And the great yoga guru Paramahansa yoga Nanda often talked about how powerful almonds are and how almonds were one of the most sut most centering foods of all. And he did advise to crush them. So even yoga nanda down to the detail of digestion and the most powerful foods was quite specific. So if you are not going to blend or crush or you know, mortar pistol, you are not make sure please to chew them very, very, very well, because while they are incredibly nutritious, they are dense. So we don’t wanna get bloated, we don’t want to, um, feel heavy from the nuts. So just make sure that you’re really chewing them well.

#5. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Dark leafy greens

Number five, no surprise here, dark leafy greens such as spinach and kale, which are anti-inflammatory. But here’s what I wanna emphasize. They are an excellent source of protein. So if you’re a long-term listener, you might recall an older podcast, it’s been some years now, we will link to it in the show notes with my client, Anthony Mackey, who is part of the, um, Avengers, if you’re into those movies.

Um, I admit that I haven’t seen them, but I worked on a lot of them. <laugh>. Um, anyways, you know, where there’s a lot of action and the, um, Anthony and Chris Hemsworth, who I also worked with, and all of these characters, Jeremy, Jeremy Renner, who has drank in the glow, glow green smoothie, and many others, they’re wearing really tight costumes, okay? So they have to think about digestion and energy. And back in the day I had these conversations with Anthony and he switched over to a plant-based diet. And he mentioned that here on the podcast, he mentioned that his main sources of protein are almonds and broccoli. Some people don’t really get that. They still think that protein has to come from chicken or fish or eggs. And this is so not true. We don’t use protein, we use amino acids. And amino acids are very much present in dark leafy greens like the spinach and the kale.

And they’re actually easier for our bodies to uptake, absorb, and assimilate, which is one of the reasons there is such a trend right now in plant-based athletes or athletes coming to the plant-based world because of faster recovery, more efficiency in their bodies. So there is protein in the glow green smoothie, by the way. And if you make the dharma’s kale salad, which is featured in our 30 day roadmap for healthy weight loss, which might be a great program if you wanna check that out for this spring. It’s also, um, so anyways, the Dharma’s kale salad is featured there with kale nutritional yeast, 10 seeds. This combination is incredibly high in protein. If you eat that salad, you’re getting quite a bit of assimilated protein. So remember with animal products, we are cooking them and denaturing a lot of the amino acids so that when you think you’re getting 15 grams of protein from a chicken that you cook, you’re not really absorbing that there’s at least a 50% attrition rate according to the Max Plank Institute and other nutritional centers that have studied this.

So dark leafy greens are incredibly powerful for many reasons. And today I wanna feature and focus on the protein part. Also though, in 2015, the journal nutrition found that dark leafy greens improved gut microbiome diversity and helped increase the production of short chain fatty as acids, which helps to reduce inflammation.

#6. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Aquatic greens

Number six, aquatic greens. So I’ve always talked about getting land, vegetables and sea vegetables, and this is really important because we want that diversity and the ocean has a different energy than the land. So algae, seaweed, sea moss, anything that’s coming from the water can be really powerful. Spirulina. And then a 2019 study published in the journal, nutrients a lot from Nutrients, okay, this is one of the best journals right now. <laugh> found that consuming seaweed supplements for four weeks increased levels of immune cells and healthy adults. So these incredible sea vegetables have a different constitution of minerals.

They’ve got iodine, copper, calcium, magnesium, manganese, vitamin C. So do yourself a favor, pick up some nori sheets and make some little wraps in there. Buy some of those seaweed snacks. You can also take an algae based D H A E P a supplement, by the way, as I do every day to make sure you’re getting your healthy fats, especially if you are pregnant or if you are trying to be pregnant. And I’m thinking of all this as we are preparing to launch our Holistic Mama pregnancy course in just a few months.

#7. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Green tea

Finally, number seven, this was the list of super foods. We’ve got green tea and there’s so much research now around green tea. We’ll put it in the show notes, but it’s, it’s been shown to really boost immunity. It’s rich in nutrients, it’s been well documented. Now, of course it does contain some caffeine, I believe around 30 milligrams.

So it’s much less than coffee, it’s less than black tea, but be cognizant of it and do not consume any type of caffeine if possible after three o’clock in the afternoon, including, uh, according to our resident sleep expert here, Dr. Michael Bruce, we will also link to his show in the show notes. But in the morning there’s nourishment to green tea. It has been consumed for thousands of years. So make sure that you get an organic variety. And there are so many different types. The jasmine is one I love. I also like, I love macho latte taste, so sometimes I’ll have that in like mid-afternoon before three o’clock. Um, but as like a little milky treat, which feels nice.

#8. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Ancient greens

So number eight, ancient greens. So there are these ancient green grains. Did I say greens? I meant ancient grains. <laugh>, and I say ancient. It means that the integrity of these foods have been preserved.

They have not been genetically modified. They’re, um, powerful foods that have been consumed and essentially the same for thousands of years. So there are heirloom seeds and they have been preserved because nowadays there’s a lot of hybridization. And so some of these grains include farrow, millet, quinoa, which I’ve been talking about for years, as well as amif. And they’re really wonderful. They’re gluten free, you can play with them. I’m a huge fan of stir fries and working them in. There’s a lot of old school recipes, by the way, from the Beauty detox solution with amam and millet and quinoa. So check some of those out. I’ve been eating these foods for years. And the Blue Zones, uh, blue Zones founder Dan Buer always talks about how important grains are to longevity in these groups. Who by the way, naturally are thinner and maintain, um, maintain their weight.

So it’s really powerful to to, to put things in context and to get out of the dieting mentality of our western world, which can tell us things that aren’t true. Like carbs are scary and bad and you can’t eat them if you wanna be thin. These blue zones, um, residents are eating carbs not only every day, but as Dan points out almost every meal. And I eat carbs at every meal except for the glowing green smoothie meal. You know, like I mentioned my wraps, I have rice almost every day of some type sweet potatoes, um, beans, which are a combination of carbs and, and, uh, protein. I mean, I just have so many carbs and I’ve never had an easier time maintaining my weight because there is balance and there is a real emphasis on gut health no matter what. So make sure you’re taking your SBO probiotics, make sure you’re drinking water, having these whole foods here that I’ve been mentioning with the fiber, just to really make sure you’re nourishing your gut.

#9. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Fermented foods

And then number nine is fermented foods like kimchi, sea moss, kombucha, and pickled veggies. And um, this is interesting, in 2020 there was a study of low covid 19 fatality rates in South Korea, um, attributed to potentially kimchi, um, which was really helping people in Korea. So I think it’s important to know that of course, our gut, uh, you know, these foods are connected to our gut health. And our gut health has such a huge impact on our immunity. I will mention that kombucha is, you know, delicious. It’s fun, it’s, you know, bubbly. I like to drink it too. I also like raw sauerkraut. I like vegan cri kimchi, be careful because a lot of kimchi has fish sauce in it. But you can find vegan kimchi, of course, but these are transient forms of probiotics, so they do not replace taking an S B O supplement because they’ll go right through you. So they have some temporary benefits, but they don’t create that resident forming that deep balance. So yes, raw sauerkraut, you know, wonderful kimchi, but please do take your SBO o supplements. It is not a replacement.

#10. The Top Superfoods for 2023 are Plant-Based for the First Time: Non-dairy milks

And then number 10, finally on this list is non-dairy milks, including almond oat, pistachio soy, coconut. These are excellent alternatives to inflammation producing dairy milk. And a lot of these male milks, uh, especially almond milk, are high in calcium. They’re wonderful, they can make creamy textures. Um, you’re using them in recipes. So I’m just so happy that the, the dairy alternative category is going bananas because so many people are understanding that dairy really isn’t meant for humans. And our bodies are dealing with enough crap <laugh> with the toxins and stress and busyness and so much we do not need to also put dairy in our bodies. There is nothing positive about the dairy that you can’t get from one of these dairy milks, non-dairy milks like the calcium and minerals and many different things.

So please, if you haven’t yet switched over from dairy, do yourself a favor and do that, and it’s gonna be a great year. So let’s run through the list. Once again, these are the top super foods for 2023. As you can see, they are, um, simple, they are accessible, they’re largely inexpensive. Number one seeds, especially chia, hemp and flax. Number two, blueberries, three avocados, four nuts, five leafy greens, dark leafy greens. Number six, aquatic greens like algae, seaweed, spirulina, sea moss. Number seven, green tea number eight, ancient grains like Amara farrow millet, and quinoa. Number nine, nine non-dairy, uh, sorry, number nine, fermented foods and number 10 non-dairy milks. So I hope this inspires you to stock up on some of these foods to make some shifts perhaps as we go into spring and summer. And please be sure to check out our new waterfall cleanse, which we have just launched. It is a holistic program for getting back on track physically,

Emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. So we’re disrupting your patterns. You’re gonna be having g s elixirs juice, you’re gonna be taking our Solluna supplements to really reset your gut. And then you’ll also be having, uh, they’ll be guided journaling and meditations and a stretch video as well. So I’m really excited to guide you through. You can check it out over on our website, mysolluna.com, as well as the show notes for today, which will link to some of the other podcasts I mentioned, which would be a really great pairing with this one as well as recipes, meditations, and more. Thank you so much for being part of our community. Thank you so much for being you, sending you much love, much gratitude, much support. And we will be back here Monday for our next interview podcast to then take care. And lots and lots of love.