Do you know what a “healthy diet” consists of? Fruits? Vegetables? Low fat? Lean protein? This advice is okay as far as it goes, but given what we now know about the relative nutritional values of foods, these vague guidelines are only a part of a larger picture.

SuperFoods Rx is based on the premise that we must develop a more sophisticated appreciation of the familiar building blocks of diet—the macronutrients of fat, carbohydrates, and protein—and then move on to an examination of the micronutrients in foods. All foods are not created equal. We’re familiar with the idea that some proteins are better than others. Striped bass, for example, is better for you than a fatty pork chop. Many of us know that low-fat or nonfat dairy foods are better for us than full-fat ones. But the idea that one vegetable or fruit might be better than another is entirely new. We’ve only been able to make these kinds of distinctions because we can now examine the micronutrients in fruits and vegetables and assess which ones have more health promoting qualities

Micronutrients include two categories we’re all familiar with: vitamins and minerals. The most exciting category of micronutrients and one that you’ll hear more and more about in the coming years is phytonutrients. Phytonutrients (”phyto,” from the Greek word for plant) are naturally occurring substances that are powerful promoters of human health. SuperFoods Rx provides specific information on phytonutrients and their effect on your health and daily energy.

Phytonutrients are non-vitamin, non-mineral components of foods that have significant health benefits. There are literally thousands of them in our foods, appearing in everything from our cup of morning tea to a handful of popcorn at the movies. Some phytonutrients help facilitate the ability of our cells to communicate with one another. Some have anti-inflammatory abilities. Some help prevent mutations at the cellular level. Some prevent the proliferation of cancer cells. Some have functions that we are only beginning to understand, and many have yet to even be identified. Here are just three important types of beneficial phytonutrients;

Poly phenols act as antioxidants, have anti-inflammatory properties, and are antiallergenic, among other health-promoting abilities. Some foods that contain polyphenols are tea, nuts, and berries.

Carotenoids are the pigments found in red and yellow vegetables—think tomatoes, pumpkin, carrots, apricots, mangoes, sweet potatoes. They are an important category of phytonutrients that includes beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene. These nutrients function as antioxidants; they protect us from cancer and help defy the effects of aging.

Phytoestrogens, literally “plant estrogens,” are naturally occurring chemicals found particularly in soy foods as well as in whole wheat, seeds, grains, and some vegetables and fruits. They play a role in hormone related cancers such as prostate and breast cancers.

HOW MICRONUTRIENTS CAN PROLONG YOUR HEALTH SPAN

Your body is a complicated, interrelated system that is remarkably resilient. Nonetheless, over a lifetime, the tiny links in the chain that your health depends upon begin to break down. The micronutrients in whole foods provide the reinforcements that retard this breakdown. One critically important function of micronutrients in maintaining your health is their activity as powerful antioxidants. Just as a bicycle frame in the back of the garage will eventually begin to rust, so our bodies at the cellular level “rust,” or oxidize. This oxidation creates long- and short-term health problems. Antioxidants protect the body from oxidation. The antioxidants that have been the most studied and have received the most attention include vitamin C, vitamin E. beta-carotene, and minerals such as selenium. Yon can see the antioxidant activity of vitamin C in your own kitchen: a slice of apple will begin to turn brown shortly after being cut, but if it’s rubbed with lemon juice (high in vitamin C) it will be preserved. The vitamin C slows down the oxidation process. The list of antioxidant nutrients grows almost daily. Here’s a brief synopsis of how antioxidants help preserve our health.

Our bodies are heat-generating machines that depend on oxygen to carry out basic metabolic functions. One of the by-products of this use of oxygen, or “oxidation,” is oxygen molecules that have been transformed into what are known as “free radicals.” Free radicals are generated by the body’s own metabolic systems. In addition, the environment is teeming with them in the form of cigarette smoke, pollution, certain foods, and chemicals. Even your drinking water and the sun that warms your face on an April morning are creating free radicals.

These free radicals, which are constantly proliferating throughout our bodies, are missing an electron. This makes them highly unstable. Driven to restore the missing electron, they seek out replacement molecules 1′i-om whatever neighboring cells they can attack. Sometimes their targets are DNA, sometimes enzymes, sometimes important proteins in neighboring cells, and sometimes they attack the cell membrane itself. It’s been estimated that each cell experiences ten thousand free-radical hits each day.

Clearly, no living being could survive for long without some powerful system of defense against free radicals. Antioxidants are the foot soldiers in the battle to disarm free radicals in our bodies. They neutralize free radicals, and, in effect, minimize their threat by giving up an electron in an effort to stabilize them. Stabilized, the free radicals are no longer a threat to cellular health.

Our bodies produce many antioxidants on their own, but the antioxidants in foods play a critical role in keeping tree radicals in check. Indeed, it’s the antioxidants in foods that inspired the once shocking but now commonly held belief in the medical community that certain foods promote health beyond their ability simply to nourish the body.

Scientists now believe that successfully combating free radicals, and the damage they instigate, is one of the keys to long-term health. In other words, we now know that it’s no longer just genetics or medical advances that are responsible for your longevity and your ability to avoid chronic disease: it’s your body’s ability to handle free radicals. Unchecked free- radical activity has been conclusively linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, vision problems, Alzheimer’s disease, and premature aging.

It’s this idea—that the body benefits immeasurably from a constant rich infusion of phytonutrients, as well as all macro- and other micronutrients—that is one of the cornerstones of SuperFoods Rx, and identifying the richest sources of micronutrients in foods is one of its important features.