Functional foods do much more than provide your body with energy. These whole foods give you the best health of all by helping reduce your chances for disease, help your digestion, allow for optimized nutrient absorption, and boost your metabolism.
The more of these you eat, the better your health will be. Take a look around your kitchen and see how many functional foods you have to eat!
1. Turmeric
It looks like an orange version of ginger root, but this spice has a set of healthy healing powers all its own. Ideal for reducing inflammation, sprinkling turmeric powder in just about everything you make from soups to stir-fry has great benefits. Plus, if you’re subtle enough, the kids will never know they’re eating it!
2. Apple Cider Vinegar
Perhaps one of the most functional foods, apple cider vinegar helps prevent cardiovascular disease, lowers blood sugar, and aids in weight loss. It also adds great zing to your dishes. Use it to create marinades or salad dressings!
3. Grapefruit
Grapefruit is great to have with your breakfast because it speeds up your metabolism which in turn, helps burn fat. Not sure what to do with it beyond slicing it in half and digging in? You can slice up a few segments and add it to your salad for a refreshing citrus pop.
4. Fatty Fish
Get in excellent heart health and boost your mind with fatty fish like wild salmon, halibut, mackerel, and canned white tuna. Best of all, fish is so quick and easy to cook, even on a busy night. It takes less than 20 minutes and needs very little seasoning to taste out of this world.
5. Bone Broth
Bone broth is amazing for healing your gut, plus it can help with joint aches and pains too. You can drink it as-is, or you can use this amazing health food as the base for your soups.
6. Blueberries
One of the most renowned superfoods, blueberries are amazing for your health. Filled with polyphenols, a powerful antioxidant, you can eat them for a snack or use them on probiotic-rich yogurt for breakfast.
7. Spinach
Spinach is another super-duper superfood. Better health overall awaits with the more spinach you eat. If you’re not a meat-eater, spinach is essential because it delivers tons of calcium, magnesium, and iron. There’s so much you can do with spinach too, from sautéing it to making salads and beyond!
8. Oats
Oats are ideal for a filling breakfast that helps you feel satisfied. They also help you absorb nutrients better. To get the best out of them though, you should make your own overnight oats which will taste amazing in the morning and fuel your good gut bacteria. There are many more functional foods to look out for too like broccoli, yogurt, kefir, kimchi, green tea, olive oil, and beans, to name a few. Get more of them on your plate for your best health!