Ideas for Including More "Superfoods" in Your Day

Yesterday, I had dinner with a friend who has truly undergone a transformation in terms of the way he eats. When we were kids, he really stuck to burgers and pizza. (It used to confound my brother and me, because his family is Italian and his mother was always making to-die-for pasta fresca at home with sauces she had simmered for hours.) He has turned 180 degrees: last night, at his suggestion, we ate at Quartino Bottega Organica, a small pescetarian restaurant that is very mindful of using organic ingredients, makes simple, satisfying Italian food, and serves organic and biodynamic wine.

Better yet, my friend is now trying to think of ways to add more "superfoods" to things he already eats. So here are a few ideas, for him or for you!

1. Bananas, berries and acai are easy to add to smoothies and other breakfast dishes, like yogurt-and-granola or whole grain pancakes or toast.

2. Any grains and flours in your diet can easily be swapped for whole, naturally very complex, or protein- or omega-3-rich grains and flours, like quinoa, buckwheat, flax meal, brown rice, etc.

3. In the summertime, I make a black bean salad that has practically the whole "rainbow of superfoods": black beans, diced red bell pepper, diced and seeded tomato or halved cherry tomatoes, diced mango, diced avocado, and chopped cilantro, tossed with lime juice, chilli pepper, salt, and roasted cumin. We scoop it up with endive leaves, which make a natural scoop, or just eat it by the spoonful.

4. Sprouts are easy to add to sandwiches and to use to top salads and Asian dishes. Add broccoli and daikon sprouts to liven up sandwiches, pea sprouts and bean sprouts to Asian dishes, and sprouted lentils to chaat (or to make Indian dishes that call for dried lentils). Sprouted, raw nuts are also yummy - much more soft than roasted nuts - almost like eating a fruit.

5. The question is what can you not do with green vegetables?! : )

a. I have started using collards as a wrap, like in place of rice paper for Vietnamese-style rice paper rolls. I just wash and de-rib them, roll up different mixtures inside them, and then cut the one long, single roll into hand-holdable pieces.

b. Nori also makes a great wrap, and can also be cut into short strips and mixed into all kinds of Asian dishes to add a briny, ocean flavor. Or, say you're making something like red coconut curry as a main dish, and steaming some brown rice to accompany it, you could mix the hot brown rice with black sesame seeds, shredded nori, and thinly sliced scallions both for visual interest and heightened flavor.

c. Green vegetables like peas, peapods, green beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, spinach, mustard greens, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, bok choy, and asparagus can be used in so many different kinds of cuisines:
- risottos with green peas;
- stir-fries with crunchy peapods;
- blanched green beans in a warm shallot vinaigrette;
- frittata with broccoli florets;
- quartered brussels sprouts sauteed in South Indian spices;
- spinach fettucine;
- any greens simply prepared with garlic or ginger and garlic...
and so on, and so on.

6. Pumpkin (along with other autumn squashes and yams) is a great seasonal ingredient with loads of beta carotene. When fall rolls around, I like pumpkin everything all the time. It makes for yummy pancakes, tastes great in Sri Lankan-style curry, is featured in plenty of autumn dessert recipes, like pumpkin tea bread, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin pie, and the seeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and zinc and make a great snack or crunchy addition to salads and trail mixes. I love yams and yam "fries" (actually, baked) and mashed yams for sandwich spreads, and like to contrast their sweetness with some ginger or mustard greens. Butternut squash, of course, makes a great bisque - you almost don't need to add anything to it (I, of course, turn up the heat on it with some chilli powder).

7. Nuts can also be added to almost anything - breakfast foods, rice/grain pilafs, salads, I think I've mentioned we love a nut-based non-dairy "ice cream" - and of course make satisfying snacks.

8. What about citrus? I think the best thing to do with it is eat the whole fruit, since it can be so sweet or so sour, and eating the whole fruit provides fiber. Citrus fruits make great additions to green salads, among other things.

Note: there are lots of "superfoods" cookbooks out there, but I don't think anyone trying to eat more "superfoods" needs to rush out and buy them. Just think about what you already eat and love to eat - chances are, you already eat quite a few "superfoods," and almost everything you eat can be "supe'd" up!