"Impress friends and family with the hippest shopping cart in the store!"

Nutrient dense food simply means getting the biggest bang for your buck. To illustrate this, let's compare  a cantaloupe to the Big Mac. When you read the bio of a Big Mac, arguably it does contain an impressive array of nutrients, as long as you didn't notice the whopping 540 calories. For the same amount of calories of one Big Mac you could eat 5 small cantaloupes (try doing that in one sitting!) Calorie for calorie, the simple cantaloupe is one of the most nutrient dense fruits in your supermarket, providing a big nutrient bang for just a few caloric bucks.

The goal of someone seeking the best health possible is to pack in as many nutrients into a 1500 to 2000 calorie day, resulting in radiant health and protection from disease, not to mention good weight management.

I am not going to overwhelm you with a zillion foods. I don’t know about you but my mind goes blank when I see pages of lists—besides, there is beauty in simplicity. Variety is important, but over time we all gravitate to a handful of mainstay foods that fit well in our busy lifestyle. This simple list contains the top foods I use in my kitchen. Once you have built a solid diet, you will probably add some personalized food treasures to this base list, but for now this will get you well on your way.

If you have any suggestions of a nutrient-dense food that absolutely must be added to this list, email me at ron@freedomyou.com and add your reasons why. We will have our panel of experts review your request.

Now take a look at this lineup of food superstars. They are the hoity-toity of nutrition and the raw materials for most of our recipes. Unlike the fast food industry, they do not get very good media coverage. There's not a whole lot of money marketing head of broccoli during the Superbowl. But the following can be found at any local grocery store. I suggest you print out the below list the next time you go food shopping. Impress friends and family with the hippest shopping cart in the store!

World's Most Nutritious Foods

Vegetables 

• greens: romaine, kale, raw spinach and collards
• carrots
• Brussels sprouts
• peppers
• squash
• sweet potatoes (yams)
• celery
• avocado
• green beans
• peas
• asparagus
• parsley (for juicing)
• onions
• garlic
• broccoli

Fruit

• all berries 
• cantaloupe
• all melons
• bananas
• mangos
• grapefruit
• oranges
• grapes
• pineapple
• cranberries
• apples

Nuts 

(raw)

• almonds
• walnuts
• cashews
• brazil

Seeds (raw)

• flax
• sunflower
• pumpkin
• sesame 
• hemp

Grain 

• oats
• millet
• quinoa
• buckwheat
• spelt
• barley
• wheat

Legumes

• soybeans
• chick peas
• black-eyed peas
• black beans
• pinto beans
• small white beans

Fats

• hemp oil
• flax oil
• pumpkin oil
• olive oil

Animal Products 

• wild Pacific sockeye salmon
• skinless chicken breasts
• free range eggs
• yogurt
• goat’s cheese
• cottage cheese

Natural sweeteners

• Sucanat (a non-refined cane sugar which retains the molasses)
• unpasteurized honey
• frozen juice concentrates
• blended dates and raisins