Power Your Diet With Powerhouse Foods

March 11, 2004 -- Sure, we're supposed to eat more vegetables and fruits. But exactly which foods are best for us?

Most Americans don't know. That's because we get only vague recommendations to "eat a variety of fruits and vegetables," says Susie Nanney, PhD, acting director of the Obesity Prevention Center at Saint Louis University.

The result? We're eating lots of corn, potatoes, iceberg lettuce, apples, and bananas. OK, these foods may be better for you than a large order of fries and a soda, but none of them is a nutritional powerhouse.

"People just aren't eating the fruits and vegetables that contain the most nutrients," Nanney says in a news release. "People are quite frankly confused about nutrition. I feel their pain."

Powerhouse Foods

Nanney's tired of beating around the bush. In the March issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, she and her colleagues blast public health agencies for their well-meaning but namby-pamby advice. What people need, she says, is specific advice.

So here it is. Nanney says we should try to follow a "powerhouse pattern" when we shop for fruits and vegetables. She incorporates colors from the current campaign for nutrition, called '5 A Day The Color Way,' and specifies more nutritionally dense fruits and vegetables:

• White. Eat cauliflower more often than potatoes, onions, and mushrooms.
• Green. Iceberg is so yesterday. Green beans aren't where it's at. Eat more dark lettuces such as romaine and red-leaf lettuce. Pile on the spinach. And eat lots of broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
• Yellow-orange. Easy on the corn and bananas. Fill up on carrots, winter squash, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, oranges, and grapefruit.
• Red. Forget "an apple a day." Focus on tomatoes, red peppers, and strawberries.

"When we look at how to get the most bang for your buck -- the most power -- it's by eating these other fruits and vegetables instead of the traditional choices," Nanney says.