There is no absolute truth here, just my opinion on which superfoods offer the most overall wellness benefits when taken consistently.
Every health blogger will have a different list, and different body chemistries may react differently to different superfoods. I’m going by my OPINION of superfoods I’ve extensively researched, and CONSISTENTLY use.
Thus, there may be others that should be on the lists that I haven’t tried yet (like “maybe” wheatgrass, kale, quinoa, Chia, flaxseed, and bee pollen), then there are fav’s of mine like like Goji Berries, Pumpkin Seeds, Lucuma, and a few others that I couldn’t squeeze into My Top 30.
Then, there’s broccoli, that I actually forgot about until I finished my full top 30 lists, I use consistently use Whole Foods Bagged Frozen Broccoli, added to my daily smoothies smoothies (the frozen broccoli in smoothies is pretty tasteless) ….
…. I suppose there are probably 30 more just as great that I’ll never get to.
Nonetheless, my 30 (broken into 3 Top 10 Lists), is a way to tell family and friends, the closer you get to number 1, the more powerful effects it has on overall health, healing, and wellness.
(….my family and friends are not into research, they just read my site, and do what I do)
Not saying, as an example, #7 is that much better than #8, it’s just my general ranking, and in the end, if you decide to dive in, you may use #8 over #7 just because it taste better, and is more practical and convenient to get into your daily routine, but the more you get any in consistently, you can’t lose!!!.
#10 – Moringa
Smoothie Friendly ? : Yes
Not to get into conspiracy theories, but the “Unknown in America”, African/Asian native superfood, has so much health and healing potential, the Pharmaceutical, Medical, and Commercial Food Industries are conspiring to keep it out of the mainstream US market, to stop it from competing with their man made medicines and “fake foods”. My instincts tell me I’m gonna be bumping up this superfood in the future in my rankings, the more I use it and research it. (click photo for more info on Moringa)
#9 – Maqui Berry
Smoothie Friendly ? : Yes
Another classic case of……. How is possible, this South American superfood, so loaded with Antioxidant Power, Nutrients, and one of the Highest ORAC Levels of any food known to man, is almost totally unknown by “Food Rich” but “Nutrition Poor” Americans, even though it is readily available on Amazon? As the young kids would type on Twitter, “SMH”. You’ve heard of blueberries, and maybe even acai, but none of those blue and purple berries have enough “Skill….to Kill….the King of the Hill”, the King being Maqui
(click photo for more Maqui info)
#8 – UMF Certified Manuka Honey
Smoothie Friendly ? : Yes
The unique chemical components of the Manuka bush in New Zealand, put Manuka miles ahead of all other honey, as pertains to internal consumption as well as skin and body care. Honey is one of 114 year old Bernando Lapallo’s 5 foods for a long healthy life. (click photo for more info on UMF Manuka)
#7 – Turmeric (…and Curcumin)
Smoothie Friendly ? : I find that a quality liquid Turmeric extract works in my smoothies
The ancient healing and health potential of this miracle food is extensively backed up by modern science. Among its endless health benefits, EXTENSIVE scientific study show Turmeric to be a hard core cancer fighter. However, be careful with choosing your Turmeric or Curcumin (the active component of Turmeric) bottled products, because much Turmeric found to contain excessive lead. I recommend turmeric from HealthRanger.com, because they test all their products for lead and other contaminants (click photo for more info on Turmeric)
#6 – Coconut Oil
Smoothie Friendly ? : No (…because when below 72 degrees, coconut oil solidifies and clumps up)
I tell family and friends, the fastest way to totally overhaul your health, is to trash all “newfangled” oils like Toxic Canola Oil, Crisco, Wesson, and anything labeled “Vegetable Oil”, and other than healthy Olive Oil, only use Coconut Oil to eat and cook with. You have to somehow get your mind around the scientifically verified fact that the saturated fats in coconut oil one of the healthiest things on the planet, with endless healing abilities, the opposite of what has been put in our minds about healthy, natural saturated fats like Coconut Oil, which is in a totally different category than unhealthy saturated fats (click photo for more info on Coconut Oil)
#5 – Raw Cacao Chocolate
Smoothie Friendly ? : Yes
According to well respected superfood researcher Chris Kilham (a.k.a., “The Medicine Hunter“) … “After water, cacao is the single healthiest substance you can put in your mouth.” Note, we’re talking about raw, unrefined, unprocessed, bitter cacao (though raw Cacao is bitter by itself, it works well in my smoothies, with other fruits, Manuka Honey, and Lucuma Powder to sweeten up the mix). I don’t advise the processed, lesser grade, sugar laced chocolate products, because processing, as with Dutch Chocolate as an example, removes the important “super nutrient”, the Flavonoids. It is one of 114 year old Bernando Lapallo’s 5 foods for a long healthy life. (click photo for more info on Cacao)
#4 – Black Sesame Seeds
Smoothie Friendly ? : Yes
“Taking black sesame seeds can heal all the chronic illness after 100 days, improve skin tone on body and face after 1 year, reverse gray hair after 2 years, and regrow teeth after 3 years.” says the Compendium of Materia Medica, the largest and most comprehensive medical writings in the history of Traditional Chinese medicine. One of nature’s highest levels of Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer fighting Gamma Tocopherol, rich in Magnesium and other important minerals, adding this to daily smoothies is an amazing superfood weapon.
(click photo for info on Prostate Health & Black Sesame Seeds, click here for my women’s article)
#3 – Reishi Mushroom Spores
Smoothie Friendly ? : Yes
The “Shinnoh Honzohkyo”, an ancient Asian Book, ranking several hundred top health and healing plants and herbs, ranked Reishi as #1 of them all. Though the Reishi Mushroom itself has this amazing reputation as a top healer, the Reishi Spores , the Spores being the reproductive dust/seeds that blows away in the wind, to land on a new tree to start a new mushroom, is supposedly dozens of times more potent than Reishi Mushrooms themselves. Research is showing that Reishi literally kills cancer cells in their tracks, it’s a shame the power of the mushroom is literally unknown to Americans, even though you can get Reishi Spores on Amazon in individual packets for your daily smoothies. This superfood gives me such a good vibe, gives me youthful morning erections (sorry if TMI 🙂 ), makes me “dance around”, I simply love it!!! (click photo for more Reishi info)
#2 – Baobab
Smoothie Friendly ? : Yes
How is it that the African/Arabian native superfood, when measured by its overall nutrient content, is often considered the most nutritious superfood on the earth, but has never been even heard of by most “Food Rich” but “Nutrition Poor” Americans? Well, a subject for another article, but if we started consuming superfoods such as this and took our health back, there would be no need the enormous trillion dollar Pharmaceutical and Medical Industry, so why would they tell us about it? (click photo for more Baobab info)
#1 – Black Seeds, and Black Seed Oil (botanical name Nigella Sativa)
Smoothie Friendly ? : No
This superfood was so revered in ancient times, it was supposedly found in King Tut’s Tomb. Though the claim that it can “cure anything but death” seems like hype and marketing, research on historical applications shows that there is more truth to that claim than hype (though, to use Black Seed to cure disease, knowledge was needed for specific dosages, and specific combinations of Black Seed and other nutrients, such as honey, cinnamon, and other mixes). Black Seed Oil oil is getting rave reviews in reversing the aging process, such as reversing wrinkles, and when taken internally with water and honey, “supposedly” sheds pounds of body fat from the body in weeks (an experiment I just started, I’ll keep you posted). Only one piece of bad news, the oil and seeds taste pretty bad, (though my mix of Blackseed Oil, Manuka Honey and Ceylon Cinnamon in water is actually “not bad”, totally do-able as an on going, every morning on an empty stomach tonic). I also grind the seeds and make capsules, and I found a quality soft gel Black Seed Oil Capsule on Amazon
(click photos for more Black Seeds info)
jump over to……
Top 30 Superfood “Power Rankings”
(…..numbers 21 thru 30)
jump over to……
Top 30 Superfood “Power Rankings”
(…..number’s 11-20)
~stay healthy~
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8 Responses
Thanks for such helpful and comprehensive information. Adding baobab to my daily diet…looking forward to experiencing the results!
Hi Wanda,
You’re gonna love that Baobab. I understand also that it is a rich source of natural iron, something hard for women to get without supplements.
Not sure if you workwork, but my workout water now has pink himalayan salt, about 1/5 coconut water, manyka honey, and a tsp of Baobab. I mix it all in the blender and pour in workout bottle, it dissolves nicely, not too much taste. Really replenishes that body with nutrients during that workout, like a Gatorade from Mother Nature!!!!
Good Luck!!!
Doug at GAIA Health Blog
Oh yes, I work out 5-6 days a week, and I’ve been drinking a GNC-purchased BCAA powder mixed with my water during my workouts. I sometimes question whether supplements such as this are really good for me, as I try as much as possible to keep my diet whole and natural. Your workout water sounds interesting. When my Baobab arrives, I will definitely try it!
Hi Wanda,
I’m not a fan of supplements either. That doesn’t mean I won’t have certain foods in capsule form, such as the Black seeds, but that is a whole food, ground or powdered in a capsule. Technically, the only supplement I take is Curcumin, which is not the whole food turmeric. Daily turmeric is not too practical for me. Plus Vitamin supplements are often synthetic, from GMO corn, I think you can get more vitamin via the whole food, such as Vitamin C from Camu Camu, because even though it may be less of the vitamin than a supplement, the body absorbs more because it knows how to process vitamin C from a raw orange more than from a synthetic Vitamin C supplement from GMO corn with 20times more “fake” vitamin C. Same with Vitamin D from salmon. My body reacted horribly to Vitamin D supplements, and I will never take them again. Especially since my Vitamin D scores are perfect, only from Salmon and whole food sources.
So far as the Electrolyte water, when I get that Honey, Himalayan Salt, Coconut Water balance with the regular water, it’s a pretty awesome drink. I also add cinnamon to mine but didn’t mention it because it is Ceylon Cinnamon, different from common cassia cinnamon (cassia taste great in a muffin, but too harsh for me in a drink). Ceylon has pretty neutral taste as opposed to common cinnamon, and healthier. Honey and cinnamon are supposed to have exponential power when combined, so that’s why I shake in a wee bit of Ceylon Cinnamon into the mix. Although everybody’s electrolyte water water is different, some people squeeze in lemon or lime. I love lemon, but it messes up the flavor of my mix, but that is personal choice.
But, you’ll find your groove I’m sure, I think the whole premise is in that Baobab and all those ingredients in the water does a “resupply” to the muscles and body during and after that workout, so the body doesn’t have to temporarily cannibalize itself during the workout to get nutrients and energy.
Well, that’s just the science of it from what I read, who know if that is true. I do know my body loves that extra boost when I throw a little Baboab into the mix…….
Sorry for writing so much, just passionate about wellness. But, a man can have worse faults 🙂
Doug at Gaia Health Blog
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With respect to the supplements, I was under the misguided assumption that I needed to take a multi-vitamin daily. At my last annual physical, my doctor had this incredulous look when I mentioned taking them. She asked, ‘you still eat well, right?’ When I replied that I did, she advised that there was no reason for me to take them. With that, I was done.
I totally appreciate your passion about wellness, as I share it (though not nearly as knowledgeably). Again, I also appreciate the time and effort you’ve put into this blog, as I’ve learned more from it in the past couple of months I’ve been following it than I could have culled from my own internet search. Thanks to you, I’ve discovered black seed oil, Manuka honey, turmeric, chlorella, and maca powder (my personal favorite)…and my list continues to grow!
So please keep your passion, and please keep sharing that with us. I love to read and love to learn, so your writings can’t be too lengthy for me. Thank you for your responses!
Hi Wanda,
Oh so you been scoping out my cyber-spot for a few months behind my back, huh 🙂 So far as you superfoods, Manuka honey, turmeric, chlorella, and maca powder, you got some nice what I call, “Big Boys” there, or in your case “Big Girls”. And you have the right approach, I couldn’t have suggested it any better, in that you start with a heavy hitting base group of products, and build from there. Some of the ones you add will be from ongoing education, others will just “accidentally” make you “feel good”, others may make you wired, like Green Tea with its caffeine might, but me and my best friend are into this stuff, and we have the same base, but have branched off into totally different smoothies and other non-smoothie superfoods.
I’d consider those Black Sesame seeds as your next “Big Girl” if I were you, and if you do smoothies, they don’t affect taste much but a very important and powerful superfood. But let it all happen “organically” {pun intended}. I’m also really digging that Moringa, I can see myself bumping that up to #6 or #5.
I’m always just trying to get people to just try 4 or 5 or these for 6 months, especially start cooking with only coconut oil, and see how they feel, and see if those clothes fit better a half year later. Once they see those abs come in, they’re hooked. Your body will actually get mad at you if you stop. The body will be like “hey dude, where’s my daily smoothie?”. that happens when I’m traveling out of town, but I work around it. It was another reader who hooked me up to Black Seeds, so I’m learning still myself.
I think the vitamin thing is a scam, just like telling us we need our oil changed every 1500 miles in the car.
But glad you’re enjoying the site, just trying to spread some helpful practical information, good visuals,a fun browse, my fav’ music that I don’t force on people, so my songs never turn on automatically, and maybe too many “hot babes” for some people’s taste, but that’s true to me as much as talking about the Gamma-Tocopherol levels in Black Sesame Seeds.
The stuff just pours out of me, so I don’t have to do much except enjoy the creativity of keeping the site informative and fun.
~stay healthy~
Doug at GAIA health blog
Black sesame seeds. Got it. As always, I’ll do some additional research, but I’m sure (as always), your recommendation will jibe with everything else I find.
And yes, I’m a coconut oil fanatic, too! Hair, skin, cooking–it’s my all-around ‘go to!’ One of my favorite things: I mix coconut oil and rosehip seed oil (with a tad of black seed oil) and apply it to my face morning and night…and on my scalp as needed. It’s divine!!! I add a little lavender to the mix for the rest of my body.
Speaking of lavender, I can’t recall whether I’ve read anything on your blog about essential oils. I’ve recently become a convert. Diffusing lemongrass, lavender and grapefruit oils in my office have gotten me through some majorly stressful work days. Welcome any thoughts along that line if you have them.
Hi Wanda,
Also with that Rosehip, its one of the top sources of the Lycopene antioxidant that is being shown to fight Breast and Prostate cancer.
Been putting Black Seed Oil on my face every day as well, we’ll see what happens, used to do olive oil, if you can believe that….
So far as your essential oils, no, I haven’t wrote much because normally I write about what I use, or other info that might be of help to others.
Though Essential Oils is one of so many things I want to touch upon though, I’ll get to them one day, though it normally happens when I find a good article to copy as opposed to writing my own.
Doug