The 5 Best Foods You Aren't Eating

Boost Your Health with Every Bite of these Lesser-Known Superfoods.

SMALL FOODS, BIG VALUE: Chia and Hemp seeds provide powerful doses of protein and healthy fats. Photo CreditiStockPhoto.com

Overview

Even if you’re the poster child for healthy eating, you’ll eventually grow tired of green tea, almonds, and Greek yogurt. And that’s fine, because your local store is stocked with lesser-known superfoods that pack a serious nutritional punch—and deserve a spot on your plate.

Here are five underappreciated foods you should be eating, plus easy ways to work them into your daily diet.

Nutritional Yeast

Also known as nooch, Nutritional Yeast is deactivated yeast, so it won't rise during baking. Its cheesy, nutty flavor makes it a great healthy topping for salads or salty snacks like popcorn.

WHY IT'S HEALTHY: Nutritional yeast is a rich source of vitamin B12, a nutrient that boosts your energy, protects your brain, and promotes healthy skin, hair, and nails, says Lainie Cooper, a Denver-based nutritionist. It's also a complete protein (a protein source like meat, eggs, and milk that contains all nine essential amino acids), so it's a great addition to vegetarian and vegan diets.

HOW TO EAT IT: Stir 1-2 tablespoons into sauces, soups, or stir-fries to add rich flavor and a protein boost without a lot of extra calories (2 tablespoons has about 60 calories).

Chia Seeds

Originally famous their ability to sprout from funny-looking clay animals, Chia Seeds are making a comeback—this time, in the grocery store. These miniature black seeds are mostly flavorless, but add a nice texture to salads and soups.

WHY THEY'RE HEALTHY: A single serving of chia seeds provides a hefty dose of antioxidants, protein, fiber, zinc, iron, and omega-3 fats—for only 140 calories. Chia's high dose of omega-3s can help reduce inflammation, treat or prevent anxiety and depression, and even slow the aging process, says Cooper.You don't have to grind chia to reap the maximum benefits, and the seeds don't spoil quickly, making them much more convenient than flaxseed.

HOW TO EAT THEM: Sprinkle chia seeds on cereal, yogurt, salads… really anything! The seeds form a gel when mixed with liquid, so they're great for thickening smoothi​​es, salad dressings, and soups.

Kefir

Similar to yogurt in taste, this fermented dairy drink is like a thick, protein-packed smoothi​​e.

WHY IT'S HEALTHY: The complete proteins in kefir are easily digested, so even people who are lactose intolerant may consume the drink. Because it's packed with gut-friendly bacteria called probiotics, kefir has been shown to enhance the immune system, balance digestion, and even lower cholesterol. It's also an excellent source of vitamin D ​​and calcium, says Gina Casagrande, dietician and wellness coach.

HOW TO EAT IT: Pour a glass for a light breakfast or a sweet snack. Just be careful: Since kefir is so packed with healthy probiotics, you may need to build a tolerance to it. Start with a small glass (about half a cup ) and increase the amount every few days.

Hemp

Hemp—available in seeds, nuts, protein powder, and oil—can easily be added into your favorite meals to skyrocket the nutritional value.

WHY IT'S HEALTHY: Hemp oil is more loaded with essential fatty acids (omega-6 and omega-3) than any other oil. These “good” fats can help reduce risk of heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and a host of other chronic diseases. Hemp is also packed with complete protein (again, the type with all nine amino acids), making it an excellent choice for vegetarians and vegans, says nutritionist Torey Jones, RD

HOW TO EAT IT: Toss two tablespoons of hemp seeds into your oatmeal or stir-fry. Or add them to a smoothi​​e for an extra dose of protein.

Black Garlic

With a less pungent flavor and nearly twice the antioxidants of fresh garlic, black garlic—aged, fermented garlic—may be the best ugly food you eat.

WHY IT'S HEALTHY: The powerful antioxidants in black garlic protect your cells from disease and can even help you stay younger longer. “As we age, we 'rust' due to our body's use of oxygen to metabolize food, as well as sun, smoke , pollution, and many other factors, “Casagrande says. “Antioxidants may help slow the aging process by blocking that 'rust' from forming.“

HOW TO EAT IT: The gentle, sweet flavor of black garlic makes it a versatile superfood—add it into any recipe in which you'd use fresh garlic, from pasta dishes to soups and stews. The best part? No garlic breath.

By Katie Farmand

More fresh mushrooms check here

Why the humble mushroom is being hailed as a superfood

Mushrooms are easy to overlook in the so-called rainbow colours we are advised to eat to get a full range of nutritional benefits from fruit and veg. 

But research increasingly reveals why they are now qualified to join the ranks of so-called superfoods such as broccoli and blueberries.

Numerous studies reveal that mushrooms may help reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

'Mushrooms may seem plain, but they really are a superfood,' says dietician Dr Sarah Schenker.

'They contain virtually no fat, sugar or salt and are a valuable source of dietary fibre as well as the five B vitamins thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6) and folate.

'They also contain the essential minerals potassium, copper, phosphorous and iron. 

'Most significant among their mineral content is selenium, which you don't find in many fruit and vegetables.'

With more than 90 per cent water content, adding mushrooms to dishes such as stews can make us feel fuller without boosting calorie content.

More than 2,500 different varieties grow in the wild, but until now most research has focused on the exotic types.

Active antiviral compound lentinan, present in the shitake, has been found to boost the immune system. The shitake may also help lower blood cholesterol and reduce the harmful effects of saturated fat.

The maitake is a rich source of beta-glucans, which have potentially anti-tumour effects.

Even in small amounts, the tree ear - or wood ear - mushroom, can thin the blood, helping prevent heart disease and stroke.

The humble white button mushroom could also carry significant health benefits. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that just a handful has about 12 times more of the powerful antioxidant, L-Ergothioneine than wheatgerm and four times more than chicken liver, previously thought to be the best sources.

L-Ergothioneine works on cell-damaging substances known as free radicals and protects the body's DNA from damage.

By ANGELA EPSTEIN FOR THE DAILY MAIL 

It Took Me 20 Years to Lose 100 Pounds—But I Did It!

When Pamela Jackson could no longer recognize herself in the mirror, she knew it was time for a change.

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The Lifestyle:
My entire life has been a roller coaster of my weight just going up and down. In elementary school, I was a little on the heavy side. I'd always go for the cheesy and fatty food when I could. I'll admit it—I was chunky as a kid. But I guess I started to eat better and move more as I phased through junior high and high school because I was "normal"—meaning I looked like everyone else. Growing up, my parents controlled which foods I had access to; they were the ones buying and cooking (usually) healthy food for my family. Then I graduated and started working right away. And that's where everything snowballed. I'd venture to In-N-Out for some burgers—one time I ordered two double-doubles at one meal—or I'd grab a slice of cheesecake somewhere for dessert (I loved the sweet stuff). I made reallypoor eating choices. Mind you, I was in my early twenties when I gained 100 pounds. For 20 years, I tried to lose weight, but nothing ever stuck—especially not gimmicky fad diets. It wasn't until my forties when I finally started to see my weight shift.

The Change
During a free training session at my gym, I hopped on a scale (I was 27 at this time) and was appalled at the number I saw. How could I be in my twenties and weigh more than 200 pounds? And on top of that, my doctors started telling me that my cholesterol and blood pressure was getting too high—so they made me take medicine. I knew I needed to lose weight but never found a regimen that I could maintain. I'd diet to slim down for an event or party—maybe with the lemonade cleanse or the cabbage soup diet—and then gain the weight right back. It was like a never-ending cycle of my weight fluctuating. Everything seemed too hard—working out, eating healthy—so I pretty much convinced myself that I had to live with my body; this lasted for almost 20 years. When I turned 41, I looked in the mirror, stared at my face and body, and couldn't recognize myself. It was like my true self was hidden by this large exterior. I did not want to be this unhealthy person in this body.

From that moment on, I told myself to just try living a healthier lifestyle—no crash dieting or anything super drastic. Simple, manageable, and doable tweaks. I researched blogs and Web sites for proper eating tips and set mini-goals for myself—like losing 10 pounds instead of 100 (which seemed impossible to me at the time). Once I reached that first goal, my friend convinced me to keep going, so I did. It was all thanks to my food. I ate real, whole food like nuts and berries—not that processed stuff. Sometimes I'll go for tasty (but still healthy) snacks like KIND bars. My family cooks a lot of Cajun cuisine, so I made sure to go over each recipe, swap certain ingredients for leaner options, and really measure what I put into every dish. I allow myself to eat everything, but a healthier version of each. It was like I retaught myself how to eat well. 

As for my exercise, I didn't do much except walk before. I was so out of shape that if I tried to do anything else, it felt like my heart would pop out of my chest. Physicians said it was because my endurance was low, so all I could do was walk. So I trained my body to do interval-type things: basically switching between walking and light jogging. Now, I can walk for a couple hours—easy.

The Reward
I've been buying large-sized clothes ever since I was in my twenties—I could never shop at the regular stores in the mall except for department stores with my bigger sizes. When I look at myself in these new clothes, I realize just how much I've transformed myself. A lot of people don't recognize me! But even better, my doctors took me off of my medicines because I lost so much weight.

Pamela's Tips
You're going to fail, but keep going. Don't give up or think you can't do it. It doesn't matter how you felt about yourself in the past. You can find the time to start over whenever you'd like.
Go as slow as you need to. Count your milestones, and find a pace that's comfortable for you—not what's comfortable for someone else.
Stay positive. You're always beautiful—what's important is to get healthy and feel better about yourself.

 BY PAMELA JACKSON

5 Habits People Who Successfully Lose Weight Have in Common

Follow in their footsteps to shed a size.

Ever look at someone who's managed to slim down and wonder: What's her secret? We tapped the experts at MyFitnessPal, an app that lets users track their weight, activity, eating habits, and more, and asked them to dive into the data from their more than 65 million users to find out what separates the people who manage to drop pounds from the rest. Adopt these habits to see your own weight-loss success.

They Seek Social Support
MyFitnessPal members with friends who also use the app drop twice as much weight, on average, as users who don't have a community on the app—and that number only goes up if you have more friends within the app: Users who have 10 or more friends lose, on average, four times as much weight as users who have none. "It's generally shown that people who have community and support groups tend to do better," says Elle Penner, R.D. for MyFitnessPal and author of the healthy-lifestyle blog According to Elle.Research published in the American Journal of Medicine confirms this: People in the study who joined a weight-loss intervention group lost a bigger percentage of their original body weight than those who tried to go it alone.

They Track Their Food Consistently
…And you don't even have to do it for very long to see results: According to MyFitnessPal data, 88 percent of users who log their meals for seven days lose weight. "A lot of times we eat even without even realizing it," says Penner. "[Logging] just kind of brings attention to what we're putting in our body—and it also helps people understand the energy that some foods have." Even if you don't have an app like MyFitnessPal, keeping a food journal can help you drop more pounds than you would otherwise.

MORE: 4 Food Journal Mistakes You Might be Making

They Hold Themselves Accountable
If you want to see the best results from of the two the tips above, combine them: MyFitnessPal users who share their food diaries with just one other user tend to drop two times the weight of users who don’t open up about what they eat. Yes, it may feel a little weird to put your munching habits on display, but it's the best way to keep yourself honest, says Penner. "Knowing someone is going to check on you or that they might look at your diary as a source of inspiration can help keep you on track."

They Stay Motivated to Work Out
Per MyFitnessPal, users who connect their accounts with at least one other fitness or health app—something like Strava or MapMyRun, for example—are nearly twice as likely to lose weight as members who don't. This is probably because the apps help keep them motivated to stay active, says Penner. But you don't have to use an app to get encouragement—you can also try these tips to find your fitness motivation.

They Cook for Themselves
MyFitnessPal doesn't track cooking directly—but it does have an option for users to enter a recipe so they can calculate nutrition info on that recipe and add it to their logs. And on average, users who logged a recipe this year lost nearly 40 percent more weight than users who didn't (and presumably didn't cook as much). They also log almost twice as much exercise as their kitchen-averse counterparts. You know that home-cooked meals are likely to be more nutritious and less

calorie-dense than packaged foods or restaurant dishes—but you may not realize what an impact this has on your goals: On days when MyFitnessPal users didn't log a recipe, they were more than six times more likely to exceed their calorie, carb, fat, and sugar goals for the day. And they were more than seven times more likely to go over their daily sodium goals. "I definitely think it's eye-opening," says Penner. "Cooking at home just provides more nutrition overall than eating out, and you can eat a lot more if you cook at home and feel fuller because there's more protein and fiber in those meals."

BY ROBIN HILMANTEL

How to Cook Dumplings

There are many ways to cook dumplings, with different fillings. Here we introduce dumplings with pork and pumpkin filling. If you do not like them, replace them with another food.

Ingredients:

600g wheat flour, 400g ground pork, 100g pumpkin, 2 eggs, some ginger, green onion and some garlic

Seasoning: some salt, soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, sesame oil and chicken powder

Note: The amount of the seasonings listed above can be adjusted according to personal taste.

Preparation and Cooking Instructions:

·         Make the dumpling wrapper: Put the wheat flour in a basin. Add some salt and mix evenly. Pour water in the center of the flour. Knead and stir the flour into dough. Cover the dough with a wet cloth to rise for about half an hour. Sprinkle some flour onto a board and place the dough on the board. Knead the dough into a long strip and cut into small pieces. Roll the small piece flat with a rolling pin to make the dumpling wrapper. Put the wrappers aside. Sprinkle some flour on them to prevent them from sticking together.

·         Make the dumpling filling: While the dough is fermenting, make the filling. Clean and mince the pork into ground pork. Clean and mince the pumpkin. Mix the ground pork with the minced pumpkin, salt, cooking wine, chicken powder, sugar, eggs and some water and stir them evenly.

·        

Make the dumpling: Put a spoon of filling into the center of each wrapper. Fold and pinch the wrapper edge together hard. Make sure the wrapper edge is tight.

·         Make the dipping sauce (depends on your taste): Clean and mince some green onion and garlic. Put them in a small dish. Add some white sugar, vinegar and paprika. Heat some cooking oil and soy sauce, and when they boil, pour them in the dish.

·         Cook the dumplings: Boil some water. When the water boils, add the dumplings one by one. When the water boils again, add about a small cup of water. Cover and repeat twice more. While boiling the dumplings, stir them to prevent them from sticking together or to the pot.

·         The dumplings are ready. Drain them into a dish.

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Culture in Dumpling Stuffing

1)芹菜馅 Celery Stuffing
“芹” (qin), the Chinese character for celery, is a homophone of “勤” (qin) which means “diligent”. Celery stuffing expresses a wish for being diligent and pragmatic.
　　
2)韭菜馅 Leek Stuffing
“韭” (jiu), the Chinese character for leek, is a homophone of “久” which means “a long time”. Leek stuffing expresses a wish for a long-lasting relationship.

3)白菜馅 Chinese Cabbage Stuffing
“白” (bai) in “白菜” (Chinese cabbage) is a homophone of “百” (bai) which means a hundred kinds. Chinese cabbage stuffing expresses a prayer for a hundred kinds of treasures.

4)香菇馅Mushroom Stuffing
Mushroom is shaped like an upward arrow. It expresses the best wishes for being successful.

5)酸菜馅 Pickle Stuffing
“酸菜” (suan cai), the Chinese word for pickle, is a homophone of “算财” (suan cai) which literally means to count one’s wealth. Pickle stuffing expresses a wish for choice.

6)肉菜馅 Meat Stuffing
“肉” (rou) is a homophone of “有” (you, have). Meat stuffing expresses a whish for being talented.

7)鱼肉馅 Fish Stuffing
“鱼” (yu, fish) is a homophone of “余” (yu) which means “surplus”. Fish stuffing expresses a wish for having more than needed every year.

8)牛肉馅 Beef Stuffing
“牛” (niu) in “牛肉” (beef) means “bullish”. Beef stuffing is the favorite of stock investors.

9)羊肉馅 Mutton Stuffing
“羊” (yang) in “羊肉” (mutton) is homophone of “洋” (yang) which means “multitudinous, vast”.

Origin of Chinese dumplings

Now, with so many people observing the day by making and eating dumplings, or "Jiao Zi",we thought it would be appropriate to tell you the origin of the custom. It all begins with ZhangZhongjing, the man from Chinese history known as the "Medicine Saint."

Zhang Zhongjing lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty 1800 years ago. Reportedly, Zhangnoticed that many people's ears were frostbitten when he returned to his hometown onewinter. He decided to wrap mutton, chilli and some warming medicinal herbs in dough skin.Folding them into the shape of an ear, he boiled them in water before giving them to the poor.

Wang Lingxiang, doctor, said, "All the materials used in Zhang's recipe could help warm thebody, promote the blood flow and then thaw the cold ears. The dumplings also had awonderful taste so they were well received by the people."

This food was originally called "Jiao'er" for its shape, and later the name slowly becameJiaozi. Zhang used to distribute them from the day of Winter Solstice to New Year's Eve,when the villagers had fully recovered from their illness.

Today, Jiaozi is still a must in winter in most parts of northern China, especially during theSpring Festival. No words can precisely describe Chinese people's affection for dumplings, asthe food has already become a symbol of home and warmth.