If you are what you eat, then it pays to be dense. Nutrient dense, that is. When it comes to the variety of foods we eat, most of us fall into deep-rooted habits and consume roughly the same 10 to 20 foods each week. We bet you know someone (or are someone) who eats the same thing for lunch or breakfast every single day. That’s fine, as long as those favorite foods are full of nutrients.
What is nutrient density, you might ask? Nutrient-dense foods are simply those containing a high ratio of nutrients to calories.
Broccoli is an example of an extremely nutrient-dense food. For each calorie of energy it contains (which isn’t a lot), you still get a large amount of valuable nutrients. This means that you can eat a ton of nutritious broccoli without consuming many calories. Iceberg lettuce, on the other hand, is an example of a low-calorie, nutrient-poor food.
On the flip side, pork rinds are an energy-dense, nutrient-poor food. If you munch on a handful of pork rinds, you bombard your system with gobs of calories (mostly saturated and trans fat) but extract very little nutrition. Clearly, the higher the nutrient density, the better. Nutrient-dense foods tend to be extremely filling without packing in the calories, so you feel full longer.Look up your top 10 foods (the ones you eat most often) and see what kind of nutrients they pack per calorie on www.nutritiondata.com. Check their nutrient-density scores (they call it an ND Rating) – following a scale from 0 to 5, with a higher rating indicating a more nutritious food.
Then, substitute at least 1 of your everyday foods with something that contains a higher nutrient density. Better yet, find alternatives for 5 of your 10 favorites, and try to exchange one additional food per week.
Low-calorie, nutrient density all-stars include:
•Kidney beans
•Alfalfa sprouts
•Asparagus
•Kale
•Zucchini squash
•Broccoli
•Yellow snap peas
•Spinach
•Summer squash
•Cauliflower
•Fish (Mahi, perch, tilapia)
High(er)-calorie, but still full of nutrients:
•Avocado
•Fish
•Quinoa
•Brown rice
•Oats
•Milk
•Pork tenderloin (lean cuts)
•Buffalo meat (also known as bison)
•Turkey
For more information about nutrient-dense foods, please contact Kim Miles, County Extension Agent – FCS at 325-646-0386 or kamiles@ag.tamu.edu.
