Excerpted from Dr. Joel Fuhrman's website, drfuhrman.com

In this time-crunched society, people often want information delivered quickly and in a format that is easy to process. This even pertains to the fundamental building blocks of health and longevity —proper nutrition. It’s in this spirit that today we (swiftly!) offer you a list of the ten best and worst foods for optimum health.

The best foods are cancer-protective and longevity-favorable and, if consumed regularly, will contribute to maintaining ideal weight, achieving Super Immunity and promoting overall well-being:

Ten Best Foods:

• Green Leafy Vegetables (e.g. kale, collard greens, mustard greens, spinach, lettuce)
• Non-leafy Cruciferous Vegetables (e.g. broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage)
• Berries
• Beans (for an alternative way to eat your beans, try Dr. Fuhrman’s bean pastas)
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Seeds (e.g. Flax seeds, chia, hemp, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin)
• Nuts (e.g. walnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, almonds, cashews)
• Tomatoes
• Pomegranates
  

Conversely, the leading causes of death, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, are primarily caused by the foods we eat. The wrong foods can be as addictive as drugs and alcohol and can cause us to lead lives that provide only a fraction of our potential for health, energy level and physiological well-being.

The following foods are the worst of the worst:

Ten Worst Foods:

• Full-fat Dairy (e.g. cheese, ice cream, butter, whole milk)
• Trans Fat Containing Foods (e.g. stick margarine, shortening, fast foods, commercial baked goods)
• Doughnuts
• Sausage, Hot Dogs, and Luncheon Meats
• Smoked Meat, Barbecued Meat and Conventionally-raised Red Meat
• Fried Foods including Potato Chips and French Fries
• Highly-salted Foods
• Soda
• Refined White Sugar
• Refined White Flour

10 Best and Worst Foods

Kristi Whitley

Healthy Living