8 Surprising Foods That a Nutritionist WOULD Recommend
Eating in Moderation is Key
A formally trained nutritionist would NEVER recommend avoiding any food, unless there is an existing allergy or related medical condition. However, many well-meaning people, who are not formerly educated nutritionists, suggest that certain foods should be avoided for good.
However, restrictions can lead to over-indulgence and boredom. The key is to eat some foods in moderation.
Any food can be part of a healthy diet. Below is a list of foods commonly considered unhealthy that a nutritionist would assist you in incorporating into your diet, if appropriate.
Foods That a Nutritionist Would Recommend That May Surprise You
1. Red Meat… in moderation
While red meat is a source high in saturated fat and should be eaten sparingly, it has some benefits that cannot be ignored.
Red meat contains the highest dietary source of heme iron. Heme iron is the easiest iron for our bodies to absorb and is only found naturally in animal foods. Iron is important for red blood cell health. Low iron may lead to health problems such as iron deficiency anemia.
Another important nutrient that red meat contains that is only found in animal foods is vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 supports your nerve cells. It is also needed for red blood cells and the making of DNA.
2. Dark Meat
Compared to white meat, dark meat contains twice as much zinc. Zinc is important for wound healing and immune function.
Dark meat is typically higher in saturated fat and sodium. However, it’s perfectly fine to incorporate it into your diet, occasionally.
3. Egg Yolk
Over the past few decades, there have been many conflicting statements about eggs yolks being healthy or unhealthy.
For years, it has been said that egg yolks are bad for you because they contain cholesterol and raise your blood cholesterol levels. High blood cholesterol can lead to diseases such as heart attack and stroke.
Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in food and is made by your liver. Your liver produces all the cholesterol your body needs.
When you eat dietary cholesterol, your liver produces less cholesterol. The opposite happens, when you eat less cholesterol. Therefore, blood cholesterol levels don’t change much in most people when they eat foods higher in cholesterol (1).
Egg yolks also have an incredibly high amount of choline. One large egg can contain about 25% of the daily recommendation for choline. Choline is important for nervous system health, brain health and during pregnancy.
4. Canned Beans
Beans are one of the most underrated foods. Depending on who you ask or how you eat them, they can be classified as a protein source, vegetable or carbohydrate.
They are high in fiber, which help you have regular bowel movements and may protect against certain diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.
Dried beans take longer to prepare and cook. Canned beans provide the same benefits as dried beans and are much easier to prepare – they just need to be re-heated. However, one important and fair criticism of canned beans is that they have a high sodium content.
Studies show that draining and rinsing canned foods can remove about 40% of the sodium (2). You’ll consume even less sodium if you buy reduced sodium canned beans!
5. Pasta
Some pasta is made from white flour. Others are made from semolina flour; a flour made from durum wheat.
Pasta made from white is lower in fiber, protein, and other nutrients compared to wheat flour.
Durum wheat is high in protein. The high protein in the durum wheat is what helps keep the pasta together during commercial pasta production. It is also higher in fiber and other nutrients.
Therefore, choosing pastas made from semolina is the option that should be consumed more than pasta made from white flour.
Click this link to my former blog post for more details about whole grain pasta.
6. White Potatoes
Some people tend to avoid white potatoes because they have a high glycemic index. The glycemic index is a number from 0 – 100 that measures how quickly someone’s blood pressure rises after eating a carbohydrate rich food.
While this may present as an issue for people with diabetes, generally healthy people shouldn’t worry.
One way to combat white potatoes’ high glycemic index is to add fiber rich foods to your plate while eating white potatoes.
As stated before, all foods can be incorporated into a healthy diet and white potatoes are no exception. Plus, you don’t want to miss out on all the vitamin C and potassium that they have to offer!
7. Salt… in moderation
Many of us know by now that eating too much salt can lead to major health problems like high blood pressure. This doesn’t mean that you must completely cut salt out of your diet, though.
If you do include salt in your diet, there has also been a great debate about which salt is the healthiest to consume.
Table salt, pink Himalayan salt, sea salt, black salt, etc all contain roughly the same amount of sodium. Generally speaking, they are all interchangeable.
The only caveat is that table salt or iodized salt has iodine added to it and other salts usually don’t. The body requires a small amount of iodine, particularly for proper thyroid function. If someone is not getting the right amount of iodine in their diets, eating iodized salt would be beneficial.
8. Dark Soda… in moderation
We all know that soda should be consumed in moderation. However, there is a common misconception that dark soda is bad for your kidneys. This is only halfway true.
Dark soda should not typically be consumed by people who already have kidney issues. Dark soda contains high levels of phosphorus. Phosphorous is a naturally occurring vital mineral that helps with many roles in the body.
While this is a safe mineral for people without kidney disease to consume, too much can be harmful for people with kidney disease because their kidneys have a hard time filtering phosphorus.
So, if you don’t have kidney issues and you want to enjoy an occasional root bear float – be my guest!
All is Well in Moderation
As you can tell no foods are off limits. There a few few foods here that would be recommended only in moderation, and that’s a lot more realistic than recommending to never eat them.
I have a whole two part series on how to eat healthy on budget where some of these foods are recommended. Click here for part 1.
Are there any foods on this list that you realized were not unhealthy like you thought they were? Leave a comment below!
References
- Soliman, GA. Dietary Cholesterol and the Lack of Evidence in Cardiovascular Disease. Nutrients. 2018 Jun 16;10(6):780. doi: 10.3390
- Jones JB, Mount JR. Sodium Reduction in Canned Bean Varieties by Draining and Rinsing. 2009; Institute of Food Technologists Conference.
