Lauri Boone R.D. - Powerful Plant-Based Superfoods: The Best Way to Eat for Maximum Health, Energy, and Weight Loss

For Maria

2013 Fair Winds Press

Text 2013 Lauri Boone

Photography 2013 Fair Winds Press

First published in the USA in 2013 by

Fair Winds Press, a member of

Quayside Publishing Group

100 Cummings Center

Suite 406-L

Beverly, MA 01915-6101

www.fairwindspress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5

Digital edition published in 2013

eISBN: 978-1-61058-749-5

Digital Edition: 978-1-61058-749-5
Softcover Edition: 978-1-59233-534-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Boone, Lauri.

Powerful plant-based superfoods : the best way to eat for maximum health, energy, and weight loss / Lauri Boone.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-59233-534-3

1. Weight loss. 2. Cooking (Natural foods) 3. Cooking (Vegetables) I. Title.

RM222.2.B632 2013

641.302--dc23

2012037438

Cover and Book design by Laura McFadden

Photography by Bill Bettencourt

Food Styling by Lynne Aloia

E3Live:

Fotolia:

Funky Stock, Paul Williams/Alamy:

Sacha Vida:

The information in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or medical practitioner. Please see your health care provider before beginning any new health program.

POWERFUL
PLANT~BASED
SUPER FOODS

The Best Way to Eat for Maximum
Health, Energy, and Weight Loss

LAURI BOONE, R.D.

Chapter 1
SUPER BERRIES

Chapter 2
SUPER FRUITS

Chapter 3
SUPER GREEN FOODS

Chapter 4
SUPER VEGETABLES AND LEGUMES

Chapter 5
SUPER SEEDS AND NUTS

Chapter 6
SUPER HERBS AND SPICES

Chapter 7
SUPER TONICS

Here is the plain-and-simple truth about your diet: You are what you eat. As often as you hear these words, have you ever stopped to think about the significance of them? Food has the impressive ability to affectfor better or worseevery cell and system in your body, and every time you eat you are making a choice for your mind, body, and spirit. Your food choices can make you feel tired and bloated or light and energized. They can help you stay calm and clear or feel foggy and frazzled. They can help keep your body slim and skin glowing or cause weight gain and breakouts.

What you put in your body has a significant bearing on your overall health and vitality, and the fact that food can influence your health so radically is great news indeed. It means that you can harness the power of food and use it to heal and protect your body both inside and out. And you can start right nowwith superfoods.

One of the simplest ways to upgrade your diet is by adding superfoods. Superfoods are the most nutrient-dense foods in the world. They are real, whole, unprocessed, plant-based foods that are packed with a wide array of health-promoting compounds, including remarkable levels of vitamins and minerals, inflammation-fighting fats, easy-to-digest proteins, and heart-healthy fiber. The plant-based superfoods in this book are also rich in a variety of phytochemicals (active compounds found only in plant foods) and cell-protecting antioxidants, which help combat the cell-damaging effects of free radicals (see sidebar Amazing Antioxidants for more information).

From familiar foods like blueberries and kale to lesser-known ones like aai and maca, these superstars (and the combination of beneficial compounds in them) may help reduce inflammation, slow aging, prevent or treat chronic disease, increase energy, boost mood, reduce stress, cleanse the body by supporting its natural detoxification pathways, and so much more. Superfoods are not magic bullets, but they are pretty magical.

Superfoods offer up a pretty impressive list of benefits to mind and bodyand the fifty plant-based superfoods in this book include some of the top present and emerging foods for peak health. In fact, you could say these foods are the cream of the crop. But as I mentioned, superfoods are not magical cure-alls for whatever might be ailing youat least not when consumed in the context of an overall lousy diet full of processed and junk foods. If you want to really make significant changes to your health and well-being, you need to make good choices, consistently and consciouslyone meal and snack at a time.