Ordinary veggies top nutrition chart

Magazines today are full of lists of "super foods"...usually naming 10 of these potential miracle workers. Most lists include berries, fruits and vegetables, whole-grain products, milk and yogurt, dried beans, fish (especially fatty fish)and greens of all sorts. Human beings seem to be fascinated by lists of the best and the worst...probably rooted in David Letterman's top ten list. In the nutrition department, other than the aforementioned magazines, lists haven't figured too prominently; one can't even give an award for the best food, since no one food could keep you alive all on its own. Milk comes closest to being perfect (and it is, for infants), but is lacking in vitamin C, iron and fibre.

Somebody had the bright idea of looking at three particular nutrients--beta-carotene, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and fibre and coming up with a list of the top five foods normally consumed in the western diet, that will give you the best shot of a good dose of all three. Many people feel that they need to load up on these nutrients and increase their intake of wheat bran and vitamin supplements. That plan could possibly backfire since there are many more types of fibre than just the cellulose and hemi-cellulose found in wheat bran and because large doses of particular vitamins may wreak havoc with the metabolism of other nutrients. Moreover, concentrating on vitamin supplements may lead to a lackadaisical attitude toward a healthful diet and a neglect of other potentially helpful substances contained in food.

Anyway, it was thought to be a good idea to find out which veggies would pack the best nutritional wallop for all three of these nutrients (fibre isn't exactly a "nutrient", but let's not split hairs) so that folks would be helped in their choice-making. For example, bran is obviously loaded with fibre, but miserly in the vitamin C and carotene department; oranges are great for vitamin C, but really no big deal when it comes to carotene and fibre (although the whole fruit is a way better source than its juice). You get the picture. So, a little drum roll please: the five winners in the big-three contest are spinach, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes and peas. How's that for ordinary? And you thought good nutrition had to be exotic. A list of the best foods for minerals in the diet would be pretty short--only two: milk products and meat.

This notion of choices really hit me recently when I was watching a woman struggle with some choices at the deli counter. Her problem was deciding which her family liked best--macaroni salad or potato salad. It was all I could do to keep from butting in and asking her to consider the nutritional consequences of her selection but, ever mindful of my place, I kept quiet. But now I'll ask you: weigh the merits of the salad war. Given that all the other ingredients in the mixture are the same--the mayo, the onion, the seasonings, maybe a little chopped up celery, it boils down to a comparison between potatoes and macaroni. At half the calories, potatoes have five times the potassium and infinitely more vitamin C. For the same weight potatoes give you three times the fibre of macaroni or three grams versus one gram in an average serving of both.

That's not to say that you should always choose potatoes over macaroni, but it's something to consider when you are weighing your choices.