Nutrition

Superhuman Food Pyramid by Ben Greenfield

Since 1974, when the first food pyramid was appeared in Sweden, triangular or pyramid-shaped nutrition guides have been used by 25 other countries and organizations. I found a great graphic over at Huffington Post that depicts some of the more popular food pyramids from around the world, and although America now uses the MyPlate design many countries around the world still use a food pyramid to dole out nutrition advice.

In 2011, the USDA Food Pyramid (pictured) was with replaced with MyPlate, which is very similar in terms of nutrient percentages.

Interestingly, a consistent pattern in food pyramids around the globe, from China’s Food Pagoda to Greece’s Food Pyramid, is the appearance of cereals, grains, bread, pasta and other starchy carbohydrates as the base of the diet – and fats near the top of the pyramid, as a “use sparingly” category.

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Who else wants free dark chocolate?

January 15, 2012

A few weeks ago, in this podcast interview with Dr. Josh Axe, you learned about a new kind of organic food that you can get shipped to your house. After the interview with Dr. Axe, I was pretty impressed with the quality of the ingredients and lack of unhealthy “fillers” in the Beyond Organic foods we [...]

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How To Detox – A Quick Primer On How To Cleanse Your Body For The New Year (Without Going To Some Expensive Resort On A Mountaintop)

January 2, 2012
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Congratulations – take a big sigh of relief that you’ve survived the holidays. But… …the same might not be said for your insides. Ever heard of crohns, colitis, gastritis, diverticulitis, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome? Any of these can make you feel sluggish, run-down, frequently sick and unable to feel like working out, resist appetite [...]

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Pill Popping 101: When To Take Supplements.

December 9, 2011
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With all the buzz about nutritional supplements and sports performance aids, one neglected topic is when you should actually take these supplements. When should you swallow fish oil? Before breakfast? After a workout? What about antioxidants? Do they actually hurt you during exercise, or are they helpful? Are there some supplements you should avoid with [...]

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Why You’re Probably Eating More Protein Than You Need.

November 4, 2011

The following lesson about how much protein you need is just one of the 20 fueling myths that I dispel in my upcoming title from Endurance Planet entitled: “Endurance Planet’s Guide To Sports Nutrition with Ben Greenfield: “20 Fueling Myths Exposed”. Look for that book to be released in just one week (you can find out when the [...]

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12 Dietary Supplements That Can Massively Control Your Most Intense Carbohydrate Cravings.

September 29, 2011

On Wednesday’s podcast episode “Skinny People Just Don’t Get It”, I interviewed a bariatric surgeon about ways to control appetite cravings. He had some good advice, but frankly I was surprised that he didn’t really talk about how effective nutrition supplements and dietary aids can be for for controlling appetite and carbohydrate cravings. After all, [...]

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5 Breakfast of Champions Meals That Make Wheaties Taste Like An Old Shoelace

September 11, 2011

In Friday’s post, I explained why healthy breakfast cereals like Wheaties aren’t actually healthy. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you have to roll out of bed in the morning, stumble to the fridge, and eat a lonely, boiled egg (with a pinch of salt if you’re feeling adventurous). As a matter of fact, breakfast [...]

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Why Healthy Breakfast Cereals Aren’t Actually Healthy

September 9, 2011

Until my senior year of college, I started every day with a big bowl of cereal and 2% milk. And I didn’t just use any old cereal. I went for the stuff that turned my leftover milk into a sweet and gooey ambrosia of sugary soup. Peanut Butter Captain Crunch was the usual choice, and [...]

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3 Simple Steps To Creating A Healthy Lunch Box For Your Kid (Or You)

September 4, 2011

Last week, in the post, “Hidden Dangers In Your Child’s Lunchbox”, I told you some pretty scary facts about hidden dangers lurking in your child’s lunch. So what can you do about it? You can pack your kid’s lunches, and you can do it the smart way. In this article, I’m going to give you [...]

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Hidden Dangers Lurking In Your Child’s Lunchbox

September 2, 2011

Remember “Lunchables”? When I was growing up, this seemed like about the coolest thing ever to find in a lunch box. Pre-made, convenient, healthy, and – as noted on the box – full of awesome stuff for kids, such as “An Excellent Source of Calcium”. And it would appear at first glance that Lunchables have [...]

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How To Eat More Fresh, Real Food

August 26, 2011

Last week, I spent the Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a health retreat – eating fresh, raw, vegan food only. This was a slight change-up for me. Granted, I usually do eat a ton of vegetables and healths fats like avocados and olives, but I also enjoy grass-fed beef, wild fish, or free range chicken [...]

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10 Ways To Do A Low Carbohydrate Diet The Right Way.

August 19, 2011

A few days ago, I posted about the 10 Hidden Dangers of  a Low Carbohydrate Diet. If you recall from that article, I did mention that I am certainly a fan of low carbohydrate diets, and referenced how physically active individuals may be able to actually benefit from strategic low carbohydrate intake in my article 4 Reasons [...]

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The Hidden Dangers Of A Low Carbohydrate Diet

August 15, 2011

If you’re a frequent visitor to this website, or listener to the BenGreenfieldFitness podcast, you’ve probably gotten the idea that I’m a pretty big fan of limiting your carbohydrate intake. And you’d be right. To understand why low carbohydrate eating can bestow some significant health and performance advantages, check out my Perfect Health Diet interview with [...]

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Ben’s Top 10 Healthy Packaged Foods

August 8, 2011

In this video, I invite you into my kitchen to see my top 10 healthy packaged foods, and teach you what ingredients to look for when you’re grocery shopping for packaged foods. If you have questions, or your own healthy packaged foods to add, simply leave them below this video! Resources I mention in this [...]

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5 Mind-Blowing, Low-Carb Ways To Enjoy Sardines.

July 11, 2011

Lately, I’ve become a sucker for sardines. As a matter of fact, as I sit in the airport, I just gulped down for breakfast a giant can of sardines in extra virgin olive oil, neatly folded into a rye wrap with spinach, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese (note: all of these food items can easily be thrown into [...]

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Top 10 Tricks To Keep Your Body Fueled During Long Workouts

June 24, 2011

In last week’s article, I gave you my 8 favorite post-workout snacks. I also hinted at the fact that sometimes you don’t need to eat anything at all before, during or after a workout, and gave you these links to learn more about that aspect of fueling: the free Rock Star Triathlete Academy article “Putting the Pre [...]

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Do Amino Acids Really Help You Exercise Or Are Nutrition Supplement Companies Pulling A Fast One On You? – Part 2

April 22, 2011

If you missed Part 1 of this article series on the tiny, possibly over-hyped protein building blocks called “amino acids”, you can read “Do Amino Acids Really Help You Exercise Or Are Nutrition Supplement Companies Pulling A Fast One On You? – Part 1″ by clicking here So you probably already know all about Essential Amino [...]

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