Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 208 - 20 Foods for HEALTH and GAINS!

Episode Date: July 29, 2022

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Welcome in everybody to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matranga. And in today's episode, we're going to go over 20 of my favorite foods to have in your house for long term nutrition and health sustainability, as well as fueling athletic performance. sustainability, as well as fueling athletic performance. These are foods that are versatile, that are easy to cook with. They might be great ingredients. They might be great as standalones. They might be great for cooking. They might make great snacks. And I've actually divided these 20 foods into four categories with five kind of unique options in each category. So the first five we will talk about will be in the plant category, specifically vegetables. The next five staying in the plant category will be fruits. The next five after that will be proteins. And the final five will be grains. So we're talking mostly here about foods that will impart fiber, protein, micronutrients, as well as reaching across a breadth of different food groups to make sure that you keep that fridge

stocked with what you need to be successful. And the reason that I've selected these foods isn't because they are the best. These are quite literally the foods I most like to enjoy, and they're informed choices that I have made over the years because I think they tend to be tasty. I don't get sick of them. They're easy to mix and match, and I think that they'll help you whether your goals are fat loss, muscle growth, sustaining a fitness routine or nutritional routine that's aligned with living a long, healthy, vibrant life. So without further ado, let's get into it, starting with number one, which are leafy and cruciferous green vegetables. So we got to really kind of break this

down here as to what exactly a cruciferous vegetable is compared to, say, a non-cruciferous vegetable. Because a lot of times people hear cruciferous vegetable and they immediately think, okay, that's just a green vegetable, right? But cruciferous vegetables are going to fall into the category of vegetables that include things like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, right? So these are all kind of lumped in here. And I would also include within this category, leafy greens. So things like spinach and arugula. So we're looking at greens, but more specifically the cruciferous green. So when you think about that, I like to think about, okay, you know, spinach, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts. I mean,

even things like rutabaga, turnips, cauliflower fall into this category. But quite frankly, I do not like to cook with or use those. But a big reason I'm a fan of these vegetables is they are super high in fiber. They're very versatile to cook with. So if we're talking about broccoli, there's a million ways to prepare broccoli, many different ways to prepare Brussels sprouts. If you don't like to cook them, you can shred them and toss them in a salad. Obviously, the leafy greens like spinach and kale can be cooked in a variety of different ways. And in addition to being rich in multiple different vitamins, minerals, polyphenols,

and antioxidants, you'll find some interesting stuff like vitamin k you'll find vitamin a vitamin c a bunch of different phytonutrients and some plant compounds that can help with everything from reducing inflammation to also you know kind of inhibiting and suppressing the development of various illnesses and disease there's quite a strong link between an intake of cruciferous vegetables and a reduction in disease risk. But again, bok choy, cabbage, kale, radishes, all of the different salad greens, these are an easy place to start. You can pick a bunch of different vegetables from that category, find what you like, feature them in things like salads. Again, you can shred them up, feature them in things like salads. Again, you can shred them up. You can add them to cooked dishes. They're very, very versatile and quite frankly, my favorite way to get vegetables in.

Number two is actually, I don't know if I would consider it a vegetable, but I would consider it pretty darn beneficial for overall health. In fact, at the time of recording, I'm not exactly sure what category of foods it falls into, but garlic is what we're talking about. So number two is garlic. I know it's related to like onions and chives and shallots and stuff like that, but I don't know if garlic is a vegetable or if it's a root. Hard to say, but garlic is unbelievably beneficial. It's a potent antiviral, which has had a lot of people talking about it since kind of the onset of the pandemic many years ago. It's a potent immune modulator. Eating garlic has been a long time old wives tale for fighting off viruses and enhancing immunity. But outside

of what it can do for the immune system, garlic has been shown to reduce blood sugar or help reduce blood sugar. It's been shown to help modulate or adjust cholesterol levels by up to 10 to 15%, right? Garlic has been shown to help with the prevention of various types of cancer. As I mentioned before, it's a potent antiviral and antibiotic that can help with reducing fungals and protozoan and viral infections. Many like functional medicine practitioners, regardless of what you think about the avenue of functional medicine are big on garlic for treating gut dysbiosis. And again, garlic is super versatile. It's really, really delicious. Many people tend to enjoy cooking with it to either add flavor to dishes, to feature it entirely

on its own, whether that be roasted or chopped or minced. There's so many amazing and unique ways to use garlic that I think most people can use it without getting sick of it. You can always keep it around and it's a very, very nutritious, nutritious food to include in your eating. Moving on to number three, this has always been a big favorite of mine and that is carrots. I'm a huge, huge fan of carrots, which are a root vegetable, right? They're not a cruciferous vegetable. And I don't think they would be like that bulb-like kind of onion shallot-leek garlic family. So this is, again, you're going to see a lot of variety here. I'm going to hop around a lot because a lot of my philosophy around food is inspired by what the Japanese do, where they really champion variety and eating the rainbow

and getting a plethora of different fruits and different vegetables and different colors and different food types so as to minimize any lack or nutrient deficiencies, to maximize exposure to a variety of different food types and food avenues to ensure that you are getting what you need to be successful. So the carrot is one that I am a really, really big fan of. They're crunchy, they're tasty. Again, you can serve them a variety of different ways. You can saute them. You can eat them raw. You can shred them and add them to salads. And that unique orange color, right, imparts a ton of beta-carotene antioxidants, which your body is going to use to turn into vitamin A. They're very low in calories. In fact, carrots tend to be somewhere between 85 to 95% water, and they impart very few carbohydrates. Like two normal sized carrots have about 40 calories and only about four grams of sugar

with three whole grams of fiber and 10 carbs. So carrots are a great option for adding carbohydrates to your diet. They add a ton of fiber. They're loaded with vitamin A, biotin, vitamin K, potassium, vitamin B6, super, super nutritious, as well as being very, very high in plant compounds like beta carotene and lycopene, which is that antioxidant that we see in red fruits like tomatoes. But you will find that in carrots and lycopene, which is that antioxidant that we see in red fruits like tomatoes. But you will find that in carrots, and lycopene has been linked to decreased risk of heart disease. So carrots, easy, quick grab and go, super tasty, a million ways to kind of prepare them. And they pair nicely with number four, which is kind of a blanket option here. And that is like, there's a huge, there's

plethora of options that one could choose in this category. And that is potatoes. So I am a huge, huge fan of potatoes, not just sweet potatoes. I like white potatoes. I like the Misubi purple potatoes. There's so many ways to serve potatoes. You can bake them. You can saute them. You can fry them, right? You can obviously hyperpalatable the shit out of them by turning them into chips and fries. But potatoes are actually really, really nutrient dense. They have vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, niacin, folate.

They are loaded. They also contain a ton of different antioxidants and are very satiating when they are prepared in a fashion that is not hyperpalatable. There's no limit to how many potatoes you can eat when they are prepared in the french fry or potato chip form. But more generally, when preparing potatoes, assuming you prepare them with like a bake or a saute where your usage of salts, oils, and texturization is kept to a reasonable level, they're unbelievably filling. One study, in fact, showed that 11 people who were fed 38 foods and were asked to rate those 38 foods based on how filling they were, potatoes received the highest fullness rating of all 38 of those foods. Now, again, this all comes down to preparation, but one cool thing about potatoes is the versatility in preparation and the plethora of options you have at your disposal. There's so many

different kinds. Another interesting thing about potatoes is you can actually cook them and then cool them down to enhance the amount of resistant starch inside of the potato. This is, of course, the starch that will make it to your gut. It's not digested in the small intestine. It gets all the way to the large intestine where the beneficial bacteria in your gut can gobble it up and use it. the beneficial bacteria in your gut can gobble it up and use it. So definitely a huge, huge fan of potatoes. That's why they come in at number four on the list. Big, big fan, lots of ways to prepare them. Moving on to number five, this is the final option here in this kind of plant

category. And this is peas, green peas, edamame, anything in the pea family. I'm a big fan of peas because again, pretty versatile, high in vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin C, as well as magnesium and manganese. Peas are pretty darn high in fiber and they're actually a very good source of plant-based protein. So again, we know that protein is beneficial for appetite regulation, for fullness, for muscle growth, for what we need as active adults. You can't always get that from plants, but not everybody's a huge fan of eating meat and many people avoid animal products altogether. So peas are an awesome, awesome option for anybody looking to add some plant matter to their diet, the associate

of polyphenols and micronutrients that come with it, but who are also really interested in getting some fiber and in getting some protein. Peas, especially like the green kind, have a ton of fiber. So again, those five vegetables I really like to feature in cooking are leafy and cruciferous greens, like broccoli and kale, garlic, carrots, potatoes, and peas. Moving on to the fruit category. And again, I'll be the first to say this. It's okay not to buy organic. You can buy frozen. You can buy canned.

You can buy standard. It's so much better to eat fruit than it is to worry about the kind of fruit that you're eating. But just for standardization's sake, let's just talk about all of these fruits in their more general form. We're not going to dive into any pesticide use, whether you should get them in organic or not. I'm not that guy. I'm just here to talk to you about which fruits I like to feature in my diet and that I like quite a bit. So number one is, and this shouldn't come as any surprise if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, are berries. I love berries, particularly raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries. The coloration variation, no pun intended,

no rhyme intended there. You have a very wide spectrum. You have reds, deep reds, blues, purples, and blacks. So you'll notice none of those colors were really featured when we talked about the vegetables. We were talking mostly about vegetables that are green, like cruciferous greens. We talked about peas, which are green, carrots, which are orange, potatoes, which have a variety of different colors. So we're continuing to expand the colors featured on this list. But what's awesome about berries, in addition to being loaded with antioxidants, super, super high in fiber, they're very, very high in different nutrients like vitamin C. They even have copper, which is kind of a rare thing to get from plants. They're anti-inflammatory in that

they're super, super high in these plant compounds that can help to regulate inflammation. How substantial that is, is hard to say, but that different coloration, you know you're getting unique polyphenols. I'll give you an example of one in blueberries. Anthocyanin, anytime you hear cyanin, you can think blue. Anthocyanin in blueberries is incredibly beneficial for the brain. Raspberries are super, super tasty and nice and tart. Strawberries are extremely high in the food volume category, meaning they got a lot of water and a lot of fiber and you can eat them in high amounts and stay very, very full. We'll talk about another fruit that I love for that. Blackberries, I absolutely love. And then again, you have some

crazy things like goji berries and acai berries. And even if I'm not mistaken, another one we're going to mention here might fall into the berry family. I'm not exactly sure. I've always kind of wondered what category it falls into, but berries are something I keep in my fridge all year round. I love to snack on them. They're perfect food for helping to maintain a deficit because of how low they are in total calories while still being super, super filling and super, super tasty. So moving on to number seven on this list,

or I should say this is number, yeah, this is number seven. This is number two in the fruit category. And this was the one that I wasn't quite sure. Is this a berry? What is this thing? And it is the fruit category. And this was the one that I wasn't quite sure. Is this a berry? What is this thing? And it is the kiwi. So kiwis kind of look like a, I don't know how to really describe them. That's like a tiny hairy little melon that grows on a tree, kind of like a, you know, kind of like a fruit, but they're, they're, you know, they're a little furry,

tiny fruit and it's hard to find what family they're in. And I didn't do a ton of research as to what family the kiwi falls into. But one thing I know for sure is the kiwi is extremely nutritious, perhaps the highest overall source of a vitamin C that I've ever seen. I'm talking loaded. Like one kiwi is going to give you close to 80% of your daily vitamin C. They are super tart, very, very delicious. They're also unique in that they're high in vitamin E, which does tend to be pretty hard to get. Many of you probably know this.

They're also contain quite a bit of carotenoids, which you don't often find in a ton of fruit. So lutein, zeaxanthin, and beta carotene. We're going back to carrots here. But one thing that's interesting about kiwis is in a review of 69 studies, they found that a higher dietary intake of carotenoids, vitamin C, and vitamin E were all associated with a lower risk of heart disease, total cancer, and death from all causes. So kiwis are super, super rich in those nutrients, and you can just get kiwis pretty much all the time at any grocery store. They're not particularly expensive. I have seen them come in a variety of colors. I've seen a gold kiwi as well as the traditional green kiwi. I prefer the green kiwi. It's a little more tart. It's not quite as sweet as the gold kiwi. And I like to eat kiwi with the skin on so I can maximize my exposure to fiber. And again, I actually like the kind of crunchy tart element that, not crunchy,

but chewy tart element that comes from keeping the skin on. So skin on kiwis are number seven. Hey guys, taking a break from the show to tell you about our amazing sports nutrition partner, Legion. Legion makes the best evidence-based formulas for sports performance, sports nutrition, recovery, and fat loss. I don't recommend many supplements. In fact, I think you can get the majority of the nutrition you need from a whole foods diet. But let's be honest, many of us are either on the go and need assistance, or quite frankly, we're not going to settle for average and we want to get the absolute most we can out of our training. So Legion is the company I go to for all of my supplement staples, whether it's creatine, which I get from their

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and it will actually help you get two times points towards future orders, which you can use the same as cash. Pretty cool, guys. So head over to legionathletics.com and check out using the promo code Danny to save on all your sports supplement needs. Back to the show. What's going on guys? Coach Danny here, taking a break from the episode to tell you about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method, and more specifically, our one-on-one fully tailored online coaching program. My online coaching program has kind of been the flagship for Core Coaching Method for a while. Of course, we do have PDF programming and we have app-based programming. But if you want a truly tailored one-on-one experience with a coach like myself or a member of my coaching team, someone who is certified,

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give you the best shot at the best coaching in the industry. So head over to corecoachingmethod.com and apply for one-on-one coaching with me and my team today. What's going on guys? Taking a break from this episode to tell you a little bit about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method. More specifically, our app-based training. We partnered with Train Heroic to bring app-based training to you using the best technology and best user interface possible. You can join either my Home Heroes team, or you can train from home with bands and dumbbells, or Elite Physique, which is a female bodybuilding-focused program where you can train at the gym with equipments designed specifically to help you develop strength, as well as the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and back.

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It's a really cool training community and you can try it completely free for seven days. Just click the link in the podcast description below. Can't wait to see you in the core coaching collective, my app-based training community. Back to the show. Number eight is melon, specifically watermelon. I really like watermelon because it is very, very high in water. So you can eat a ton of watermelon while being in a calorie deficit or just trying to stay full and kind of optimize for fullness. So think about your conventional summer barbecue. You have all these options, macaroni salad, potato salad, chips, beer,

all the different meats, so many things to choose from. And you'll often see things like berries and watermelon featured. And those two fruits are very filling. So if you're at the summer barbecue and you're trying to monitor your weight and trying to monitor your caloric intake, watermelon and berries are awesome because of that high food volume. They take up a lot of space. They're very filling. They're very fibrous. They're full of water, but they don't have a ton of calories. You can eat a ton of watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, the various different melons without imparting a ton of additional calories into your diet. They're super fresh and delicious, especially when they are in season. And they're not particularly expensive as far as fruits are

concerned. They're definitely cheaper than berries and they're definitely particularly expensive as far as fruits are concerned. They're definitely cheaper than berries, and they're definitely cheaper than kiwis. So big, big fan of watermelon and just melons in general. Another one that's going to make the list is perhaps the most ubiquitous fruit, and that is, of course, the apple. You know what they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, And I generally find that to be true because apples are super, super nutritious, especially if you eat them with the peel on, right? They contain simple sugars and carbohydrates, duh, but they also contain quite a bit of fiber as well as a variety of different plant compounds like quercetin,

which is a nutrient that you'll find in a number of plant foods, but apples seem to be particularly high in quercetin, which can be anti-inflammatory in its effects in the body, which might be uniquely beneficial for people who are training hard or who are athletic. They're super, super filling. You can prepare them a variety of different ways by slicing them, eating them whole. They transport easily. They're delicious when added to salads, as is the case with berries. So that's something I like about apples and berries is I can add them to sweeten a salad, to add more fiber and more unique nutrition to a salad without necessarily needing to impart a ton of additional calories in the forms of things like dressing.

I love that you can toss an apple in pretty much any type of bag, whether it's a lunch bag or a backpack or a purse or hold them in the car because they don't need to be refrigerated in nearly the same way that some of these other fruits tend to need to be refrigerated. So big, big fan of apples. And again, there's so many different varieties that it kind of keeps it fresh. You can go Granny Smith, you can go Fuji, you can go Red and Delicious. There are so many options. Pink Lady is one that I really like. There are a ton of really good apples available on the market that you can grab and kind of keep them rotating so you don't get sick and you always have yummy, delicious, fresh fruit that's high in fiber and nutrition. The last fruit I love is a family of

fruit and it is the stone fruit. So we're talking cherries, apricots, peaches, and nectarines, as well as things like plums and pluots. So these are all foods and fruits specifically that I really love, not for their nutrient density, but because of their high glucose content. So when we're talking about fruit, we're usually going to find a lot of fructose or fruit sugar. Most fruits contain more fructose than they do glucose. And there's nothing wrong with fructose, but fructose does need to be metabolized by the liver, whereas glucose does not. So where I really like stone fruit is for my lifters who are looking for that post-workout carbohydrate. Stone fruit tends to

be a little bit higher in glucose, especially things like apricots. And so stone fruit can make for an awesome post-workout option. It's also an amazing seasonal summer fruit that tastes wonderful. Peaches and nectarines are actually really delicious when added to salads. I'm a huge fan of plums and pluots. And while I don't love apricots, when they are fresh, they are, I believe, the highest source of glucose of all fruits. So a really awesome option for your post-workout. Moving on to the protein section. We are going to start with one that not a lot of people have heard of, and that is Skyr, S-K-Y-R. This is an Icelandic form of yogurt. It's most similar probably to Greek yogurt in that it tends to be very low in fat, very low in sugar, and extremely high in

protein. I tend to find it doesn't have the intense tartness that is oftentimes so palatable and so noticeable when eating Greek yogurt. I think it's a little bit smoother and a little bit less tart. And there are increasing numbers of options available now. Skira is becoming really, really popular. I see multiple different manufacturers making it. And I think it's a great alternative to Greek yogurt if you don't like the super, super tartness of the lower fat forms of Greek yogurt. I love Greek yogurt. It's definitely something that should have made the list, but I decided to pick an option that was a little

different. And as is the case with all dairy, we're really excited about the additional calcium as well as some of the unique minerals that we find in dairy products. So we're getting a lot of unique minerals as well as the fermentation effect. When you ferment food, that could be beneficial for your gut, depending on if you're getting things right in the fiber department, which if you listen to the first 10 things on the list should be no problem for you. But skier making the list as an amazing non-meat dairy protein option that I think tastes really, really good and that you can use in a variety of ways and just keep on hand for a quick snack. Number 12, this is an

interesting one that made the list, not because it's high in protein, but because it's extremely high in minerals, and that is oysters and shellfish. But specifically, we will talk about oysters. I am a huge, huge fan of shellfish in general, but I do think it's interesting to specifically talk about the oyster because oysters are a bivalve or a mollusk and they're found in the ocean and they're not necessarily easy to get. They were oftentimes touted in olden times, if you will, as being an aphrodisiac, much like dark chocolate. And I have a theory as to why this is, and I think it was largely due to nutrient deficiencies, specifically in the mineral department that are quickly, quickly eradicated with consuming oysters. Oysters have a ton of zinc. Three and a half ounces of oysters contains 555% of your daily value of zinc,

500% of your daily values of copper, half your daily value of selenium, almost half your daily value of iron, 20% of manganese. These are a multi-mineral. They're also mostly protein. You can eat them raw. You can have them cooked. And yes, they are quite expensive, but you get nine grams of protein per three ounces of oysters. So two oysters is probably going to have about 10 grams of protein and basically function as a full-blown multi-mineral. I know that they can be particularly expensive. So I'm not going to say that you should just eat all the oysters in the world. And some contain bacteria and other contaminants because of climate change and

us just generally treating the water like shit, but you can cook them. You can grill them. You can eat them raw. Oysters are a good source of protein and an amazing source of minerals. And this is relatively true of all shellfish. So big fan of shellfish. Try to eat oysters at restaurants whenever I go and they have them on the menu. Again, huge, huge fan of those. Number 13 on this list should surprise absolutely nobody. And it's cold water fatty fish, specifically salmon. I eat a lot of raw salmon in the form of sushi. So that's usually where I get my salmon.

And you probably know this already, but it's extremely high in the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA, and DHA. It's also a super good source of protein with a bunch of cooking versatility. Again, you can cook it on the grill. You can cook it in the oven. You can cook it in the air fryer. You can eat it raw. You can eat it in a more smoked or dry aged form. They have salmon jerky. In addition to being loaded with those beneficial fatty acids, salmon is also high in B vitamins, selenium, which is very valuable for the formation of testosterone. Brazil nuts, which is another food high in in selenium also made this list for that reason alone but i figured salmon being so high in selenium as well as an amazing source of protein

and epa and dha kind of made it a no-brainer but that additional uh astaxanthin which is one of those plant compounds that we tend to see in red vegetables we talked about lycopene earlier but astaxanthin again really shows up in red things. That is what's imparting that pinkish look onto salmon. And astaxanthin is quite valuable. It decreases oxidative stress. It's actually believed to work with the omega-3 fatty acids to protect the brain and prevent inflammation of the brain. And that's one of the reasons you'll often find salmon touted as being not just a high or good source of protein, but a full-blown quote-unquote super food. Number 14 is sirloin steak. I like red meat because it can be high in

iron as well as extremely high in protein, but it's also high in saturated fat. And I am somewhat mindful of my saturated fat intake. While I'm not a demonizer of red meat per se, I do think people should be mindful of their red meat consumption. And sirloin steak tends to be a really lean high protein option in the red meat department. What I like about it is it's very cost effective. I can buy it in steak form or have it ground in patty form to make things like meatloaf, meatballs, or hamburgers, as well as just ground beef to add to rice with these different vegetables like garlic and cruciferous greens and shredded broccoli and shredded carrots.

There's a lot of ways to really dress up sirloin to make it taste really well or taste really good. You can cook it pretty easily, but it is one of those cuts of red meat that tends to be on the leaner side. Honorable mention here goes to flank steak. The last option, again, falls into kind of the plant-based category, and this is something that I think many people have not tried before. It's kind of like tofu, but it's a little bit different and it's tempeh. So tempeh is actually made from fermented soybeans. Tofu is just made from soy and it's an Indonesian food. So it's kind of unique. It is extremely high in protein for a plant-based food. It's right up there with tofu. I think it tastes all right. I don't love it, but again, you've probably had tons of tofu in your life.

If you are plant-based especially, the fermentation, right? The fermentation of tempeh might be unique in that you are going to get the fermented effect that you might get from this gear. So these foods that are fermented and they're unpasteurized, they contain probiotics and eating probiotics can be good for the gut. It's not a for sure because there's no way to say definitively that those probiotics are going to make it to the small intestine and populate the small intestine, but it's generally good practice to eat fermented foods. And because they're super high in protein, like a cup of tempeh, for example, has 30 grams of protein, pretty darn good option. All right, moving on to the final five. These are in the whole grain category. I keep these around all the time.

Number one is whole grain bread. And I know a lot of people in the fitness community are anti-bread, but I'm a pretty big fan of whole grain bread, sprouted grain breads, whole wheat breads, any bread that's not white and obviously hyper-processed and probably low in protein and low in fiber, right? Whole grains are beneficial in that they're very filling, they contain a lot of nutrition, and you can do a lot with bread. You can toast it. You can make sandwiches. There's so many things that you can do with bread and a lot of people cut it out because they think it is bad for them. It's much easier to feel full eating a whole minimally processed forms of bread than it is when you're eating like refined cakey bread, which isn't per se bad for you.

It's just not as easy to get full with as say something that is in its whole grain form. And I actually like the kind of rugged taste that comes along with whole grain breads. I know that that's not everybody's cup of tea, but I really like it. The next one on the list is oats. I'm a huge, huge fan of oats. They're super, super easy to cook and cook them in the microwave and cook them with water. You can blend them into a shake. You can blend them into flour and bake with them. There are so many ways to use oatmeal. It's loaded with fiber. It contains beta-glucan, which is a particularly beneficial kind of fiber. It's also got fiber. It contains beta-glucan, which is a particularly beneficial kind of fiber. It's also got some minerals like iron, zinc, magnesium. It's got some B vitamins,

but it is a really, really rich, good form of carbohydrates with a ton of fiber. It even has some antioxidants. And I am a big, big fan of oats because of the versatility and because of the many ways you can cook them. You can buy them in a variety of different forms, ranging from quick oats, which usually don't have as much, if any, hull on them, to raw steel-cut oats. And while there's certainly, you could make a strong case for the less processed, pretty natural forms of oats. I think they're all great options. And just eating more oatmeal is something I'm a pretty big fan of. The next one is like the original superfood, if I can recall correctly. Superfoods are foods that are really unique and highly nutritious and that nobody's heard of and that they can't pronounce. And that is quinoa or quinoa. I remember when quinoa became popular, nobody knew how to say it.

It is pronounced quinoa and it's actually a seed. But it kind of feels to me like a grain. I think of it as a grain. They call it a pseudo cereal grain because it really kind of nutritionally looks and behaves like a grain Tons of fiber good amount of protein. It does have some fat and obviously quite a bit of carbohydrates But a decent amount of different vitamins and minerals What I love about quinoa is you can eat it warm like rice or you can eat it cold Like something like, you know tabbouleh or you can toss it on salads. You can do a lot with quinoa and it's really, really high in valuable fiber. It's different texturally from things like rice. It's kind of fun to mix it into salad. So quinoa makes the list, not because it's the OG superfood,

but I really, really like it. Number 19, we have two to go, is popcorn. Popcorn is, again, going to kind of fall into that high food volume category. So we're looking at those berries, the melons, and popcorn here as being foods that are uniquely filling and take up a lot of space in the stomach. And while when you go to the movies, they do dump a bunch of high calorie butter on your popcorn, you can buy popcorn without that, just plain. You can pop it yourself. You can buy it with butter. You can buy kettle corn. There's a lot of different types of popcorn, particularly in the different aisles of your supermarket. But if you buy it without a ton of butter or sugar added to it, popcorn can be very, very filling. It can be pretty low in

calories. It can impart a lot of fiber and it can be a great option for snackers who need more carbohydrates in their diet, but don't necessarily want the associative calories that come with so many of the hyperpalatable traditional snack options like chips or crackers. So popcorn is amazing for that. Number 20, the final option on the list, perhaps the most vanilla choice here, is white rice. Not brown rice, white rice. Nothing wrong with brown list, perhaps the most vanilla choice here is white rice. Not brown rice, white rice. Nothing wrong with brown rice, although the phytic acid in brown rice can make it challenging on certain stomachs. It's definitely something that if I eat too much of, makes me a little bit gassy and bloated. But I love white rice because it's super easy to digest.

You can do a ton with it. Again, you can eat it cold. You can eat it warm. You can steam it up in the microwave in those quick rice bags. You can buy it in bulk and cook it in a rice cooker. It's extremely cost effective. It's a wonderfully simple post-workout. I love rice post-workout. It's a great training fuel as well because it's simple and easy to digest. And white rice isn't devoid of nutrition in the way that many times we think of like white bread. There's different kinds of rices. There's wild rices. There's brown rices. All rices will fit the mold here, but I am impartial to white rice because I like the simplicity and I really like the taste. So 20 foods again, just so you know what I like to eat

and what I keep in the pantry, Leafy cruciferous greens, garlic, carrots, peas, big, big fan of berries, kiwi, watermelons, apples, and stone fruit. I love skier, oyster, oatmeals, salmons, sirloins, tempeh, and I'm a big fan of whole grain bread, specifically whole wheat breads, oats, quinoa, popcorn, and rice. I want to thank you guys all for listening to this episode. Put this stuff on your grocery list, bring a few of these home, work them into your routine. I think you'll enjoy them and I think that you'll find that they help you in living a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle. Thanks so much for tuning in and I will catch you on the

next one.