10 Almost Magical Foods

By Harold Brewer

Nutrition plays a crucial role in sports performance, just as it does in body composition. Bodybuilders aiming to increase muscle mass and minimise fat levels insist that diet represents up to 80% of success in these endeavours. And more than that, the way we eat is key to out state of health, and who doesn’t want good health and well being? Well, everyone does, so it is important to eat right and choose foods well. Below is a list of ten foods that could be considered almost magical when it comes their health benefits.
This list of ten foods is not meant to be exhaustive, but it covers some basic and common items that, regarding their specific benefits, are truly outstanding. Not that you should attempt to build a nutrition program around only these foods, but it would definitely be worth including them in your diet as appropriate. 

Yoghurt
Yoghurt is made from milk to which beneficial bacteria has been added. The body, particularly in the gastrointestinal area, contains a mixture of good and bad bacteria or microorganisms, also known as intestinal flora. Although yoghurt may not be the secret to longevity it was once thought, as affirmed by a Russian Nobel Prize winner, it is very good for increasing the amount of beneficial microorganisms in the intestine.
In addition, yoghurt also works its magic on people deficient in lactase – and most adults do not produce enough of this to fully digest the lactose in dairy products – because it provides the bacteria necessary for its own digestion, something that very few foods do. 

Fish
Given its protective and nutritive properties fish is another almost magical food, due to the oils it contains. We’re talking about essential fatty acids – fish is magic stuff because it can lower the risk of heart disease thanks to the its content of omega-3 fatty acids, good fats that protect the heart. These fats prevent blood clotting and stop other fats from damaging the arterial walls. In general, arteries are much cleaner when a diet is rich in fish.
Fish has also long been known as a brain food, because it contains iodine. Iodine acts on the thyroid gland and helps in the production of thyroid hormones, which not only facilitate brain function but also stimulate the metabolism, thus helping to burn calories more effectively.
So, including fish in your diet will not only protect your heart but also keep your brain ticking over and help keep body fat to a minimum. 

Mother’s Milk
Although this is one food we don’t tend to eat after the first six to nine months of our lives that is, in fact, sufficient to provide us with benefits for many years.
Mother’s milk is a powerful stimulant for the immune system. With access to it as babies, children obtain a significant level of protection against many illnesses throughout childhood and, indeed, for many years thereafter. The proteins in this milk strengthen a child’s defence system and help white blood cells produce large quantities of antibodies to fight against infections from the beginning, including, for example, the microorganisms that cause diarrhoea, which is responsible for around 25% of child deaths. It also contains a significant amount of high-energy fat that is very easy to digest.
Of course, you won’t find this in the supermarket, but for the future mothers out there it is worth emphasising the importance of breast-feeding your baby.

Chocolate
Yes, you read that right… the fact is that chocolate can be good or bad for you, and especially your heart.
Chocolate is rich in flavonoids, the same natural substances that give red wine its beneficial properties. Stearic acid, also present in chocolate, helps prevent blood clotting. And, finally, chocolate contains a powerful cocktail of “happy” ingredients. These include, for example, caffeine, a natural stimulant and mood lifter, teobromine, which stimulates the muscles, and phenylethylalanine, another mood enhancer.
Another ingredient in chocolate is anandamide, a substance that stimulates the same area of the brain as marijuana, although you would need to ingest around 12kg to get similar effects, as it is much milder.
The thing about chocolate is that its beneficial effects come from the cocoa it contains, and when this is lower than 80% they become negligible and the product tends to be bad for you, as low quality chocolates contains saturated and hydrogenated fats and a lot of sugar, amongst other ingredients.

Apples
These are really incredible little packages of nutrients. An apple contains no fat but a lot of pectin, a particular type of fibre that lowers cholesterol, and a significant dose of vitamin C. Moreover apples, like chocolate, tea, red wine and green veg, contain flavonoids, which help protect the heart. As the saying goes, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. 

Coffee
In spite of the fact that coffee has had a bad reputation for some time, it can be useful for enhancing mood, improving physical performance, increasing alertness, augmenting the effects of relaxants and restricting blood flow into bloated blood vessels that cause headaches.
Yes, coffee can lead to insomnia and acidity in the stomach, but only when consumed to excess. Caffeine has also been linked to cancer of the pancreas and cardiovascular problems, but there is no conclusive evidence and millions of people drink coffee every day.

Tea
Just like coffee, tea has a stimulant effect on the body, and, like chocolate, it also contains teobromine, which stimulates the muscles. In addition, it helps reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, and lowers blood pressure and cholesterol. It has also been shown to prevent dental cavities.
The majority of active ingredients are found especially in black and green tea, because these tealeaves contain large amounts of many natural antioxidants, but other varieties and some herbal infusions can also be beneficial. 

Oatmeal
This cereal is very healthy for the heart due to the natural gums it contains. It is also, apart from green vegetables, one of the few complex carbohydrates that is low in starch and therefore low on the glycemic index.
The glycemic index (GI) measures how fast a food causes blood sugar to rise. Most starchy carbohydrates, like white rice, potatoes and white bread, raise blood sugar too quickly. This causes a rapid insulin response, as insulin is used to transport sugar out of the blood to be stored as energy in the form of glycogen or body fat. Controlling the release of insulin is important in avoiding an increase in body fat as well as for the health of the pancreas and metabolism.
Oatmeal is good for the heart and also contains sufficient fibre to be considered useful in the prevention of certain types of cancer, such as colon cancer.

Legumes
Although legumes can cause intestinal gas, they are literally loaded with fibre and can help reduce cholesterol while offering protection to diabetics against blood sugar spikes.
Studies have shown that diabetics who eat legumes may be able to reduce their daily insulin dose by up to 40%, since they are digested so slowly that less insulin is required to manage resultant blood sugar levels when compared to other foods such as pasta, white rice or potato.
The benefits to cholesterol come from the gums or pectin in legumes, which trap fats and prevent them from being absorbed.
One way to reduce the gas that legumes inevitably create is to blanch them – submerging them in boiling water, then draining them and plunging straight them into cold water. The complex sugars will disappear leaving intact the nutritional value of the legume. 

Hot Peppers
It is hard to imagine that hot chilli peppers would have sufficient nutritional value to be included in the list of almost magical foods, but the truth is they are one of the most deserving of their place here. Spicy food causes the nose and throat to run, diluting the mucous layer and permitting its expulsion. This is helpful for ridding oneself of a cold, as the bacteria live and multiply in mucous.
And that’s not all. Peppers also contain a natural analgesic called capsaicin, the chemical compound that makes them spicy. This substance can actually be found in many non-prescription arthritis drugs. It seems to alleviate pain by causing an overload of stimulation of the nerve endings so that they become unable to transmit pain signals to the brain. However, it is not recommended that you self-medicate with hot peppers, because they contain a lot more capsaicin than the soothing ointments and, believe it or not, can cause blistering of the skin. 

So, as you can see, there are a number of common foods with such outstanding beneficial properties for our health that they could be considered almost magical. Enjoy!