There was an interesting article in the Health section of Forbes.com yesterday discussing the ten very healthy foods we don’t get enough of according to nutritionist Jonny Bowden. Here is his list:

1. Cherries
2. Blueberries
3. Kiwi
4. Grass-fed Beef
5. Wild Salmon
6. Flax Seed
7. Whey Protein Powder
8. Kale
9. Coconut
10. Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate, now you’re talking. Jonny also talks about what he believes are flaws in the current food pyramid (soon to be revised by the USDA, by the way) such as “demonizing fat”. Not all fats are bad – some play a vital role in a healthy diet. He recommends people follow a Mediterranean diet which includes fruits, vegetables, grains, fish and healthy oils, all of which can be found in the list, above. Here is a link to the full article: Forbes.com – Health. You can get more detailed information on the benefits of each of the foods listed by clicking on the In Pictures link.

In contrast to what we should be eating but don’t hear enough about, is a recently published study in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association which shows that if we ate the food advertised on television, we would eat 20 times the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of fat and 25 times the amount of sugar. This assumes a person eats 2,000 calories a day of the foods advertised during prime time and Saturday morning programs. Not only would we eat way too much fat and sugar, according to Michael Mink, lead author and assistant professor of health sciences at Armstrong Atlantic University in Savannah, GA, we would eat less than half of the RDA of fiber, dairy, fruits and vegetables. You can read more about the study here: New York Times Fitness and Nutrition.

Unfortunately, we can’t always rely on food manufacturers to tell us the whole story when they are promoting their products. The results of this study speak to how important it is to read and understand a nutritional label. If you aren’t sure about the nutrition information of fruits and vegetables, you can find out by visiting the FDA’s web site at: FDA Nutrition Information. There you will find nutritional information for the top 20 most frequently eaten raw fruits and vegetables (and seafood, too) in the U.S. Another great tool can be found at NutritionData.com. You can look up almost any food, from kale to kiwi, and find a complete nutritional profile.

Maybe the kale people should produce a few commercials of their own: This program is brought to you by Kale – the Super Vegetable. Got Kale?