Superfood or Superhype?

Hello! Vanessa here today. If someone asked you to quickly name some *superfoods*, what spring to mind? Probably salmon, blueberries, kale and walnuts, among a few others. Now think: what makes these foods so special? Do they have a unique mix of vitamins? Do they cure disease? Do they give you superpowers?

Depending on your sources, you might walk away thinking all of the above. But is this factual information? You'll learn more about superfoods with Karen this week and why this concept is so alluring.

Of course, just because the powers of certain foods may be mythologized doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat those foods. It just means that those foods are not the end-all, be-all of nutritious eating. Plenty of other foods share similar nutritional profiles to those foods identified as super, and you may prefer those other foods for lots of reasons: taste, texture, budget and ease of preparation just to name a few. For every salmon out there, there's a can of tuna. For every blueberry, there's a strawberry or piece of citrus. And for every artisanal massaged kale salad there's a romaine Caesar with your name on it. While we're all for diversifying your tastes, nutrition should never be prescriptive. Eat what you like, and please do try some new things when you can. But if you can't bring yourself to make that goji-maca-cacao-avocado smoothie a part of your morning routine, you're certainly not doing anything wrong.