Sensible Shopper: Top Foods for Good Health

April 23, 2005 — -- Dr. Joy Bauer joined "Good Morning America" to talk about several "superfoods" with extraordinary health benefits. Try adding these foods to your diet to boost the nutritional value of meals, snacks -- even drinking water.

Blueberries are loaded with antioxidants and have been recently shown to lower bad cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Creative ways to add them into your diet:

Mix blueberries in pancake batter

Add blueberries into your fruit smoothies

Use blueberries to layer a yogurt parfait

Chili peppers contain capsaicin, which makes the peppers hot but has also been shown to prevent cancer, specifically pancreatic cancer.

Creative ways to add them into your diet:

Mix them in with sauteed veggies

Put them in tuna salad, toss them in tomato sauce or add to guacamole.

Green tea has potent antioxidant activity and has been shown to possibly reduce the risk of certain cancers.

Creative ways to add into your diet:

Make a batch of iced green tea and flavor with a squirt of lemon (or fresh papaya or pomegranate juice)

Green tea ice cream

Make green tea ice cubes and float them in any glass -- will boost the nutrition of even plain water

Yogurt, low-fat and non-fat, is loaded with calcium so it's great for your bones, and one of the only foods naturally containing probiotic (in the form of acidophilus). Thus, yogurt can place healthy bacteria back into your gut to prevent H-pylori and diarrhea. Also, the calcium and vitamin D have been shown to protect against colon cancer -- double bonus.

Creative ways to add into your diet:

Yogurt-fruit Smoothies

Homemade frozen yogurt pops

Low-fat cheesecake

Homemade yogurt salad dressing

Wild Salmon is loaded with Omega 3s, which act as an anti-inflammatory in the body. It helps thin the blood, lower triglycerides, and may also alleviate pain associated with arthritis. Furthermore, this type of fatty acid helps brainpower!

Creative ways to add into your diet:

Order salmon teriyaki the next time you dine out at a Japanese restaurant

Scramble up eggs, lox and onions

Nuts and peanut butter have been shown to reduce the risk of both diabetes and heart disease. They contains large amounts of heart healthy fat (monounsaturated) and also help to lower glycemic load and stabilize blood sugars.

Creative ways to incorporate into your diet:

Slice apples and bananas and spread with peanut butter

Peanut butter mixed in plain oatmeal

Peanuts tossed in a salad

Peanuts mixed in yogurt

Homemade trail mix (peanuts, almonds, whole grain cereal and sunflower seeds)

Peanut butter spread on toasted whole grain waffles

Peanut butter mixed in frozen vanilla yogurt for dessert

Tomatoes are rich in the antioxidant lycopene, and have been shown to protect against prostate cancer. Remember, cooking the tomato makes it easier to absorb lycopene, so your best bet is tomato sauce and other cooked tomato products.

Creative ways to add into your diet:

Make a whole wheat pita pizza (with marinara sauce)

Roast whole tomatoes in the oven (add some olive oil and a drop of salt)

Add stewed tomatoes to vegetarian chili

Enjoy minestrone, vegetable and tomato rice soup

Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce