A Word About Variety

Variety is the spice of life.

Variety is the soul of pleasure.

The joy of life is variety.

No pleasure endures unseasoned by variety.

Variety, variety, variety. You’ve heard the rule a million times: eat a variety of foods. Of course, those wise diet gurus aren’t recommending you eat a variety of doughnuts, cookies, chips, cupcakes and other junk. No, they mean a variety of real foods - fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes and more. For one thing, no one food supplies all the nutrients you need. Therefore, the more varied your diet, the more likely you will get the right dose of all the 40+ nutrients.

Second, foods are not all fun and games. Even the most nutritious food contains a harmful substance or two. For example, cabbage is absolutely packed with fiber, vitamins and antioxidants. On the flip side, it also contains compounds called goitrogens that interfere with your thyroid. No big deal if you eat cabbage a few times a week, but go on some cabbage diet, feasting only on platters of cabbage day after day, and you might have a problem. Eat a variety of foods and you avoid overdosing on any one harmful substance.

Third, you get the best antioxidant protection when you eat different antioxidant-rich foods. For example, drink only mangosteen juice or limit your fruit to just handfuls of berries every day and your antioxidant levels rise, but that does not necessarily mean you’ll think better or live longer. You need a variety of superfoods every day. Eat blueberries and nuts today, strawberries and oranges tomorrow, pomegranates on your spinach salad the next day and so forth, and antioxidant levels soar, plus you think better, feel better and outlive everybody.

The message here: choose a diet based on real foods, sprinkle that diet with a variety of super mood foods and vary your choices from meal to meal, day to day and week to week.