Grandmother taught the fundamentals to good health: “eat your fruit and vegetables”, i.e. a rainbow diet.
Dr Ray Vartabedian devised a system assigning nutritional values (www.nutripoints.com) for foods to help you make better choices for maximum benefit. e.g. 2 cups of raw spinach is 75 nutripoints whereas 2 cups of green lettuce is 34. Fruit and vegetables are our Nutri Heroes and there are also Nutri Zeros with negative nutripoint values!
Add up the points for the foods you eat in a day and see where you can make different choices to improve your nutripoints. 25 = very poor, 50 = poor, 75 = fair, 100 = good, 150 = excellent, 200+ = superior diet.
According to Dr Vartabedian, in a good diet of 100 points, 55 should be vegetables and 15 fruits. i.e. 70% of our nutripoints should come from fruit and vegetables. Below are values of common foods, given per cup or “w” indicates the whole food and the number of them. They are listed with the highest values first and grouped by types where possible.
Red
Tomato (1w 30), Radish, raw (29), Beetroot, cooked (22)
Raspberries (25), Strawberries (19), Red Currants (3oz 14.5), Cranberries, raw (10), Cherries (10w 7.5)
Peppers (1w 11.75)
Apple (1w 4.5), Grapes (20w 4.5)
Orange
Carrots cooked (60), Carrots raw (1w 35.5)
Butternut Squash, baked (53), Pumpkin (51), Pumpkin, cooked (35)
Papaya (1w 41), Mango (1w 35), Orange (1w 13.5), Apricots (1w 13.5), Peach (1w 11)
Peppers (1w 11.75)
Yellow
Squash, cooked (32)
Grapefruit (1w 26), Pineapple (16), Pear (1w 4.5)
Peppers (1w 11.75)
Green
Melon, Cantaloupe (1w 116), Melon, Honeydew (56)
Brussels Sprouts, cooked (80), Broccoli raw (53)
Swiss Chard, cooked (42), Kale, cooked (37.5), Spinach, raw (37.5), Spinach, cooked (26.75)
Cabbage, raw (39), Beans, cooked (24.5)
Lettuce, Romaine (23.75), Lettuce, Iceberg (10 pieces 18)
Cucumber, raw (1w 20), Celery, raw (8 stalks 20)
Avocado (1w 16), Apple (1w 4.5). Grapes (20w 4.5)
Zucchini, raw (16), Zucchini, cooked (15), Peas (14), Leeks, cooked (15), Leeks, raw (1w 8)
Peppers (1w 11.75)
Blue Blueberries (14)
Indigo Bilberries (3oz 10)
Violet Eggplant/Brinjel/ Aubergine, cooked (34), Figs, dried (1w 2.5)
Black Blackberries (26), Blackcurrants (25.3)
White
Cauliflower, raw (37.5),Turnips, cooked (36), Turnips, cooked (19.5),Mushrooms, fresh (35)
Parsnips, raw (23),Parsnips, cooked (17), Onions, raw (16)
Potato, baked (17), Potato chips (8 salted 0)
Banana (1w 15)
We are happy to advise you on your health matters.
Lin Bridgeford DO KFRP MSCC ICAK (UK) MSc
Registered Osteopath & Kinesiologist
Aether Bios Clinic
Saltdean
Tel: 01273 309557
Mobile: 07710 227038