Food trends come and go. The list of most nutritious and healthy foods is changed every year. It seems that after every couple of months, there is another superfood out there that promises to deliver all the benefits of a healthy diet. This is not that kind of a list. Pushed by clever marketing strategies and selling campaigns most people out there are still searching for a miracle cure. Whatever your goal is to lose weight, fight cholesterol or high blood pressure, deal with food allergy problems, or just wanting to stay healthy and fit it takes effort and time.

I don’t promise you miracles. I don’t promise you that the foods on this list will make you slimmer, smarter, or more beautiful. But there are benefits for your health and overall well-being. It takes baby steps to advance on your path of feeling better about yourself. And you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a new miracle seed from Bolivia, or super slimming tea from the Amazon forest. Being healthy and staying that way is a series of choices that we make daily and I have prepared some things that will help you on the way.

Water

Yes your plain old H2O. No, I’m not joking. On the top of your list of food and drinks water tops it all. Without it, we can survive. Forget about coffee, tea, juices, shakes, sodas, sports drinks, and any other liquid. Water is the one thing you should be drinking and drinking a lot. To stay hydrated is the number one rule if you want to feel good, look young, have a great complexion, get rid of headaches, and give your body those needed minerals. Clean, drinking water that comes from your tap or if you prefer bottled water is the basic support system that your body needs.

Imagine how different and more healthy our children would be if we taught them from an early age to just drink water. No sodas, chocolate milk, orange juice, grape juice, or apple juice. From the moment you start them on solids just offer them water with each and every meal. It will prevent cavities, regulate their blood sugar levels, hydrate their bodies, increase kidney function, and keep them healthy. There is nothing better to drink in the entire world.

Not only that water keeps us alive it has so many benefits for our health. Drinking water is what keeps us alive. So if you’re not a professional athlete drop the sports drinks after the gym and have some water. If you want to lose weight have a glass of water before and after each meal. If you want to prevent cavities, gum disease, and bad breath after each time you eat something just drink water to rinse your mouth. Water is the most important and the most underrated beverage in the world.

Honey

Now I understand if you are vegan you may want to skip this one but honey is the miracle food for me. It’s natural, unrefined, has a long expiration date, and doesn’t have any chemicals, flavorings, colorings, or additives. Honey contains mostly sugar, as well as a mix of amino acids, vitamins, minerals, iron, zinc, and antioxidants. In addition to its use as a natural sweetener, honey is used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial agent. People commonly use honey orally to treat coughs and topically to treat burns and promote wound healing. You can use it to sweeten your drinks and your food. It will not cause you any sugar spikes during the day. It is proven that honey can help with cough and sore throat. Mixing a spoon of honey with a warm glass of water can help you ease flu symptoms and any congestion. It helps with allergies and respiratory diseases.

For every teaspoon of honey you consume, you get 17 grams of carbohydrates. That shows that honey can be helpful as a substitute for energy enhancement during exercises. Studies on athletes showed that taking low amounts of honey during physical activity caused an increase in performance. The effects produced by honey were much better than those of glucose. That proves that honey can work as a performance enhancer during physical activity. Honey is an excellent source of glucose for athletes. During physical exercise, slow-burning sugar is better for sustaining energy. Honey is one of the best options since it releases sugar slowly into the bloodstream.

Feeding babies honey has been found to improve memory and growth. It also helps to reduce anxiety and enhance a child’s performance later in life. Giving honey to kids reduces the crying phase in babies more efficiently than sterile water. Children also tolerate honey better. A study on honey-fed kids found that they tend to gain weight steadily, produce lighter and thinner bowel movements, have no digestive issues, have better calcium intake, and have a better skin color. Honey can be an excellent replacement for sweets for kids.

However, it is not recommended to give your child honey until they’re one year old. Honey may contain clostridium bacteria that can cause infant botulism, which causes constipation, a weak cry, and muscle weakness, with signs like poor sucking and decreased muscle tone (floppiness). To avoid this, do not give honey to infants.

Probiotics

Probiotics are made of good live bacteria and/or yeasts that naturally live in your body. You constantly have both good and bad bacteria in your body. When you get an infection, there’s more bad bacteria, knocking your system out of balance. Good bacteria help eliminate extra bad bacteria, returning the balance. Probiotics are found in fermented nonalcoholic beverages such as kombucha, and water kefirs, and foods that are fermented such as yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi.

The main job of probiotics, or good bacteria, is to maintain a healthy balance in your body. Think of it as keeping your body in neutral. When you are sick, bad bacteria enter your body and increase in number. This knocks your body out of balance. Good bacteria work to fight off the bad bacteria and restore the balance within your body, making you feel better. Good bacteria keep you healthy by supporting your immune function and controlling inflammation.

There is currently a large amount of research happening around the idea of what probiotics can do for your body. Even though there are a lot of possibly positive outcomes, researchers are still working to find definitive answers about how probiotics can help with various conditions.

However, there are some medical conditions where probiotics may help. This can vary between people meaning that what works for one person may not work for another. These can also vary based on the certain probiotic that is taken.

Some of the conditions that might be helped by increasing the amount of probiotics in your body (through food or supplements) include:

• Diarrhea (both diarrhea caused by antibiotics and other bacteria)
• Constipation.
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
• Yeast infections.
• Urinary tract infections.
• Gum disease.
• Lactose intolerance.
• Eczema (atopic dermatitis).
• Upper respiratory infections (ear infections, common cold, sinusitis).
• Sepsis (specifically in infants).

Probiotics can be beneficial for both adults and kids. If your child has an illness that requires an antibiotic medication for treatment, taking a probiotic can help shorten symptoms. Probiotics can also be used to help relieve constipation, acid reflux, diarrhea, gas, and eczema in children.

Introducing probiotics into your child’s diet through food is typically a safe way to give them probiotics. Foods like yogurt and cottage cheese are often part of a balanced diet and can add in good bacteria without much risk.

Garlic

Garlic has been consumed by people for thousands of years. It has many beneficial healing properties and it smells great. Maybe I’m the only person who likes the smell of garlic but it instantly reminds me of a homecooked meal.

Currently, garlic is widely used for several conditions linked to the blood system and heart, including atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), high cholesterol, heart attack, coronary heart disease, and hypertension. Garlic is also used today by some people for the prevention of lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, rectal cancer, and colon cancer.

A study published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology warned that short-term heating reduces the anti-inflammatory effects of fresh raw garlic extracts. This may be a problem for some people who do not like or cannot tolerate the taste and/or odor of fresh garlic. You can easily find fresh garlic any time of year in grocery stores, but the crop is typically harvested over June and July, making it great to buy at a summer farmers market. Garlic bulbs can last up to eight weeks when stored correctly. Simply keep them in a cool, dark spot in the pantry. And don’t worry if there are sprouts on your garlic, it can still be used. Just make sure to remove the green shoots before cooking. Storing garlic is simple. Garlic can be refrigerated, but can’t be placed in the freezer since it affects the texture and flavor.

Substantial research has found that garlic plays a role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke, namely by lowering high blood pressure and regulating cholesterol levels

While we’re talking about disease prevention, garlic also helps fend off free radicals, reduce oxidative stress, and combat systemic inflammation. Garlic is high in antioxidants like polyphenols and flavonoids—in fact, garlic has been found to contain more than 20 polyphenolic compounds.

Antioxidant-rich foods can help guard your cells against free-radical damage, which in turn can decrease your risk for diseases associated with chronic stress and inflammation: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and more. In addition to making it harder for pathogens to take hold, garlic may also help fortify your immune system to fight them off by boosting the white blood cell response. The sulfur content of garlic, in particular, is known to enhance our immune response.

Ginger

Spices aren’t just a way to add zest and flavor to your favorite dishes. Many also provide hefty doses of antioxidants, nutrients, minerals, and vitamins.

Ginger, which comes from a flowering root plant, especially provides a variety of great health benefits. Found first in Southeast Asia, the spice has been used in Eastern medicine practices since the 9th century and is also a staple of Asian, Indian, and Caribbean cuisines. By appearances alone, ginger doesn’t look like a body booster. When you’re eating ginger, you’re eating the root (called the rhizome), which resembles a smaller sweet potato or even a gnarled tree. But ginger is both delicious and highly nutritious.

Fresh ginger boasts a potent compound called gingerol, which includes antioxidant properties and reduces inflammatory enzymes. As a result, ginger is beneficial for inflammatory-related conditions and pain relief, specifically menstrual cramps and also arthritis-based conditions.

Eating fresh ginger can help with various forms of nausea, though, including morning sickness, motion sickness, and the side effects of some chemotherapy regimens. Ginger may be helpful because it helps increase the way food moves through your GI tract, called gastric motility, and block serotonin receptors in our gut lining,

Ginger can be consumed in many different ways and you only need to consume a small amount daily. The most common and popular way is to make ginger tea by slicing the ginger root and boiling it in water for a couple of minutes. It can also be added to foods with vegetables and soups. Now you can buy fresh ginger, prepacked ginger tea, or powder which makes it even easier to consume.