10 Best Foods for Women
by Leanne Ely, CNC

10. Bean There, Done That

Beans should be included in everyone's diet -- they're nutritious, low in fat and are cheap to boot.

Be a good bean counter and check out the fiber in beans. There's over 5 grams of fiber in one measly half-cup serving -- that's a whopping fourth of your daily allowance. Pretty good, huh?

Even better, when you consider that a fiber-rich diet is one of the first components to colon cancer prevention. And with more women dying of colon cancer than breast cancer every year, you've just gotta bring on the beans!

9. Kale to the Chief

Kale is an often-overlooked vegetable that is positively loaded with folate, an important B vitamin for women.

Having a deficiency in folic acid during pregnancy may cause neural-tube defects in babies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommend that women take in 400 micrograms of folate daily. That's more than twice the current RDA!

Don't forget that kale is also an excellent source of vitamin C and calcium too.

8. Beta Sight

Those orange squashes (and tubers) like pumpkin, butternut squash and sweet potatoes are a gal's best friend.

Beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, is just screaming to get out and work its antioxidant magic on your body. All you have to do is eat it!

Beta-carotene is thought to help reduce the risk of breast cancer and is responsible for helping your body repair your skin.

7. Just the Flax, Ma'am

Flax seed and flax seed oil have so much to offer women. For starters, flax is full of omega-3 fatty acids which may help protect a woman from heart disease (the leading cause of premature death among women) and the pain of arthritis.

The fiber in flax is due to lignans, an important type of fiber especially for women. Lignans are thought to be both an antioxidant and phytoestrogen and are currently being studied for their role in cancer prevention.

Use care with flax. It would be preferable to grind your own seeds and sprinkle them on your cereal each morning. The flax seeds are very fragile and grinding your own (in a clean coffee mill, just for this purpose) is the best way to utilize both the flax's fiber and oils.

6. Iron It Out

Women need to eat more iron-rich foods. Getting iron from food sources is a better way to get the iron needed because the form of iron contained in food is much easier to absorb than in pill form.

Lean red meats and dark poultry, as well as lentils, are a few of the best sources for iron.

5. Oh Boy, It's Soy!

Phytoestrogen-rich soybeans can help a woman significantly lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and raise the good (HDL) cholesterol.

Tofu is a great way to get soy protein. You can use it in place of ricotta cheese in a lasagna. Use a firm tofu and pulse it in a food processor with a little dried basil and water (just to get the ricotta-like consistency).

Hide the tofu container and don't tell the family. They'll never know, I promise. (I am an avowed tofu hater, so you know I'm telling the truth here!)

4. Water, Water Everywhere

Hey, don't think you're getting cheated out of a food here.

Water IS a nutrient and the fact is, we need it... and plenty of it. Water keeps the fat away, plain and simple.

Water may be one of the best tools in the weight loss game. It suppresses the appetite and helps your body metabolize stored fat.

Now can you see why water made it to the top 10? Bottoms up!

3. Broccoli Power!

I know it was on the kids' list of best foods but aren't you glad it's on the gal's list too? That means we can all eat together at the same table!

Broccoli is a fabulous source of calcium and contains other important nutrients like potassium and a good smattering of B vitamins.

2. Chalk up the Calcium

Women really need to crank it up in the calcium department.

The Recommended Daily Allowance is 800 milligrams a day, but some experts say that isn't enough and it should be more like 1,200 to 1,500 milligrams a day.

When you take into consideration the epidemic of osteoporosis among older women, it might not be a bad idea to up your dairy product intake.

My personal preference would be yogurt. You get the nutritional extra of beneficial bacteria for good colon health and it's a lot easier to digest than other dairy products.

1. Something's Fishy Here!

Salmon was once turned down in favor of white fish or sole by weight-conscious women. Now that we understand the value of omega-3 essential fats, it's time to get serious with salmon.

Salmon is also high in protein, low in cholesterol and contains quite a few B vitamins, calcium, zinc, iron and magnesium. Don't swim upstream -- net yourself a good helping of salmon!

As a special bonus for Worst Food readers, Leanne has agreed to share two great dinner recipes from her book, Saving Dinner (Ballantine). Just like eDiets, the book serves up seasonal menus, recipes AND your shopping list!