When it comes to nutrition-packed foods, Mother Nature has produced them in so much abundance that it gets difficult to pick one and leave out another in the top 5 list. It is, therefore, only more fair to talk of super food categories rather than individual foods. Here are the top 5 nutrition-packed foods that you must include in your daily diet in order to lead a healthy long life:

1) Whole grains
Grains serve as the main source of carbohydrates in our diet, but most of their other nutrients are lost when they are refined and polished to remove their outer skin in order to enhance their taste.

2) Fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are Nature’s greatest gift to mankind, especially the dark-colored fruits and vegetables. In addition to being fat-free, low-sodium, low-calorie and delicious, they are packed with disease-fighting and health-promoting key nutrients like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals and flavanoids. These nutrients help fight obesity, hypertension and cholesterol, enhance immunity, and reduce the risk to many types of cancers too because of the presence of a variety of powerful antioxidants. For example, the lycopene in tomatoes is known to help reduce the risk to prostrate cancer.

3) Nuts and seeds
Nuts and seeds are among the top-five most wholesome and nutrition-packed foods. Besides being rich in plant proteins, heart-friendly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils, and essential fatty acids like omega-3 fatty acids, nuts contain a host of valuable nutrients, such as vitamins A, E and folate, trace minerals like magnesium, selenium, copper, zinc and phosphorus, antioxidants, and a whole lot of fiber.

4) Beans, lentils, legumes and pulses
Kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, black-eyed peas, and pulses like green moong – being low-fat, high-fiber, zero-cholesterol, and high in plant proteins – make ideal vegetarian substitutes for meat products, which are almost invariably high in artery-clogging saturated fats and cholesterol.

5) Probiotic foods
Probiotics refer to dairy products (e.g., yogurt and yogurt-based desserts) cultured with a variety of gut-friendly bacteria that aid digestion, help manufacture fat-metabolizing B vitamins, and reduce gas-producing and ulcer-producing acidic conditions in the stomach.

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