Sardines, anyone?

Before you say “no way”, let me tell you what you’re missing. If you were to look up the world’s top superfoods, you probably wouldn’t find sardines among that list because they are one of the most overlooked health foods. Loaded with healthy fats, protein, and minerals, if you added these into your diet a few times per week you’d be in really good shape. You may have heard that it’s important to get your omega-3 fats for brain health, cardiovascular health, and to control inflammation. Yes on all 3 counts, but what people who are buying expensive fish oil supplements don’t realize is that you can get a decent amount of EPA/DHA from sardines if you ate them regularly.

Having adequate omega-3 levels would also help dryness in the body, osteoarthritis, and mental functioning. And if you’re buying fish oil supplements from a pharmacy or a company and don’t know how they source it, you’re probably buying rancid oils, which do more harm than good. To get the most benefit from omega-3s, they need to be consumed in a close ratio with omega-6s. Nowadays, we are eating fats that have a much higher omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, such as corn oil, cottonseed oil, and soybean oil. Chips lovers take note here. (Though there are organic chips now that are made with avocado or olive oils…)

Unlike popular superfoods like acaí berries, sardines are inexpensive and can be stored in the pantry for a few years. They also contain a high amount of the mineral selenium, which is important for thyroid health, along with calcium and B-12. I know they smell, but if you can at least tolerate them, not necessarily like them, but tolerate them enough to eat them then go for it. Eat them 3-4 times per week. They make a great quick protein to eat with veggies. I like to put them atop a salad with either balsamic, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, or mustard. If you dowse them enough with an acidic ingredient you can  get through the fishy smell. Some people like to eat them straight from the can (kudos), or put them on top of a good quality cracker. You can also eat them with cooked grain or kale dishes.

For a superfood salad, use parsley leaves instead of lettuce for the green portion, along with seasonal vegetables of choice (tomatoes, onions, basil leaves, cucumbers, red/yellow peppers, etc.), make a dressing from lemon juice/vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, add pumpkin or sunflowers seeds (optional), mix together and top with sardines. You can find sustainably caught sardines from the organic section of most supermarkets that are canned in olive oil or water. For those of you who have never tried them before, now is the time!