What single food is the most nutritionally perfect?

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AMRROL
AMRROL Posts: 168 Member
in Food and Nutrition
While no single food is nutritionally perfect, is there one single food that comes close to being the most nutritionally perfect? (ie has the best ratios of vitamins and macronutrients) Liver? Brown Rice? Legumes?
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  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    I don't know of a single item that comes remotely close to having a ratio of protein, carbs, and fat -- let alone micronutrients -- to match my overall diet.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    I don't know! It's a good question. I'm sure the answer exists.

    Edamame is the healthiest thing I eat.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    So the requirements are...complete proteins, essential fatty acids, and some carbs.

    The closest I can think of is freshly killed meat/fish (and I do mean "freshly" - like, kill it, skin it, eat it). Complete proteins, obviously, and EFAs, but fresh meat also has significant carb content thanks to the glycogen.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    AMRROL wrote: »
    While no single food is nutritionally perfect, is there one single food that comes close to being the most nutritionally perfect? (ie has the best ratios of vitamins and macronutrients) Liver? Brown Rice? Legumes?

    Doughnuts
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    I don't know of a single item that comes remotely close to having a ratio of protein, carbs, and fat -- let alone micronutrients -- to match my overall diet.

    I could meet my protein and calorie goals eating nothing but chicken wings, the ones I have hit both perfectly. I'd have to go keto though, and you know. Micronutrients.
  • Pinnacle_IAO
    Pinnacle_IAO Posts: 608 Member
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    AMRROL wrote: »
    While no single food is nutritionally perfect, is there one single food that comes close to being the most nutritionally perfect? (ie has the best ratios of vitamins and macronutrients) Liver? Brown Rice? Legumes?
    In my own diet, it's kale...and I juice it with some other fruits and veggies, then blend back in some of the pulp.
    I detest veggies otherwise and just will not eat them. No matter what my mix is, kale is a staple. It's very nutritious and cheap.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    Pinnacle_IAO wrote: »
    AMRROL wrote: »
    While no single food is nutritionally perfect, is there one single food that comes close to being the most nutritionally perfect? (ie has the best ratios of vitamins and macronutrients) Liver? Brown Rice? Legumes?
    In my own diet, it's kale...and I juice it with some other fruits and veggies, then blend back in some of the pulp.
    I detest veggies otherwise and just will not eat them. No matter what my mix is, kale is a staple. It's very nutritious and cheap.
    How much protein does kale have?

  • louubelle16
    louubelle16 Posts: 579 Member
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    Hmm, I don't think any one food is perfect. Is that even possible? Anyway, if I had to choose I would vote for cottage cheese with pineapple - the brand I use has 90cal, 10g carbs, 10g protein and 1g fat per 100g. The carbs are mostly sugar, but still, a good balance I reckon.
  • supersocks117
    supersocks117 Posts: 169 Member
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    Breastmilk? But really, as an adult you need a balanced diet, no food is perfectly balanced alone.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    AMRROL wrote: »
    While no single food is nutritionally perfect, is there one single food that comes close to being the most nutritionally perfect? (ie has the best ratios of vitamins and macronutrients) Liver? Brown Rice? Legumes?
    I tend to say "If you want to have the most nutrient dense food possible, you'd have to crush up multivitamin pills into your protein shake" whenever someone argues X is better than Y because it has more nutrients.

    Don't look for a single perfect food; it doesn't exist and even if it did you wouldn't live happily if you tried to eat only that to meet your goals. Instead make your overall diet fit, with foods that are high in protein, others high in micros and so on, and at the end of the day you probably will have some room left to eat whatever the hell you want.
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,658 Member
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    If there were some way to get protein into salsa and fried chips, that might be it. At least for me.
  • rockmama72
    rockmama72 Posts: 815 Member
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    Pizza has all the macros.
  • MakePeasNotWar
    MakePeasNotWar Posts: 1,329 Member
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    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    Pinnacle_IAO wrote: »
    AMRROL wrote: »
    While no single food is nutritionally perfect, is there one single food that comes close to being the most nutritionally perfect? (ie has the best ratios of vitamins and macronutrients) Liver? Brown Rice? Legumes?
    In my own diet, it's kale...and I juice it with some other fruits and veggies, then blend back in some of the pulp.
    I detest veggies otherwise and just will not eat them. No matter what my mix is, kale is a staple. It's very nutritious and cheap.
    How much protein does kale have?

    9g per 100 calorie serving according to the MFP database.
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,123 Member
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    I had a nutrition professor tell us to always guess "broccoli" if we're asked to name a food that is high in XYZ nutrients.

    If supplements counted, I would say Soylent, but who would want to live off a liquid diet?
  • karyabc
    karyabc Posts: 830 Member
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    abatonfan wrote: »
    I had a nutrition professor tell us to always guess "broccoli" if we're asked to name a food that is high in XYZ nutrients.

    If supplements counted, I would say Soylent, but who would want to live off a liquid diet?

    yep I also got that same answer/info from a teacher in college.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    stevencloser wrote: »
    AMRROL wrote: »
    While no single food is nutritionally perfect, is there one single food that comes close to being the most nutritionally perfect? (ie has the best ratios of vitamins and macronutrients) Liver? Brown Rice? Legumes?
    I tend to say "If you want to have the most nutrient dense food possible, you'd have to crush up multivitamin pills into your protein shake" whenever someone argues X is better than Y because it has more nutrients.

    Don't look for a single perfect food; it doesn't exist and even if it did you wouldn't live happily if you tried to eat only that to meet your goals. Instead make your overall diet fit, with foods that are high in protein, others high in micros and so on, and at the end of the day you probably will have some room left to eat whatever the hell you want.

    I agree with these.

    I don't think any one food is going to be ideal, or particularly better than some other food. That's why all of the "would you be healthy only eating ___" arguments are ridiculous. Who thinks it's a good idea to only eat one thing.

    Well, I guess that's what the Soylent efforts are about, but I'm not interested.

    That said, if I had to pick something, I'd go with a pasta dish with whole wheat pasta, lots of vegetables, and lean meat, cooked with olive oil. Pretty balanced macros, allows for a range of vegetables and some additional fiber.

    (You could achieve basically the same thing in a pizza too.)

    My enjoyment of these foods would decline drastically if that were all I ate, though, and getting a variety of fat sources, vegetables, sources of fiber and protein, and also some things not represented, like fruit and legumes and fish would likely result in a better and healthier overall diet, though.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    I think I read somewhere that Big Macs had a pretty good macro ratio.
  • usedtobee
    usedtobee Posts: 15 Member
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    Avocado ⭐️ Poached eggs ⭐️ Pink Lady apples ⭐️
  • usedtobee
    usedtobee Posts: 15 Member
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    And Broccoli ⭐️⭐️⭐️
  • Childfree1991
    Childfree1991 Posts: 145 Member
    edited August 2015
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    Hmm. I'd say it's between kale and seaweed. Kale because of the higher protein and other nutrients along with low-calorie according to research and reviews. And seaweed because of what I've learned from the Thai people at this buddhist temple I meditate at. Apparently seaweed is very popular in their home country and their country has a low obesity rate and less health issues. They cook seaweed dishes at the temple sometimes. Tasty!

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