Foods to Save Your Life

LAS VEGASWhen it comes to the many and varied angles product and menu developers take to improving the nutritional content of the packaged, processed and otherwise prepared foods they present to the public, one word instantly springs to mind: health. But that single, deceptively simple word carries much weight with it, notably quality of life, energy, wellness and, perhaps most importantly, longevity.

Such was the core message of the 2009 SupplySide West featured speakers message earlier today in Las Vegas. During her presentation, Ten Foods That Can Change Your Life, Ellie Krieger, author of the best-selling book The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life and host of the Food Networks Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger, illuminated attendees with approaches that not only result in healthy foods, but healthy foods that are also delicious. She is currently on a toursponsored in part by the Almond Board of Californiapromoting her new book, So Easy.

Her approach, outlined in her new book and generally throughout her career, highlighted 10 key foods that can reduce stress, aid weight management and generally improve overall health: frozen shrimp (convenient, lean, omega-3s, seemingly indulgent), whole-grain pasta (fiber, antioxidants, nutty flavor), frozen vegetables (convenient, comparable nutrition to fresh), canned salmon (omega-3s, vitamin D, inexpensive alternative to fresh), low-sodium broths (convenient, versatile), low-sodium canned tomatoes (vitamin C, fiber, lycopene), canned beans (protein, vitamins, minerals, inexpensive), frozen fruit (convenient, comparable nutrition to fresh), nuts (vitamins, healthy fat), and dried fruit (concentrated source of vitamins and minerals, fiber).

I come to nutrition from a foodie perspective, noted Krieger. Her view on healthy eating intertwines nutrition with high culinary merit and was evidenced in the many examples of healthy, tasty dishesrecipes detailed in So Easythat peppered her presentation. Her goal is to help people come to terms with the constant internal struggle between foods people think they should eat and those they would prefer to eat.

The product developers in the audience took away a number of key insights into how to best synergize health with flavor-forward applications that consumers will crave.