Superfood Powder or Veggies?

Lately  if you go to the grocery store or shoppers drug mart you will see entire racks dedicated to different kinds of green superfood powder. These superfood powders are intended to be mixed in smoothies, water or sprinkled over breakfast bowls. These products are marketed as an easy and palatable way to increase the amount of veggies you consume everyday and can also have a higher nutritional content than the original vegetable or fruits.

These powders are made up of dehydrated veggies as well as other vitamins, minerals and herbs.

Let’s talk about it more.

Fiber content: This is the biggest and most important difference between veggies and superfood powder. It plays a vital role in our daily nutrition. It helps to create diverse and strong gut microbiota, helps to regulate our blood sugar, makes us feel full and aids in digestion. However, superfood powder does lack dietary fibers and water content that is normally found in veggies. 

Nutritional composition and pricing: Superfood powder consists of dehydrated veggies. The dehydration and grinding process  may affect the nutrient composition of the vegetables such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, water content and dietary fiber. As this is a powder form, these are highly processed versions of the real thing making it expensive to use on a daily basis.

Should we consume it? Irrespective of the differences, these superfood powders still have a place in a healthy diet as long as they aren’t used as a replacement for veggies. They can be added as a supplement to our meals like vitamins. It can be beneficial for people who fall short on their daily intake of fruits and vegetables to utilize these powders. An easy way to do this is to add  it to smoothies, as it can increase the nutritional content of the drink.

To sum it up: Although it sounds tempting to replace veggies with superfood powder, it doesn’t benefit us completely. If your intake of fruits and veggies is adequate, you probably don't need to add these powders to your diet. In that case they would just put a big dent in your wallet with little return. Eating a wide variety of  fruits and veggies everyday will give us all of the superfood benefits. Keeping in mind that every good diet involves  moderation and balance. Having too much of one thing, even superfood powder, is not advisable. For example:  too much vitamin A can lead to hypercarotenemia, which is a yellow discoloration of the skin. Yep, people can actually go orange in color. O'Hanlon said."Now, while it's very hard to eat too many carrots, it's very easy to overdose on a superfood powder." (According to the huff post). Lastly, try having a range of veggies to get the variety of nutrients each has to offer.