Starting in September, thousands of stores will post numbers by many items rating them 1-100, 100 being the healthiest for you. Developed by Yale University's Griffin Prevention Research Center. The numbers are based on nutrients, vitamins, sugar and salt as well as impact on blood pressure and other health concerns. More stores will adopt the rankings in 2009.I got this info out of our September issue of National Geographic. If you want more scores, go to onqi.org. (Overall Nutritional Quality Index) The things in parenthesis are my own thoughts!
- 100 Broccoli
- 100 Blueberries
- 100 Orange
- 100 Green Beans (Oh, good, we just got some from our neighbor!)
- 99 Pineapple
- 99 Radish
- 98 Summer Squash
- 96 Apple
- 96 Green Cabbage
- 96 Tomato
- 94 Clementine
- 94 Watermelon
- 93 Mango
- 91 Nonfat milk
- 91 Fresh figs
- 91 Grapes
- 91 Banana
- 89 Avocado
- 88 Oatmeal
- 83 Blackberries
- 82 Sockeye Salmon
- 82 Raw almonds
- 82 Raw Pecans
- 82 Arugula
- 82 Brown Rice
- 82 Snapper
- 81 1% milk (good, this is the kind we buy!)
- 75 Shrimp
- 72 Couscous
- 70 Raw Pistachios
- 69 Unbuttered, unsalted popcorn (we eat a lot of unbuttered popcorn, but unsalted? that might be hard!)
- 67 Canned tuna, in oil, drained (that oil surprised me too!)
- 63 Vegetarian split pea soup mix (oh, yum...just kidding!)
- 61 Instant oatmeal
- 60 Canned pineapple packed in juice
- 57 White rice
- 55 2% milk
- 53 Canned kidney beans
- 52 Whole milk
- 51 Scallops
- 50 Pasta (it doesn't say whole grain, which is what we buy, I'm assuming it's normal pasta)
- 49 Canned peas
- 45 Prunes
- 44 NY Strip Steak
- 43 Vanilla yogurt
- 39 Orange juice (this is surprising!)
- 39 Skinless Chicken Breasts (not as healthy as people think)
- 37 Canned peaches in light syrup
- 36 Lobster
- 34 Dried apples
- 32 Tomato juice
- 32 Condensed split pea soup with ham (what is it with the peas?)
- 29 Enriched white bread
- 28 Whole chicken with skin
- 26 Raisins (my kids love these, surprising they are low, I thought they were healthy!)
- 25 Hamburger -75%lean (extra lean has to be much better, right?)
- 24 Apple chips
- 24 Green olives
- 23 Bagel (my hubby is disappointed in this one!)
- 23 Condensed tomato soup
- 23 Peanut Butter (not as bad as I thought)
- 23 Sherbet
- 22 Reduced fat sour cream (might as well go for the regular if the reduced fat is this low)
- 21 Condensed cream of broccoli soup
- 21 Salted dry roasted peanuts
- 20 Instant chocolate pudding
- 18 Fried egg
- 17 Swiss cheese
- 15 Diet soda (hey, it fares better than the sugar soda)
- 13 Center cut bacon
- 11 Pretzel Sticks (they are not as healthy as people think they are!)
- 10 Dark Chocolate (also not as healthy as people think, darn!)
- 9 White bread
- 7 Salami
- 5 Hot dog
- 4 Cheese puffs (did anyone think these were healthy?)
- 3 Milk Chocolate (that's why people think dark chocolate is healthy, it's better than milk chocolate!)
- 2 Apple pie
- 2 Reg. cut bacon
- 2 Saltine crackers (wow, that's too bad)
- 1 Soda (sugar)
- 1 Popsicle
I thought this list was very interesting. I hope our store starts this rating system. It sure would make things easy! I figure anything above 50 is pretty good and below, watch it. Some things are surprising, some things are pretty much no brainers. (If you go to the website, the additional list is not long, but strawberries are 100, I'm pretty sure most berries are, which is why I pictured those delicious looking berries at the top!)
I also saw that! I am glad you are enjoying your membership to that magazine. I have been getting it forever. I also save them. Yup...I will be the little old lady who has a garage full of National Geographics.
ReplyDeleteI love the stories and pictures.
I love this post. Thank you!! We should really get Nat'l Geographic. My brother inherited grandpa's collection when he died and us kids loved looking through them.
ReplyDeleteGod bless!!
This is funny to me because the kids and I have made up our own rating system...although,our's is only on a ten point scale. We have declared water as the only 'true ten.' Almost every meal the kids say, "What do you think cheese is?" "What would you give apples?" "How about crackers?" I will have to see how our ratings compare. ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't need any more numbers to drive my OCD through the roof! But, this is interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis is super interesting! I had not seen this list before. However, a few of the top rated items (ie Blueberries, Oranges, etc) are on my no no list for my food intolerances. Oh well... Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteInteresting list. I see all the things I already knew we unhealthy down at the bottom. Do you think anyone really thought they WERE healthy?
ReplyDeleteI read that ad today and went searching for more numbers but could not find any. There are fewer on the ONQI site than were in the article. If anyone finds more, please publish the site.
ReplyDeleteIf this means that popsicles are the worst food for you, my boys are in trouble.
ReplyDeleteGood thing much of our family's diet comes from the top of thiss list. Thanks for this! Great info.
Full List: www.ONQI.org
ReplyDeleteGL.