NuVal system: the quality of food from 1 to 100
Dieting, eating well, eating healthy, losing weight, gaining weight, and so on. Choosing foods to eat and which to discard is an issue that makes some people lose sleep, while others do not care and / or just eat eat whatever. However, diets are not merely a matter of fashion, but that the issue of this task is something that is increasingly seen by more people because of the strength and apparent reaction having food on the human body.
Eating right is something you are looking for
However, eating properly can be a subject so vast that one can find a lot of proposals in the world of food culture. Some people think that eating meat, for example, is not suitable for the body, while some think that if you sit at the table and eat a hearty stew with meat, it's like not eating anything. On the other hand, there are people that only seek to please the palate, or nutritional education is conveyed growing up without ever stopping to ask if the way you eat is the most appropriate, without stopping to observe the reactions the food produces in the body.
The forms of food are many and varied, and yet, anyone with common sense would recognize that there are healthier, for example, an orange juice than soda. Perhaps there are those who prefer a soft drink for its taste. Professor David Katz, nutritionist and director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University, put together in a very interesting food table a very simple system that anyone can have the option to choose the highest quality food for their diet.
Professor David Katz and NuVal system
The NuVal system (Overall Nutritional Quality Index ONQI) was designed and created by Professor David Katz. The idea is actually a very simple proposal and really practice, which is to assess the food from its nutritional quality. He used as value range for qualifying food, a scorecard, ranging from 1 to 100, where 100 is graded score, for example, higher quality food, while qualified with 1 gets the title nutritionally inferior.
Thus we find that the higher the score assigned to a food, the more nutritious it is. Broccoli, for example, ranks first quality site with 100 points, shares its success with blueberries, oranges and green beans. On the other hand, the apple has 96 points, 18 points fried egg and carbonated sugary soft drinks and some ice cream only get 1 point.
Food Rating
In this system, food nutrition earns points based on their high, little or no nutrients like vitamins, minerals, protein, good fats, etc. While, on the other hand, lose points if they also contain harmful elements as added sugar, colorants, preservatives, salt, saturated or trans fats, etc..
Crackers, for example, and the apple pie are on the level equivalent to 2 points, as they are made of white flour (very harmful to health) and also contain a lot of salt, refined sugar and trans fats, so that their ingredients are very poor in nutritional level. The lobster, on the other hand, has fewer than canned peaches as the lobster has too much sodium and not a good source of omega-3 fatty acids such as oily fish like salmon or tuna.
Currently, in the United States there are some supermarket chains that have adopted this food system, and some other companies are already planning to join this system. The creator of the system, Katz, concerned about adequate food, is hoping that his system is adopted in some 7,000 stores across the country.
It is important to emphasize that this table is a way to make aware of the quality of the food we eat. However, we must always take into account the balance of foods in the diet and the variety of them, i.e. combining appropriately, knowing them and choosing and mixing in considered quantities.
Below is a list of some foods of Nutrition Global Quality of Yale University:
- Broccoli 100
- Blueberries 100
- Orange 100
- Green beans 100
- Pineapple 99
- Radish 99
- Summer Squash 98
- Green cabbage 96
- Tomato 96
- Apple 96
- Clementina 94
- Watermelon 94
- Mango 93
- Red Onions 93
- Skimmed milk 91
- Fresh figs 91
- Grapes 91
- Banana 91
- Avocado 89
- Oats 88
- Atlantic salmon fillet 87
- Blackberry 83
- Fillet of cod 82
- Natural almonds 82
- Iceberg Lettuce 82
- Raw walnuts 82
- Rocket fish 82
- Brown Rice 82
- Pargo 82
- Milk (1% fat) 81
- Oysters 81
- Prawns 75
- Couscous 72
- Clams 71
- Raw Pistachios 70
- Popcorn without butter unsalted 69
- Canned tuna in olive oil, drained 67
- Monkfish fillet 64
- Prepared vegetarian pea soup 63
- Instant Oatmeal 61
- Canned pineapple in juice 60
- White rice 57
- Sparkling water without sodium 56
- Milk (2% fat) 55
- Beans packed 53
- Milk (whole) 52
- Scallops 51
- Pasta 50
- Canned peas 49
- Prunes 45
- Vanilla Yogurt 43
- Orange juice 39
- Skinless chicken breasts 39
- Canned peaches in syrup 37
- Lobster 36
- Fillet of Beef 34
- Dried apples 34
- Tomato juice 32
- Pea soup with ham concentrated 32
- Chopped Sirloin 30
- Chicken drumsticks 30
- Enriched white bread 29
- Whole chicken with skin 28
- Leg of lamb 28
- Ham (whole) 27
- Raisins 26
- Hamburger (75% lean) 25
- Fried Apples 24
- Coconut 24
- Green olives 24
- Pork ribs (from the back) 24
- Bagel 23
- Condensed tomato soup 23
- Peanut Butter 23
- Sorbet 23
- Nonfat sour cream 22
- Concentrated soup of broccoli 21
- Roasted and salted peanuts 21
- Instant chocolate pudding 20
- Fried eggs 18
- Swiss Cheese 17
- Cracker sticks 11
- Black chocolate 10
- White bread 9
- Salami 7
- Hot Dog 5
- Chili Cheese 4
- Chocolate milk 3
- Apple pie 2
- Crackers 2
- Carbonated drinks 1
- Ice cream 1