Healing Foods Collective: Nutrient Dense Foods
- Stefanie Smit
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
The food you eat can either be the safest and most powerful form of medicine, or the slowest form of poison. A. Wigmore
We’re going to be embarking on a new series of conversations, centered around powerful healing and nutrient dense foods to support specific aspects of healing. Supplements are an important part of life and can be wonderful. I’ve found that the very way we eat can be an underlying reason that our bodies require supplementation. Not only can proper nutrition prevent this need, but it can be utilized to counteract countless negative effects in the body. “Food is medicine” is not just a phrase; it is the very basis of how we should be approaching a life of health, longevity, well-being, and joy. I’m regularly sharing education about concepts like nutrition, lifestyle and healing on my Instagram Page.
Think of nutrient dense foods as efficiency at meal time: each bite is filled with vitamins, minerals, and highly beneficial substances to your body. The down side? Some of them don’t always taste amazing. Your taste buds might not love them, but your body absolutely will. I’m here to share some incredible nutrient dense foods along with ways to make them more palatable. I’ll be like your mom saying you get to have a cookie if you finish all your broccoli back when you were a 6 year old. I believe in you!
Let’s Get (Nutrient) Dense
There’s a lot of options for nutrient dense foods. I’m going to share 4 favorites that you can begin incorporating right now:
Seaweed
“Sea plants” are high in an abundance of beneficial substances including antioxidants, iodine, and trace minerals. Kelp, nori, and dulse are three that I regularly use. The great thing about these is they can be easily masked within a meal:
Try adding them to broth, soup, or stew,
Stir some into your rice,
You can also bake them, like you would kale chips, and season them as if they’re a potato chip or root vegetable,
Juice with them or blend into your smoothies, and
Even put them with your salads!
Sardines
Yum, right?! Even some of my favorite clients occasionally push the red button on me. They’ll draw a line in the sand and can’t follow through on some recommendations like sardines. It’s ok if you can’t eat everything I mention here; pick a couple and start with those.
We generally don’t get enough Omega-3 fatty acids in our diets, because we’re imbalanced with high amounts of Omega-6. Sardines are rich in Omega-3, as well as protein, vitamin D, and other nutrients.
Try these tossed in a salad,
In a pâté to be spread on crackers as a snack, or
Creatively on toast with things like mustard and avocado.
3. Mustard & Dandelion Greens
Okay, now we’re cooking. These are bitter, without question, which is one of the very reasons they’re so beneficial to the body. If you eat them regularly, your taste buds will adjust to the bitterness. They’re rich in vitamins K, A, and C, as well as iron and fiber. In addition, their bitter nature provides an incredible benefit to the gallbladder and liver. Add them to anything and everything!
The simplest way to combat the bitterness is to “cook them down:”
Put them in a pan with some water, cover, and cook on low to medium heat for 20 minutes.
Toss them in the pan a couple times so they cook evenly.
This breaks them down to make them more palatable.
Once they’re cooked down, you can drain the water and turn up the heat.
Then, finish in the pan by adding some flavor. A few things you can try adding include garlic, salt, a pinch of crushed red pepper, paprika, lemon, and olive oil and butter.
Healing Foods: Our Main Attractions
4. Chicken Livers
Our main focus of the day is chicken livers. They are high in iron, B12, vitamin A, protein, and zinc. They are called “Nature’s Vitamin” for good reason. Chicken livers are absolutely packed with goodness in each and every bite. I hear they aren’t for everyone, but there are ways to work with both the taste and texture, including:
Mixing some into your chicken salad,
Making a pâté and spreading on bread or crackers,
Putting on a piece of toast with mayo, microgreens, and veggies,
Mixing into things like your scrambled eggs, and
The absolute classic “liver and onions”
Parsley is an excellent herb to utilize when cooking any meat that is gamey or has a strong taste. Because Parsley is strong and pungent on its own, it’s said to “clean” the taste of certain foods. This is exactly why it can be beneficial in balancing the taste of something else with a strong flavor, such as liver.
Here’s an easy and quick recipe to tame the taste of chicken liver so you can really enjoy it:
Seared Chicken Liver with Capers & Parsley
Ingredients:
1/2 pound chicken livers, cleaned and trimmed
3/4th tbsp olive oil
2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped (or ½ tbsp dried parsley)
1/4th tsp smoked paprika (optional)
½ tsp sea salt (or to taste)
1/8th tsp black pepper (freshly ground)
Pinch of crushed red pepper (optional)
2 teaspoons capers
Instructions:
Prep the chicken livers. Pat them dry with paper towels so they can brown. Cut any large pieces in half. You want them about golf ball sized so they can cook evenly.
Sprinkle the livers with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper, and parsley. Toss gently to coat.
In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.
Add the chicken livers in a single layer along with garlic. Cook roughly 3 minutes per side, until nicely browned on the outside but still slightly pink inside. Pay attention to the blood and moisture (as a sign of how cooked they are).
When livers have about 1 minute of total cooking remaining, add in capers.
Remove from the pan, add any more salt to taste, and enjoy.
Healing Foods: Where Do I Start?
Nutrition is a foundational element of our healing. It keeps us nourished, balanced, and restores our bodies back to health. As a bioenergetic practitioner, I find individuals with chronic illness are rarely getting the nourishment their body needs. This is especially the case because our bodies are working overtime as they combat infections and detoxify. Utilizing nutrient dense foods is a conscious way to ensure you’re getting some of the excellent nourishment and restoration your body needs on a regular basis. Bioenergetic Testing helps identify specifically where you’re lacking nutritionally. It can be a focused and efficient means to simplify what otherwise feels overwhelming for most of us. A bioenergetic scan and appointment provides you:
Clarity on what your body needs right now,
Specifics on where your body is struggling most as well as where it’s thriving,
A customized protocol and imprints designed specifically for you, and
Actionable steps in areas such as nutrition, exercise, supplements, and more.
If you’re tired of guessing and want a deeper understanding of your health, you can book a bioenergetic scan today and take a huge step towards the lasting wellness you deserve. Reach Out Now!
Stefanie Smit is a Bioenergetic Root Cause Practitioner & Health Coach. She guides individuals through the challenges of chronic illness to help them find clarity in the WHY behind their symptoms, so they can find a clear path forward back to a life of health and purpose.
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