I’m always interested in sharing food tips and ideas, and we see a lot of nutrition questions & comments here that boil down to “What should I eat?” So, here are 10 lists of my Top 5 foods in each category (categories were made up by me – please do not bother pointing out how arbitrary they are – I know! I made them up).

Posts to follow will show how I create mini-meals & meals by mixing and matching foods from these lists. Feel free to try this on your own and to make your own suggestions. There is no magical pill, but there are some magical foods!

Note that these lists are skewed towards my personal tastes (duh!). I’ve done my best, though, to eliminate foods that are extremely regional or brand specific, to increase how helpful this would be to others. Beyond that, since I’ve spent more time lately cutting than bulking, you’ll find that these lists tend to feature lower calorie choices (particularly low-fat), higher protein choices, and pretty much no “empty calories.”

My general principle is that you should imagine that food exists on two continuums: how tasty it is and how good it is for you (because it meets some micro or macro-nutrient goals). My diet aims to revolve around food that is both tasty and good for me. I’ll tolerate SOME foods that are good for me that I don’t like very much, but I try not to force this issue. Through healthy eating, your palate does change. However, if you can’t stomach something, plan accordingly. Eating food you don’t like just because you think it is what you need to eat to lose weight, gain muscle, be healthy, etc. is a recipe for failure! You will not be able to sustain it in the long term! You also need to figure out which foods to allow yourself from time to time that are NOT particularly good for you, but you love. Anything that isn’t good for me that I don’t love? Gone. Just don’t eat it. Ever. Beyond that, I incorporate the “cheat foods” into my overall caloric intake plan, whether I’m cutting OR bulking.

Top 5 Vegetables (carbs)

1.Tomatoes – Yes. I know these are really fruits. I’m counting them as veggies anyway. Great flavor. Great Nutrients. Versatile both raw, cooked, sauced, and so forth.
2.Bell Peppers – Red, orange, yellow, even green. This awesomely nutritious food can satisfy a sweet tooth, has great texture (crunch!) & pairs well with tuna, turkey & eggs. Magic.
3.Green Beans – Raw or cooked, another great tasty veggie.
4.Broccoli – Takes the slot on behalf of the entire cabbage family (all good choices).
5.Carrots – Possibly the easiest “at work” veggie snack of the lot. Pairs well with hummus, peanut butter, or other healthy dipping choices.

Runner Up: Sugar Snap Peas – These are like vegetable candy or crack. Didn’t quite make my list due high calorie/natural sugar content.
Notable Omission: Leafy, green veggies (e.g., spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, and so on) – All important food choices to have in your diet, but just not high enough on my “I love them” scale to be magic.

Top 5 Fruits (carbs)

1.Bananas – Potassium! Hurrah! Yes, it’s a higher GI food, but bananas are the perfect breakfast or PWO food.
2.Grapefruit - Another great choice, whether you prefer a sweet or tart variety. Warning: affects absorption of medication, so if you take anything, pay attention to the timing of when you eat this.
3.Apples – An apple a day. ‘Nough said.
4.Blueberries – Takes the slot for me on behalf of all the great berries. Great to cook with if I manage to leave any over!
5.Clementines – Type of mandarin orange. Easiest snack food. Grab. Peel. Eat.

Runner Up: Mango – Rejected due to high calorie/sugar content. But so good!
Note: List is skewed more fall/winter for obvious reasons. Seasonal eating always takes precedence (so no blueberries other than frozen ones for a while now…).

Top 5 Roots, Bulbs & Flowering Plants & Like-stuff (carbs)

1.Onions – Adds so much flavor to anything. Does anything compared to the smell of onions frying?
2.Garlic – Close second to onions.
3.Shallots – These might even top onions if they were as affordable.
4.Ginger – Great flavor, great health benefits.
5.Leeks – Roasted or fried…

Runner Up: Scallions – Without them, there would be no scallion pancakes. Hehe.

Top 5 Starches (carbs)

1.Sweet potato – Baked. Sweet potato fries. Soup.
2.Whole Wheat Pasta – Even 1 oz. makes a great base for anything else.
3.Oatmeal – The ultimate breakfast food.
4.Go Lean Cereal – High protein. High Fiber. Tastes great.
5.Flax Roll-Ups – High protein tortilla type ‘shells’ that pair with anything.

Runner Up: Squash – Versatile.
Notable Omissions – Other whole grains, including brown rice and quinoa. In the pantry, but don’t make it to the table too often for me in a cutting stage or when I don’t have a lot of time for food prep.

Top 5 Animal Proteins (protein! hehe)

1.Egg Whites – Nothing beats an egg white omelet. Get it? Beats an egg! Yeah, hahaha. I include eggs here too, though eat whole ones a lot less than the whites.
2.Whey Protein Powder - Just add water & drink. Or get creative.
3.Turkey – Ground, Roasted, or Deli Breast. Beats chicken any day!
4.Tuna – How could tuna NOT make the list? At the best, it’s a tuna steak. Normally, it’s the canned stuff (low sodium).
5.Beef – It’s what’s for dinner. Hahaha. I couldn’t decide here between steak or veal chops. Just too hard to pick. Sometimes, you just want MEAT.

Runner Up: Fish (salmon, trout, snapper, etc.) – Would have made the list, but tuna is its own special listing.
Notable Omission – Chicken – Sorry, chicken. Yeah, I eat you. But you just don’t make the list, because you will always taste like chicken.

Top 5 Vegetable Proteins (protein!)

1.Tofu – Very easy to cook with other stuff. Throw it in to your veggies, eggs, pizza, soup, meat, and so on.
2.Tempeh – Makes a great base instead of bread for veggies or sauce or cheese
3.Edamame – Hurrah for soy! Good snacking food whether fresh, frozen or dry roasted.
4.Veggie Mince – Another easy “throw-in” food.
5.Beans/Legumes – Yeah, this is a big category that includes garbazos, azuki beans, mung beans, and so on. Prefer buying and eating them fresh & crunchy rather than working with the dry or canned stuff.

Runner Up: Soy Milk – Useful for when dairy is not an option.
Notable Omission: Veggie Burgers - too processed, too much sodium. but useful for work.

Top 5 Dairy Products (mixed/protein centric)

1.Milk – For tea, cereal, shakes, sauce…I prefer non-fat (skim).
2.Kefir/Yogurt – This is one where I am brand specific. I prefer Lifeway Kefir, which is particularly high in protein & the ideal PWO or training food.
3.Fat-free Ricotta Cheese – High protein content. Versatile in cooking. Have part skim if you want more fat.
4.Cottage Cheese – Get it whipped, with or without salt, with or without fruit (e.g., pineapple). Another high protein, versatile food to be eaten straight or mixed/cooked. Fat levels variable.
5. Mozzarella Cheese – A little bit of this shredded goes a LONG way in flavor.

Runner Up: Other Hard cheeses – Lots of varieties, to be eaten in moderation (due to high saturated fat content), but a little bit enhances flavor in nearly anything.
Notable Omission – Low-fat American cheese. I eat it, but anything that processed hardly constitutes food. Hehe.

Top 5 Fats (fats)

1.Olive Oil – For salad, for cooking.
2.Flax Oil – I don’t really like fish oil, so this works well for my Omega 3s.
3.Avocado – Tastes great. In salad. Guacamole. The hardest part of this healthy fat is not eating too much!
4.Nuts – My preference: Pine nuts (expensive though). Other options: walnuts, pecans, almonds.
5.Natural Peanut Butter – Not something I eat a lot of when I’m cutting nor is it a food that I like in my sweets, but it is the ultimate cure for hunger.

Runner Up: Canola Oil - When I really don’t want the oil to flavor the cooking.
Notable Omission: Butter – Sometimes, nothing beats the flavor of real butter and a little bit goes a long way. That said, even on a cheat, it’s not something I typically eat due to saturated fat.

Top 5 Condiments, Accompaniments & Other Food Stuffs

1.Non-stick cooking spray – I don’t like using it a lot (afraid of harmful effects), but it makes clean-up a LOT easier. If I won’t wash the dishes, I won’t cook, and if I won’t cook, I don’t eat as well, so…it’s worth it sometimes.
2.Low sodium tomato sauce – magical enough it deserves its own listing, apart from tomatoes
3.Mustard – Good for flavoring stuff, especially that tuna!
4.Hummus – Already represented above in the veggie protein & fat listings (technically speaking), but not in prepared form. Just goes to show the versatility!
5. Low sodium soy sauce – Still plenty flavorful (and full of sodium – heh!) but useful for Asian or pan-Asian cooking.

Runner Up: Chili/Hot Sauce – I’m a weenie when it comes to spicy food, but even I admit it has a time & place.
Notable Omission – Salsa – all of the ingredients to make it are already listed and I’d rather not buy the processed/jar version of it.

Top 5 Beverages

1. Tea – Nothing better than a cuppa.
2. Water – Ok, maybe water is better. Without water, there would be no tea. But I’d RATHER have the tea anyday!
3.Flavored Iced Tea – This is a cheat as a separate listing, I know. But I meant for #1 to be the real, hot stuff. Like an Earl Grey. Or maybe green tea. This is for an herbed or non-caffeinated blend that is then chilled.
4. Seltzer/Soda Water – The bubbly stuff. I don’t really like it plain, but with a little flavoring (e.g., lemon) it has potential. It’s most useful for ‘cutting’ with juice, like grape or pomegranate.
5.Chocolate Milk – Better than Gatorade! A good choice in a pinch when you want something sweet but with some nutritional value. Can find it in lower (or non) fat versions, with sugar or with artificial sweetener, whatever you like.

And that's wraps up the 10 lists of Top 5 Foods! It's magic, I tell ya!

Sig, I'm curious as to what makes up a "cheat" for you? I know you are fairly limited on any sort of "garbage"-type food so I just wondered. Good list, thanks for taking the time for that.

Cool list. I was glad to see bananas made it. I eat 2 or 3 a day.

However, I'm surprised salmon didn't make it. I thought salmon was the "superfish".

Salmon is fine.

Yes, eat this great food.

Salmon IS fine. Remember he said, "Note that these lists are skewed towards my personal tastes (duh!)"

I never implied anything other than what my post stated.

On my cheat days, I don't log my caloric intake, I aim to eat more than on other days (so now that I'm cutting, a cheat day is supposed to hit maintenance), and - the biggee - I usually don't prepare all my own food. I often go hang out with friends and rely on someone else to be preparing my food.

I do keep some mental track of what I'm eating with the idea that I'm shooting for my maintenance level & to make sure I haven't forgotten to eat enough fat & protein. But there is no precision. I typically wind up eating some stuff I wouldn't have had at home (usually a little more likely to eat whole grain bread or have a little wine), and, more important, I don't feel the need to ask about every ingredient in each food.

Normally, I find that I keep the cheat days pretty healthy anyway. The biggest difference I see is that my weight jumps a little the next day, because other people prepare food with so muchmore sodium than I do, so I log higher water weight immediately after. [Weight drops down within a day or two after].

Yesterday, I made a few "poor" choices in my cheat - eating too much (and a bit too carb heavy - including even a small piece of cake!) at a multi-course meal with friends. I didn't really overeat on the day, but I was very sluggish and tired afterwards. I didn't eat poorly enough to make myself sick, but it was enough to kill my energy & I had trouble sleeping last night. Today, I woke up early - tired and more starving than usual. Ah well. Next week, I'll be a bit smarter about the "cheat" day.

And to respond to two other things in this thread:

(1) Salmon IS a great food. Everyone should eat it, and I try to at least once a week. I just know that the minute I'm slightly "too" hungry, I develop an aversion to it.

(2) I'm not a guy! Heh. I suppose it never came up before this, and I know my interests in the sports I play & like and my approach to lifting tend to be more traditionally "guy-like," so I should have figured that this wasn't something people would know about me...ha-ha!

Wow, I guess I've never even thought about what your gender was. That's kind of funny. You have kind of a unisex username.

As for the salmon thing, I was just flaunting my personal bias towards salmon. Out of all of the types of animals I eat, salmon is what I eat the most of, next is turkey ,then chicken, then beef, and I try not to eat any pork. Basically salmon is my superfood or supermeat.

Hey, I'm eating a can of salmon as I type this.

Canned salmon, near perfect "bulking" food. High calorie, high protein, good fats, and cheap.
Add a can of kidney beans(or another type) and you got ample fiber and complex carbs to the meal.

Whilst this is your "personal tastes" post the fact that it could be misread by newbies would make me point out that Doctors recommend 8 glasses of water a day not tea/coffee which contain caffeine and result in too many visits to the bathroom.

I really don't think that anyone - even a newbie - would interpret the fact that tea was listed as #1 & water as #2 to mean that I'm really suggesting that someone should drink 64 ounces of caffeinated tea or coffee a day instead of water! In fact, I think my comments to each item make it pretty obvious that this is about which I like better, not which I drink more frequently. If other people find this confusing though, I can add an extra comment about not using the rank ordering as a guide for frequency.

You remind me, though, that coffee SHOULD have been listed as a notable omission! I just forgot about it, since I have a cup of coffee maybe once every few months. Coffee has a special place in my heart - namely, the one where I discovered one evening during HIIT that my MHR was higher than I ever thought it would be.

At first, I could not figure out why I was achieving new heights, until I realized that work was out of tea, so I had my once-in-a-blue-moon coffee without thinking about my own hypersensitivies. Someone close to my training was happy to point out after:
Sig, you need to lay off the stimulants!!!

I demand that dark chocolate, high in cacao (not cocoa) find a special place on this list!!!

The anit-oxidants, nutrients, fats and other ingredients makes healthy dark chocolate a must of inclusion!