In this episode of the Find Your Edge podcast, host Chris Newport, founder and head coach of The Endurance Edge, presents four nutrient‑dense “superfoods” that support gut health, blood‑sugar regulation, cholesterol management, and overall longevity. He begins with an overview of his mission to empower athletes and health‑focused individuals through evidence‑based nutrition. The first superfood, oat bran, is highlighted for its high soluble fiber (beta‑glucans), protein content, and ability to soften stool, lower cholesterol, and stabilize blood glucose; practical preparation ideas (sweet and savory) and sourcing tips (bottom‑shelf oat aisle, gluten‑free options) are provided. The second, broccoli sprouts, are praised for their exceptionally high myrosinase enzyme, which converts glucoraphanin to sulforaphane—a compound with anti‑cancer, anti‑inflammatory, immunomodulatory, heart‑ and brain‑protective effects. Chris advises light cooking, adding mustard seed, and sourcing fresh sprouts from farmers markets or micro‑green kits. The third, fava beans, are introduced as a “new pulse” rich in fiber and plant‑based peptides (PeptiStrong) that are being studied for strength and recovery; he suggests using whole beans in salads, refried preparations, or as a protein‑bar ingredient. The final superfood, Jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke), is presented as a natural source of inulin, a prebiotic that fuels beneficial gut bacteria, supports short‑chain fatty acid production, and aids cholesterol, blood‑sugar, weight, inflammation, iron absorption, and mood. Texture and serving ideas (raw slices, salads, cooked like water chestnuts) are discussed. Chris closes by inviting listeners to share experiences, ask questions, and connect via Instagram or the Endurance Edge website for coaching, testing, and training resources.
Welcome to the Find Your Edge podcast. I'm your host, Chris Newport, founder, head coach, sports nutritionist, and exercise physiologist at The Endurance Edge. Our mission is to empower people to reach and sustain peak performance and health.
So get ready to dive into all things training, nutrition, recovery, and more.
We hope to give you detailed information and inspiring stories to help you be your best. Let's do it.
Hey y'all, and welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. Because this episode is about food, of course I'm gonna be so excited because this is all about superfoods you need to try. And I promise there are no gimmicks, just good science and whole foods in this episode. So if you wanna see some of the things that I've got, then head over to YouTube and you can watch that there. So let's waste no time and dive right in. Okay, I seriously want to shout this from the rooftops: the first superfood that you need to try is oat bran. It is seriously the unsung hero of the oat world, if you will. In fact, if you're looking at this on YouTube, you can see the picture I took is literally in my kitchen, which is why it's terrible photography. I am not a good photographer at all, but I could not find any stock photos with oat bran. And you can see, like, literally off of the product, oat bran has a creamy, soothing texture and a pleasantly nutty flavor that is remarkably satisfying. And let me tell you why. It is amazingly rich in soluble fiber. So the difference between insoluble versus soluble fiber, insoluble creates more bulk in your stool. Sorry for everyone for talking about food, but that's what I like to do as a dietitian. I want happy guts, y'all, happy guts. And then soluble fiber absorbs more moisture, so creates softness in your stool. So if you are somebody who's constipated, this is your new best friend. It's also rich in beta glucans, and it's rich in protein, y'all. There's 7 grams of protein per third of a cup dry of oat bran, which is the equivalent of 1 ounce of chicken or 1 ounce of fish. So this is a truly fantastic food that's high in fiber and high in protein. And again, it is truly satisfying. So if you're somebody who struggles with cholesterol, seriously, this is your best friend because of that soluble fiber. It also helps stabilize blood sugar because of those wonderful beta glucans and protein and fiber, which in turn means that it satisfies your appetite. So if you're somebody who has a voracious appetite or even looking to do some weight management or even some weight loss, this is your new nutrient-dense versatile friend. So what is the texture like? It's very similar almost to grits, maybe not quite as coarse potentially as grits, although of course you can get grits, uh, cut to any different shape, but it has a richer flavor than just plain oatmeal. My favorite way to do this, I put water in there, put it in the microwave for about a minute, and I stir in peanut butter, about a teaspoon of molasses, and a little bit of cinnamon. And oh, it's delicious! This is like one of my favorite morning foods. Now, if you like savory, you can do that too. So just like oats, just like something like rice, it's like a blank slate, and it just wants you to give it some love. So savory, I would do this with maybe some diced breakfast sausage or diced breakfast ham and maybe some sautéed onions, maybe some parsley, maybe some garlic, perhaps some scrambled eggs or some fried eggs on top. So, just give it a try. Seriously. Where are you gonna find it, by the way? It's hiding because it's not super popular. It's not like oats, or it doesn't have a large opportunity to, you know, be flashy and sexy like a lot of the shelf space items that you're going to see at the regular grocery store. This can easily be found online too, but it's typically going to be on the bottom shelf by the oats, by the big containers of oats, or in the top shelf. And if you are somebody who cannot do gluten, they do come gluten-free too. All right, so that was food— superfood you need to try number 1. Superfood you need to try number 2 is broccoli sprouts. What makes these amazing? It's this very specific compound. One of them is called myrosinase. It's in this family of vegetables called the Brassica family. So in this Brassica family is broccoli, cauliflower, kale, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, cabbage. So anything that if you overcook it, it's probably gonna stink like sulfur, which is because it contains something called sulforaphane. That's all the sulfur going out. So we don't wanna overcook these foods. Collards is another one. There is this very specific sort of cascade coming from glucoraphanin using myrosinase as the enzyme to be able to help convert it to sulforaphane. Sulforaphane is seriously a superpower, and we see this all the time in our Longevity Nutrition Coaching group, for which genetic testing is included. And what makes that so fantastic is learning about yourself and your genetic propensity for detoxification. As an example, sulforaphane will help you detox or regulate some of your hormones as well. So it's great to have this information in conjunction with your genetic testing. Regardless, sulforaphane is not only anti-carcinogenic, it's anti-inflammatory, It's immunomodulatory, it's antibacterial, it's heart protective, it's brain protective. I mean, come on, y'all. This is like amazing. Now, specifically with broccoli sprouts, they are richer in that myrosinase enzyme than any other brassica, any other cauliflower, Brussels sprout, kale, collard, than you can get your hands on by anywhere between 10 and 100 times more. Like, these are rock stars. Broccoli sprouts are seriously rock stars. On that note, if you're like, "Oh my gosh, I cannot stand sprouts," because if you've never heard of a broccoli sprout, there are a lot of microgreens out there, and you're probably most familiar with something like alfalfa sprouts. So there are, again, lots of different types of sprouts. Broccoli sprouts just happens to be one of them. But if you're like, "No way I'm eating those sprout things. That is just beyond my pay grade." And, but you will eat something like broccoli or cabbage or whatever. If you are cooking them, make sure to either very lightly cook them and even better, add a little bit of mustard seed, which helps retain that sulforaphane production dramatically. So a little pro tip there. Now these broccoli sprouts, they're very easy to grow on your own. You can buy kits of them on the internet. You can also purchase them already made at your local farmers market, at your local grocery store, although they are a little harder to find. But if you're in the Raleigh area, they are in the Raleigh Farmers Market. And if you just Google microgreens producers, you will pop up with wherever you are in the country, or wherever you are, wherever you live, you will be surprised, hopefully, that there are some really great microgreen producers out there, and they are the folks who you want on your side. So when I've gone to the Raleigh Farmers Market and met the gentleman at the farm stand there, he literally has pallets that he has in his backyard in his shipping containers of microgreens, and he literally chops them right there in front of you, puts them in the container, and off you go with super fresh broccoli sprouts. This is very important that you try to have fresher because fresher is better in most cases, but certainly in this case. You can put them on a salad, you can throw them in a wrap, you can put them in a smoothie, but be sure that you consume it pretty quickly, so like within a half an hour to get all the benefits of that myrosinase and sulforaphane. All right, so our third buddy on the block that we're going to try is fava beans. So it truly is the new pulse on the block. So hopefully you're eating beans because they are such superpowerhouses. But there's some really promising research, promising research that's coming out as plant-based peptides. You've probably heard of things like collagen peptides. Well, this one is plant-based peptides derived from the fava bean. So there's a very specific compound that's been developed. It's called PeptiStrong. It's in a, currently in a Designs for Health protein bar that if you are part of my strength training crew on Monday Wednesday morning. I bought some and had everybody try it. So it's interesting that it's being researched right now to fuel strength and recovery. So kind of some interesting things that are coming out there. If you don't want to try it as Pepto-Strong, then just try it as the actual bean. And honestly, you can use them in any application you would use something like pinto beans. You can throw them on a salad. You can make them into things like refried beans. You can put them into 3-bean salads. I mean, the list goes on with beans. I hope you are eating beans in some way, shape, or form. They're so insanely high in fiber. They're more filling, and they're just a great food all around. All right, last one on the list is Jerusalem artichoke, or some of you may know them as sunchokes. So you can see this great picture here. They kind of look a little bit like a ginger root. Uh, obviously they don't taste like ginger, but the Jerusalem artichoke is one of the primary natural sources of inulin. So that's a prebiotic. And if you don't remember what a prebiotic was, I will send you back to our gut health podcast, which explains the difference between probiotics and prebiotics. So prebiotics support gut health by stimulating the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria, as well as short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, which is one of your main sources of fuel for your intestine. And this is coming from the actual food, not the isolated inulin that you might see in things like prebiotic sodas these days. So other potential benefits of this is that it can regulate your cholesterol or your lipids. It can regulate your blood sugar, help with weight management, support anti-inflammatory measures, and even support things like iron absorption, which happens in the level of the gut, helps to regulate constipation, and even regulating mood support. Because think about it, if in your gut you're creating most of your neurotransmitters, that is going to be so beneficial for both your brain and your mood. So the texture is kind of crunchy. It's a little bit— I would compare it to sort of like a water chestnut. Really great on raw applications. Like, you can slice them up and put them on salads, you can put them in wraps, you can put them on sandwiches. And they're great on things like, um, like cooked, like you would do a water chestnut. But just know that the texture will soften a little bit, so it just depends on how you want it. All right, so those are your 4 superfoods that you need to try. And I am, of course, dying to know How did it go? What did you think? Do you need some support? And hey, I tried oat bran and it was too thick, or how do I make it thinner? We've got the tricks for you, so I wanna hear all about it. And also, do you wanna hear more episodes like this? So shoot us a DM over on Instagram or head to our webpage to the Contact Us page. So @theenduranceedge on our Instagram and Facebook page. And I hope this helps. And let me know what you think. Thanks again for listening. See you guys next time.
Thanks for listening to the Find Your Edge podcast. If you like what you heard, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. And if you're interested in learning more about our endurance coaching, sports and wellness nutrition, metabolic and sweat testing, triathlon training team, or our triathlon training library, be sure to check us out at theenduranceedge.com. And don't forget to follow us on social media at The Endurance Edge. Thanks again, and we'll catch you next time.
