"Basically it is a rating of the food on a scale from one to one hundred," she said.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are typically the highest scoring foods.
"Things that drive that number up are fiber, vitamins, minerals. Things that drive it down are sodium, fat, added sugar," she said.
Chips and dips, even pizza can be superfied for your Superbowl Sunday. Gorman recommends starting with a "Great Guacamole."
"The avocado is a great source of healthy fat, the mono and saturated fat, some vitamins, minerals and fiber," Gorman said.
Gorman mashes the avocado together with tomato, onion and spices. She serves it with blue tortilla chips because of their higher NuVal score (not to mention they look really cool).
"So this is our super hummus. We used Garbanzo beans or chick peas. We used our NuVal system to go with. We grind it up, we added some oil, some spices, some fresh items. Serving that with some wasso crackers which are a great way to get fiber. We have the celery which has a NuVal score of 96, and then we have a new line of broccoli which has a NuVal score close to 100," Gorman explains.
Last stop is Gorman's delicious low cal pizza. Start with high scoring English muffins. Top with a veggie loaded tomato sauce, and finish with Italian seasoning and low fat mozzarella.
Choosing these super foods might not make your favorite team win, but they are sure to help you come out feeling like a winner in the game of health.
Great Guacamole4 large ripe avocados
1 Tbsp water
½ tsp Mexican oregano (or regular oregano)
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp garlic powder
1 small yellow onion
1 ripe roma tomato
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro leaves (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne red pepper
Mix water, cumin, garlic powder & oregano together in medium bowl; let stand. Halve avocados, remove pits. With a spoon, slide skins off. Cut into thirds & add to bowl. Mince onion & tomato; add to bowl with lemon juice, cilantro, salt & cayenne pepper. Mash with a hand potato masher; stir to blend spices. Cover guacamole tightly & refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with baked or light tortilla chips.
Yield: 3 cups guacamole (12 servings) Serving size: ¼ cup
Nutritional analysis for ¼ cup serving (does not include chips): calories 110, calories from fat 90, total fat 10 g, saturated fat 1.5 g, trans fat 0 g, cholesterol 0 mg, sodium 200 mg, total carbohydrate 5 g, dietary fiber 0 g, sugars 1 g, protein 1 g, vitamin A 8%, vitamin C 10%, calcium 2%, iron 4%
Recipe from Penzeys Spices