Anyone who has seen the front cover of a health magazine at the checkout counter recently has no doubt seen some variation of the following: “The 10 Best Foods You’re Not Eating,” “7 Ways to Build Muscle,” “Four of the Best Muscle-Stoking Sandwiches” or “The Five Foods for a Better Brain.”

I must admit, this love of lists by magazines is a love of mine as well as they always seem to pique my interest; they must pique other readers’ interest as well, otherwise they wouldn’t have them as so frequent a feature.

As I wrote in a recent column, part of the reason why I like to read these lists is to see where so-called “traditional” health advocates and natural health advocates like me differ. Oftentimes we see things similarly; other times, not so much.

In a recent column, I wrote about Men’s Health magazine’s list of heart healthy supplements it recommended. For those who didn’t read what I had to say, I wrote that I was on board with most of their recommendations, with the notable exception of aspirin; I recommend Kyolic in its place.

In yet another “best of” list – once again, from Men’s Health magazine – Johnny Bowden, a certified nutritionist with a Ph.D in nutrition, compiled a top 10 list of the best foods “you aren’t eating.” I’m on board with this list as well, as it includes beets, cabbage, guava, cinnamon, swiss chard, purslane, pomegranate juice, pumpkin seeds, Goji berries and dried plums. I strongly recommend all of the good doctor’s selections, and have written about many of them at length, including pomegranates and pomegranate juice (cinnamon, pumpkin seeds, cabbage and beets are others I’ve written about).

While I agree with the article’s advice and the benefits pomegranate juice provides to the body (e.g. the most potent juice for antioxidant activity according to a UCLA study, chockfull of vitamin C with just a 4 oz. serving, a 2 oz. serving daily diminishes blood pressure readings, according to an Israeli study), one has to be careful about the source from which one gets pomegranate juice. Many of them are loaded with refined sugars, rendering the benefits of pomegranate juice severely lacking. Be very wary of what pomegranate juice you select; restrict your selections to those that have no added sugars and are 100 percent juice.

The title of Men’s Health list, “The 10 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating,” is appropriately named. Not necessarily because people are choosing not to eat them but mainly because many of their recommendations just aren’t that available. It’s rare that a supermarket – even a whole foods market – carries both purslane and Goji berries, two foods that many people haven’t even heard of, never mind eaten. This is a dang shame.

Talk to your grocer about your desire to purchase lesser-known vegetables like purslane and swiss chard. If enough people ask for them, they’ll become as synonymous with the produce section as a head of lettuce or a cob of corn.

Note to Readers: Because these “best of” lists are so prevalent in health magazines, magazines that get much more play and prime display in store selections than natural health magazines like the eponymous Natural Health magazine, I will be writing more and more articles regarding my take on these lists. In them, I’ll try and clarify where natural health and “traditional” health experts differ. Keep an eye out for more of these articles in the coming months.