It's an intriguing notion around New Year's resolution time:

Improving your health, even losing weight, not by cutting certain foods from your diet, but adding them.

Whole Foods Markets, including the one in East Liberty, are celebrating "Foods to Live By: 100 Foods to Eat for Life."

These are nutrient-dense foods -- ones that are high in vitamins and minerals and other healthful components such as fiber, antioxidants and essential fatty acids.

You're probably very familiar with some of these so-called "super foods," such as broccoli and olive oil, sardines and yams. Certain ones, such as pomegranate juice, continue to show up in magazine trend articles and books such as the new "101 Foods That Could Save Your Life" by David Grotto (Bantam, 2008, $14).

You may not even have heard of some of these foods, such as acai and goji berries, quinoa and spelt.

You can try many of these tastes at a free "taste fair" from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Whole Foods at 5880 Centre Ave. (412-441-7960).

Store spokeswoman Kim Wynnyckyj says "stations" will be set up in various departments to highlight many of the foods, which range from acorn squash to ginger to prunes to uncured turkey franks. "Some of the items we'll feature will be incorporated into recipes while some of them will be on their own."

Customers can pick up information about all 100-plus foods, a Foods to Live By calendar (while supplies last) highlighting different foods with fun facts and recipes, as well as recipe cards showing you fresh ways to use one or more of the foods, from Apricot and Cinnamon Granola to Lentil Walnut Cheeseburgers.

"These are the kinds of foods we want to encourage people to gravitate toward," says the Northern Virginia nutritionist who helped choose them. She has the great name of Alana Sugar (her clients with diabetes get a kick out of it, she says with a laugh). She purposely picked foods from every food group, including meats and fats, even dark chocolate.

Some others also might surprise you, such as coconut, but Ms. Sugar says that "coconut is making a comeback" because the fats in it are anti-microbial and contain valuable fatty acids.

"I wanted it to be very well-rounded, not just fruits and vegetables," she says, noting that most people "really live in a narrow frame of reference with food," regularly eating just 10 to 30 foods.

She says it's healthier to eat a wide variety. "This [taste fair] is a really good way to say, 'What's that? Maybe we should try it.' "

The 100-plus foods promotion continues at Whole Foods Markets in the mid-Atlantic region through March 4.