There's a food movement afoot: Eating well to look, feel, and perform our very best is hot.

And as Jamie Oliver and Michelle Obama alike are showing us, this isn't a matter of choking down foods because they're good for you. It's about filling your plate with delicious fare.

"Food, if it's chosen well, can reshape our medical destinies for the better," says Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale Prevention Research Center. It can also improve our mood and focus. Here's how to graze your way to a supercharged you.

Artichokes. If you've been huffing and puffing up the stairs lately, try these spiky-leafed vegetables. They're loaded with magnesium, a mineral vital for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body, including one of the most important -- generating energy, says Forrest Nielsen, a U.S. Department of Agriculture research nutritionist."If you're not getting enough magnesium, your muscles have to work harder to react and you tire more quickly."

And about 68% of us aren't getting our proper share of this mighty mineral. For women, the goal is 320 milligrams (mg) per day. One medium artichoke gets you 77 mg of magnesium (a good deal for only 60 calories!). Other top sources include nuts, legumes, and whole grains.

Spinach. These tasty leaves are a great source of iron (especially if you don't eat meat), which is a key component in red blood cells that fuel our muscles with oxygen for energy. But researchers in Sweden recently identified another way in which these greens might keep you charged: Compounds found in spinach actually increase the efficiency of our mitochondria, the energy-producing factories inside our cells. That means eating a cup of cooked spinach a day may give you more lasting power on the elliptical machine (or in your daily sprint to catch the bus).

Health.com: The best foods for every vitamin and mineral

Walnuts. Walnuts are packed with tryptophan, an amino acid your body needs to create the feel-great chemical serotonin. (In fact, Spanish researchers found that walnut eaters have higher levels of this natural mood-regulator.) Another perk: "They're digested slowly," Katz says. "This contributes to mood stability and can help you tolerate stress."

Asparagus. Those green spears are one of the best veggie sources of folate, a B vitamin that could help keep you out of a slump. "Folate is important for the synthesis of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine," says Dr. David Mischoulon, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. All of these are crucial for mood.

A cup of cooked asparagus has 268 micrograms (mcg) -- two-thirds of the 400 mcg RDA for women. Add a cup of enriched pasta -- which is fortified with folic acid, the synthetic form of folate -- and you'll have a feel-good meal indeed.