Every day I am still amazed by how the world of food is being revolutionized by the concept of “nutrient rich”. We are finally realizing that many, if not most, of our health problems, including eating disorders, are caused by nutrient poor diets and nutrient deficiencies.
I know, it’s hard to believe in a world where there is access to so much food abundance, particularly in western countries, how could we be suffering in 2010 from “nutrient deficiencies”?
We are, and it’s because we eat foods that are not really foods, but rather “foodstuffs” that don’t even contain all the nutrient categories that our bodies need to function and perform and stay healthy, that we experience eating disorders. And while women seem seem the be the poster children of eating disorders, men experience them too. Disorders show up in all kinds of ways from bulimia to depression.
What you’ll discover in this article from medical doctor Hyla Class MD who, as a psychiatrist, is familiar with the underpinnings of eating disorders, the primary solution, which she calls “the nutrient solution” is a Nutrient Rich diet!
Food Sensitivity
We crave the foods that we are sensitive or “allergic” too. Not a typical allergy with hives or stomach aches, these sensitivities are intolerances, often inherited, and show up in any number of ways – for example, depression, inability to lose weight, eating disorders, tinnitus, unexplained aches and pains–many, many others. The very foods we crave will create the most symptoms and are the most damaging. In fact, food cravings are similar to an addiction to alcohol. As you withdraw from the foods you’re addicted to, you begin to have withdrawal symptoms and the craving begin. And if you happen to be addicted to wheat or baked goods, you can never get enough of them, so you binge on them, despite your best intentions to the contrary. People addicted to grains may drink excessive amounts of grain-based liquor or beer and can become alcoholics. They’re sensitive to and addicted to the alcohol, but it’s the grain-base that is causing the problem. They can even feel “drunk” after eating cereal or baked goods. Not so different from your regular carb-binger, except the target is alcohol instead of refined carbs.
Nutrients
It’s not just a matter of willpower. In order to break the addiction cycle, in addition to avoiding the undesirable foods, you have to supply the body with a good, supportive nutritional program of healthful food, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. Then, the cravings will often simply go away! It’s quite remarkable; with a nutrient rich diet, and good vitamin and mineral formula, you can stop the cycle. In fact, once the diet and nutrients are in place, the cravings and addictions will often just fall away. Remember that nutritional supplements are not a substitute for healthy food, but a supplement to restore missing ingredients and balance biochemistry.
Two things happened this month that caused me to rethink my diet, supplement regimen, and disease-prevention strategy. First, I read Michael Pollan’s latest book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual(Penguin, December 2009), which wasn’t so much surprising as confirming of his stance taken in his other nutritional tomes, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (Penguin, 2009) and The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Penguin, 2007). In short, Pollan believes the standard American diet is woefully deficient in vegetables–not lean proteins, not low-fat dairy products, not healthy whole grains–and thereby void of important vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients. Our dietary shortage of vegetables and other plant-based foods is the reason why rates of “Western” diseases–cancer, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease–are significantly higher today than they were when people ate more plants, say 100, or even 50, years ago.
But what upsets me, a relatively “healthy” eater whose diet is made up of mostly lean animal proteins, couscous, nutty breads from Whole Foods, Greek yogurt, and that must-have weekly bag of wild-rice sesame sticks, is that, in his advocacy of a plant-based diet, Pollan isn’t just talking about a side of broccoli with dinner every night. As he says: “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” And by mostly plants, he doesn’t mean mostly chicken and rice, with an accompanying half cup of green beans.
And this is the same point Joel Fuhrman, MD, author of Eat For Health: Lose Weight, Keep It Off, Look Younger, Live Longer (Gift of Health Press, 2008), tried to hammer home during an in-person interview yesterday. To live your best, lose weight, and help prevent cancer and other common “American” diseases, you have to eat micronutrients, found mostly in leafy green vegetables, and not submit your body to a toxic digestive cycle that ebbs between food addictions and empty calories on a tide of animal products, flours, sugars, salts, and other non-plant-based products.
While such a dietary approach may seem restrictive at first, it makes complete sense when you do the reading–or in my case, the listening–and Whole Foods Market is so taken with Fuhrman’s philosophy that the store has installed the doctor’s Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) in all its markets to teach customers the micronutrient-to-calorie ratio of many common foods. (For example, kale has the highest ANDI rating of 1,000, while chicken breast rings in at a disappointing 27.)
But don’t just take my word on the vegetable imperative: Do the reading yourself. Pollan’s book is 112 short, easy-to read pages. And soon, Whole Foods Market will start selling Dr. Fuhrman’s literature and self-analysis software for a slight $19.99–the package allows consumers to input their daily diet and family history to discover their own micronutrient deficiencies and nutrition-based disease risks. And in the meantime, what do you think: Can we save America’s healthcare crisis if people just simply ate more, or mostly, vegetables?
Nutrient-rich, low-calorie diets actually reprogram fat cells to keep the body thin
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) A study appearing in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Proteome Research has given further insight into the correlation between calorie restriction and weight loss. While it is known that calorie-restricted diets are effective at helping people to lose weight, it has now been found that fat cell proteins play an important role in regulating bodily fat stores and extending life.
Dr. Edwin Mariman and his research team sought out to further understand the relationship between fat cell proteins and weight loss. Prior animal studies have shown that low-calorie diets rich in valuable nutrients are effective at maintaining proper bodily weight and lengthening life span.
In order to understand how it works in humans, the team investigated the subcutaneous fat cells of a group of obese people that followed a five-week calorie-restricted diet. Besides the fact that the average participant lost over 20 pounds, researchers discovered that six fat cell proteins in participants’ bodies had changed their composition throughout the course of the diet.
The significance of the discovery is that fat cell proteins instruct the body when and how to store fat. The composition change indicated that the low-calorie diet had actually restructured the proteins, signaling them to store less fat and to use it differently than before. Researchers believe the bodies of the study participants will now regulate themselves better, leading to better health and longer life.
According to researchers, being able to observe the marked changes in fat cell proteins will help verify the effectiveness of various methods of cutting calories to lose weight and gain better health.
I agree with Mike Adams comments on this subject, fat cells are not “stupid cells”. They morph and adapt, just like other cells, when the environment they are subject to changes. In this case when the diet being consumed is of higher quality and doesn’t fuel the need for fat cells to bloat and get bigger to store excess energy, let alone foreign matter that the body does not need, or to hold substances like excess sodium in solution and away from vital organs, they thin out. How else can you explain in simplistic terms, why, the moment you start eating more nutrient rich, healthy promoting foods and less calorie dense foods at the base of your diet, your weight goes down, even before you you’ve begun exercising!
This morning, as I woke up for the first Monday in 2010, I was greeted by an article written by the Bluebird Market, the “Eco-friendliest local growers and artisans organic market”.
It said, Becoming Nutrient-Rich in 2010.
That is a rally cry if I’ve ever heard one because it says something very powerful and something we assert here at NutrientRich.com – the more you eat Nutrient Rich foods, the more you become Nutrient Rich!
That’s right, your body builds and becomes more nutrient rich the more you eat a nutrient rich vegetable based diet, with beans, fruits, raw nuts and seeds and whole grains at least 90% of the time.
Forget for the moment, all the ins and outs, nuances, and facts and figures that are involved in the art and science of eating nutrient rich foods. For now, just think about feeding your body great tasting foods that fuel your body, and provide the best raw materials to grow and develop.
When you do, you literally become “nutrient rich”.
What’s so powerful about this, is that unlike most people who are a withdrawal headache away from needing to eat more food, when you become Nutrient Rich, you not only don’t get the withdrawal headaches or suffer from cravings due to “toxic hunger”, as DrFuhrman.com accurately calls it, but you naturally eat less food.
That’s right, when you become Nutrient Rich, the result of eating better foods for a significant period of time, you will naturally eat less food, live healthier and longer that way because your needs have been met.
It’s the basic law of quality selection which states –
When the quality of the nutriment being received by the living organism is higher than that of the present living tissue, the organism will discard lower grade cells to make room for appropriating the superior materials into new and healthy tissue.
You literally become Nutrient Rich and don’t have to eat nearly as much to satisfy hunger. Matter of fact (and some actually find this to be a challenge, including me), you will hardly ever feel hungry when you become Nutrient Rich.
You don’t become Nutrient Rich over night, it takes time, but eventually, your body builds this way, and your nutrient buckets are almost always filled. It’s the reason why a 200+ guy like me can get away with less than 2000 calories per day, even when in a lightly athletic mode, without even thinking about it.
The reason is simple, I often have stored energy from my last several meals, because they were likely all Nutrient Rich, 90% or more.
I was reading an article this morning on my iPhone about “New Years” resolution’s you can enjoy. It’s about the “Nutrient Rich Foods Approach”. It also says Winners Drink Milk!
Now of course, I just had to jump in on this one because the Dairy and Beef Boards have built their whole marketing and PR campaigns on conveying their products as Nutrient Rich foods and they are NOT, at lease by the true Nutrient Rich definition and believe me, allot of time, logic and brain power went into defining what it means to eat “Nutrient Rich”.
Before I go any further, and before you think I have it out for animal foods or the fine people who work in the industry that promotes them for nutritional purposes, I want to acknowledge, ironically, the dairy and beef boards for such a great campaign.
The Nutrient Rich foods campaign is really a great campaign, one of the best I have ever seen in nutrition marketing. But also understand, that while NutrientRich.com supports the campaign in a many ways, there are diet traps hidden within, that can cost you your health and cause you to chase your tail with food issues for the rest of your life!
So as the founder of NutrientRich.com, I am going to comment on the article’s passages in bold. My comments are indented.
Losing weight is a common New Year’s resolution, but people often resort to diets that restrict nutrients and eliminate food groups. This year, why not avoid thinking about food restrictions and aim to think about eating sensibly to nourish your body and give yourself the essential nutrition you need. “You are more likely to keep resolutions that are positive, such as eating more fruit and vegetables, getting the recommended three servings of dairy products every day, and including regular physical activity” stated Diane Ruyack, MS, RD, CD.
First of all in the New Year, really consider what the word eating “sensibly” means. This is “diet speak” for make sure you don’t go radical on me and cut out eating the food my industry provides.
This is a common term used by eat-everything-in-moderation, four food group activists, members of the dairy and beef council who desperately want their foods to be considered nutrient rich, old timer nutritionists who understand nutrient poor nutrition better than nutrient rich nutrition, and those who are so committed to eating animal foods because of familiarity and addiction, and thinking that animal foods are the only place to get protein and calcium.
Let’s get real, not eating a food group for intelligent health and environmental reasons does not mean you are “restricting” yourself. It means you are making a choice not to consume something that doesn’t serve you.
The Golden Rule of eating truly Nutrient Rich, is that you can eat whatever you want, you just can’t eat “whatever” and get the results you want.
It is not “sensible” to eat significant quantities of foods that don’t serve your health and it’s even worse to make some feel like they are buying into a diet of “restriction” if they don’t eat sensibly.
There is nothing that sensible about eating a diet “based” in foods that clog your arteries, cause you to age faster, toxify your body, are loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol and rape our planet, of trees and land to produce an inferior food supply that is rich in some nutrients, but as a whole food, is nutrient poor and is a primary cause of disease.
So be careful about falling for words like “sensible” and “restriction” that are used to control your food choices on a false premise.
Eating a diet that is rich, or based in, or predominantly dairy and animal products will ensure that you are “restricting” nutrients and that’s exactly what you don’t want to do. Eliminating or minimizing entire food groups is fine if they are nutrient poor.
Nutrient-Rich New Year’s RESOLUTIONS:
We are all for true Nutrient Rich New Years Resolutions!
The Nutrient Rich Foods approach to eating is a great way to start the New Year healthy and happy.
Good idea!
Eating Nutrient Rich is the most successful way to eat for health, performance and natural weight loss.
Make your choices based on the total nutrient package of a food or a meal, including the vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber it contains.
If you make food choices based on the “total nutrient package” of a food, milk and beef do not stack up. They are rich in protein no doubt (non health promoting), have no carbohydrate, no phytochemicals, “some” vitamins and minerals, they have saturated “non essential” fat (amongst other fats), they have cholesterol that you don’t need to take in from dietary sources since your body produces its own cholesterol, no water, no fiber… need I keep going?
Now you can eat small amounts of animal products (even I do from time to time) in a total “meal” package and still be eating nutrient rich 90% or more plant based, but the key is to keep your animal product consumption to 10% of less, if you eat them.
Here’s the deal, YOU DON’T NEED ANIMAL PRODUCTS FOR NUTRITIONAL PURPOSES [IN MOST CASES].
Following the Nutrient Rich Foods approach is a positive, realistic way to think about eating that can provide a fresh jump start for the New Year by shifting the focus from foods to avoid to foods you can enjoy.
Of course, the dairy and beef board do not want you to focus on avoiding dairy or meat (animal) products.
Let’s be clear, you can enjoy more truly nutrient rich foods, meals and menus than you can ever get to in your lifetime, (plant based), and if you eat animal products, include small amounts.
But be careful not to buy into the thinking that eliminating or minimizing the consumption of animal products means you can’t enjoy your new years resolution to eat Nutrient Rich foods.
Animal products, based on the explanation above are nutrient poor. Here’s a simple rational:
Why do you think high protein low carb advocates are always posturing their animal food recommendations along side “Nutrient Rich” vegetables and fruits…? It’s because they are lacking in nutrients.
You never see Nutrient Rich food advocates posturing their food recommendations along side beef and dairy, and if they do include, they mention foods like white meat chicken or turkey or fish and almost always say eat “small amounts”?
The reason is, animal products are nutrient poor and unless you are eating truly nutrient rich foods as the majority of your diet, disease is usually not far away.
Even the dairy and beef boards message says, “eat more fruits and vegetables”, FIRST.
Keep in mind: the main reason why people still eat predominantly animal products is because that’s where they think their protein comes from. ALL PROTEIN COMES FROM PLANTS!
Categorically speaking, the only thing you don’t want to miss out on are whole categories of nutrients. But you can easily eliminate whole categories of foods, or at least minimize them.
Here are some tips:
1. Start every day with a nutrient-rich breakfast, such as a spinach, tomato and pepper omelet with lean ground beef and serve it with whole wheat toast or oatmeal made with low fat milk and topped with dried fruit and nuts.
You could do a lot worse than this meal for sure given a large part of our population wakes up to eat a “continental breakfast” of donuts and cereal. But keep in mind the costs of eating an omelet and ground beef every morning for breakfast, on your health, you heart and the planet.
2. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store to find nutrient-rich foods; focus on the produce section as well as dairy, meat and seafood aisles.
What is new about that message? That’s what many people are doing now. What about eating a diet rich in dairy, meat and seafood is Nutrient Rich?
Of course, the produce section, but dairy, meat and seafood? As if refined foods were the only cause of dietary induced diseases. Nutrient poor foods that contain concentrated substances that your body does not need, are a major cause of disease.
Don’t fall for the Nutrient Rich foods marketing campaign of the dairy and beef industry lock stock and barrel. It’s a good one, but hidden in the message are diet traps.
3. Encourage your family to try a new and out-of-the-ordinary food each week, such as arugula, lentils, low fat ricotta cheese, avocados or kiwifruit.
That’s right, intersperse cheese, (the highest fat food in the world) even if it is low fat, in between the lentils and kiwifruit. Otherwise, a great idea!
4. Make your plate more colorful by including more bright fruits and vegetables in every meal.
Of course, the colors are where all the nutrients are. And these foods have protein too!
5. Instead of frying or sautéing meat, choose to grill or broil lean pieces of chicken, pork or beef.
Right, because cooking and frying already toxic, non health promoting foods, that also have to be eaten lean to be eaten better, would make them even worse.
6. Try low fat or fat-free milk instead of whole milk.
Notice you never have to say, eat fat free or leaner versions of apples, nuts, romaine or quinoa?
7. Stock desk drawers at work with instant oatmeal packets, light microwave popcorn, raisins, dried apricots and single-serve containers of peaches or pears packed in water or juice.
But of course.
8. Trade soda for 100 percent fruit juices or low fat milk.
Good idea, in theory; only standard 100% fruit juices are not usually 100% juice, are not fresh and without the fiber they become an insulin spiking nightmare.
9. Instead of eating out, bring the family closer by working together to try a new nutrient-rich recipe at least once a week.
This is a great idea. Although you can eat out the Nutrient Rich Way, with relative ease. But this is great advice, it’s good for the well being of your family.
A New Years Food Resolution you can enjoy, is 80-90% or more truly Nutrient Rich foods, meals and menus derived from these foods, 10% or less animal foods (if you eat them) which are rich in some nutrients but as a whole nutrient poor and less than 5% or less refined foods, (if you eat them at all), that have had all the nutrients stripped out of them and are nutrient barren.
What does this convert too?
If you eat 5 meals a day, that 10% means that if you eat animal products you are eating approx 4 meals per week with animal protein in them. I, along with thousands of others know that you will never miss eating animal products if you include them in small quantities, a couple of times per week.
For people who grew up on eating animal products, that strategy works great!
If you eat 5 meals a day (including smaller snacks), and eat 5% of your diet from refined nutrient barren foods, that means the equivalent of 2 junk food meals per week. That strategy also works because you will never miss it.
Meanwhile you are focused on adding more and more Nutrient Rich foods and learning both how to Lose Weight the Nutrient Rich Way, as well eat for health and performance, and natural weight loss.
Every day I am still amazed by how the world of food is being revolutionized by the concept of “nutrient rich”. We are finally realizing that many, if not most, of our health problems, including eating disorders, are caused by nutrient poor diets and nutrient deficiencies.
This morning, as I woke up for the first Monday in 2010, I was greeted by an article written by the Bluebird Market, the “Eco-friendliest local growers and artisans organic market”.
I was reading an article this morning on my iPhone about 
