DrFuhrman’s Prescription for Improving and Maintaining Great Health: Nutritional Excellence

The quality of a diet can be based on three simple criteria:

1.  Levels of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals) per calorie.

2.  Amounts of macronutrients (fat, carbohydrate, protein) to meet individual needs, without excessive calories that may lead to weight gain or health compromise.

3. Avoidance of potentially toxic substances (such as trans fats) and limited amounts of other potentially harmful substances (such as sodium).

Before I created Nutrient Rich.com, Dr. Fuhrman created The Health Equation: H=N/C or Health = Nutrients/Calories (first published in 1999 in his work, The Health Equation and later described in more detail in his book, Eat To Live) to define how the quality of calories impacts health.

This equation means your future health can be predicted by the micronutrient per calorie density of your diet. Micronutrient per calorie density is important in devising and recommending menu plans and dietary suggestions that are the most effective for tackling weight loss and for preventing and reversing disease.

Dr. Fuhrman’s Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) and Menu Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (MANDI) food scoring system are featured in his book set Eat For Health, so people can easily recognize foods, meals and menus that offer sufficiently rich micronutrients to ideally meet their individual needs.

Assuring nutritional excellence means meeting an individual’s unique nutritional needs for profound therapeutic effects and and preventing, treating and reversing disease. According to DrFuhrman , dietary micronutrient quality must be increased accordingly to utilize dietary recommendations therapeutically for disease reversal or to protect high-risk individuals.

Though micronutrient density is critically important, it is not the only factor that determines health. For example Vitamin D levels, B12, and proper omega-3 intake are important for optimal long-term health as well as avoidance of sodium and other toxic excesses. These concerns are not addressed in the H = N/C equation. However, if the focus is consuming more micronutrient-rich natural foods then the other important nutritional benefits automatically will follow, such as lower sodium, reduced calories, high fiber and volume, a low glycemic index, and a high satiety and phytochemical index to name a few.

Eating low nutrient foods fuels overeating behavior.

Last, but not least, DrFuhrman ’s unique contribution to the science of nutritional care, disease reversal and weight loss is his explanation of the physiology behind hunger and food cravings.

It is important to recognize that nutrient poor eating (and toxic eating) leads to increased cellular toxicity with undesirable levels of free radicals and advanced glycation end products (AGE’s), lipfusion, lipid A2E and other toxins that contribute to the development of chronic disease. His findings are that these toxic substances lead to addictive withdrawal symptoms (toxic hunger) which result in the desire to eat more frequently and overeat. Low nutrient eating, therefore, establishes a mechanism that leads to food addictions and food cravings that can’t be ignored. This is the reason why calorie counting diets fail. Without addressing dietary quality, excess food cravings are almost impossible to ignore.

Fortunately the drive to over-consume calories is blunted by high micronutrient, high food antioxidant, (NutrientRich food) consumption and the symptoms that people thought were hypoglycemia or even hunger, simply disappear after following his dietary recommendations. Not only do people lose the symptoms of fatigue, headaches, irritability and stomach cramping, but they get back in touch with true hunger felt in the throat, which simply makes eating more pleasurable and directs them to a more appropriate amount of calories for their body’s biological needs.

In a portion controlled (calorie counting) diet it is likely that the body will not get adequate fiber or micronutrients. The body will have a compounded sensation of hunger and cravings which for most is simply overwhelming. It invariably results in people either being unable to lose weight or unable to keep the weight off and eventually gaining it back. The biochemistry and physiology behind food cravings are more thoroughly explained in Dr. Fuhrman’s books and lectures, but without a thorough understanding of these principles weight loss attempts are typically doomed to fail.

If you really want to learn what’s going on behind the scenes of why a Nutrient Rich diet works so well, why eating better not less is the way to go, tune into DrFuhrman .

The MANDI and ANDI food index’s are the most powerful out there.

John Allen Mollenhauer

I love this article by By Craig Ballantyne. I”ll be doing an interview with Craig in August where we will introduce you to his new Easy Veggie Meal Plans, which will include the 8 raw food smoothies bonus.

By the way, I remember going through the same learning curve years ago!

Here it is.

Smoothies can be heavenly…and they can also be evil for the belly. And I’ve learned a lot about smoothies – or what I prefer to call, “Blender Drinks” – in the last 8 weeks as part of my Veggie Lifestyle.

Here’s some truths about blender drink smoothies…

1) YES, you can add spinach to your blender smoothies and you won’t notice a difference in taste but you will get more nutrients!

You can even add Kale as well.

(And if you have blueberries and strawberries in your smoothie, you won’t even notice a difference in how it looks.)

2) Store-bought pre-made smoothies and the smoothies you buy at “Juice”-places in the mall are PACKED with sugar that will fatten your waistline.

Avoid those at all times!

3) Murphy’s Law applies every time I use a blender.

Just check this video of Craig making a blender drink:

4) You really need a good blender if you are going to be a blender drink maniac like I am…I’m hooked! Two a day!

5) You don’t need to add protein powder. Most people could save a lot of money and never buy a jug of protein ever again.

You don’t need 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, especially if you have some fat to lose.

6) Its really not that hard to clean a blender – and remember, this is coming from one of the laziest guys in the world!

7) You don’t need to add juice to your smoothies. My mom does this, but I don’t see the point. If you have fruit, like bananas, mango, strawberries, or blueberries in your smoothie that’s sweet enough.

(Pineapple also makes for an amazing blender drink addition.)

So add more fruits and vegetables to your diet the smooth way,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, The Lazy Man’s Guide to Vegetarian Eating

PS – Did you get your copy of the 8 raw food smoothies bonus?

Craig is giving this away as a Veggie Meal Plan:

Don’t forget to pick up your 7 Day Vegetarian Meal Plan here:

It’s a fast action bonus along with the GREATEST product I’ve ever created.

Seriously.

The “Defend Your Diet” audio program I did with Kardena Pauza and her husband Mark is the greatest audio program I’ve ever done with anybody.

…if not the most valuable “program” I’ve ever put together for anyone on anything.

And NO ONE has ever done something like this before.

Get yours here:

Don’t forget to pick up your 7 Day Vegetarian Meal Plan here:

PPS – You’ll get Craig’s “Lazy Man’s Guide to Vegetarian Eating” in the Deluxe Package. It’s a complete 55 day diary of EVERYTHING that I ate while on the veggie meal plan experiment.

PPPS – Yes, I’m still doing the veggie lifestyle. Enjoying it, especially since I started grilling portobella mushrooms for burgers.

You gotta try Kardena’s mushroom burger recipe from the meal plans!

It Is Time for a Positive Approach to Dietary Guidance Using Nutrient Density as a Basic Principle1,2

The consumption of nutrient-dense foods and beverages, which would ultimately be identified by a scientifically validated nutrient density profiling system, should be instituted as a nutrition platform in the Dietary Guidelines as a part of a larger educational effort to help people choose more nutrient-dense foods and as the guiding principle for consumers to plan healthful diets. By consciously choosing more nutrient-dense foods and beverages, Americans will be in a better position to meet their nutrient requirements without over consuming energy. An objective, science-based, and validated nutrient density profiling system is needed to characterize foods based on their nutrient composition and this concept should be integrated into the Dietary Guidelines.

This article sets forth guiding principles for the development and implementation of a nutrient density profiling system based on the current knowledge of diet and health and recommends that the development of a nutrient density profiling system include testing for effectiveness against accepted measures of diet quality, such as the Healthy Eating Index, and measurable public health markers, such as blood lipids and blood pressure.

Here’s where you can read the full abstract.

This is the wrong interpretation of a Nutrient Dense or “rich” diet.

A few months back I was debating a student of mine in PerformanceLifestyle training on the concept of whether or not, one diet was right for everyone. Many times a “Nutrient Rich diet” is confused for being a specific diet that everyone must follow, when it’s not.

My debate companion (as opposed to an opponent) is a very open-minded individual and stated that “we have more in common than not”, I agree with him. But I feel he has been hooked on the idea that eating Nutrient Rich is a one-diet-fit’s-all way to eat, meanwhile, nothing could be further from the truth.

I and those I collaborate with have an intention as thought leaders around this idea of eating Nutrient Rich and that is to help people eat the best quality diet possible improve their health, and live at or near their ideal weight free of disease.

Towards that end, we objectively review the literature, test, corroborate, read, and come to sound conclusions. We are heavily influenced by, but not limited too, the work and practice of Joel Fuhrman MD whom I worked for and am a protege of, The China Study (the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted, and factor in broader interests as well, such as what’s best too, for the environment…

We are open minded, we are members of the National Health Association, and frankly if there was a better way to eat, we would find it and will find it if it’s out there.

To our benefit, we are backed by the principles of Nutrient Density, and a world wide movement towards Nutrient Rich eating, which includes the development of the Nutrient Rich food coalition formed by both animal and plant food producers around an idea who’s time has come, the basic science of nutrient profiling and assessing food quality to determine the best foods to eat.

But nutritional value doesn’t always determine the way someone eats; biases, desires, unnatural influences, modern day story and marketing, convenience, addiction, detoxification, culture, tradition etc, affect what why and how we eat as well.

So Nutrient Rich is a quality standard, not a specific diet per say, like vegan or vegetarian or carnivorous etc, and especially not an “eat less” or restricted diet. It’s an intelligent mindset and approach to eating. Matter of fact the only golden rule is that you can eat whatever you want. If you break this rule, you are dieting and that mindset does not promote well being.

A Nutrient Rich diet is generally a plant “based” diet. What this means, is that your diet is at least 90% or more, derived from plant food categories – vegetables, fruits, beans, raw nuts and seed, whole grains…

Why?

You’ll see below, but simply put, these are the most Nutrient Rich foods. As part of an successful lifestyle, when people eat these foods they tend to thrive.

But still, uniquely we don’t dictate specifically how people eat, we simply inspire, educate and support people to eat better, to go from a nutrient poor diet style to a Nutrient Rich diet style that promotes health, the ability to function and perform better, and success, including natural weight loss.

Simply put, eating a Nutrient Rich diet, does not mean you don’t or can’t eat any animal products; as there are many animal foods that are rich in some nutrients and they can be eaten in small quantities without a significant health or environmental effect; but there are reasons why there is so much resistance to animal product consumption.

So we don’t promote animal product consumption as necessary for nutritional reasons, because nutritionally speaking, they are not required for healthy development and they contain substances our body does not need. – See the Food Class System for a complete understanding of the nutrient profiles of foods.

My debate companion comes from another school of thought, influenced by the Weston Price “wise or nourishing” traditions movement in our society that is the “other camp”, who believes that an animal product based diet versus a plant based diet is the healthiest diet around.

Of course, plant vs animal is the big nutritional debate. It’s one that I have tried to steer clear of as I don’t see it as clear cut as that, but if I were to take a side, it would be hands down, plant-based, which is not only about your health first and foremost, living at or near your ideal weight; it’s also healthy for the planet.

Now, having been around a while, I’ve been privy to the low-carb, high animal protein regimen for weight management for a long time, heck, I used to be a bodybuilder who lived by this mantra, but that’s not what this movement is talking about.

Weston Price devotees are promoting an animal products based diet as the healthiest diet and using the research of a dentist (Weston Price) and stated with no derogatory inflection, who states that squatted faces and straight teeth are the hall mark of healthy meat-eating people (major generalization), whereas the elongated faces of vegans and vegetarians who have bad teeth (another major generalization) are the hall mark of eating an unhealthy diet, “loaded with sugar”… as if either were a true premise for either camp.

Now before I go on, let me be clear – a Nutrient Rich diet, does not need to be vegan diet or a vegetarian diet, although a Nutrient Rich diet has more “in common” with a vegan diet than any other because the most nutrient rich foods come from plants..

As a matter of fact, all nutrients come from plants with the exception of b-12, which comes from the small insects and bacteria that are on plants as they grow.

While I am not a vegan per say, I eat a diet that’s probably 95% or more plant-based and most of the time (not all) raw, simply on the basis that I, like millions of others, like to eat the most nutrient rich foods determined by their nutrient profiles and the state in which you eat them, not guesswork or idealism and it’s convenient!

From time to time I will eat some animal products for one reason or another… but why, is another post.

Note: I am not a raw foodist so to speak, or any other but we support such perspectives as they all have value, including the perspective that some people want to consume and consume more animal products than others. You can eat what ever you want.

We I and my team are most concerned with is promoting, all things considered, the best definition for eating Nutrient Rich, and then let people make decisions for what they will eat, who they will follow, what they want their regimens and ways of life to be. At the end of the day, we don’t dictate that. It’s your lifestyle and you are responsible for it.

So, recently, I went to a Weston Price Foundation-based presentation, by a promoter of a diet “the Liberation Diet“, inspired by the Weston Price “wise traditions” philosophy that my debate opponent was defending; defending as a “nutrient dense” diet. Note: I realize that this particular diet promoter, may or may not be extreme and of course, he is not Weston Price and may have his own skews.

What I discovered was one of the most porous arguments I have ever heard. Aside from the fact that they were selling nutrient rich supplements, Mangosteen and other mineral drinks along side the nutrient poor diet they were promoting, I have never been presented with a more un-appealing diet in my life.

Mind you, I happen to like many animal foods, but this just didn’t seem right; even as a layman this might seem a little off base.

Let me know what you think.

– 80% fat
– butter, as much as you want to eat
– lard
– pig fat,
– duck
– goat
– cheese
– insects,
– pickled foods
– organ meets, particularly liver,
– steak,
– raw milk
– eggs
– small amounts of vegetables and
– even smaller amounts (at the top of the pyramid) of seasonal fruits. “according to the Liberation diet, they have to much sugar).
- No refined food, other than process bread, home made.

The argument was that these foods are high in vitamin A, D and “activator x) vitamin K. Just 3 of the 4 vitamins and minerals (only two of the roughly 10 categories of nutrients) and that’s where the argument stood. These foods are rich in some nutrients, even more than was accentuated, but still animal products are nutrient poor foods as a whole for 3 reasons:

1) The quality of the nutrients and their effects (i.e animal protein) are cancer promoting – ref The China Study…
2) These foods are missing whole categories of nutrients, in particular phytochemicals, hence the need for supplementation.
3) These foods contain substances our body doesn’t need from dietary sources – saturated fat, cholesterol etc..

This gentleman, who is the owner of www.VisionaryTrainers.com and a registered dietitian, had some really good things to say and was very respectable – the whole story about how Crisco was inspired by the creation of Edison’s light bulb because there was no longer a need to rely on candles (made from lard) for light, which gave way to hydrogenation and the creation of trans fat as “a healthier fat” when compared to animal fat (stated at that time), which of course inspired the refined rood revolution and increased hard attacks… is not in debate.

I know long sentence.

But to think that the rise in heart attacks, diabetes and obesity… is only about eating too much trans fat, is just short sighted.

What knocked me off my chair was this; the argument was, there were no heart attacks before 1901 and people were eating the “wise tradition” of meats and butter etc (see dietary recommendations above), before heart attacks began to rise; so therefore in short, we should not only return to eating those foods, but they should be 80-90% of our diet.

The more the better!

Does anyone else think this is crazy?
80% fat?

Well, I think it is crazy, the nutrient profiles of foods say it’s crazy, years of reflection after Robert Atkins died of his own diet say it’s crazy, objective science says it’s crazy, even marketing says it’s crazy!

When’s the last time you saw an advertisement promoting “nutrients” that had “liver” as a promotional photo??

I am reading more from those who promote high fat diets to become even more versed in this, and to be able to articulate why some people who eat these diets may see health improvements, but there are just too many arguments against such a diet that do not support it’s sensibility. Nonetheless, I will learn more as I eat Nutrient Rich clean foods.

As I listened to this presentation, I was surrounded by the same group of people I remember seeing at Atkins events years ago (I used to attend for insight into that trend)… overweight people who are being misled by other overweight people who have good intentions but seemingly need to open their minds and understand more than weight management and observational science, and the nutrient poor model of nutrition.

A Nutrient Rich Diet, is a predominantly plant based diet. You can take it as far as you want and become a vegan, but you don’t have too. That’s entirely up to you.

Once you understand the nutritional qualities of foods and the practical influences on living healthy in todays day and age, factor in good science, and use your common sense, most people arrive at eating a diet that is at least 90% plant based or more.

When you focus on eating better, not less, you enter into the realm of not only having a healthier body, but a healthier mindset that’s good for you and the planet (another post). You also learn how to lose weight the Nutrient Rich way.

So be very careful about the story you buy into. This article does not provide sufficient data for you to know 100% or not it’s truth, so, I would suggest you begin reading this site, and other sites such as www.diseaseproof.com and like me, get educated on both sides of fence, that way you can come to your own conclusion.

At NutrientRich.com we are more interested in debate and seeking best practices, than dictating how a person individually eats. Part of the fun is the learning and discovery process. But in the end we are for defining and eating the most Nutrient Rich diets possible, the results of such a diet are usually great!

~ John Allen Mollenhauer

There is a revolution taking place and it’s called the Nutrient Rich Food Revolution. People are waking up to the fact that eating nutrient poor foods are the primary cause of obesity, disease, disability and death!

More and more people are starting to eat a Nutrient Rich diet; nutrient rich foods for better health, peak performance and natural weight loss that are now more accessible.

Even the government has gotten on board with the new healthy trend in eating. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which puts out a new report roughly every 5 years, put out their last report in 2005, which indicated that most Americans consume too many foods that are high in calories but low in nutrients. To address this concern, the new Guidelines reinforced a long-standing and widely accepted cornerstone of nutrition – nutrient density, or enjoying more foods that are naturally rich in nutrients first.

What’s not understood, are the influences underlying these albeit new, dramatically improved and refreshing nutritional guidelines.

Nearly 4 years after the Jan 2005 release of the Dietary Guidelines, and in the early stages of this revolutionary consumer shift from nutrient poor to Nutrient Rich foods, companies are clamoring to label their diets and foods “Nutrient Rich.” Yet, without established standards around nutrient density or what is actually defined a “nutrient rich food”, it is difficult for the average consumer to determine if foods sold and marketed are really Nutrient Rich, let alone healthy. Meats, dairy and animal products are the foods in question.

The Naturally Nutrient Rich Food Coalition funded in large part by the beef board and dairy council, with University of Washington researcher Adam Drewnowski are working to establish a NNR (Naturally Nutrient Rich) score to label their foods as “Nutrient Rich”. NutrientRich.com applauds this effort.

It just so happens though, that meats, dairy and other animal products are the categories of foods that NutrientRich.com has declared nutrient poor – “rich in some nutrients but as whole food, “nutrient poor”.

According to the Food Class System™, animal products are second class foods that are in many ways disease-promoting when eaten in significant quantities, according to widely accepted nutritional research.

In Nutrient Rich Coalition studies, only a limited number of “nutrients” Fiber, vitamins, A, C, E Ca, K, Zn Folate, vitamin D, B 12 are referred to in determining if you are eating “nutrient rich”, even though up to 23 – 26 nutrient were used in their initial studies. John Allen Mollenhauer, founder of www.NutrientRich.com speculates that this is due to the nutrient limitations of dairy and animal products.

No doubt animal products are rich in some nutrients but as a whole food they are missing whole categories or nutrients and are very low in others, plus they include substances which the body does not need.

Two questions on consumers’ minds are:

1.    How do you determine if a food is Nutrient Rich?
2.    How do you lose weight and stay healthy eating Nutrient Rich foods?

One company committed to establishing a sound definition for a Nutrient Rich Food is NutrientRich.com, which established its Food Class System™ influenced greatly by Joel Fuhrman MD who eventually created the ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index).

Backed also by the findings of the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted (The China Study, BenBella Books, 2005) and a world class lifestyle health and science advisory team; NutrientRich.com was the first to establish the 3 Classes of Foods with a basic Nutrient Density Chart and Nutrient Profile Scores representing 24 vitamins and minerals, plus Flavanoids (where there is substantial research) and subtracting those nutrients known outright to promote disease from an overall ranking.

NutrientRich.com, now a leading promoter of the research, findings and products created by Dr Fuhrman, asserts that you can still eat small amounts of nutrient poor foods and still be eating a Nutrient Rich diet, on a total dietary intake basis, but that the basis of any diet should be predominantly (90% or more) Nutrient Rich foods to eat for health, first and foremost.

To learn more about the Nutrient Rich Diet, Eat for Health training, coaching and other Dr Fuhrman products, sign up for the Nutrient Rich food revolution newsletter, the new trend in eating for health, peak performance and natural weight loss at www.NutrientRich.com

Founded by wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle trainer and coach, John Allen Mollenhauer, NutrientRich.com was developed to help free millions of people stuck in dead-end diet traps; all of which prevent otherwise motivated people from living normally and naturally, at or near their ideal weight, and free of lifestyle diseases, like diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

Nutrient Rich is the most successful way to eat for health, peak performance and natural weight loss.
John Allen is also the founder of the Lifestyle Coaching Center, in Livingston NJ and the creator of the Performance Lifestyle Training and Support System where clients learn the healthiest way to achieve their goals.