There are as many ways to eat a nutrient rich diet as there are a nutrient poor diet, but in this example I give you the basic differences between nutrient rich meals, nutrient poor meals and nutrient barren meals.

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Science supports the premise that there are no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better obtained by plant-based foods.

Here are some examples, additional to those below, to support this premise:

• Animal-based foods do not have antioxidants; plants have a natural and rich supply of antioxidants.

• Cholesterol is only found in animal-based foods; we do not need to consume it because we produce it.

• Fiber is only available in plant-based foods; it is not found in animal-based foods. Fiber as a part of our diet is necessary for an optimal digestive process.

• Saturated fats are almost exclusively found in animal-based foods. The greater the saturation, the greater chance they are solid in room temperature. Fats solid at room temperature cause health issues.

• Animal-based foods are low in water due to the cooking process that is generally mandatory in their preparation. Plant-based diets have the option of being eaten raw - fruits and vegetable (salads).

• Animal-based protein is associated with tumor growth promotion; plant-based protein is not associated with tumor growth promotion according to The China Study.

• There are no carbohydrates in most animal-based foods: chicken, turkey, beef, tuna, and shrimp have no carbohydrates; this forces the body to convert protein and fat to carbohydrates which is an unnecessary task for the body. Plant-based diets are predominant in carbohydrates: calorie per calorie, as per the USDA database, apples are 95% carbohydrates, bananas are 93% carbohydrates, and Navel oranges are 91% carbohydrates – simple carbohydrates.

Literally speaking, a plant-based diet does not seem to differ from 'being vegan' because a vegan is a person who does not eat or use animal products, and a plant-based diet is described as: of a product from plants (e.g., vegetables, fruits, legumes), as plant-based food) although a plant "based" diet may include small amount of animal products but is largely based in plant foods.

Certification in Plant Based Nutrition.

Other insights on plant based diets vs animal based diet.

> Animal and Plant based foods - The Nutritional Differences

> A plant based, "nutrient rich", whole foods diet, vs a vegan diet (which may not be based on whole foods).

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How many bananas is too many bananas?

I don’t know but your body knows.

You can overdo and overeat the GOOD stuff too.  My partner, John Allen, and I talk about this concept all the time. Contrary to that popular belief that “eating healthy doesn’t taste good and is boring” reason/excuse that many people give for eating poorly, we've discovered that, actually the opposite is true. Nutrient Rich foods that include green vegetables, juicy fruit, nuts, seeds, beans are satisfying and delicious. They make you feel good too even after you eat them because you are getting the nutrients your body needs and wants.

We buy bunches of ripe bananas, peel ‘em and freeze ‘em. That way we can dump them in smoothies. They are so sweet and creamy that we make ice cream out of them.

Using our beloved Vitamix high powered blender, we add bananas, dates, natural unsweetened cacao powder, and walnuts and whip up a creamy delectable ice cream. It’s so good you can finish it off in one sitting. And if you don’t listen and stop, you can eat this ice cream until the whole thing is finished off and you bust!

The actual challenge we discovered is that nutrient rich “healthy” food is so good ~ you want to keep eating. And justification for this overeating comes easy – you can simply convince yourself that since it is healthy you can keep it coming.

Over the past two years as I started to eat more and more nutrient rich foods, I found myself gaining some unwanted pounds, and I didn’t do it by eating potato chips.  Nope. I ate too much of good things. Grant it there were emotional eating situations going on as well, however, I figured I was eating healthy foods so it didn’t matter.  But it does matter. Too many bananas is too many bananas. I was certainly eating for health but overeating even healthy foods is not a healthy idea.

Nutrient rich food is truly yummy. I can’t say enough about Dr. Fuhrman’s EAT FOR HEALTH 2 book set. Book 2 is full of amazing recipes. I started to experiment and cook up these recipes and was truly wowed by the ease it took and the taste that exploded. You should try a recipe or two. I recommend the healthy chocolate cake on page 262. It’s literally made with vegetables but you wouldn’t know it unless I spilled the beans. I guarantee if you have the “healthy food doesn’t taste good” mentality – eating this cake will flip that switch off immediately.
When you start eating nutrient rich, amazing things happen to your health. You give your body the true nutrients it needs to function and perform well. You feel really good and energetic. You’ll want to eat this way and your body will start craving the good stuff.

But how do you know when enough is enough, when you’ve had enough and when you should stop?  There is no complicated answer here. It’s actually the simplest concept you probably ever heard.  LISTEN. Listen to the signs and eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.

These “simple” rules are key to nutrient rich living and eating and natural weight loss – eat only when you hungry and stop when you are full. That will be the sure fire way of not overdosing on one too many bananas. Your body doesn’t want one too many bananas and it will give you signals to stop. Your body knows best – when it has had enough – it lets you know - you just need to LISTEN.

Can you spend today just taking the time to notice how you feel before a meal?  If you are not really hungry, wait a bit longer to eat.  As you are eating notice how your stomach feels. Do you feel satisfied? Can you stop now? It takes practice to hear and notice your body's signals but once you connect and the more you listen, the more you will hear and you will naturally lose weight.

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It's being used in ever more ways these days, fueled by the every expanding interest in eating more nutrient rich foods, and nutrient rich diets which are plant based.

In our last post T Colin Campbell, who was on Larry King Live in the segment titled "Is Meat Safe", used the term "Plant Based Diet" as he took part in a panel to discuss the safety of eating meat.

This post is about a plant based diet, and what it really means, particularly when making the point that is it's not safe to be eating meat based diets. Not just because of potential contamination, but because meat based diets are not health promoting or good for the environment.

First a little insight:

Clearly the trend is away from meat-based diets, and toward plant based, nutrient rich diets.

Why, because animal products are nutrient poor!

Of course, not if you listen to the meat industry pundits or the Nutrient Rich Food Coalition funded largely by the beef and dairy board (both Associations who are desperate  to have their products be known as nutrient rich); or, you have such a limited definition of "nutrient rich" that you think a food simply is Nutrient Rich because it is rich in a single or series of nutrients from one or two nutrient categories. (it's not)

We ended that last post by my saying - "In my next post I’m going to share what I think the argument Dr Campbell should have been making and what I think Dr Campbell needs to delve into next time he gets this opportunity."

So, let's get into it.

In the segment, Dr Campbell makes one mistake that I see plant based diet advocates make all the time.

The Chef was right, "people like animal foods". I even like animal foods; I was brought up on them, but that doesn't necessarily make them a healthy part of peoples diets "in significant quantities" (key words here). Just because a food may taste good and offer up some nutritional value does not mean it should be eaten in significant quantities, let alone as the base of your diet.

To make the point in an extreme way, if Krispy Kreme donuts were injected with vitamin C would it make sense to eat more of them? No.

But Plant Based Diet advocates (of which I am one) think it's all or nothing, and promote vegan and vegetarian diets (which I support for the most part) as the definition of plant based diet and they fight that fight amongst an entire population that is largely eating animal products, likes them, has a vested interest in them (just listen to the CNN panelists) and is slow to change.

I fought that fight for years, until I realized that it's not the best way to promote a plant based, nutrient rich diet. Suggesting that the meat industry just close shop is not the way to win friends and influence people on a mass scale and help people start making the change to a nutrient rich diet.

I understand where Dr Campbell was coming from on this, but I feel his case for eating a plant based diet could have been made based on the basic evidence of The China Study, about the detriments of animal protein and the nutrient profiles of foods alone and that, that would have been even more powerful.

First, a  "Plant Based Diet" is a plant "based" diet.

Last time I checked, 'based' meant something that provides the foundation for... in this case your diet. And plants need to be a  very hearty base of your diet. As The China Study - the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted- reveals (amongst thousands more, easily accessible studies, let alone common sense) without a shadow of a doubt... we need to be eating a predominantly plant- based, nutrient rich diet, upwards of 90% or more if we are going to be healthy.

The reason is, plants are where all the nutrients come from, including protein. Yes, protein!

A plant based nutrient rich diet means you are getting all the nutrients (healthy promoting protein, real food carbohydrate, essential fat, water, fiber, vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals, enzymes etc) that you need to function and perform well, from ALL the nutrient categories and you don't get what you don't need (saturated fat, cholesterol etc). This is is what defines a Nutrient Rich whole food!

Chicken for example, doesn't meet (meat) that quality standard, even if raised organically.

• Almost No water,
• No fiber
• Almost no carbs
• No phytochemicals
• No Enzymes
• Yes, some vitamins and minerals
• Fat is mainly saturated
• Protein is not health promoting (causes rapid growth, rapid aging, more hormonal response, greater stimulation (coffee effect), gives off lots of toxic metabolites (even if it's organic)...
• ...

Now why would you want to "base" your diet on meat, including chicken and fish? A meat based diet is a nutrient poor diet, rich in some nutrients, but as a whole food... nutrient poor.

Wouldn't you want to "base" your diet on nutrient rich foods first, and then if you want to eat nutrient poor foods, you eat them in smaller quantities?

Of course!

That's the simple argument and one to get excited about!

A plant-based, Nutrient Rich diet promotes your health, takes into consideration taste and far more than protein, weight loss or dietary convenience alone to create an ideal diet which can include small amounts of animal products and still be health promoting.

You can eat small amounts of nutrient poor foods and still be eating a nutrient rich diet on a total dietary intakes basis. What constitutes "small amounts" is up for debate, but The China Study does the best job at giving us the data. I for one, eat less than 5% of my diet from animal foods and at times, will go months without eating any!

Telling people not to eat meat though is not the way to reduce the consumption of animal products which IS the objective here.

John Robbins, Author of Diet for a New America (1990) stated that a reduction in animal product consumption of a mere 10% world wide would ensure that no one in the world went hungry, simply because land resources would be better used to produce plant foods. That alone should prompt everyone on the face of the earth to consume at least 10% less animal foods and add to their base of plant foods.

Small amounts of animal products, less than 10%, are usually fine (check with your health care practitioner) when your diet is 90% Nutrient Rich whole foods based in greens, beans, fruits, raw nuts and seeds and whole grains.

Even DrFuhrman is on board with this formula and he's the leading advocate for nutritional excellence in the world!

So why aren't we fighting a battle we can win? Why don't we send a message that people can digest, and take to new levels of success!

Suggesting that we eliminate the meat industry is not the way!

Remember, as Dr Campbell also said, (and I paraphrase) "the transition to a plant based diet does not and is not going to happen overnight", but suggesting that we damn the meat industry isn't making the right argument. Those people are putting kids through school too, and they are friends, so the mere suggestion is going to cause ridicule.

Its the economy stupid! ~Al Gore.

Clearly most of the CNN panel, were making their living from vested interests in nutrient poor nutrition (the nutritionist), production of animal foods (the pundit), the preparation of "great tasting" animal foods (the chef), or was not yet educated enough to make a stronger argument (the newbie vegetarian).

If there had been a hospital industry rep on the panel, they would have been promoting the American Heart Associations recommendations - consume  only 30% of calories from fat (animal fat), because their philosophy is also based on nutrient poor nutrition which inevitably and predictably fills hospital beds because it basically promotes a meat based diet.

If there had been a representative from the Dole company they would have been promoting fruits and vegetables, and staid out of the argument. After all they source most of the nutrient rich foods we eat.

Only those people who are truly advocates for health and are progressive in learning nutrient rich nutrition are going to be fully on board with a plant based diet; but for the sake of success, we need to get our definition straight on what it means to being eating "Plant Based" and make the process consumable.

We need to be eating a plant based diet with a goal of at least 80-90% or more nutrient rich foods. You can take it as far as you want, but this objective would truly change the health of the world and everyone in it!

I think we need to stop making the wrong argument, and start sending the message to eat more nutrient rich foods every day and then explain why. The China Study supports what basic nutrient profiles show us and that is -  it's not how much we eat, but the qualities of the foods we eat that makes the difference.

We also need need to get aware that there are health promoting forms of protein (plant based) and those that you can survive on and also enjoy, that also happen to promote disease - protein from a meat based diet.

A 90% nutrient rich plant-based diet with smaller amounts of nutrient poor animal products (if you eat them) and even smaller amounts of nutrient barren refined foods (if you eat them at all),  is the ideal way to look at the argument.

But we don't have to say, don't eat animal products or refined books. At the end of the day, that's up to people themselves. After all, people are going to do what they choose to.

Let me know your thoughts.

John Allen Mollenhauer

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The past weekend, I was was nutrition seminar put on by a local graduate of the Institute for Integrated Nutrition. her name was Rebecca Johns ~ Certified Nutrition & Wellness Coach.

It was at a local Tai Quan Do facility for the athletes their; I went with my good friend Michele Katz.

I had just finished a great bike ride and was ready to get filled up with some exciting insight, not to mention to my surprise... her homemade Protein Bar. This isn't just any protein bar and certainly not junk packed as "health food".

Here's Rebecca's recipe for "protein bites".

Ingredients:

• 2C Raw Oatmeal
• 1c Protein Powder
• 1/2c flax seed, ground
• 1/2c wheat germ
• 2c trail mix - almonds, cashews, dried fruit, etc
• 1/2c ground walnuts
• 1/2c coconut
• 1c honey
• 2c peanut butter

Procedure:

• Mix all ingredients together and press in a baking pan. Cut in 24 bars
• Calories 310
• carbs 31 g.
• fiber4.2g
• protein 11g

I want to share of the best insights she focused on that day.

In the recipe above, when you look at the quality of the ingredients you know you are getting a Nutrient Rich Food and the information provided from calories to carbs, to fiber, to protein is just plain straight forward.

So to that extent, reading the nutrition data on the label is useful.

When it is not as useful is when you are reading a label for nutrition data about ingredients that you can't spell, or decipher. That's when nutritional data is often misleading. "Net carbs", "real carbs", serving sizes, calories, definitions, sodium, type of fat etc; there is so much label manipulation that goes on, it would boggle your mind.

You can learn all the ins and outs of label reading here; the guru is Jeff Novick of the National Health Association.

The first and most obvious question would be, are you eating predominantly nutrient rich calories or nutrient poor calories? The difference in terms of the consequences in your body is huge, not just in terms of weight, but in terms of your health your ability to function and perform well.

See the Food Class System to see the difference between a nutrient rich food and a nutrient poor food and remember this, it's not just the calories that count; it's not even just the nutrients that count, it's the quality of the nutrients that count!

Are you eating, health promoting protein, real food carbohydrates, essential fat...?

What's the point of eating whey protein or huge amounts of animal protein, or synthetic vitamins... if these sources of nutrients are of a poor quality?

Despite the nutrition data, the quality of nutrients from those foods and the negative impact they can have on your system if eaten in significant quantities, are bound to have negative health consequences.

In this seminar, Rebecca was talking about pre workout and post working meals, because she was talking to an athletic group of people. I thought her points were incredibly authentic... here we just a few that I am paraphrasing.

1. It's not just the nutrition data, it's the quality of the ingredients that matter.
2. How do you feel when you eat one food versus another?
3. Do you know that you can feel and perform allot better when you are eating real food and food that promotes your health in an optimal way? You'll know once you make transition.
4. Hydration comes from water, but also from the food you eat. Eat allot of fruits and vegetable and you'll be drinking all day.
5. Coconut water, is one of nature's best re hydrants
6. Managing your personal energy level is incredibly important to being able to take care of yourself and perform and we're not just talking your food energy, but your vital energy.
7. Food Matters - she played this video, and I suggest you watch this video online.
8. Make the Protein Bites above!

This is so exciting to see the Nutrient Rich food revolution taking such a hold, in martial arts dojangs to the mainstream. And one of the lessons in this food revolution in this... food quality is everything.

Nutrient Rich is not a specific diet you have to stick to, it's a quality standard you maintain... more on that in my next post.

Nutrition Data must start with food quality first, if the food quality is there, you can be sure that the nutrition data is actually true.

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Seattle, WA (PRWEB) August 21, 2008 -- The Chinese government is working hard to meet athlete demand for organic, hydroponics food rich in vitamins and minerals, as China's 2008 Summer Olympics go into full swing in Beijing.

To provide nutrient-rich food for the athletes and other visitors at this year's Olympics, China set up a vast system of organic greenhouse farms to match the organic, hydroponics food supply success achieved when Australia produced many tons of quality, organic, hydroponically-grown, vitamin-rich fruit and vegetables during the 2000 Australian Olympiad.

The Chinese are mastering hydroponics rapidly, especially as they produce fruits and vegetables for the 2008 Olympics

According to hydroponics experts Evegeniy Stefanov Yordanov, Michael James Straumietis, and Robert Charles Higgins, hundreds of hydroponics farmers were contracted by the Australian Olympics Committee to provide quality hydroponics produce for the 25,000 athletes, officials and visitors at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Straumietis, Higgins and Yordanov are acknowledged as the number one world authorities on hydroponics and bigger hydroponics yields.

Several years ago, the trio founded the Seattle-based hydroponics nutrients company Advanced Nutrients, which manufactures and distributes highly-respected hydroponics nutrients formulas worldwide.

Straumietis has spent lots of time in China studying Chinese hydroponics and agriculture.

"The Olympics are a special challenge for food producers because athletes demand organic food that's rich in vitamins and minerals, and because the Olympics food supply is strictly regulated by in-country and international Olympics committees," Michael James Straumietis explains. "Hydroponics allows strict quality control, reliable supply, environmental benefits, and it produces high-nutrition crops."

Indeed, the 2000 Sydney Olympics proved that the hydroponics industry is the only farming sector that can produce a reliable supply of crops sufficient in quality and quantity to satisfy the demands for nutritious natural food.

"Australia wisely chose to rely on hydroponics for its 2000 Olympics, because soil-grown crops could easily have been ruined by adverse weather, which is not a problem with hydroponics," notes Robert Charles Higgins. "Better yet, as is the case in North America and Europe, hydroponics crops cost less to produce and buy than field crops."

Advanced Nutrients co-founder Evegeniy Stefanov Yordanov says China has set up a government-private industry partnership to grow organic food for the country's Olympics food supply.

"The Chinese are mastering hydroponics rapidly, especially as they produce fruits and vegetables for the 2008 Olympics," Yordanov explains. "In fact, the Chinese government created a highly-regulated, guarded, organic, greenhouse-grown plant production infrastructure to guarantee the quantity and quality of the fruit and vegetable supply for Olympic athletes and visitors."

Increased reliance on organic, hydroponically-grown food for the China Olympics is also mirrored by increasing demand for organic, hydroponically-grown food in China's expanding middle-class sector, Straumietis says, noting that hydroponics growing is also environmentally-safer than typical field agriculture.

"Fact is, organic fruits and vegetables grown hydroponically for the China Olympics are packed with vitamins and minerals, which means athletes perform better," Straumietis explains. "And China is able to meet the demands for quality food better than if it was relying on regular soil agriculture. Healthy, organic, hydroponics food wins the gold medal at the 2008 China Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Want to find out more about hydroponics farming and Advanced Nutrients? Visit www.advancednutrients.com.

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