Jon, basically, addressed this question as he was talking to new trainers getting certified in his MBG 3 Training System and I wanted to share the video clip with you.

You may know that you do not need to be vegan or vegetarian to eat Nutrient Rich successfully. But when you change the question from plant vs animal, to one of what are the most nutrient rich foods the way nutritarians do, you’ll end up eating a predominantly plant based diet for the rest of your life especially when you understand these two points.

Now just a few weeks ago we put up a video called The Paleo Diet in a Nutshell, which explains the competing mindset for diet dominance; unfortunately it is a dietary approach to nutrition, with foods that are primary from animals versus plants.

As Jon explains be very careful about what you buy into. Just because man does certain things and may even enjoy them, does not mean that they are all good for you or the health of our planet.

This is not a brand new argument. It began most memorably with the book Fit for Life and has been raised by nutritional based medical doctors such as Dr. Fuhrman for decades but now it’s beginning to hit the mainstream and even the training world, so it’s worth talking it up!

So here’s the video clip:

But first, as you watch this, keep these 3 myths and untruths in mind that we’ll get into in greater detail in future posts:

1) Just because Paleo man may have eaten lots of animal meat, ( I don’t know for sure how much they ate; I wasn’t there. Were you?) doesn’t mean that is how we should eat to live today. There is value to nutritional science that focuses on the nutrient density of a food, and epidemiological studies that give us a clear picture over time of what promotes health and what doesn’t. And, common sense about the environment of our bodies, let alone the planet, that tells us that eating too much animal food (even if it comes from organically raised, grass rich pastures)  is not the foundation of a healthy eating plan.

That is why understanding nutrient density and eating the most nutrient rich foods first, upwards of 80-90% or more is the key to your health and longevity first and foremost, as well as your performance and your success living at or near your ideal weight.

Too often, people gravitate to a meat-based diet when they have a Paleolithic view and then start getting into what Michael Pollan calls “macronutrient wars”. This may be the single biggest war of nutritionism and the most misunderstood “gray areas” of healthy eating and living, ever.

2) There is also a picture of a cauliflower used in the video, which is used in a way that would make you think it was bad, or the opposite of having a brain. I don’t know what the intention was, but I would have used a brick or a blob mass of fat instead, because that cauliflower is one of the many foods that’s going to become part of your nutrient rich diet, in a great tasting way of course.

3) To expand upon what I stated in point number 1. Organically raised, pasture grassed, grass fed beef… while better than agrifactory raised animal products, does not make it a nutrient rich food or a food category that you want to eat in significant quantities.

One possible reason we have agrifactories is because when animal foods are available in significant quantities, and people don’t have to kill them first hand like Paleo man had to do, people tend to want them more. Especially if they have not yet had the experience of eating Nutrient Rich foods in great tasting ways. Animal foods are super stimulating foods. They are intoxicating just like alcohol and chocolate. And natural farms would never meet (meat) the demand we have today. So promoting significant meat consumption, while beating up agrifactories, presents a dilemma. Re read point number 1.

And before you think I’ m a soldier for veganism or vegetarianism, keep in mind I’m neither. If anything I’m a nutritarian, and I do eat small quantities of animal foods from time to time for reasons other than nutrition.

Enjoy this video it’s great!

What are your thoughts?

What the heck is that anyway?

Yet, it is in a lot of our refined, processed, American food items and most of us are not even aware of what we are eating.

Look at this list:

whole grain rolled oats, high fructose corn syrup, oat bran concentrate, brown sugar, oat flour, dried fruit treated with sulfur dioxide to promote color retention, margarine (partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, salt, mono and diclycerides, soy lecithin, EDTA, annatto color, artificial flavor, vitamin A, mopalmitate), malodextrin, glycerin, modified food starch, corn syrup, rice flour, dried whole eggs, malted barley extract, calcium bicarbonate, water, salt, cinnamon, artificial flavors, sorbitol, corn cereal, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, wheat flour, sodium bicarbonate, corn flour, malic acid, malt barley, soy, sodium alginate, enzyme modified soy protein, tumeric color, natural mixed tocopherols, yellow 6, calcuim phosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, artificial color, niacinimide, vitamin A palmitate, potassium sorbate, BHT, reduced iron, soduim phosphate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamin mononitrate, folic acid !

Yes. This is all one product’s ingredients. It’s a very popular, very refined and processed oat bar. Can you even imagine eating all of these ingredients? I have no idea what some of them even are. I don’t ever want to put any fake crap in my body.  But that’s what you get if you are unaware. I haven’t even begun to tell you what that stuff does to your body.

If you want an oat bar ~ you CAN have one.  How about taking 5 minutes and mixing up  a banana,  applesauce, walnuts, oats, and raisins. Can’t get much simpler or more nutrient rich than that.  Tomorrow I will be sharing a video with you and showing you just how easy it is to prepare Nutrient Rich oat bars.

Simplicity RULES.

TIP: Think of this simple rule when choosing to eat. If it doesn’t have a label, its probably nutrient rich. THERE ARE NO LABELS ON AN APPLE and in all Nutrient Rich Recipes the ingredients are all whole foods.

See our last post: Do the Holidays the Nutrient Rich Way – Happy Thanksgiving!

Why do most have to go on a diet in the New Year, eating less food than they want and need? The answer is simple. They eat so many nutrient-poor, calorie-rich foods during the holidays, they overeat excessively, and it’s only natural to want to deal with the most obvious symptom; overweight. It’s what happens when you overload your body with food that doesn’t “serve” your needs other than great taste.

But what if you prepared Nutrient Rich meals which are more appropriate in calories and promote your health? Imagine eating foods, meals and a holiday menu that was great tasting, and you actually felt better after you ate? This can happen for you when what you eat is Nutrient Rich!

Everyone will benefit when you choose to create, buy and serve Nutrient-Rich recipes, rich in quality real food or whole food ingredients. From snacks to baking, there is a Nutrient Rich equivalent for almost every food you are eating right now.

Below are examples of ways to make your holiday meal great tasting and healthier for the entire family.

Instead of eating meals heavy with calorie rich, nutrient poor animal byproducts and ultra refined food stuffs, eat smaller amounts of animal products and discover the dozens, actually unlimited number of ways to eat plant based menus. Plant foods are more Nutrient Rich than animal foods because they are higher on the food chain and don’t contain stuff your body doesn’t need.

Instead of ice cream, eat vice cream – real food ice creams that are made from cashews, water, maple syrup and vanilla, for example.

Rather than seasoning the sweet potatoes with butter or margarine, add orange, pineapple, apples, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, maple syrup, lemon, lime, to add even more flavor.

Enjoy freshly baked bread by itself – there is no need to spread on the artery clogging butter when whole grain breads and healthy spreads are all around us. You can use raw nut butters, apple butter spreads and others.
If you choose to leave some of your favorite recipes as is, eating smaller portions will likely not happen. So make the majority of your meals with Nutrient Rich Recipes, and you won’t have to get as full. You’ll get fulfilled faster eating Nutrient Rich and hunger shuts off. You also won’t have to deprive yourself of the great tasting foods that are important to you and the holiday spirit.

Don’t worry, during the holidays you will likely overeat and gain a few pounds no matter what you eat because everything centers on food. But eating Nutrient Rich, you’ll be healthier, feel better, and be happier. You can then Lose weight the Nutrient Rich Way™ with simple adjustments, and there is no dieting required.

Make only one commitment his holiday season. Raise your standard and eat better quality food. Eat Rich, Nutrient Rich foods, not poor foods that will wreak havoc on your body… Start the New Year with the confidence and knowing you celebrated well.

Check out the Nutrient Rich Food and Recipe Database!

Best, JAM

One of the leading authorities in PerformanceLifestyle® training and coaching, John Allen Mollenhauer (aka John Allen or JAM) is helping an ever-expanding achiever base optimize their lifestyles for better health and success results.

Based on the PerformanceLifestyle® philosophy, he is the founder of the Lifestyle Coaching Center in Livingston, NJ and  leading lifestyle solutions like www.NutrientRich.com Eat Better, Not Less! He teaches that improving your physical fitness and nutrition, losing weight and managing your energy levels

Well, that was yet again, my experience last night when I used DrFuhrman’s VegiZest product – which is the ultimate soup base and seasoning mix.

It was 7:00 PM, I was just sitting down to read a book, but wanted to sip something. At night, I like to go to be satisfied, but not full. So what I did was heat some water, and put in a tablespoon of VegiZest and I had a great broth that was “nutrient rich”. Mmmmm, it was so good.

One of the reasons why I like DrFuhrman’s products products so much, in particular VegiZest, is because he has created the niche products that make eating a Nutrient Rich diet, so “every day” and easy. As I like to say, “simple quick & easy”

In this one cup of vegetable broth, I was actually consuming: green pea, organic spinach, carrots, organic broccoli, organic celery, organic kale, broccoli sprouts, organic soy flour, organic date sugar, organic onion, garlic, spices, green tea, nutritional yeast, canola oil and organic parsley.

* The canola oil is limited and the only allergen was soy, but in extremely limited quantity.

It was in this moment that I realized how content I am eating a nutrient rich diet, and its because of having access to DrFuhrman foods, that I love it all the more. A cup of tea moment like this is very enjoyable, but I knew I was drinking more than a cup of tea. I was practically eating a meal, yet enjoying that “meal” like it was that cup of tea, or “Joe” moment that so many people savor. I woke up this morning with a sense of satisfaction as well because my nutrient needs were met before I went to bed.

Remember, the key to success in a “nutrient rich” PerformanceLifestyle, is knowing how to get the nutrients your body wants and needs to function and perform well, in ever more convenient, tasty and enjoyable ways. This is DrFuhrman’s mantra as he wants to make sure that people can eat for health and get nutrient rich foods into their diet in the same ways they can get the super convenient nutrient poor and nutrient barren foods so many people are accustomed to.

That is why I have been calling this Nutrient Rich diet style the “Simple Quick & Easy” way to eat. It’s not to say I don’t like gourmet, I do, and so do you, but I must admit, I have a bias to being able to refuel and enjoy my food in simple quick and easy ways, as that is the way I eat most of the time… so that bias spills over into the messaging here at NutrientRich.com.

Note: The Nutrient Rich food and Recipe database has gourmet recipe’s as well, but the hallmark to eating Nutrient Rich successfully are the Simple Quick & Easy Recipes, that most people eat 80-90% of the time. People are busy!

Last night was a simple quick and easy moment.

Here’s some info on VegiZest:

Try it out, one canister of VegiZest is only $17.95

Dr Fuhrman also has a similar product called MatoZest.

They’re great tasting, certified organic and kosher. Not only are these extraordinary products nutrient-rich, they are “organic vegetable supplements” that have been painstakingly designed to taste great naturally.

No Sodium (Great Salt Alternative)

Dr. Fuhrman’s VegiZest is a super-green food supplement with a mild blend of spices.

Dr. Fuhrman’s MatoZest is tomato based with more of a zesty Italian flare featuring sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and onion.

You can:

* Flavor all your soups, salad dressings and dips.
* Use alone in hot water as a weight–loss aid and phytochemical food supplement. (this is what I did!)
* Sprinkle on any dish as a seasoning, replacing salt.

The beauty is you get, phytonutrients, amino acids, antioxidants, plant enzymes and trace minerals in these unique products designed to complement your healthy, PerformanceLifestyle.

What’s also good is that MatoZest and VegiZest are “food supplements” as I like to call them because they are not quite whole foods (since they are dehydrated) but they are not necessarily supplements either (since they are all Nutrient Rich food ingredients with countless nutrients across all categories) have been formulated without the addition of possible allergy producing ingredients such as: sugar, starch, salt, honey, lactose, eggs, milk, colors, and fructose. There is some organic soy flour.

Enjoy these healthy additions to your lifestyle.
John Allen Mollenhauer

We are at a major shift in the nutritional landscape, about how we think about eating, and eating for health, for that matter. 

For decades, we have been operating on the “nutrient poor” model of nutrition, where nutritional advice has focused mostly on what foods and substances people should limit – saturate fat, salt (sodium), cholesterol… – as if to acknowledge their consistent presence in the diet with “a little more of the healthy stuff” to be added in.

This moderation in everything nutritional approach has been a disaster; it’s not even a nutritional principle, it’s an economic one.

The old “take your vitamins” model of eating, where people would eat their standard nutrient poor diet and then make sure they were ‘eating their veggies”, ”taking a multi” or then, when they get sick “drink orange juice”, defies common sense.

Imagine nutrient rich foods as a side dish!

Today the trend is eating Nutrient Rich foods that result in health, peak function and performance, and natural weight loss as THE way to eat! If you want to include the nutrient poor stuff, if anything they are the side dish.

The beauty is, once you start eating Nutrient Rich foods, it get’s harder and harder to even consider those food stuffs as a “side dish”, because your body won’t tolerate them. Once you clean your diet up and therefore your body, just like any high performance machine, a clean machine, will not tolerate junk.

The nutrient poor approach to nutritional advice, of “what you should limit”, is also uninspiring and ineffective; especially when you consider that everywhere around us we have intelligent people promoting the very foods and substances we are supposed to limit. It’s confusing, it makes you feel left out and it gives rise to the “eat less” dieting industry.

In the book The Wellness Revolution, we learn that the nutrient poor model of nutrition was really in fact, an economic force. It had little to do with your health, and everything to do with the platform for various industries. Now I’m not into stepping on people toes, or hurting their bread and butter, but I do have a problem with industry practices that make people overweight and sick.

Don’t you?

As a result of these economic forces, most Americans today are not only overweight, but are overfed while undernourished. And it’s because they are missing out on the valuable array of nutrients their bodies need to stay healthy and function; the ones that are found in nutrient rich foods and nutrient rich food products.  

If they were to eat Nutrient Rich foods, and food products, they would get these nutrients, and they would not suffer the problems they they do when they eat nutrient poor foods that are rich in calories, stimulants (drugs) and poor in nutrients. They also wouldn’t suffer the withdrawal symptoms they experience when they try to stop and eat better. 

That is the diet trap.  

Of course eating Nutrient Rich foods, isn’t nirvana overnight, espspecially when you just begin making the transition to Nutrient Rich; there are a great many ins and outs, “nuances” to eating Nutrient Rich foods successfully, to look and feel the way you want and perform better. You can even still get overweight eating the world’s best nutrient rich foods, it’s just allot harder.

The Nutrient Rich Way (NRW) to eat has many of the same nutritional rules around around calories only the interpretation and the expereince is very different. Nutrient Rich calories are very different from nutrient poor calories and the implications are startling. The most successful way to eat for health, it is also a positive way of eating that focuses on a food’s complete nutrient profile, shifting the focus from foods to avoid to foods you enjoy.

Nutrient Rich is the “eat better” way to lose weight and when you lose weight, it happens naturally, especially when your lifestyle is successful. Eating Nutrient Rich is not like going on a diet that you need to stick to, it’s a quality standard that you set for yourself in your life and then transition to as the way you eat.

The Nutrient Rich Way is inspiring and not confusing.

The big question is, how do you make that transition, from nutrient poor to Nutrient Rich foods? This is the challenge, because it’s not just a matter of changing your diet, your body goes through allot of changes too and sometimes its difficult to interpret what’s going on.

Sign up for the Nutrient Rich RSS Feed at this site and stay tuned for the upcoming teleseminar – “How to Get Rich, Nutrient Rich!” the Most Successful Way to Eat for Health, Peak Performance and Natural Weight Loss!