Hi Friends,

I can't tell you how many times I have been criticized for promoting "90% or More," as the percentage of plant-based, nutrient-rich, whole foods you'll want to be eating, if you're going to have the level of health everyone is talking about, but so few actually experience.

Everyone seems to agree that we need to be eating "more plant-based nutrient-rich" foods, but when they discover they need to be eating up to 90% or more of these health-promoting foods, even most fitness and health professionals are like, "What? That much?"

Of course, the worry is that they won't enjoy eating "healthy" as much as they are enjoying eating "relatively healthy" or "healthier" than most people, (so they think), which underscores a point--if you don't understand what it means to eat nutrient rich, you may think you are eating healthy--when you're not!

And, many diet professionals are just as food-addicted as the clients they serve; it's often the blind leading the blind, no matter how well-intentioned. And, we wonder why people stay stuck in a vicious cycle of eating nutrient poor, unable to get to those healthy success results they've been promised.

They are either learning what is still a nutrient-poor way to eat, or just not taking it far enough even if they are eating a plant-based diet!

Look, I don't make rules when it comes to health, I just unearth them, and then call it the way it is. The rules are based on years and years of reviewing the evidence, with the help of the leading high nutrient density nutritional researchers, reflecting on decades of personal and client experiences to further reveal the patterns, trusting common sense, and the reality that the longest-lived populations all consume less than 10% of those foods considered to be nutrient poor, if they eat them at all.

Eating "Healthy," by it's very definition,  means eating "nutrient-rich," so why the lobby to tone it down-- especially, when you can be eating nutrient rich in as many great-tasting ways as you may be eating in nutrient-poor unhealthy ways? Does My permission, or someone Else's permission, and weaker definition for what is healthy make a difference?

As it is, every step, every percentage of movement toward a nutrient-rich healthy eating style is applauded, but does that mean we should set the bar low? No, not at all. After all, we each need something to strive for--don't we?

Are you fighting to maintain the status quo? If so, you might want to examine why--because it's an irrational, and addictive story playing in your head. We all have some irrational thinking in us, and that's OK, as long as we are not doubling down on it with more irrationality. What's your intention?

The reasons why you want to be eating nutrient rich are not so much about just eating "healthy" itself. Really, we shouldn't even have to talk about eating "healthy." That's a given. What's not a given is your capacity to function and perform well, which is what we all depend on every day.

When you tune in to that, you will naturally gravitate toward eating in a whole-food, plant-based, nutrient-rich way that you also enjoy, so that you can function and perform at the level you want.

The trap is the confusion over what is making us feel good in the short term, and giving us the perception of enhanced function and performance, when it's not.

You want to be eating in a way that improves the way you feel because genuinely improved health results in better personal performance.

How do you know you are eating nutrient rich?
You are eating healthy when:

1. You know what true hunger is and enjoy "getting hungry--actually earning it.
2. You don't have cravings--only desires to eat less often.
3. You can go 4-6 hours with no headache or symptoms.
4. You don't feel deprived at all, not one bit.
5. You see food "primarily" as fuel, and nourishment--as a means to a greater end, not as an end itself.
6. You don't have weight loss goals, but rather have daily objectives to eat in a way that keeps your body clean, fueled right, healthy, and functioning and performing at a high level. When you do that, as part of a whole lifestyle, which  supports you, you will live at or near your ideal weight, all the time.
7. You are confident about how you eat, and know beyond the shadow of doubt that you have comprehensive micro-nutrient adequacy. If you aren't yet eating plant-based, nutrient rich, or you have been doing so for a long time, and now want to optimize the way you eat for nutrient density, food volume, variety and great taste, so that you don't consume more calories than you need, click here to learn about the Nutrient Rich® Superfood Nutrition System.
8. You are not taking in calories, in any significant amounts, that contain what you don't need.
9. You are eating food in as close to its natural and original state, as possible.
10. You are enjoying the way you eat!

The post The 10 Ways to Know You Are Eating Nutrient Rich [Audio Blog for Subscribers] appeared first on Nutrient Rich.

Here is an excellent article that I read this morning, which highlights 'The Obesity Paradox"-- caused by the simple reality of being overfed and undernourished. If this is a constant in your life, it can cause dire consequences later in life.

Changing your lifestyle cannot start a day too soon, and will help you at any stage of your life, albeit with diminishing returns; so today is the day!

Chronic Malnutrition May Cause Dire Consequences Later in Life

Large parts of the American population are diagnosed as being overfed but malnourished, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s called the obesity paradox. While we have easy access to calorie-dense (including animal foods) highly-processed foods, a balanced, nutritious diet is much harder to come by.

“The mistake is to think that if you eat an abundance of calories, your diet automatically delivers all the nutrients your body needs,” says Dr. Mark Hyman, author of “The Blood Sugar Solution” (Little, Brown & Co., 2012). “The problem is that the Standard American Diet (SAD) is energy dense (too many calories) but nutrient poor (not enough vitamins and minerals).” As a result, “Americans are suffering from massive nutritional deficiencies,” Hyman adds.

For years and years, consumers were told by the food industry that it really doesn’t matter where calories come from. “A calorie is a calorie” is an often-heard mantra. Not so, says Dr. David Ludwig, of Boston’s Children Hospital. In his studies, he found that from a metabolic perspective, all calories are not alike. Wholesome, nutrient-rich foods offer innumerous health benefits their high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt, highly-processed and refined counterparts cannot match.

New research suggests that the adverse consequences of malnutrition, due to calorie-dense, but nutrient-poor diets become even more evident as we age. One study from Sweden concluded that the “consumption of fat-laden foods, can have huge implications for the risk of malnourishment in older age.” Participants in the study who had the highest fat intake, during middle age, showed the greatest risk of malnutrition as seniors.

Many of the symptoms of malnutrition worsen when people reach an age where they become more frail and vulnerable to diseases. These are not isolated instances. Surveys have found that about 25 percent of Americans, age 65 and older, suffer from some degree of malnutrition. Common results are unhealthy weight loss and diminishing muscle strength, and weakening of the immune system, as well as declining mental health.

Malnutrition also becomes of greater concern, with age, because of changes in body composition, according to studies by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As muscle mass decreases, the percentage of body fat often rises, therefore elevating the risk of stroke, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.

Involuntary loss of weight caused by dietary deficiencies may lead to negative energy balances. Low energy may be compounded by loss of appetite or inability to maintain a healthy diet regimen.

Other risk contributors can be a diminishing sense of smell and taste, gastrointestinal disorders (e.g. malabsorption), interactions with medications, physical disability and other inhibiting factors. Psychological components, like suffering from social isolation, depression, bereavement, and anxiety can make things worse. Lifestyle issues, such as lack of knowledge about food, cooking, and nutrition facts, reduced mobility, and financial constraints, may also play a role.

The key to prevention or treatment of malnutrition is early diagnosis and appropriate countermeasures, including adherence to sound dietary guidelines and regular physical exercise, for muscle strength, and enhancement of metabolic health. Implementing these tactics cannot start too soon--but is also never too late!

If you enjoyed this article, you may also be interested in reading “How Malnutrition Causes Obesity.”

Timi Gustafson, R.D., is a registered dietitian, newspaper columnist, blogger and author of the book “The Healthy Diner – How to Eat Right and Still Have Fun”®, which is available on her blog, “Food and Health with Timi Gustafson, R.D.”, and at amazon.com. You can follow Timi on Twitter and on Facebook.

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There is a new voice in the nutrition community—and it is a booming one! John Allen Mollenhauer, a leading proponent of the More Plant-Based Nutrient Rich^® Approach to nutrient rich healthy eating, is proud to announce the re-launch of nutrientrich.com, a robust website chock full of goodies including The Complete Nutrient Rich^® Healthy Eating Plan and Support System that enables people to make “the Switch” from nutrient-poor unhealthy eating to the great-tasting “nutrient-rich” healthy eating style that is growing in popularity. The site also offers Mollenhauer’s Switch to Rich Digest, a Blog of well-written and researched relevant articles and current event commentary, on this revolutionary new eating style; a delicious and nutritious line of raw, whole, organic super food nutrition products at The Rezealiant Living Store; a comprehensive support system; and a healthy Recipe Database that is second to none! It is the culmination of his life’s work—and it shows! John Allen has wrapped it all up into the simplest and most direct path to success!

The beauty of the nutrient-rich way of eating and living is that you can eat Vegetarian or Vegan or not, gluten-free or not, organic or not, low calorie or not, low fat or not, and even low-carb or not--and still be eating the Nutrient Rich Way. It is an eating style that starts with optimizing the foods and meals you eat for nutrient density, variety, volume and great taste, free of addictive substance so you eat the right amount of calories for you, when you are truly hungry.

It is based on the emerging body of nutritional research that demonstrates the healing powers of higher-micro-nutrient per-calorie foods that detoxify the body, promote natural weight loss, dramatically improve health, reverse disease, and promote slower aging, a younger look and a longer life.

This is not a one-diet-fits-all approach; rather, nutrient-rich healthy eating is a normal and natural way to eat that is designed to meet all of your needs, all the time, including Great Taste!

“This is not just a website—it is a complete healthy eating system that starts delivering the minute you subscribe,” states Mollenhauer, a nutrition education trainer and performance lifestyle coach.

When people enter the site, they are invited to download a very revealing guide called, Wow, I Thought I Was Eating Healthy! Have You Tricked Yourself into ‘Believing’ You’re Eating a Healthy Diet? A must read, as it illuminates the 9 ‘healthier’ diet tactics that are causing us to gain weight, drain our energy and age faster.

After reading this insightful Guide, users are then invited to take a Personal Diet Quality (PDQ) Assessment, which provides them with a Nutrient Rich^® Healthy Eating Score, and recommendations for improvement, as well as a fun icon that inspires users to take the way they eat to a whole new level.

Next they get The Nutrient Rich Healthy Eating Plan, which is available in printed and digital formats including .pdf, and .epub and .noki for Ipad, Nook and Kindle ereaders, etc., and consists of:

• Step 1: Switch to Rich—Nutrient Rich^® Healthy Eating  
• Step 2: Shop, Organize, Prepare & Eat Out The Nutrient Rich^® Way
• Step 3: Simple, Quick & Easy^™ Nutrient Rich^® Recipes (created by Chef Ramses Bravo)
• Step 4: How to Lose Weight the Nutrient Rich^® Way!

The Plan also comes coupled with an extensive Membership Site, which includes online and phone support, a Member Forum, Training and Q&A Calls, with John Allen, and much, much more, as well as a free 300-gram, 30-day supply of Rezealiant "Living Feast" —the great-tasting, whole food, nutrient-rich low-calorie way to fill up, and also speed up body detoxification and natural weight loss!

After many years of being on the path of improving his eating and overall lifestyle, while developing a new worldview on how to live a healthy lifestyle successfully, and be better able to achieve your goals, known as Performance Lifestyle^®, John Allen wanted to establish a new standard of eating. Naturally, he arrived at eating nutrient rich because, as John Allen says, “All paths of dietary practice eventually lead to nutrient-rich healthy eating.”

Mentored early on, by Joel Fuhrman, MD, a leading physician and high-nutrient density nutrition researcher, John Allen became a consummate student on the subject and ultimately launched nutrientrich.com, and was one of the first in the world to begin defining how to eat in a nutrient-rich way.

John’s approach is fresh, modern and to the point. His clear and direct message fully explains what it means to eat "nutrient rich"—the buzz term for healthy eating that we have been hearing so much about these days, which is based on the cornerstone of nutrition called, "nutrient density.”

Mollenhauer says, “When I first caught wind of this idea, I didn’t approach it from a weight loss-only or an "eating healthier" motivation because, as a former body-builder, I had already traveled those paths and knew they didn’t provide sustainable results. Rather, I wanted to find the healthiest and most successful way to eat, and make that ‘The New Normal’ for people who were clearly suffering from hidden lifestyle challenges that were holding them back—the biggest of which, was how they were eating!”

And thanks to his tireless work this healthy eating style is finally being discovered by a whole new generation of people! However, John Allen admits that he did not discover this eating style all on his own and clearly acknowledges that The Nutrient Rich^® Healthy Eating Style and Plan were developed on the shoulders of giants—all of whom cleared the way by heroically doing the long-term studies, clinical work and research on plant-based nutrition and lifestyle intervention, as the way to live disease free. Throughout his career, John Allen has had the leadership and mentoring of many of these leading health and performance professionals, several of whom he now calls close friends, and many of whom are members of The Lifestyle Health and Science Advisory at nutrientrich.com. John simply mined all of the information and ideas he could find, taking the best of the best to create The Complete Nutrient Rich^® Healthy Eating Plan and Lifestyle Support System—the most direct path to success.

Nutrient-Rich eating is The Great-Tasting Healthy Way to Eat that delivers what he has coined as The 7 Success Results Every Body Wants—detoxification, natural weight loss, optimized health and performance, reversal of life-style induced diseases (being overweight, heart disease, and diabetes, etc.), slower aging, looking younger and maximized longevity.

“Eating nutrient rich is not a fad—once you discover it, you can’t go back,” adds Mollenhauer, CEO, Nutrient Rich Life., Inc.

"I can only imagine starting from this place when I began my search for the healthiest and most successful way to eat,” says John Allen, with a smile.

John Allen Mollenhauer invites the public to check out http://nutrientrich.com, where they can take their time in understanding this amazing new eating style, by reading and discovering their own paths to Nutrient Rich^® Healthy Eating!

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Do You Have a Nutrient-Rich Body?

This article discusses ten simple ways to know if you don't yet have a nutrient-rich, healthy body and what you need to do to develop one.

Many of us do not get all the nutrients the body needs to stay healthy. Our diets can be overwhelmed with calories - protein, carbohydrate and fat, and the wrong sources for all three, which are lacking in the essential vitamins and minerals, fiber and phytochemicals we need for the body to function right.

Yes, you read that right, the body does not function right, if you don't have a body rich with immune system-supporting, detoxifying and hunger-satisfying micro-nutrients, which are not present in any significant amount in animal products and refined foods.

Most of us are consuming foods that have few positive benefits to health and have many negative consequences, even though they may promote rapid growth, and taste satisfaction.

The question is, how do we know if we are getting all the nutrients we need?

These ten circumstances will let you know that your body is nutrient poor and not getting all of it's nutrient needs met -- those nutrients that you are aware of, aren't aware of, and have yet to be discovered, resulting in an overall state of health is low.

An annual visit to the nutritionally-oriented doctor who focuses on natural methods, for an overall health check can also help you determine where on the scale of health you are at.

10 Ways To Know If You DO NOT Have a Nutrient Rich Body

1. You are hungry all the time, even after you are full.
2. You are getting headaches and other symptoms when you don't eat, for more than a short period of time, maybe a few hours.
3. Strong cravings are the reason you are eating.
4. Unless you are eating animal protein, regularly, you feel weak and foggy.
5. You are eating more than 10-20% of your calories from animal and refined foods, and only small amounts of produce.
6. You have to eat 3-5 times per days or else you don't feel good.
7. If you need to eat breakfast the minute you wake up, due to reasons other than *true hunger, you know don't have a nutrient-rich body.
8. You are getting sick regularly, with strong, longer-lasting colds, the flu, etc.
9. You know you don't have a nutrient-rich body, if the minute you eat a carbohydrate, natural or not, you gain weight.
10. You react with weird faces when you see someone drinking a green smoothie!

* A pleasurable sensation that is experienced in the throat and mouth.

If you are experiencing any of the above, your body is nutrient poor.  Period.

What do you need to do to develop a nutrient rich body? It's simple, you need to make the Switch to Rich - nutrient rich healthy eating that is optimized for nutrient density, variety, volume and great taste, free of addictive substances, so that you can eat the right amount of calories for you, when you are hungry; and be so satisfied, you are able escape the diet traps forever!

Building a nutrient-rich body, means the end of the vicious cycle of eating nutrient poor, dieting, weight gain and long-term health issues!

The post Do You Have a Nutrient Rich Body? Here Are 10 Simple Ways to Know If You Don't... appeared first on Nutrient Rich.

Naturally, news around school lunches began popping up. One in particular came to my attention.

NYC school lunches fall below minimum calorie requirement.

I don't think that's the right question. I think the real question is whether school lunches meet minimum nutrient requirements

(CBS News) NEW YORK - Eating fewer calories can be a good thing and may help prevent obesity, but going below recommended levels can become dangerous. New York City admitted that in their attempt to provide healthier food for school children, they've actually cut down too many calories.

...

City officials said their intention was not to reduce calories, but to provide children with more nutritious choices, the New York Times reported. For example, they swapped out fries with baked potato strips and pork bacon strips for turkey bacon. Non-fat chocolate milk, whole grain pasta and salad bars were added. However, as calories were being shed from each meal, they forgot to look at the overall picture.

Yes, they forgot to look at the over all picture.

The big picture of nutrition has less to do with calories and more to do with the nutrient density of the foods served, whether they are actually nutrient-rich healthy foods or just rich in some nutrients and in reality nutrient poor. Many of these new food choices above are still nutrient poor, such as Turkey bacon, and non-fat chocolate milk and this will have negative consequences for our kids.

Although there is a definite trend toward a more plant-based nutrient-rich way of eating in our schools, what's missing in our school system is an understanding of how to really optimize a diet for nutrient density, volume and great taste, without addictive substances that will negatively affect the eating health and eating behaviors of our children for decades to come, so that they can eat the right amount of calories.

The issue is not 200 more or less calories; it's whether or not they are eating nutrient-rich or nutrient-poor foods. If they are predominantly "nutrient rich," 785 calories for a child may be a a lot of calories!

A few months back, HBO put out a series called, The Weight of the Nation, with a heavy focus on our school children and here's what they found in Part 3 of the series called Children in Crisis.

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