What you WON'T get from my blog is some definite THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO EAT! statements over and over. I have a hard time listening to people preach that it's their way of eating or else. I don't mind if people tell me what works best for them or a friend. But I don't believe there's a one size fits all approach to eating.
That being said, I think some things are obvious. 1) Some foods are not good for our bodies, in fact they are downright destructive. I used to have this belief that since our bodies are amazing creations, they are able to excrete anything that they don't need, so it's okay to eat some tasty treats that aren't good for us. Yes and no. Yes, it's okay in the sense that many people go years without any negative affects and our bodies can cleanse and heal. BUT some foods or chemicals in food are toxic to our bodies and can cause illness and damage. 2) Some foods are packed with micronutrients that can benefit our bodies in tremendous ways.
I tend to look to Dr. Joel Furhman for his Nutrient Density approach. Am I perfect with eating the Nutritarian way? Not at all. But I keep working in that direction and at certain times of my life, I've done really well with it (and have felt absolutely wonderful!) Here's a post I wrote about Nutient Density a few years ago if you'd like to learn more:
NUTRIENT DENSITY
Have you ever heard the term "Nutrient Density?" Dr. Joel Furhman defines nutrient density in his "Eat for Health" book in this way: "What makes a food healthy is how many nutrients is delivers to your body. In other words, for optimal health we must eat foods that are rich in nutrients, in particular, foods that deliver the maximum nutrients in each calorie."
Often people equate health food or healthy eating with eating foods that have some nutritional value. Or they just call the food healthy if it isn't a dessert or processed snack. Others determine if the food is healthy or not by how many calories, fat grams or carbohydrates it has. With all the diet crazes over the past few decades, that might seem like the rational thing to do. But when you hear how Dr. Fuhrman determines the nutritional value of food, nothing else seems to seems to make much sense.
Dr. Furhman has a formula he uses to determine nutrient density. It's lists the most nutritious foods by how many vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (which are called micronutrients) are in a food divided by the number of calories. The more nutrient dense foods you eat, the better your health will be. The formula looks like some simple Einstein equation. It's H=N/C, which means your future Health = Nutrients divided by Calories in each bite you take.
When we choose food by this nutrient density equation in mind, it changes the focus from all our usual patterns of thinking, such as:
"What do I feel like eating?"
"What sounds good?"
"What's in the fridge, pantry, on the menu?"
"What am I in the habit of eating and don't possibly think I could ever live without?"
"What am I celebrating and what foods traditionally go along with that celebration?"
"What am I craving right this very second?"
Instead we stock our fridge and pantry with foods that are naturally packed with nutrients and learn to eat and enjoy those foods just like we have with the other foods for so many years. Old habits are hard to break -- they are EXTREMELY hard to break -- it's not a trite phrase I just write to fill up space. It's hard and many don't succeed especially when it comes to food. However, the other phrase that you must replace an old habit with a new one is true too. I'll add that if you think more about the new habit than the one you are leaving behind, you will not feel like a matryr and whine that you can't eat like you used to. You'll be so thrilled and fulfilled with the new foods you are eating that you won't even care about those other foods. You might romanticize at times about how yummy something was (all the good memories of the times attached), but truthfully, your body won't have enough room to eat those foods once you build your diet around nutrient dense foods, so you'll be just fine without them.
If you think you can get these micronutrients from supplements and continue eating the nutrient-sparse foods, you're fooling yourself. Just look around at all the other people doing this with diabetes, heart problems, and a host of other modern diseases. My dad spend Christmas morning in the hospital this year after having a stent put in his heart on Christmas eve. He was telling me the day before that the doctor told him not to fear this procedure -- it was such a common procedure that it was routine -- they did it all the time. I told my dad that could either give him comfort that it's not a risky procedure or it could sound awfully scary to know that so much of our population is having to have stents put in their heart valves to stay alive. Supplements will not cut it. Nutritional excellence is what we need for excellent health.
We can find the most nutrients per calorie from unrefined plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds. What percentage of these foods do you think the average American consumes? Less than 7 per cent! With Dr. Fuhrman's Eat for Health (or former book Eat to Live) approach, you'll be eating at least 90% of these nutrient dense foods.
You'll need to get Dr. Fuhrman's books to see his list of the high nutrients foods, but basically the very highest (surprise, surprise) are the Leafy Green Vegetables, with kale and collard greens being at the very top (score of 1000). Spinach is a little lower with a score of 739 and then when you drop into the next group of Solid Green Vegetables. Foods like cabbage, broccoli, and asparagus have scores of 420, 376, and 234, respectively. That doesn't mean that they aren't healthy - -they are! It just shows you how incredibly nutritious and essential those leafy greens are! The other high nutrient, non-starchy, non-green Vegetables (all vegetables that aren't green and that aren't potatoes or corn, which are more like a grain to your body)
Off to be a mom for a bit -- will finish up later. Until then, here's a video of Dr. Furhman explaining Nutrient Density.
Wow! I just watched the whole video and I love the info he gives. He's so knowledgeable about nutrition -- it's wonderful to learn from him. I hesitated before to write his whole ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) list, but since he shows it there on YouTube, I'll go ahead and list it here on my next post (so you don't have to push "pause" to read the whole thing). That way you can get a good picture of which foods are the most vital to eat for your health and see how useless so many other foods that we usually base our diet on are for good health. It becomes evident that eating high nutrient, healthful foods like green vegetables, berries, and seeds and less animal products, sugar, white flour, processed oil, and processed foods is truly the key to excellent health and well-being.
P.S. (I'll copy and paste the ANDI list below -- TTFN!)
The Nutrient density scores or Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) were assigned by Dr. Furhman to foods based on how many nutrients they give to your body in each calorie you consume. The food scores are out of a possible score of 1,000. The food labels you see in the store (or on your shelves) don't even give a glimpse of this vital information in the foods that you're eating. We seem to understand as a society that natural foods have more nutrients, but there is a huge range in nutrient density among even whole foods.
ANDI scores
Here's the list computed according to serving size, (all fruits and vegetables tested were raw, unless specified as "cooked"):
Kale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1000
Watercress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1000
Collard Greens, cooked . . . . . .1000
Bok Choy, cookied . . . . . . . . . . 824
Spinach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
Spinach, cooked . . . . . . . . . . . .697
Brussels Sprouts . . . . . . . . . . . 672
Swiss Chard, cooked . . . . . . . . 670
Arugula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .560
Radish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Bean Sprouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
Red Pepper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .420
Cabbage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Romaine Lettuce . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Broccoli. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..376
Vegetable Juice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Boston Lettuce . . . . . . . . . . . . .353
Carrot Juice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Broccoli, cooked . . . . . . . . . . . .342
Cauliflower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285
Green Pepper . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Tomato Sauce, cooked . . . . . . .248
Artichoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
Carrots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240
Salsa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..236
Asparagus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Zucchini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Strawberries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Pomegranate Juice . . . . . . . . . . 193
Tomato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Butternut Squash . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Plums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158
Raspberries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Celery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Mushrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Blueberries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Brazil Nuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Iceberg Lettuce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Orange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Grapefruit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Cantaloupe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Kiwi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Beets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Eggplant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Watermelon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Orange Juice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Tofu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Sweet Potato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
Apple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Peach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Green Peas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Cherries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
Lentils..............................................68
Pineapple.........................................64
Apricots...........................................64
Black Beans.....................................58
Edamame.........................................58
Kidney Beans..................................56
Oats, cooked....................................53
Mango..............................................51
Cucumber.........................................50
Soybeans..........................................48
Chick Peas (Garbanzo Beans)..........48
Onions..............................................47
Prunes..............................................47
Pears................................................46
Sunflower Seeds...............................46
Tuna.................................................46
Honeydew Melon............................45
Soy Burgers......................................45
Flax Seeds........................................44
Brown Rice, Cooked.......................41
Sesame Seeds...................................41
Flounder/Sole...................................41
Salmon.............................................39
Sprouted Grain Bread......................39
Avocado...........................................38
Swordfish.........................................38
Pumpkin Seeds.................................36
Canned Tuna, in water.....................36
Skim Milk.........................................36
Pecans..............................................34
Soy Milk..........................................33
Deli Turkey Breast.........................33
Tahini Butter..................................32
Barley, cooked................................32
Grapes.............................................31
Potato..............................................31
Cod...................................................31
Banana.............................................30
Walnuts...........................................29
Pistachios........................................29
Eggs.................................................28
Chicken Breast................................27
Soy Cheese (ick!)............................27
London Broil...................................26
Plain Yogurt, low fat.......................26
Almonds..........................................25
Figs..................................................25
Corn.................................................25
Whole Wheat Bread........................25
Feta Cheese....................................23
Pork Loin........................................23
Milk Chocolate...............................21
Quinoa, cooked...............................21
Ground Beef...................................20
Whole Milk.....................................20
Dates...............................................19
Peanuts...........................................19
Whole Wheat Pasta, cooked...........19
White Pasta, cooked.......................18
White Bread....................................18
Bagel, whole grain...........................18
Peanut Butter..................................18
Cottage Cheese, low-fat...................18
Pizza.................................................17
Popcorn............................................16
Raisins..............................................16
Cashews...........................................15
McDonald's Cheeseburger...............15
Fruit Yogurt, low-fat.......................14
Pretzels............................................13
Cashew Butter.................................13
Bologna............................................13
White Rice, cooked..........................12
Potato Chips....................................11
Saltine Crackers...............................11
Granola Bar, chocolate chip............11
Cheddar Cheese...............................11
Pine Nuts.........................................10
Macadamias.....................................10
American Cheese.............................10
Vanilla Ice Cream..............................9
Vanilla Frozen Yogurt.......................9
Hot Dog, beef....................................8
Sugar Cookies....................................5
Cream Cheese....................................4
Corn Oil.............................................3
Olive Oil............................................2
Honey................................................1
Cola.................................................. 1/2
Isn't it amazing that most of the food we eat is under a score of 100. It's crazy how most Americans base their diets on the lowest scoring foods. I was just thinking as I typed the frozen yogurt score that I fell HARD for that trend when it first came out -- thinking that frozen yogurt must be so much healthier and less fattening than ice cream. Several times a week, I'd stop by the Yogurt Station while in college, would look at the menu, see that I could get much more in a medium for only 20 cents more. But why stop there, an extra large was over double the size of a medium and not that much more money. I'd eat those extra larges (peanut butter chocolate and some orange/tangerine maybe? were my regular flavors) all the time, thinking I was eating something healthy -- something that wouldn't make me fat. If I had just looked in the mirror, I would have known that wasn't the case. Oh well. Glad I grew past that addiction.
I do want to add that just because some foods score lower than 100, they are still healthy (like the fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes). They just pack in more calories, so you don't want to eat them in large quantities. The fruit has enough water (and the legumes enough bulk) that you'd probably never overeat them anyway. Just watch it with the nuts and seeds (but enjoy when you do eat them!) I try to keep to 1/4 cup a day, maybe 1/3 cup at times. Dr. Fuhrman says a little less, but I exercise each day and have never gained weight eating that many nuts. In fact, I've lost weight at times eating more, especially when I'm eating all raw and lots of greens. I think my body functions well with healthy oils from nuts and seeds.
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