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Let's design
the
ultimate
healthy
diet plan
Let's assume there is a healthy diet plan that will keep our
weight in a normal range. The same meal plan contains all
the nutrients we need for optimal health. It avoids
foods that cause disease.
This healthy diet gives us energy for our daily tasks.
It keeps our digestive tract healthy. It gives us bright eyes and clear
skin.
The
ideal diet reduces our risk of
common diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and
autoimmune diseases.
On this diet, we will achieve all the
benefits
of healthy eating.
As we create the perfect diet for weight loss and for health, what
are the factors we should consider?
Nutrient dense foods
We would want our healthy diet plan to contain many nutrient dense foods.
These are foods that have a lot of nutrients per
calorie. They are foods full of:
- vitamins
- minerals
- healthy
phytonutrients
Our organs and tissues demand a steady supply of nutrients.
When
important nutrients are in short supply, our
bodies weaken and develop disease.
Luckily, we have a built-in system that analyzes the food we
eat. If we are missing some of the raw materials our
body needs, our brain tells us to "eat more food".
Nutrient dense foods help us lose weight.
Nutrient dense foods satisfy our hunger. High nutrient foods turn off
our hunger drive and stop our brain from
screaming "eat more food." The most nutrient dense foods
on the planet
are dark leafy greens and other whole plant foods.
Phytonutrients are also
called phytochemicals. Scientists only recently discovered
phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are the wonderful compounds that "paint"
the bright colors on fruits
and vegetables. They slow aging and help protect us
from disease. They are found only in plants.
High in antioxidants
As we design our healthy diet plan, we also want to look for high
levels of antioxidants
in foods. Antioxidants help us destroy free radicals in
our body.
Free radicals lead to cell damage, premature aging, and disease.
Antioxidants are found mainly in plant foods.
High in fiber
Our healthy diet plan would also be high in fiber. Learn
all about the perfect high fiber diet.
It is simple and you don't need to count grams of fiber.
Some foods can make you fat, even if they are high in
fiber. This is how
to select the high fiber foods that are best for weight loss.
Animal foods contain no fiber at all. Fiber is found only in plants.
High in good carbs
Our healthy diet plan would be high in healthy carbohydrates. What are carbohydrates
and how many should we eat?
Plants are the ideal source of carbs. Animal flesh contains no
carbohydrates. Dairy products contain harmful carbs like lactose.
No cholesterol and low in
saturated fat
Our ideal diet would be a no
cholesterol diet. It would also be low in saturated fat.
Only animal foods contain cholesterol. Plants are cholesterol-free.
Most foods high in saturated fat are animal foods. Most plants are low
in saturated fat, with a few exceptions.
You have probably heard
that we need some cholesterol. We do need cholesterol to
build cell walls and hormones.
But our body
makes all the cholesterol we need.
We don't have to eat it.
When we eat food that contains cholesterol, it plugs
up our arteries. Calorie
for calorie, chicken and fish contain about as much cholesterol as
beef. Carnivores can eat cholesterol without
getting
heart disease. Herbivores can't. If you feed cholesterol to rabbits,
they get heart disease just like humans do. What does this
tell us?
Clean omega 3 sources
A healthy diet plan should have some good omega 3 sources.
They should not be contaminated with mercury, PCBs, or other toxic
materials.
The cleanest omega 3 foods come from plants: fresh
ground flax seeds, walnuts,
and hemp seeds. Algae-source DHA is another omega 3 option we might
want to add to our perfect diet.
Low sodium
Our perfect diet must contain mainly low sodium foods.
Whole plant foods are naturally low in sodium. Many animal foods,
especially cheeses, are high in sodium. If we avoid most
packaged and processed foods, we can keep the sodium level of our diet
low.
Alkaline food
Another thing we would look for in a healthy diet plan is lots of alkaline food.
This is food that produces an alkaline "ash" as the end product of
metabolism.
If we eat too many acid-forming foods, our body is prone to
disease, including cancer. Our body should be slightly alkaline for
good health.
Most animal foods are acid-forming. A plant-based diet is
usually alkaline.
Dairy free
Our ideal diet would also be a dairy
free diet. Milk and other dairy products are linked
with prostate cancer, Type I diabetes, and and most of the
other autoimmune diseases. Milk is a great food for baby cows, but not
for us humans.
High carb low fat diet
We can also describe our healthy diet plan as a high carb low fat diet.
If you are wondering where we get our protein on this diet, here is a list of the many vegan
protein sources.
As we think about the details of our healthy diet plan, we realize that
we have designed a diet of all plant foods and no animal foods. It is
not even close to the government healthy eating guidelines; it is
much better.
The
ideal diet is a vegan diet based on
unrefined
plant foods. If you were not aware of
the clear
link between vegetarianism and health, here
is a brief summary of the current thinking by prominent nutrition
scientists.
It makes sense that plants are the ideal foods for our species. After
all, our
prehistoric ancestors couldn't
order
out for a pizza.
Catching animals
to eat was hard work, and it burned too many calories.
Wild animals
were
dangerous too. It was easier to eat foods that didn't fight back. The
main foods available were whole
unprocessed plant foods.
So when the brain sent out the hunger message, our ancestors usually
ate
plants.
Our
digestive tracts and nutritional needs have
barely changed since those days. But the foods
available to us are very different. We now live in a toxic food
environment. It's not easy, but try to ignore the junk food all around
you.
With a little planning, you can eat better, lose
weight, and be much healthier. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Healthy breakfast foods
It is important to eat breakfast. Go to bed earlier, get up earlier, do
whatever you need to do. You have fasted all night while you were
sleeping, and your body needs some healthy
breakfast foods. If you are trying to lose weight, the
best breakfast is a bowl of hot cooked grains and some fruit.
Keep it simple. If you don't have much time, cook
your grains overnight in a crockpot (on low setting) or in a
wide mouth thermos. Or cook
extra grains on your day off and reheat a portion each morning.
The desert island game
If you don't understand the idea of eating just plants, here is a fun
game we like to play: if you were stranded on an island
and could only have 10 (plant) foods for the rest of your life, which
would be
the 10 best foods to eat?
Every time we play this game, our answers are
a little different. This is our current version:
- Kale
- Broccoli
- Tomatoes
- Onions
- Sweet potatoes
- Black beans
- Red rice
- Blueberries
- Oranges
- Walnuts
Now think of a way to make a tasty meal using only the foods on this
list. You are on your way to creating healthy vegan meals!
Healthy snacks
A healthy diet plan can include snacks. Many years ago, a snack was a
small portion of healthy food that
parents gave children after school. Typical snacks were apple slices,
carrot sticks, or celery sticks.
Today, thanks to the food industry,
the word "snack" has come to mean a highly processed food. Snack
foods are usually high in fat, sugar, and salt and have no
redeeming nutritional qualities.
On our vegan weight loss diet, you can have as many low calorie snacks
as you like. But they must be healthy foods with a low calorie density,
not just tiny 100-calorie portions of junk food. See this information on low
calorie foods to understand which foods are best. Bon
appetite!
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