I enjoyed Dr Fuhrman's lecture last week! It reaffirmed what foods I need to eat and which ones I get to steer clear of. He gave a three hour talk highlighting the principles from his book "Eat To Live" and how to be a "Nutritarian." Basically we get to have a nutrient dense daily diet that pretty much excludes any animal products or processed foods, limits grains and fats like oils and butter.
Here's a bunch of other stuff he covered during his talk per my notes:
He explained how you can have enough protein and calcium in your diet without animal products by eating plenty of leafy, green and cruciferous veggies. He also reiterated the importance and significance of a nutrient dense diet in correlation to a disease free, healthy body. He mentioned the importance of chopping anti cancer foods like leafy veggies, onions and mushrooms before you cook them to get the anti-cancer benefits. Chewing them raw does releases those anti cancer effects as well.
Two kinds of Nutrients: Macro & Micro. Macro has fat, carbohydrates and protein calories, while micro nutrients do not contain calories. Micro nutrients contain vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals essential for normal human function. For example, there are hundreds and thousands of nutrients in broccoli and strawberries. You eat less calories in a high nutrient diet.
He also explained the differences in BP medicines and that ultimately they don't really help you long term. However, eating healthy like this can reverse High BP as well as many other diseases like Diabetes, Lupus, Depression and more.
Eating green veggies and beans helps grow healthy bacteria in your intestinal track.
Health and life expectancy is dependent on micro nutrient per bite of food.
People don't think what they eat matters. They just go to the doctor.
The ANDI scoring system measures the nutrient density of foods. The higher the score, the more nutrient dense that food is. ANDI stands for:
Aggregate Nutrient Density Index
The ANDI score, based on a Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutrient Density Scoring System analyzes many nutrients in a food product
Calcium, Carotenoids: Beta Carotene, Alpha Carotene, Lutein & Zeaxanthin, Lycopene, Fiber, Folate, Glucosinolates, Iron, Magnesium, Niacin, Selenium, Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc, plus ORAC score X 2 (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity is a method of measuring the antioxidant or radical scavenging capacity of foods).
Diagram below is provided by Dr. Fuhrman:
FYI animals eating natural plants based diets do not get cancers and heart attacks....
Dr Fuhrman's suggested food pyramid:
Beans are a unique source of carbohydrates . Beans are a resistant starch meaning the body doesn't break it down to simple starches. It has to be broken down by bacteria in the colon. Half of all calories of beans get absorbed into the body. Therefore the protein in it is higher than what the label says.
Nuts and seeds also don't give the full amount of calories in them that their labels state. You should have 1 to 2 ounces of nuts or seeds every day.
Raw minerals in veggies protect the body against cancer. You can't say the same thing about vitamin supplements.
Folate and Folic Acid are not the same thing! You need to eat green vegetables instead of synthetic folic acid. Folic acid increases chances of ovarian, breast and colon cancers!
However, Vitamin D is the most powerful antic cancer substance in history.
More than half of all Americans are deficient in Vitamin D! You need to be getting 2000 IUs of D a day.
There are FOUR DIMENSIONS OF HUNGER:
1. Volume
2. Nutrients
3. Calories
4. Addiction
The more you react to a toxin like processed foods, meats, sugars, etc the better. A sign of good health is the lack in need of medicinal assistance.
You want low levels of Avanced Glycation End Products or A.G.E. in your diet such as pastas, oil, candies, chips which causes a build-up of toxins in your cells. The more of A.G.E. foods are in your diet, the more disease prone you will be. Not to mention that those foods are addictive!
Stop eating high protein and eat high volume foods instead. Example of High volume foods that fill you up are:
- Raw Vegetables: lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, celery, anise, snow pea pods, carrots, beets, cucumbers, water chestnuts, red cabbage, onion
- Most Fresh Fruits: melons, oranges, grapefruits, apples, kiwis, berries, papaya
- Cooked Green Vegetables: Brussels sprouts, string beans, artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, bok choy
- Other Non-Green Vegetables: mushrooms, eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, bean sprouts, cauliflower, spaghetti squash
Food addiction is what starts the fat cycle. Two kinds of food addiction:
Toxicosis- The build up of toxic metabolites, toxic free radicals
Advanced Glycation End Produts (AGEs)
Fatigue is NOT a symptom of hunger, but of addiction. Often folks even think they are hypoglycemic when they are actually responding physically to food addiction. (I used to be one of those people, no I can go hours upon hours without eating more than fruit or veggies).
True hunger happens in your throat and gives you a heightened sense of taste. Hunger only exists to protect our muscle mass.
DIETS DON"T WORK!!!
Portion control only results in weight loss that is maintained for five years for less than 3 out of 100. I've seen this in myself and others using diets such as Weight Watchers, Atkins, etc rather than a lifestyle change like becoming a "Nutritarian."
Animal proteins, sugar and caffeine feed toxic hunger.
Veggies have proteins
Broccoli has 10 grams of protein per 100 calories.
Your food choices get to be influenced by nutrient quality, not addiction!
In the same way you put fat on the rest of your body when you gain weight, so do you put fat on your heart.
PEOPLE NEED SUPPORT! THE MIND RESISTS CHANGE!
CHANGE CREATES ANXIETY & DISCOMFORT.
Adapting to a Nutritarian Diet...
The mind seeks to-
rationalize (illogically) addictive behavior to avoid discomfort
avoid internal and external conflict
The book "Eat For Health" addresses why people don't make the healthy changes
**All graphics courtesy of Dr. Fuhrman
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