Nutrition can be this exciting when you discover how many myths you have been saddled with and how much the truth will change your life

Nutrition’s dull reputation may keep you from delving into one of the most exciting topics you could study. Part of nutrition’s mundane image likely springs from high school classes that indoctrinated you on the standard disease-causing diet while at the same time putting you to sleep.

I still remember my last high school nutrition class. The lesson plan was based on the same four “food groups” I had memorized in elementary school: meat, dairy, vegetables and fruits (combined), and grains (whole vs. refined never mentioned). The instructor was our gym teacher. I had no clue about why this diet was supposed to be good, only that it was what everyone ate. The main concern was about “getting enough protein.” Sound familiar?

From the ages of 16 through 43, I avoided the topic of nutrition whenever I could. This did not mean I regarded food as humdrum. In fact, food was one of my favorite obsessions. Not surprisingly, I was depressed, sick, and overweight. Yet through these unhappy years, the link between food and my body did not beckon as a solution in the same way that fad diets or counting calories (both unsuccessful) did. None of my numerous doctors ever suggested that eating choices could impact my health.

My indifference to nutrition morphed abruptly when my two daughters, then ages 13 and 11, announced they were vegetarian. The

In high school and through most of my adult life, this is how I felt about nutrition.

idea of not consuming the supposedly essential meat “food group” was alarming. When the kids steadfastly refused to consume meat, I was off on a mission to figure out how to get them enough protein to sustain life.

The information I discovered transformed both my health and my life. Nutrition became an engrossing study. Why the change?

• I discovered virtually every popular myth about food and health was wrong. Of course, it took years to shatter these long-held beliefs. Here’s a very partial list. More of a given nutrient is not best – the optimal amount is better than too much. Humans do not need a specific, identified “source of protein.” All animal protein is recycled plant protein. Animal foods have numerous toxic effects on people and are in no way essential to health. Calcium has virtually nothing to do with how resistant bones are to breaking. Grilling is one of the least healthy cooking methods. Most nutrition studies are poorly done and the results in the popular press are misinterpreted. Government eating recommendations are written to protect powerful industries.
• The mega-business interests and inertia that keep these nutrition myths alive require an army of fact-seekers to fight them. The drama of this battle will determine the future of our collective and individual health.
• Eating right would reduce the cost of health care in the US by 70% and would keep the health care system from imploding as costs soar far above anyone’s reach.
• The most nutritious diet is the exact same eating plan that will counter climate change and save billions of animals from pain and death. Both domestic and wild animals die by the billions to feed outdated myths about a proper diet.
• So much more remains to be learned – the science of nutrition is still in its infancy. Yet we can tell from observing healthy vs. unhealthy populations which diets are best. We need a lot more research to discover exactly why. Every study can bring new surprises, so the discovery never ends. Even among researchers advocating plant-based diets, there are minor differences in emphasis that trigger vigorous debate.
• Paradoxically, while much of nutrition is still uncharted territory, good nutrition is simple and need not be at all time-consuming. Just eat a whole foods, plant-based diet. Consume generous amounts of vegetables, fruit, beans, potatoes, and whole grains. Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Avoid animal and manufactured foods. Good eating need not be more complex than that. You don’t have to sit with eyes glazing over while you try to memorize which foods have vitamin A vs. vitamin E vs. iron vs. zinc.
• Excellent nutrition is the foundation of so many inspiring stories of people whose quality of life skyrocketed. A whole foods, plant-based diet allowed them to toss meds, lose weight after decades of struggling to diet, and regain better health than they had as teens. Just as important, their self-confidence and body image soared.
• My own health and weight were transformed through a whole foods, plant-based eating plan. I now enjoy perfect health at a trim weight. Depression is a distant memory. My vibrant energy is channeled at issues that mean the most to me. Unlike most people my age, I don’t take any drugs or spend time worrying about deteriorating health or risk factors. My connection to animals and nature is more intense than I would ever have imagined in meat-eating days.
• Lives changed vs. lives lost. Years of happy life no one dared to hope for. Personal transformation. What could be more dramatic or interesting? Are you inspired to learn more about nutrition so you can give your naturally perfect body exactly what it needs?

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, the smart person’s nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

Lean and Green Kids is impacting the lives of kids now, which means a healthier adulthood later

Barbara Cole Gates is a mom on a mission – to teach kids that “nuts and beans are powerful proteins.” This mission launched when her two children were very young. Barb was a daycare provider.  She served the youngsters in her care plant-based meals and snacks. “All the kids loved my food, including the beans” she observed. “Kids just need the opportunity to experience them with a positive perspective.”

Now, as the founder and director of  the nonprofit Lean and Green Kids, she is reaching a broader (and older) audience, which includes students, educators, school food service providers, and food policy makers.

Her nonprofit is impacting the choices children have in school cafeterias and the way teachers teach nutrition education. In Oceanside, CA for example, elementary school students benefited from “Lean and Green Mondays,” with healthy plant-based choices.

At the 2009 CA School Wellness Conference, Barbara realized something was missing from the discussion. “All the health experts were advocating for fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, which is great.  But then they would round out the “mantra” by promoting lean meats. There was no mention of nuts and beans.”  Lean and Green Kids wants to change that mantra. Here’s the new idea. “Health advocates need to start including nuts and beans in the discussion, especially in regards to child and school nutrition programs, where the majority of the participants have a higher risk for diet related disease.” Momentum for her message is growing – to the national level.

Lean and Green Kids sponsored the first ever piece of government legislation calling for plant based vegetarian school lunches. In

Beans are pretty and fun, and there are so many tasty varieties. Beans make meat boring.

2003, with gratifying support from major health, environmental and educational organizations, the Lean and Green Kids resolution (ACR 16) passed! Three more states followed suit. And now, at the national level, policymakers are – at this moment – creating legislation to include plant based vegetarian options in school lunch programs according to a source with the non-profit organization, California Food Policy Advocates.

Lean and Green Kids has deep roots for Barbara. About a dozen years ago, when her first child entered kindergarten, she was dismayed by the lunch options in the school cafeteria. Pizza dominated, followed by chili con carne with cheese and other such nutrient-poor offerings. Barbara realized that while many health-conscious parents had the option to send their kids to school with home made sack lunches, the kids who were relying on free and healthy meals through the National School Lunch Program were not being served.

Barbara dived right in, not bothered by her lack of expertise in school politics. She became known as a rabble rouser, not taking no for an answer in her quest for helping children. She partnered with two other women, and together on the PTA, they made a difference. First, they taught a special award-winning curriculum in a number of classrooms over three years. Kids learned hands-on how to embrace healthy plant foods by preparing it themselves, and teachers learned a new way to educate their students on nutrition. Just as important, the three women shifted the culture in the cafeteria and got new and better choices for all the students.

Digging even deeper, I found that Barbara’s passion for plant-based eating goes back to when she was only thirteen. She and her friends Jennifer and Veronica were upset when they realized what meat was. The three decided to have a contest to see who could stay vegetarian the longest. Barbara won, maintaining a meat-free diet for nine years.

She started to eat meat again at age 22, and lots of it. But when her second child was born, Barbara read Diet for a New America, John Robbins’ famous book. “I felt transformed, like a different person,” Barbara told me. She loved going back to an animal-free diet. “The food was exciting, adventurous, – heavenly.” It was that good.

Barbara’s husband read Diet for a New America while on a two-week business trip. As soon as he returned, he told her  “I understand. I’m in.”  She still smiles thinking of this landmark moment in her marriage. Her whole family celebrates a plant-based diet now, about fourteen years later, and eats “pretty conventionally.” Some meals are built around whole plant foods, while others rely on meat and dairy substitutes to create pasta, tacos, and veggie burgers.

Numerous excellent studies show that a handful or two a day of nuts supports health and optimal weight.

As a gifted actress and passionate writer, Barbara has created a moving one-woman show Surviving Chrysalis. Aptly named, a chrysalis is the stage during which a caterpillar transforms itself into a butterfly.

In just an hour, Barbara takes her rapt audience through the arc of a woman’s life, from young motherhood to the end of life. In this play, she deeply expresses her personal feelings about the cruelty of the livestock industry and the choices each one of us has. But that is only one strand in this complex work, which also encompasses parental love, romance, betrayed love, and the many happy and painful vagaries of human relationships and personal awakening. In her life, as in her play, Barbara weaves all these strands together.

I marvel at how much work this mom, with all the responsibilities of family and ordinary life, puts into a bean-based mission. In dealing with bureaucracy, Barbara finds three qualities essential for success – “faith, patience, and gumption.” None is easy.

In staying so powerful and focused, in just persisting and figuring out a way around the endless obstacles, Barbara shows us that we each make a difference. We can choose to lead change, or we can just go mindlessly along with the status quo. Please be inspired by her example. Educate. Talk to people. Make new choices. Write letters. Use all your gifts and channel your energy. Our kids and our planet need every one of us.

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, the smart person’s nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

Plants are amazing nutrient factories. Consider how complex a tree is, with its functioning roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and flowers - all powered by sunlight.

Plants are the base of earth’s food chain, using solar energy to fuel nutrient manufacture. These green factories effortlessly put together the complex carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and phytochemicals that animals need to survive and thrive. Plants also absorb minerals from the soil to weave into their own cells.

Animals who eat plants reap the benefits of these nutrients, needed for their own lives. With the exception of vitamin D, which forms in skin when sunlight hits it, animals cannot make the raw materials essential for their survival.

When you eat animal foods, you are consuming highly degraded remnants of the plants the animal lived on. The animal used virtually all the protein, complex carbs, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals from food for his or her own purposes. Plant foods fueled the animal’s growth, reproduction, breathing, digestion, immune system activity, blood circulation, organ and brain functioning, and all the other activities needed to function. In the process, just about all the good stuff in the plants got utilized or burned up, with the waste and excess eliminated in urine and feces.

The remaining nutrients in an animal’s muscles, organs, or milk is tiny when you compare it to the original plant sources. This is

Animal foods are like a tree stump - the degraded remnants of something that was once way more complex and valuable

why the largest land animals are all plant-eaters. Think elephants, rhinos, bulls, horses, elk, and hippos as examples. Plants are the most efficient foods, nutrient dense and healthy.

Vitamin A is an excellent illustration of this principle. Animal food defenders tout the fact that plant foods do not contain this nutrient, necessary for night vision, growth, and immunity, as a drawback for plant-based diets. In fact, the presence of vitamin A and the absence of raw materials that get made into this vitamin shows how degraded the animal foods really are.

Vitamin A is fat-soluble only. This means any dietary excess accumulates in your fatty tissues, and especially in your liver. You can’t eliminate it in urine. Your body is stuck with it.

So what’s the problem? Vitamin A toxicity is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition. Symptoms your body is burdened with too much of this nutrient include loss of minerals in your bones and teeth, joint and bone pain, menstrual problems, tendency to bleed, dry skin and hair, nausea, vomiting, headache, stupor, and enlargement of the liver and spleen.

In addition, vitamin A doesn’t have any antioxidant activity. This means it can’t help protect you from free radicals that damage your cells and speed aging.

Plants, on the other hand, supply up to 600 carotenoids, which are often called pro-vitamins. In your small intestines, your body converts many varieties of these carotenoids into all the vitamin A it needs. Because your body is in charge of this conversion, you will not be overburdened and threatened with too much vitamin A. A diet rich in whole plant foods, including dark green, yellow, and orange vegetables, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and yellow and orange fruits, has loads of carotenoids.

Vitamin A deficiency is an issue for people who are generally undernourished, on a monotonous diet which does not supply enough calories or whole foods. People who cannot correctly absorb fats can also develop this problem. Vitamin A deficiency is not an issue if you eat adequate amounts of whole plant foods.

Colorful fruits and vegetables supply carotenoids, which your body uses to make vitamin A and to protect itself from dangerous free radicals

In addition to providing only safe amounts of vitamin A, carotenoids have another huge advantage over animal foods. These plant-based nutrients are powerful antioxidants, protecting you from the harmful effects of the inevitable free radicals that attack your cells.

Obtaining either vitamin A or carotenoids from supplements is not a healthy option. The megadoses in supplements can, for example, increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers. Again, too much is not a good thing. However, carotenoids from plant foods you eat may be protective against cancer.

In summary, plants supply beneficial carotenoids in safe doses, which your body uses to make all the vitamin A it needs. The unneeded carotenoids don’t accumulate to toxic excess. Instead, they protect you through their potent antioxidant activity.

Animal foods, on the other hand, contain the vitamin A that the animal made from the carotenoids in its own plant foods. This pre-made vitamin A cannot protect you from free radicals, plus it can accumulate to toxic excess. This process shows how plants are nutrient factories (making carotenoids), while animals are nutrient consumers (using carotenoids).

Here is another way to understand this. Think of a tree in all its complexity. A living tree has roots, trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, buds, flowers, and fruit or seed pods or cones. The tree symbolizes a whole plant food.

Now think of a stump. This tree remnant has only a tiny fraction of the complexity and raw materials of the living tree. The stump is what is left over after virtually all the raw materials of the original tree are gone. When you eat animal foods, you are eating the nutritional equivalent of a burned out stump. You are eating degraded plant foods that have lost virtually all their original goodness.

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, the smart person’s nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

The Animal Acres T-shirt says it all

The early morning was cool as my daughter Angela, our friends Teagen, Rose, and Rachel, and I set out for the 164 mile drive to Animal Acres. I had long wanted to visit this sanctuary for rescued farmed animals, a bit north of Los Angeles. Finally, my friends set the date and invited me and Angie to be part of the adventure.

I was relaxed, looking forward to spending a cruelty-free day. In summer my favorite haunt is the beach, in search of the perfect body-surfing wave. Being carried by the ocean feels like being a piece of laundry in a washing machine.

The only drawback is the killing I see on the beach every time I’m there. People fish for the remnants of creatures left in the ocean now that humans have taken 90% of their species. Kids deliberately smash sand crabs in full view of their parents, or otherwise devastate these helpless creatures.

At Animal Acres, the well-being of animals is the main goal, so I knew I could relax. I was expecting the kindest place on earth.

Angela found a new loving friend

While the sanctuary is deeply kind – and quite joyful – the main emotion that flooded me as I wandered and stroked the animals was inner peace. What a rare gift in today’s harried and complex world. Being is lived on its simplest terms.

All the creatures at Animal Acres have painful pasts. All were abandoned, abused, starved, mistreated, or injured before their rescue. Yet these sanctuary animals seem happy, just getting on with their lives, bonding with people and each other. They are role models for us of how to be happy with what we have, not always needing the “more, more, more” that drives dissatisfaction and restlessness, the opposite of inner peace.

These animals provide the greatest gift in their life, not their death. In the nutrition world there is some debate over whether “a little” animal foods – say 8 ounces a week – is harmful to physical health for humans. On the one hand, T Colin Campbell, Ph.D, found in The China Study that there was no lower limit to the health effects of abandoning animal foods. In other words, the less meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy people ate, the healthier they were. Period. Other plant-centered nutrition researchers believe small amounts of animal foods are compatible with health and including these in a diet plan leads to

I found a new friend, too. Honky Tonk used to run free, then was captured in a terrifying helicopter round up. Why? He was living on land the Bureau of Land Management wants for "grass fed cattle"

better compliance.

Nutritional issues aside, my day at Animal Acres made one thing clear – even the tiniest amount of animal foods , even just one bite a year – will be harmful to inner peace. To reach this state of oneness with nature and animals, relating to these creatures as directly as we communicate with our own dreams, we must stop harming them. Then the rescued animals, and all animals, will share a peace that transcends all physical health and daily strife. They ask nothing for this gift except kindness in return. Any violence, even one bite, tears a hole in the peace that cannot be mended.

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, the smart person’s nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes over one third of deaths in the US, killing an American every 37 seconds. Want to live an extra seven years? That would be the average increase in life expectancy if CVD was totally vanquished.

The American Heart Association wants physicians to be able to recognize and recommend effective ways to lose weight and exercise more.

To combat CVD, the American Heart Association (AHA) put dozens of researchers to work reviewing hundreds of studies on lifestyle change programs. The goal of this project was to identify the interventions that help people exercise more, lose weight, and eat healthier. The AHA summarized their findings in a 37 page scientific statement published July 12, 2010.

The AHA reinforced the role of activity, weight, and eating in preventing CVD. Their statement points out that black and Hispanic immigrants are initially at lower risk for this condition than US-born citizens in the same ethnic groups. However, as the immigrants adopt an American diet and sedentary lifestyle, CVD becomes a harsh reality for them. Since cardiovascular disease is so closely related to lifestyle and obesity, better habits could help prevent illness and death for everyone.

The AHA statement distilled ten strategies that can effectively change the way people think, act, and feel. These changes, in turn, then lead to different choices about food and exercise. Briefly, here are the ten keys to programs that work.

1. Goal setting. Specific goals maximize success. Goals are most effective when they are set early in the program and are specific, attainable in a reasonable amount of time, realistic, and focused on controllable behaviors. Goals should be easy enough to reach but not so slam-dunk that achieving them provides no sense of satisfaction. An example of this kind of goal would be to eat an extra serving of whole grains at every meal.
2. Self-monitoring. If you are trying to change, you need to watch and measure how you are doing. Examples of this strategy include weighing yourself frequently or keeping a food or exercise log.
3. Frequent and prolonged contact. Effective programs keep in touch with their participants frequently and over a period of several months or more. While face-to-face is nice, programs can also stay in touch through phone, email, or the Internet.
4. Feedback and reinforcement. Information from the program helps you figure out how much you can benefit from changing health habits. As the program progresses, such feedback helps you stay on target to reach goals and determine how to do better.
5. Building self-confidence. If you don’t think you can reach a goal, you might not even try. Effective programs boost a can-do attitude. Small successes build confidence in achieving long-term success. Even watching someone else achieve a goal, such as cooking a healthy meal, can lead you to realize that you can do it too.
6. Incentives. Employers may provide rewards for employees to make specific health-related choices or achieve certain goals.
7. Modeling. Lifestyle programs can use tools such as videos or exercise classes to teach you how to carry out better choices. These models enhance both skills and self-confidence.
8. Problem solving. In making a change in diet or exercise, you are bound to run into problems and barriers. Effective programs teach skills to overcoming these issues and moving ahead.
9. Relapse prevention. Perfection is a scarce commodity, and it’s normal to sometimes go back to previous, undesirable food and exercise habits. Relapse prevention teaches you to recognize when this is most a risk, and to move back to better choices after a lapse.
10. Motivational interviewing. You may be ambivalent about making a change, even if you know it will make you healthier and add years to your life. Motivational interviewing is a style of counseling that works with your ambivalence to help you decide what you really want to do.

The best programs use several of the above strategies. Change is difficult, and each tool reinforces the effect of the others.

You may associate losing weight and getting healthy with deprivation. But it does not have to be that way. On a whole foods, plant-based diet you will permanently lose weight without hunger.

If you are selecting a program to help you lose weight, eat healthier, or exercise, you can use the ten strategies the AHA identified to pick out the best ones. If you are making the change on your own, with some help from family and friends, you can incorporate these strategies into your plans. For example, set specific goals and write them down. Periodically revise your goals to keep them challenging. Find others who have achieved success and find out how they did it. Learn problem-solving techniques to deal with barriers to success.

The AHA does sadly conclude, along with their hopeful take on effective programs, that long-term success with weight loss and exercise is elusive. Interventions that initially achieve impressive results often fail to change weight, behavior, and risk in the long-run. Even those that do help people change behavior may not measurably impact the progress of cardiovascular disease.

The neglected element in the AHA statement is the actual content of their recommended diet. The AHA eating plan contains generous amounts of animal food, focusing on “lean protein” that is lower in saturated fat. This diet is only a marginal change that will not reverse CVD or even much slow it down. This is because CVD is caused by an ongoing inflammatory process related to animal protein, not simply clogging arteries with fat.

The path to permanent, hunger-free weight loss and freedom from chronic illness is a whole foods, plant-based diet. Here’s the best strategy. Set a whole foods, plant-based diet as a long-term goal. Establish a series of short-term goals to get there. For example, week one may include eating an extra cup of vegetables every day. Week two may include an extra cup of fruit daily. Then double those amounts. Go meat-free one day a week, and then two. Start planning not-meals instead of meals. Use all the AHA strategies to stay on track until your goal is a daily pleasure and cardiovascular disease is a distant memory.

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, a nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

Krista and her wonderfully supportive husband Jeff are the picture of health and happiness

For nine years, Krista Watts needed to use an inhaler several times a day just to breathe. Her asthma overshadowed her life. Exercising was difficult, often leading to wheezing and a flushed face.

Krista’s asthma ordeal began after she adopted two cats. Tests led to the conclusion she was allergic to her new furry family. Unwilling to give up her much-loved pets, she resigned herself to living with a condition that was unpleasant at best, and life-threatening if it got out of hand.

For the last two and half years, though, Krista has not used her inhaler – not even once. She still has her cats, and plays with and pets them every day. Now age 38, she is amazed at her vigorous health and plummeting cholesterol, which fell from 255 to 173 as she regained control of her breathing.

The day Krista adopted an animal-free diet was the day she said good riddance to asthma. Recently I enjoyed the opportunity to interview Krista about her dietary transformation.

Growing up, Krista ate mostly meat, dairy, eggs, and processed foods. Ironically, her mother’s aim was to serve low sodium, low fat foods, but the family’s meals did not meet this goal. Krista got stomach aches. To get her to eat, Krista’s mom made such “fun foods” as bologna and cheese sandwiches cut into kid-friendly shapes with a cookie cutter. She felt controlled by food addictions – to sugar as a child and to a daily cheese habit as an adult

Krista was inspired to choose a plant-based diet when she read the book Skinny Bitch. Her reaction: “I felt like I had been woken up, as if I had been sleep walking through my dietary choices with no real idea of the impact of my individual choices on my body, the environment and the animals I was eating.”

Her new diet is liberating and fun. Krista observes “now I enjoy every meal. I crave fresh crunchy organic veggies. I enjoy veggie sandwiches, beans, potatoes, nuts, seeds, brown rice and my new favorite quinoa. I have a great recipe for quinoa salad with black

Would you rather eat this sandwich or use an inhaler? Try quinoa salad or give up your pets?

beans, mango, red pepper and cilantro. Every time I take it to an event I am asked for the recipe! My husband and I have really taken to juicing as well. He makes us his specialty “green juice” every other morning using organic veggies and a high quality juicer.”

These wonderful foods are made even more enjoyable because they are in line with Krista’s belief system. She says “I feel I am living a more authentic life and I am so grateful for the people and organizations who tried to reach me through books, movies, investigations and websites. I only wish I had made these changes earlier in life.”

Two forces keep Krista strongly committed to a plant-based diet. First is her own health. She feels noticeably lighter, enjoys vastly improved health and freedom from asthma, takes pleasure in every moment with her cats, and thinks more clearly on an animal-free diet. Just as important is her empathy for animals and desire to take a stand against “the unspeakable treatment of animals raised for food.” She recognizes that a compassionate diet is the foundation of a life that is compassionate in all ways.

When she first adopted a plant-based diet, Krista was anxious about how her family would respond. At first, she was not sure how to talk to others about her new choices. She discovered “that when I spoke from my heart about why I no longer would be consuming animals and animal products I found a good deal of support and even admiration. I have become a positive role model for my husband and others which feels pretty amazing. I am grateful to be able to share my story. If I can do it you can too!”

Krista so vividly demonstrates that a plant-based diet is not a deprivation. Instead, this way of eating is exciting and liberating on just about every level – health, compassion, and even relationships. Getting rid of asthma, with its scary wheezing and harmful drug side-effects, is only the beginning of the wonderful changes.

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, a nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

Red potatoes, purple, or Yukon Gold are all excellent for steaming. Cut into bite size pieces first.

Potatoes are one of nature’s most satiating foods. This means they get you full and keep you feeling full and satisfied longer than most other things you could eat. These nutritious spuds have gotten a bad name because they are usually made into chips or fried (read unhealthy and weight-promoting oil) or baked and smothered with a dairy topping. So it’s no wonder that potatoes have gotten a bad – but undeserved – reputation.

Baking and roasting are my favorite ways to make potatoes. In the heat of San Diego summer, though, the oven is best turned off. So I experimented with steaming potatoes and am cheering at the results.

First, I scrubbed and cut up about 10 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes into bite size chunks (red potatoes or purple would also be good choices). Then I steamed them about 22 minutes until they were just fork tender. You might have to steam a longer or shorter time, based on the size of the potato pieces and kind of spud.

There, I had the basis all the satisfying not-meals I could want for the next day. I ate some of the steamers mixed with salad. I ate some on their own, sprinkled with pepper and paprika or dipped in barbecue sauce.

If you want a bit more elaborate meal, just sauté the steamed potatoes in a bit of vegetable broth (just enough to cover the bottom of

Saute a chopped onion with the steamed potatoes in a bit of vegetable broth

the pan) with chopped onions, mushrooms, spinach, kale, or whatever other veggies you want. Cook until the veggies are barely tender and still flavorful. Sprinkle on your favorite spices or add fresh herbs. Summer offers basil, dill, parsley, cilantro, and many other choices. A large bowl of this creation is a meal, not requiring anything to supplement it.

Add mushromms or whatever veggies you want to the saute. Be sure to include spices or fresh herbs for more flavor and nutrition.

Give steamed potatoes the thumbs up over junk food choices. Even on a plant-based diet, it’s so easy to just go for a chip, cookie, faux meat or cheese, “ice cream,” cupcake, food bars, candy, or whatever the latest vegan manufactured food choice is lining food store shelves. The resulting health effects, over the long-run, will not make you into a model of health that everyone else wants to emulate. The steamed potatoes and veggies alternative is every bit as filling, delicious, enjoyable, and even really convenient. Why not give it a try?

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, a nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

The obesity epidemic in the US remains a puzzle to researchers and policymakers. A widely publicized report issued in June 2010

Yes, you can enjoy pasta and still lose weight. Just choose whole grain pasta. It will take about 3 weeks for your tastebuds to adjust to its heartier flavor.

concluded obesity “threatens America’s future.” Both the health and financial costs are staggering and unsustainable.

In just the past year, the adult obesity rate rose in 28 states, falling only in the District of Columbia. If everyone were a healthy weight, Medicare costs would be 8.5% lower and Medicaid would be 11.8% lower.

There’s only one problem. The mainstream nutrition guidelines the report describes to get everyone thin don’t work. These dietary recommendations had the Federal stamp of approval for the last five years, yet obesity rates have skyrocketed in that time.

A complete change in how Americans eat is the answer. Half measures are basically useless and give only the illusion of getting anywhere. This illusion is dangerous because it prevents meaningful action.

A whole foods, plant-based diet is the solution to permanent, hunger-free weight loss. Studies consistently find that people on a plant-based diet are significantly thinner than followers of a meat and dairy diet. For example, one comprehensive review of medical journal articles concluded 38 out of 40 studies found those who avoid meat weigh substantially less than those who eat meat. (See references to Chapter Two of The Perfect Formula Diet for many more studies looking at the relative weight of those on animal-free diets.)

Of course, there are plant-based eaters who still weigh too much. This time, whole foods rather than manufactured foods are the answer. Most importantly, Americans consumed an average 640 calories of added fats per person every day in 2008. That equates to almost 67 pounds of fat on your body just in one year. Think margarine, olive oil, and every other vegetable oil as the likely culprits here, if you are overweight on a plant-based diet. Of course, if you consume oil but are not overweight, you might be short-changing yourself the vital nutrients found only in whole foods (by eating fewer whole foods to keep your calorie count in check).

So what is it about a whole foods diet that will get you to a healthy weight without deprivation or a growling stomach?  Six key

Preparing whole foods can be simple and fun.

mechanisms drive success.

1. Your body has exquisitely tuned sensors for both calories and nutrients. When it gets enough of both, your appetite automatically turns off. A meat and dairy diet has loads of calories, but lacks sufficient nutrients. Your body keeps sending you out to get more food in the quest to survive. Natural appetite controls are disabled in the futile mission of getting optimal nutrition from animal and manufactured foods.

2. Animal and manufactured foods have addictive properties. You may eat when not really hungry just for a “food high.” Irresistible food cravings drive eating binges. Whole plants do not have this addictive quality, so it’s way easier to consume them only when you are actually hungry.

3. Whole plant foods are dense with fiber, which is not digestible by humans. Fiber makes you feel full but adds zero effective calories. This is not true for ruminants like cows, deer, and moose, who actually can digest fiber. You would need three more stomachs to be able to equal this feat.

4. Caloric density is the amount of calories in a spoonful or forkful of food. Vegetables and fruits have the lowest caloric density of all foods. In fact, you would have trouble getting enough calories from

You'll have so much more energy on a whole foods diet. You won't be able to wait to take a walk. Make it fun!

just fruits and veggies. Potatoes, beans, and whole grains round out the whole foods menu, allowing you to feel full and satisfied. Animal and manufactured foods, on the other hand, tend to have higher caloric density than whole plant foods. This means you have to eat more calories to fill your stomach.

5. High energy is a great side effect of a whole foods, plant-based diet. With all that vigor, you will naturally want to exercise more. The activity burns calories and can even rev up your metabolism so you burn more calories all day long.

6. The excess proteins in animal foods push up levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor-1, or IGF-1 for short. In addition to being a cancer-promoter, IGF-1 spurs growth. In fact, factory farms feed animal protein to naturally vegetarian animals, such as cows, to speed maturation and make the animal gain weight faster. Animal protein has the same effect on people. IGF-1 may be one mechanism for this outcome.

Here’s the bottom line. Choose a variety of whole plant foods: vegetables, fruits, beans, potatoes, and whole grains. Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Take a walk with your new-found energy. Then go shopping for some smaller size clothes.

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet, a nutrition book built on sustainable food choices. Enjoy six kinds of whole foods for permanent, hunger-free weight loss and health.

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