Wholistic Nutrition
“Homemade celery soup with a bit of veg and rest of lentil soup added plus mixed salad and a dab of humus.”
I encourage all my clients to enjoy the complete process of preparing and eating their healthy whole plant food meals.
If you have any recipe ideas – ideally with photos of the yummy end products – please email me and I will share them with the other readers.
Bon appetit!
You may have heard people saying that vegetarians and vegans have a problem with getting enough protein…
Well…think again.
The source of this belief is some studies on rats over a century ago!
Researchers found that infant rats don’t grow as well on plants as they do when meat is included in the diet. But humans are not rats and baby infant rats don’t grow well on human breast milk either. So does that mean we shouldn’t breastfeed our babies? Of course not! Rats are rats and humans are humans. The difference? Rat babies grow about TEN times faster than human babies and this explains why rat milk has TEN times more protein than human milk, and why they need lots more protein pro rata than human babies do.
But how does this challenge that common opinion that we plant-eaters don’t get enough protein?
Well, the argument goes something like this: high biological value (HBV) or ‘complete’ proteins are only derived from animal foods that contain all the essential amino acids – ‘essential’ because our bodies do not make them in sufficient quantities and we have to get them from the foods we eat. Low biological value or ‘incomplete’ proteins are those that do not have all the essential amino acids and, because individual plants do not contain all the essential amino acids. QED – plant-eaters have got a problem.
This one is pretty easy to disprove, since you just have to think about what these big herbivore beasts eat before we eat them…
…plants!
In the first instance, all protein for EVERY animal on the planet comes from plants. And not just protein –all the essential and non-essential vitamins come from plants, and minerals and all the trace elements come from the ground that the plants grow in. The same ground where Mrs Moo wanders about and eats her fill of grass. Oh – and of course, just to satisfy those observant readers, vitamin D is the rare exception because it is the ‘sunshine vitamin’ which is made when skin is exposed to sunlight; and micro-organisms that grow from the ground also provide some pretty useful stuff, too – such as vitamin B12.
But even when this is accepted by the sceptic, how can they be reassured that plants really do contain ENOUGH protein as compared with animal foods? Have a look:
Still not convinced? A bit more detail then:
And how much protein do we need per day?
This equates to an adult human requiring around 0.75g of protein per kilogram of ideal body weight (British Nutrition Foundation 2015). So, for instance, a 60 kg adult woman would need no more than 42 grams of protein per day for normal levels of activity.
What does this mean in terms of real plant food?
Calories Summary |
Energy: 928.8 kcal / 1650 kcal (56%) Protein: 41.7 g / 56.0 g (74%) Carbs: 157.7 g / 130.0 g (121%) Fat: 17.8 g / 65.0 g (27%) |
And this is only 56% of the calories required in a day for this particular person. We could now ask quite the opposite question: Do vegetarians and vegans get TOO MUCH protein? We know that most meat-eaters on the standard American diet (SAD diet – no pun intended) certainly do…This will be the basis of another article, where I will explain why increased levels of plant protein do not have the harmful effects produced by increased levels of animal protein.
In the meantime, if you want more evidence of the high levels of protein in the average vegetarian and vegan diet (let alone the supercharged whole food plant-based diet), then watch this video (with transcript and references) by one of my nutritional heroes, Dr Michael Greger. You will be given all the evidence you need that those eating plant-based diets average about twice the estimated average daily protein requirement.
So, where are we now? I guess the next argument would hit at the heart of this article: It may well be that plants contain protein BUT, you will hear some people say, plants have ‘limiting amino acids’ (that is, certain plant groups lack certain essential amino acids) and this means that plant-eaters have to be REALLY careful to combine food groups in the same meal so that they can get all the essential amino acids that their bodies need.
Well, let’s look at this. What they are claiming can be seen in the following chart:
The idea is that we need to eat, for instance, beans with grains so that we get the methionine from the grains that is missing from the beans, and the lysine and threonine from the grains that are missing from the beans.
However, the whole of this assumption is based on a misunderstanding. Firstly, all but one plant food contain ALL the essential amino acids, admittedly in varying quantities. And the ONLY food that does not contain all the essential amino acids only lacks tryptophan…Guess what food item that is?
Gelatin – the basis of a wobbly jelly! I think we can live with the fact that it contains zero tryptophan…
The idea of “protein combining” appeared in the February 1975 issue of Vogue magazine. It suggested, without any scientific evidence, that we plant-eaters absolutely needed to combine our proteins – rice and beans, for instance – in order to make up for the individual lack of essential amino acids. However, this was and remains a total fallacy and was refuted decades ago.
Indeed, another nutrition hero of mine, Dr. John McDougall actually challenged the American Heart Association for one of their 2001 publications in which they questioned the completeness of plant proteins. Soon after, they backed down and acknowledged that “…a vegetarian diet based on the AHA guidelines of 5 to 6 servings of whole grains and 5 or more servings of vegetables and fruit would, in fact, supply all of the amino acids necessary for health.” And let me tell you, as a whole food plant-eater myself, that I get through at least twice that amount of servings of whole grains, fruit and vegetables each day!
Furthermore, as Dr Greger points out in his video (with transcript and references): “It turns out our body maintains pools of free amino acids that it can use to do all the complementing for us, not to mention the massive protein recycling program our body has. Some 90 grams of protein are dumped into the digestive tract every day from our own body to get broken back down and reassembled, and so our body can mix and match amino acids to whatever proportions we need, whatever we eat, making it practically impossible to even design a diet of whole plant foods that’s sufficient in calories, but deficient in protein.”
The conclusion? We plant-based eaters need never worry our healthy heads about amino acid imbalances from the plant proteins that make up our usual diets. We just need to eat a colourful variety of plants (legumes, grains, nuts/seeds, vegetables/fruits), take plenty of exercise, sleep well and avoid unhealthy stress and worry.
There’s one less thing to worry about…
It goes on and on…
This is typical of the HUGE salads I regularly make. They can last for two or three days and be used as:
I am having this with a tin of baked beans (low salt and sugar) heated with a couple of handfuls of spelt/wheat quinoa, chickpeas and spelt grains that are left over from yesterday, a few boiled potatoes and a huge cup of herbal tea.
Cucumber, romaine lettuce, red and green cabbage, celery, beetroot, green bell pepper, onion, tomato, apple, cauliflower, spinach leaves, sweetcorn, gherkins, walnuts, peanuts, ground flax seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
I used a dressing made from some of the liquid from both the packet of boiled beetroot and the jar of gherkins, combined with balsamic vinegar, crushed garlic, wholegrain mustard, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, black pepper and nutritional yeast.
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According to today’s Telegraph, this is what their testers thought:
Six of the best | dairy alternatives
Best all- rounder milk: Alpro soya unsweetened
Around £1.60/litre, major supermarkets and independent shops
Alpro is one of the cheaper brands on the market and the ingredients include unappetising phosphates and gellan gum. But the flavour is mild, slightly woody, and would work well in both sweet and savoury dishes. “The closest to milk that we tried,” reckoned Williams.
Best almond milk: Califia Farms
£2.40/750ml, sainsburys.co.uk
Good texture and a nice mild flavour, perhaps because this is from the chiller cabinet rather than long life. We liked the container, too, and it makes an excellent coffee, frothing nicely.
Best oat milk: Oatly Barista Blend
£1.80/litre, sainsburys.co.uk and waitrose.com
A faintly porridgy flavour and a gorgeously rich texture which is knockout in a cup of coffee, but too fatty for tea (stick to the regular Oatly for that). Great for cooking. Contains guar gum and phosphates.
Best rice milk: Rice Dream fresh rice drink
£1.65/litre, tesco.com, sainsburys.co.uk and asda.com
More milky than the long-life rice milks we tried, but like all of them, on th
Some of you probably don’t like the taste of some of these milks, but they can be an acquired taste in beverages and on your morning porridge. The casein in cow’s milk is very addictive – evolution made sure of that so that babies want more and more of mother’s breast milk – and all that fat and lactose sugar appeals to the human sense of taste. If we had not been raised on it within our western society, we as adults would never miss its rich taste.
However, cow’s milk is meant for baby cows and NOT for humans. This can be seen by the research which clearly implicates cow’s milk and milk products, particularly cheese, in several chronic human diseases. (See https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/milk/)
Non-dairy milks contain protein (around 3.5g per 100ml) and are generally fortified with vitamins and minerals such as vitamins B2, B12, D, E and calcium.
Protein contributes to the growth and maintenance of muscles mass, and is vital for almost all bodily processes – from complex systems like the cardiovascular system down to every individual cell in the body. Vitamin B2 is crucial for metabolism, red blood cell formation, hormone production, skin and eye health. Vitamin B12 promotes normal growth and development, improves resistance to infection and disease, aids memory and learning ability, and reduces tiredness and stress. Vitamin D contributes to immune system function, and it vital for the nervous system, as well as for bone and teeth health. Vitamin E is an antioxidant – protecting cells from oxidative stress. Calcium is important for normal muscle function, the maintenance of normal bones and teeth as well as for a normal energy-yielding metabolism.
A varied and balanced whole food plant-based diet and a healthy lifestyle are recommended for optimal health, including additional fortification with vitamin B12, iodine, vitamin D and omega-3 as necessary.
Contact me for more details or for help in reaching your dietary/lifestyle goals.
Joe
Can eating a whole food plant-based diet prevent and treat MS?
In Altered Uric Acid Levels and Disease States (1) it is suggested that reduced levels of uric acid (UA) in blood plasma is linked to MS. UA is an important brain antioxidant shown to protect nerve cells against the oxidative stress caused by pesticides (2).
The researchers mention that actually increasing UA “…has been proposed as a therapy for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), and for the treatment of both spinal cord injury and stroke because of the neuroprotective properties of UA. UA has been found to both prevent and alleviate the symptoms of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model of MS, in mice (Hooper et al., 2000).”
However, they also point out that levels of UA elevated too high are dangerous: “…the manipulation of UA levels above or below normal levels could possibly lead to unwanted side effects.”
So, if this is the case, what is the safest way of maintaining healthy UA levels that may assist in preventing/alleviating MS?
Milk consumption is thought to lower blood levels of uric acid (3), and those people on a dairy-free plant-based diet seem to “hit the sweet spot” in terms of the most optimal uric acid levels for longevity (4, 5).
Roy Swank, the distinguished neurologist, claims that a low saturated fat diet remains the “most effective treatment of multiple sclerosis ever reported in the peer review literature.” (6) “In patients with early stage MS, 95% were without progression of their disease 34 years after adopting his meat and dairy-restricted diet. Even patients with initially advanced disease showed significant benefit. To date, no medication or invasive procedure has ever come close to demonstrating such success.” (7)
Based on all my research, I would argue that the healthiest low saturated fat diet is the whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet. So, if you are concerned about MS and want to know more, please contact me and I will be delighted to provide you with dietary advice and suggest a nutritional/lifestyle programme that will address those concerns.
Finally, I would recommened you look at the following links:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/health-topics/treating-multiple-sclerosis-with-diet-fact-or
References
(1) Kutzing Melinda K, Forestein Bonnie L. Altered Uric Acid Levels and Disease States. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics January 2008, 324 (1) 1-7; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.107.129031 http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/324/1/1#sec-15.
(2) Ames BN, Cathcart R, Schwiers E, Hochstein P. Uric acid provides an antioxidant defense in humans against oxidant-and radical-caused aging and cancer: a hypothesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1981;78( 11): 6858–62. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6947260.
(3) Greger M. “How Not To Die” p.233.
(4) Schmidt JA, Crowe FL, Appleby PN, Key TJ, Travis RC. Serum uric acid concentrations in meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans: a cross-sectional analysis in the EPIC-Oxford cohort. PLoS ONE. 2013;8( 2): e56339. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0056339
(5) Kuo CF, See LC, Yu KH, Chou IJ, Chiou MJ, Luo SF. Significance of serum uric acid levels on the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2013;52( 1): 127–34. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22923756
(6) https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/jan/ms.htm
(7) https://nutritionfacts.org/2013/05/21/plant-based-diets-for-multiple-sclerosis/
Anderson JJ, Darwis NDM, Mackay DF, et al. Red and processed meat consumption and breast cancer: UK Biobank cohort study and meta-analysis. Eur J Cancer. 2017;90:73-82.
World Cancer Research Fund International Continuous Update Project (CUP). The associations between food, nutrition and physical activity and the risk of breast cancer. Syst Lit Rev. 2015. Available at: http://www.wcrf.org/sites/default/files/CUP_breast_cancer_SLR_2015_version5.pdf
Today’s breakfast. ‘Power’ because I wanted a bit of extra energy for a mountain walk and some wood chopping.
Contents: 100g oats, tbsp (tablespoon) raisins, 1 apple, 1 pear, 1 banana, 1 tbsp ground flax seeds, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds, 1 tsp (teaspoon) sesame seeds, 1 tsp poppy seeds, 6 walnut halves, 1 tsp raw unsweetened cacao powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, 400 ml boiled water (could use any type of plant milk – soya, almond, hemp etc). Started the day with 600 ml (big cup!) of herbal tea, and then had a similarly-sized freshly-brewed quite weak black coffee to follow up breakfast.
Have a look below at just what a nutrient-packed breakfast this is:
Energy: 970 kcal, 9% protein, 24% fat, 67% carbs.
54% daily water requirement.
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Protein
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|||
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Protein
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25.0
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g
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45%
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Alanine
|
1.1
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g
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No Target
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Arginine
|
2.2
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g
|
No Target
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Aspartic acid
|
2.6
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g
|
No Target
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Cystine
|
0.6
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g
|
91%
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Glutamic acid
|
5.0
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g
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No Target
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Glycine
|
1.3
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g
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No Target
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Histidine
|
0.6
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g
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62%
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Hydroxyproline
|
0.0
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g
|
No Target
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Isoleucine
|
1.0
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g
|
70%
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Leucine
|
1.8
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g
|
59%
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Lysine
|
1.1
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g
|
41%
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Methionine
|
0.4
|
g
|
61%
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Phenylalanine
|
1.2
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g
|
103%
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Proline
|
1.0
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g
|
No Target
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Serine
|
1.3
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g
|
No Target
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Threonine
|
0.8
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g
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54%
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Tryptophan
|
0.4
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g
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97%
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Tyrosine
|
0.7
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g
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59%
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Valine
|
1.3
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g
|
74%
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Carbohydrates
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Carbs
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171.7
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g
|
132%
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Fiber
|
35.9
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g
|
120%
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Starch
|
66.7
|
g
|
No Target
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Sugars
|
57.8
|
g
|
No Target
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Fructose
|
30.7
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g
|
No Target
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Galactose
|
0.0
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g
|
No Target
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|
Glucose
|
17.5
|
g
|
No Target
|
|
Maltose
|
0.0
|
g
|
No Target
|
|
Sucrose
|
9.5
|
g
|
No Target
|
|
Added Sugars
|
0.0
|
g
|
No Target
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|
Lipids
|
|||
|
Fat
|
28.2
|
g
|
43%
|
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Monounsaturated
|
6.1
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g
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No Target
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Polyunsaturated
|
15.8
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g
|
No Target
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Omega-3
|
4.7
|
g
|
233%
|
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Omega-6
|
11.1
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g
|
79%
|
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Saturated
|
3.9
|
g
|
n/a
|
|
Trans-Fats
|
0.0
|
g
|
n/a
|
|
Cholesterol
|
0.0
|
mg
|
n/a
|
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My name is Joe Bath and I am a qualified nutritional therapist and teacher who eats a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet without any added oils. Working from both the UK and Southern Spain, I would be delighted to help introduce you to the only proven diet that can reverse heart disease and offer optimum nutrition. Whether you wish to lose weight, tackle a chronic health problem such as obesity or diabetes, detoxify, improve your dietary habits or if you simply want to know more, please write to me at [email protected], call me on Skype 0044 20 8133 8780/mobile 0044 7816 093686 or visit www.wholefoodplantbaseddiet.com.
What I offer:
• Access to and education that validates the health claims of a WFPB diet – published research data that validates this way of eating as being effective in the prevention, treatment and, in some cases, reversal of such chronic conditions as:
o Cardiovascular disease
o Lung disease
o Kidney disease
o Auto-immune diseases
o Digestive complaints, such as Crohn’s disease, IBS, acid reflux
o Diabetes
o Hypertension
o Breast cancer, prostate cancer, digestive cancers, blood cancer
o Osteoarthritis
o Migraines
o Parkinson’s disease, etc
• Creation of a personalised nutrition plan to suit your needs.
• Provision of the leading professional computer programme for daily monitoring of food/drink, exercise, sleep, mood, weight and blood pressure. This will allow me to partner you along every stage of your journey towards a more healthy lifestyle.
• Daily support via the above programme, email, telephone and in person (when necessary).
• Cooking lessons/tips and detailed nutritional information on all matters related to living the optimal healthy lifestyle – eating whole food plant-based meals while avoiding animal products, processed foodstuffs and additives like sugar, salt and oils.
My approach is to focus both on the integrated nutrition for the body and the whole lifestyle needs of each person. Whilst we are all individuals with varying likes and dislikes, there is strong evidence that what constitutes the optimal diet for humans does not vary quite as much as we are led to believe. The closer the food you prepare looks like that food that grows in the ground, the healthier that food will be for all of us, regardless of our personal taste differences. After all, you are what you eat!
So, please contact me for an informal chat if you want to find out more. There is no obligation and there will be no pressure to use my services. I would be delighted to hear from you.
I wish you a healthy 2018,
Joe