Eat a potato. Or ten.
To add a ton of joy, eat russet potatoes, sliced, pan-fried with a tiny bit of oil, then lightly steamed (until cooked through), and topped with salt and black garlic.
Can you believe all the nutrients we need are in this simple dish of taters?
So basic and so delicious. š¤¤
Another chat, another reminder
This past week I was chatting with a loved one and he said heās really worried about his health since heās been getting sick a lot lately. He knows somethingās not right.
These are such important cues to listen to ourselves - to our bodies - because that truth is there to help us and guide our next steps.
I fear the worst when I have conversations like these because of personal experience. This week I wanted to write about this experience but Iām not quite ready to share yet.
āJust give it to meā, he says.
Thatās all I need to hear before dishing out the most high-level and straightforward plan for human nutrition when we may be in trouble.
The power of plants
Whole plant foods are the key to optimal human nutrition. I didnāt say for ultimate pleasure - I said for nutrition. š¤
W A T E R
Without it, we would die in three days.
D A R K L E A F Y G R E E N S
Heralded as the āhealthiest food on the planetā by Dr. Michael Greger in How Not to Die. This should make a lot of sense to us - we already know this: eat your greens.
āOf all the food groups analyzed by a team of Harvard University researchers, greens turned out to be associated with the strongest protection against major chronic diseases,ā¦ā How Not To Die, Michael Greger MD, p.312
A N T I O X I D A N T S
Herbs and spices and berries are our best bet. Antioxidants are in the flavor and color of plants so the richer and deeper the color, typically means the higher the antioxidant level. For instance, look for the deepest red strawberries, blackberries have the highest antioxidant levels of all berries (black=dark=antioxidant power!)
āGreens are the healthiest vegetables, and berries are the healthiest fruits-ā How Not To Die, Michael Greger MD, p.288
Instead of getting too crazy about particular plants, health pros rightfully recommend the best fruit (and veg) to eat are the ones weāll actually eat, so eat our favorites.
M U S H R O O O M S
Shrooms are technically not āplantsā, theyāre funghi. They have amazing viral-fighting components in them that last for a few days after we consume them so best to eat them at least once a week.
And finallyā¦.
S T A R C H
All human civilizations have survived eating starch as the main part of their diets. Rice, wheat, corn, potatoes, beans.
The potato including the sweet potato is a āmagic pillā because it includes all the nutrients we need. š¤Æ More on that belowā¦
At the core, if somethingās ānot rightā with our health, we should start with:
a) Detox: Stop all harmful inputs into our bodies.
b) Nourish: Add whole plants into our bodies by eating delicious, favorite vegetables, fruits, and drink water.
c) Learn: Whatās the most basic need for human nutrition? What hurts us and what heals us?
Letās unpack these.
Detox
No diet is perfect and everyone is an emotional eater. There is no good food or bad food since too often, all food is good and necessary for survival. When weāre not feeling ārightā, thereās nothing wrong with taking a break and giving our bodies a rest. This list of harmful foods is not to shame anyone for eating and enjoying them, we just need to understand that alongside the immense pleasure and deliciousness, these foods oftentimes come with a world of pain.
Animal foods: meat from land and sea, dairy, and eggs. The good news is they do have nutrients: lots of protein yet also a surprising amount of fat, cholesterol (which we make on our own and therefore donāt need to eat), pollutants, viruses, and much, much more. The nutrients they have come from the plants they eat. Best to get those same nutrients directly from plants instead of having them processed through animals.
Highly processed food products: this can be summed up as anything we wouldnāt find out in nature. Highly refined cookies, cakes, soda, pasta, bread, candy, and too many items that line grocery store shelves, fridges, and freezers.
Excessive alcohol: we can add smoking, drugs, etc to this list. If we know itās hurting us, thereās no reason why we shouldnāt give ourselves a break and a detox, even if itās just temporary. The human body is always healing, we just need to let it do what it naturally does and get out of our own way.
Nourish
Whole plants: anything that grows from the ground and is edible for humans, we should eat. We should eat a variety of them, a variety of colors, and make sure itās delicious. š¤
Raw: eat something raw each day. This can be an apple, fresh strawberries, arugula, or some cut up cucumbers with salt and freshly ground pepper. (My favs.)
Water: make this your drink of choice. Coffee is fine, tea is better.
At a high level, we naturally make up a lot of things that we need to survive, heal, thrive, and be able to function properly. There are also things we need from outside of us to keep going: air, water, and food that includes macronutrients, micronutrients, and fiber.
Only plants have fiber (ie. plant bones!)
Macronutrients are carbohydrates, fat or lipids, and protein.
Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals.
Thereās an excellent website called Cronometer that kicks out nutrient breakdowns of tons of food options. Itās free to use and highly recommended by credible nutritionists.
Carbohydrates
The human bodyās preferred and primary fuel source is glucose or sugar. Much of this comes from starchy foods like potatoes, rice, beans, wheat, and so much more. (Apparently, there are 300,000 edible plants on the Earth!)
The doctors Iāve been educated by generally state our diet should consist of 80% carbs - both complex (like potatoes) and simple (like fruit) carbohydrates. Then 10% fat, 10% protein.
Fat/Lipid
There are:
Mono and polyunsaturated fats (my favs in the forms of processed vegan mayos, butter, margarine, etc). š¤
Omega-3 and omega-6 fats. Fish (who get it from the plants/seaweed they eat) also come with high levels of contaminants. We should get our omegaās from plants directly.
Saturated fats mostly come from the animals and animal by-products we eat (like dairy and eggs). Some plants have saturated fat like coconuts but typically harmful levels of saturated fats come from eating animals.
Protein
Animals have a high level of protein (and a slew of things that can hurt us, especially when consumed in great quantities) and all plants have protein (that fulfills all amino acids and does not come with the harmful effects that animal protein comes with).
Getting back to that plate of taters š¤¤ and looking at its nutrients, this chart is based on Cronometerās reading of two russet potatoes:
This shows 568 calories (women typically need 2,000 a day depending on how much we move, and of course, a few other factors - age, height, overall health, etc).
The carbs look great for two russet potatoes since weāre getting half of our daily intake of fiber (55%) and thereās plenty of starch (for energy to fuel our cells). Remember when it says āSugarsā at 6.5 grams, this is not the highly refined white table sugar, this is sugar thatās packaged perfectly by nature and is digested in our bodies slowly (compared to table sugar) and safely.
Many people think potatoes are fattening but youāll see, two russets have less than a gram of fat. And zero cholesterol.
Two russets have all this protein!
The list of cystine, histidine, isoleucine, etc is of amino acids. Amino acids are molecules that form proteins.
Every single whole plant has all amino acids.
That covers our macronutrients: carbs, fat, protein. Water is also a macronutrient.
And now our micronutrients: vitamins and minerals.
B12 is the only supplement recommended for those following a strict plant-based diet yet meat-eaters and omnivores can also be deficient in B12. Farmed animals are supplemented with B12 so weāre likely getting enough but to be on the safe side, best to adhere to the expertsā advice and take B12 as a supplement.
Vitamin D is made by the sunās energy being processed through our kidneys and since itās processed through an organ, itās a hormone.
How do we get the rest of the vitamins we need to fill up these bars to 100%? Eat more potatoes or other plants that will each have a different makeup of vitamins.
Lastly, we have our minerals which only come from the ground (soil), and into the roots, stems, flowers, and the end product: a delicious, nutrient-packed whole plant.
I credit the McDougall Program (an amazing medical and educational program) for teaching me how easy and simple optimal human nutrition can be. All nutrients we need are in potatoes or sweet potatoes, truly the magic pills!
They have taught me that starch is the key to a healthy life (and to ensure we donāt go starving just eating plants!) Starch is our primary fuel. For anyone who asks how they can get more energy, please share: eat your starch! My personal fav is rice but apparently, the most satiating food on the planet isā¦.(not chocolate)ā¦.potatoes!
Some will argue this isnāt optimal nutrition (eating potatoes) because we should get a variety of plants (since they each have different nutrient breakdowns). Personally, I agree, the optimal would be to āeat the rainbowā yet Dr. McDougall intelligently reminds us that white (potatoes!) include all colors and therefore is the color of the rainbow - ha!
Sliced Potatoes with Salt & Black Garlic
Salt is all thatās needed to make these taters delicious, but in case youāre curious, the black garlic is from Trader Joeās and yeah, itās tasty.
Learn
Iāve found continuous learning is the key to staying on a healthy eating path. I prefer to learn about the wonder and power of plants versus the detrimental effects of eating too many animals and highly processed and refined foods. But alas, Iāve found that itās best for me to remind myself of these things too since they continue to tempt me.
The world of nutrition is intensely complicated which is why I love and appreciate the experts who simplify it for us.
Teams like the:
Center for Nutrition Studies founded by T. Colin Campbell who has stated that casein (the protein in dairy) may be the most dangerous carcinogen known to man because of its ability to feed and proliferate human cancer cells. Dr. Campellās advice: eat a variety of whole plant foods.
McDougall Program founded by Dr. John and Mary McDougall who have gifted the world with a natural magic pill - the humble potato.
There are many others that Iāll share over time.
Speaking of sharing, do you value reading studies (to see the proof yourself), book recommendations (or summaries of the main points of books), video recommendations, articles, or do you prefer just a summation of the coolest, most important, aspects of human nutrition Iāve learned in the last decade of my journey into the world of plant-based nutrition?
Let me knowā¦ š
Week 3 meal plan š
Until next timeā¦ āļø