Eat To Live gives readers a bird's-eye view of human nutrition, altering our conventional wisdom about nutrition, offering case studies and a real-life diet with endless possibilities. number of useful tips. Readers can learn a variety of studies on nutrition and the benefits and side effects of foods like meat, dairy, fish, vegetables, and fruits.
This book is for anyone interested in learning about the connection between nutritional science, modern diets, and health, or who are looking for practical advice on losing weight and achieving health. the best.
The author of the book is Joel Fuhrman, an American physicist and nutritionist. Fuhrman has expertise in using nutritional and natural knowledge to prevent dangerous diseases. He has collected a lot of scientific literature on substances and many case studies proving the effectiveness of his recommendations. He also published many other books such as Eat Well and Protect Your Child from Disease.
Discover a simple strategy for a healthy diet
Atkins, South Beach, Paleo – are these names familiar to you? If so, you may be one of the many people who have tried to lose weight with several diets.
We're trying harder than ever to stay fit in a world full of ready-to-eat foods. This also leads to the unsurprising fact that we are constantly surrounded by countless weight control programs with the promise of quick weight loss and improved health.
Eating to Live may seem like a diet book like thousands of others, but the family of physicist Joel Fuhrman has actually created an instructive that will completely change the way we all are. Eating. The book introduces readers to the benefits of a nutrient-dense, vegetable-based diet – which leads to great health and longevity – as the title suggests, Eat to Live .
In the following chapters, you will learn about typical modern dietary issues. You will also discover a diet that provides the best nutrition and is based on nutritional science and case studies. Finally, you will be presented with a realistic eating plan that includes specific tips and recipes.
The typical American diet consists of foods that are high in calories but low in nutrients.
Although Americans have access to a wide variety of healthy food sources, they make unhealthy choices like pizza, burgers or fries.
In fact, the typical American meal consists of a lot of calorie-dense and processed foods such as refined carbohydrates (pasta, bread), fats (fats), and animal proteins (meat and dairy). ).
In fact, as research has shown, the average American gets 62% of calories from processed carbohydrates and oils, 25.5% from dairy and animal products, and just 5% from vegetables excluding potatoes. .
Try to calculate, for example, the human stomach can hold one liter of food. Because foods like chips, cheese, and meat are very high in calories, a stomach full of one of these foods can contain around 3,000 calories. In contrast, a stomach full of healthy foods like beans and vegetables contains only about 200 to 500 calories.
But are calories helpful? They don't give us energy?
While one thing is for sure, these calorie-dense foods provide the body with energy, they contain almost none of the nutrients needed for your health.
All foods contain calories and nutrients: calories come from carbohydrates, proteins and fats; Nutrients come from vitamins, minerals and water. Although nutrients contain almost no calories, they are essential for the growth of the human body.
But just because a calorie-dense dish is typical of the modern American diet doesn't mean it's actually nutritious. For example, one tablespoon of olive oil contains 120 calories but does not provide any vitamins or minerals.
Modern diets are based on false knowledge of nutrition
We all know that most Americans are obese, surprisingly most people still prefer a high-calorie and low-nutrient diet.
What caused this behavior? It's simple: stories are spread in society that make many people believe that they are actually making healthy food choices.
Indeed, the United States has very biased and narrow conclusions about the diets of other countries.
For example, many Americans have grown up believing the Mediterranean healthy diet story.
According to this story, the Cretans' widely known good health was attributed to a high intake of olive oil, pasta, and white bread.
But this is only one side of the story: the Cretans also ate large quantities of vegetables, fruits, beans and fish. What's more, the Cretans often had intense physical activity on a daily basis. In other words, they were healthy "despite" a high-calorie diet of pasta, bread, and olive oil, not "because" of it.
Moreover, since the 1950s, the picture has changed radically. Today, the Cretans ate more meat, fish, and cheese, and they were physically weaker than before.
The result is? Cretans are now just as overweight as Americans.
Stories like these are common in American society. For example, most Americans still believe that animal protein, found in meat and dairy dishes, is beneficial to their health because it helps people grow taller faster.
However, numerous animal studies have shown that slower growth is associated with a longer lifespan. What's more, recent research shows that faster growth and earlier puberty increase the risk of many types of cancer in adulthood.
Key actors such as the food industry, media, scientists and government offices have supported myths about food.
Although food myths have a big influence on the American diet today, they are not the determining factor. There are also several other factors that contribute to the preservation of America's food culture today.
The US Department of Agriculture is an example. Its initial role was to strengthen the meat and dairy industries. Today it continues to stick to its original foundation, promoting animal products to the point of spending $20 billion to subsidize the beef, veal and dairy industries. However, the department does not devote that much support to the production of vegetables and fruits – at least not those grown for human consumption.
Then there is a lot of misinformation in the market. For example, several newspapers reported on new research with the headline: "High-Fiber Diet Doesn't Protect You From Colon Cancer."
Even though there are more than 2000 research papers that confirm exactly the opposite, how can the press make such a claim?
Essentially, this study was very narrowly focused on investigating the link between dietary fiber and cancer. And this doesn't mean that a high-fiber diet — based on vegetables and rice — doesn't help prevent colon cancer.
Consequences of misinformation can be seen in the popularity of the Atkins diet. This is a ketogenic diet by increasing the amount of animal products and reducing carbohydrates. The problem is that Atkins is extremely dangerous: it can cause a sudden change in electrolytes and cause an irregular heartbeat (potentially fatal).
In fact, a 16-year-old girl died suddenly while on the Atkins diet and many other sudden deaths have been linked to similar diets.
Stories about food and the influence of other powerful factors explain America's current dietary retardation as a major cause of their poor health.
The typical American diet causes bad health and serious diseases
According to the latest research, the health of Americans is really problematic.
Although Americans today are blessed with material wealth, they suffer from obesity and a number of other chronic illnesses.
In fact, nearly 75% of Americans are thought to be obese. What's more, recent trends indicate that, by 2048, all American adults will be obese. This is a negative trend, because obesity is linked to premature death from heart attacks and some other dangerous diseases like cancer.
What caused this trend? Because a large body of reputable scientific research indicates that the development of serious diseases is a direct consequence of a diet that includes high levels of animal products, refined practice and sugar.
For example, a large-scale nutrition study showing a link between diet and disease is called the China-Cornell-Oxford Project (its results are published in The China Study). This study examined several regions of China with different age-old dietary habits, and its startling results point to a strong link between disease and animal protein consumption. . In fact, cases of cancer and heart attacks have been found in regions where animal products are part of the diet, while lands where little or no animal products are available. consumption does not appear cancer.
Furthermore, these conclusions are supported by research by physicists. They show a link between a diet high in dairy and some diseases. For example, one study found that consuming about two servings of dairy daily can increase the risk of prostate cancer by up to 30%.
A vegetable-based diet can provide all the nutrients and energy the body needs
Since we know of the dangers associated with diets rich in nutrients from animal products, it is imperative that people seek an alternative based on the best nutritional knowledge.
The ideal diet is really based on fruits and vegetables because most of the nutrients needed for good health – all the important vitamins and minerals can only be found in abundance in foods that include: include vegetables.
Just as E=mc² is the key formula in physics, H=N/C or Health = Nutrients / Calories is the key formula in human nutrition. This ratio is called nutrient density and the higher this ratio is in the feed, the higher the nutritional value.
For example, dark leafy vegetables – such as cauliflower, spinach, brussels sprouts – and other greens, beans and berries are among the richest in nutrients. In terms of nutrient density, these foods score between 50 and 100 points, while whole rice scores 20 points and refined sweets score 0 points.
Although many people seem to think that they won't get enough calories from a diet based solely on vegetables, you can actually get 1000 to 2000 calories per day. Furthermore, some people believe that they need more calories because they exercise a lot but they should remember that their body will notify if they need to eat more.
Moreover, vegetable-based dishes contain high amounts of carbohydrates, fats and proteins for a healthy body.
Spinach contains 51% protein, while a cheeseburger or a slice of meat contains only 20% protein. This means you'll need to eat more calories from less nutrient-dense foods to get the same amount of protein that spinach provides.
What's more, nuts contain good fats in moderate amounts, especially essential fats like omega-3s.
A vegetarian diet helps to lose weight effectively in the long run, protecting you from illness and chronic diseases.
Although science is only just beginning to investigate the benefits of a vegetarian diet, recent examples and personal experience have highlighted the positive effects of nature's raw food on human health. people.
One obvious benefit is that this diet can lead to weight loss because it prevents overeating. That's because there's a receptor system in the digestive tract that tells the brain when the stomach is full. This happens when the stomach is filled with enough nutrients – and it happens faster when we eat vegetables – and when it is filled with fiber, which is found in foods from nature. course.
Scott, who has struggled to control his weight since a young age, is an example. Before he started eating nutritious foods, his weight was more than 500 pounds (1 pound or about 0.45kg) and he left home for only a few vacations a year.
Now on a vegetarian diet, Scott has lost 333 pounds and reduced his fat intake from 62% to 10%.
Another benefit of this diet is that plants contain a lot of substances that prevent the development of diseases.
As the director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University has emphasized: "The most compelling evidence of the past decade has demonstrated the importance of largely undiscovered preventive factors in vegetables. fruit." For example, one tomato contains over ten thousand preventive factors, called phytochemicals.
Consider the effect of a vegetarian diet on cancer development. Cancer develops by damaged DNA. Studies have shown that phytonutrients have the ability to remove and in some cases even heal damage. What's more, other studies have shown equally positive effects of this diet on people with migraines, obesity, immune system disorders, and more.
Raw or boiled vegetables, beans and legumes, fruits you can eat as much as you like
Because the Eat to Live plan is not a short-term diet, there is no amount control at all. Instead, the plan is based on eating lots of vegetables and legumes depending on preference. In fact, we are encouraged to eat as much of these foods as possible.
In particular, raw or boiled green vegetables can be eaten unlimitedly. They are considered “superfoods” because of the highest amount of nutrients. The green vegetables with the highest amount of nutrients are kale, collard greens, beets, lettuce, cauliflower and cabbage.
Another benefit of eating these foods is that the body uses more energy to digest them than the energy they provide. In other words, they have a negative effect on calories.
The Eat To Live Plan recommends eating more than 1 pound of raw vegetables and 1 pound of boiled vegetables per day.
Not only that, beans and legumes have many health benefits. Beans contain a large amount of anti-starch substances that help with weight loss, good digestion and lower high blood pressure, preventing the risk of heart disease and cancer.
Nutritional science has also linked plants and beans to longer lifespans in many countries. And because of that, it is recommended that everyone eat at least one can of beans a day.
Finally, you should eat at least four fruits a day, because they are essential for the success of the Diet to Live . Fruit is especially good for those who like to eat sweets because the fruits are usually sweet and help maintain motivation to continue the diet.
Other foods should be eaten only in limited quantities or completely avoided
If vegetables and fruits are considered the most beneficial foods, then nuts and seeds come in second. Other foods ranked last.
That's because nuts, seeds, vegetables, and whole rice provide healthy fats that are also high in calories.
For example, a recent study found that nuts and seeds are associated with a prevention of heart attacks and cancer. However, they are very high in calories, should be consumed in moderation, and supplement physical activity.
It's also a fact that starchy vegetables, like potatoes and squash, can be added to a healthy diet, but they're also very high in calories, which means it can be difficult for some people to lose weight by eating them. .
In addition to the foods above, all other foods or options should be avoided, or at least should make up 10% or less of your total calorie intake.
Optional foods are items that can contain any beneficial substances needed by the body. They do not contain any of the important vitamins and minerals of a vegetarian diet. The only exception is vitamin B12, which can be found in animal products. Everyone should take a little supplement to get this vitamin.
Therefore, foods such as sweeteners, oils or salt should be avoided or limited because they are very harmful to health. In addition, eating a lot of salt can lead to stomach cancer or high blood pressure.
In the end, while people can often pick up on negative signals from their bodies when they start the diet, they are only signals of detoxification that indicate the body is beginning to heal itself. and get better. If people following this diet are disciplined and stick to the plan, these initial effects will wear off after a while.
This nutrition program is easy to follow
If you have chosen the Eat to Live plan , you will maximize your health. You also won't have to worry about counting calories or preparing complicated meals.
The only thing you will have to make sure you follow is one basic rule: your diet should consist mainly of green vegetables, beans and berries.
More specifically, it is recommended that you follow the 90% rule up: you should eat at least 90% of your calories from vegetarian food to get the best health benefits. This means that you are allowed to eat one small cookie or half a donut per day.
Moreover, the meals should include lots of green vegetables. Vegetarians should remember that their success is determined by eating more healthy foods. In contrast to other diets, the Eat to Live plan requires no complicated formula.
Another thing that makes this diet so easy to follow is that meals can be prepared every day. Again, it doesn't have to be complicated: The ingredients are simple and easy yet incredibly effective. At first, you may feel that the meal lacks taste, but over time your taste will change and your appetite for vegetables will increase.
For example, the author eats a large bowl of fruit for breakfast and a salad of beans, peas, and cabbage for lunch.
What's more, vegetarians are encouraged to eat salad as the main meal. Eating a lot of salad will make you full, and it will ensure that nutrient intake will be maximized and calories will be limited. Again, you can get creative with salads, because there are ways to diversify your meal: for example, lettuce for breakfast, baby greens for lunch, and broccoli for dinner.
With just a few simple tips, the Eat for Life plan promises to provide a solid foundation for weight loss and improved health.
Conclusion
Good health can only be achieved by following a vegetarian diet based on raw and boiled vegetables, seeds and legumes, and fruits. The diet does not depend on dose control or intense exercise, both of which provide only temporary positive effects. Instead, by following this diet as a long-term plan, people can sustainably lose weight and achieve good health.
Practical advice:
Good health is something that can be achieved, not genetic.
Remember, health has nothing to do with genetics. It depends on the choice of eating every day. Make sure you treat this knowledge as your own power.
Eat a lot of the right food.
Next time think before you eat a candy bar. The fun you get from it will be gone in a second, while the calories will go straight to your waistline. Think about eating as many fruits and vegetables as possible instead: they contain the beneficial ingredients needed for the body to function at its best.
Keep things simple.
Focus on the essentials – greens, beans, berries and make sure your diet relies on them. Use a can of beans with salad, make a simple soup or basic fruit salad. With time and experience, your meals will gradually become more complex.
