Appendices: Author’s diet and exercise

Appendices: Author’s diet and exercise

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  My sense is that extremely large amounts of raw fibers tend to slow the exit of the bolus from the stomach. That doesn’t happen seriously for limited amounts such as a large plate–full of leafy greens well chewed or blended with each meal, but with all food consumed raw, the raw fibers might block exit from the stomach for too long, promoting fermentation, unless blended to a puree to ease the stomach’s burden.
  
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  When I wrote the first draft of this book I was enjoying a majority of calories as raw plant-based foods. Now it’s the reverse; I’m enjoying a majority of calories as cooked plant-based foods. I’m open-minded, with the main guideline of eating a variety of whole, unrefined plant-based foods, whether cooked or raw.
  
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  Unrefined: The definition of junk food is “nutrient–poor refined food”. Even olive oil is a junk food, although touted for its monounsaturated fatty acids. However, those fatty acids are also in unrefined olives and avocados, along with the fibers and multiple phytonutrients missing from the oil. Since oils contain 120 kilocalories per tablespoon, avoiding them makes it easier to fine-tune one’s weight. The bulky fibers and multiple phytonutrients of the unrefined food are more filling than the oil. Instead of salad dressing, how about chopped olives or avocado?
  
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  My personal fundamental dietary approach: Almost no restaurants soak and rinse their legumes, which results in many people thinking that they cannot digest them. As a foundation for almost every meal including breakfast, I reheat from 2/3 to 1 cup of very readily digestible and palatable “Lentil stew”, with the recipe found in “Appendices: Recipes”, or another variation of a legume stew. The rest of each meal consists of a selection of greens or colorful veggies, root veggies other than white potatoes, a few olives or a part of an avocado, walnuts, a side dish of fruit and possibly a boiled grain dish. The relatively simple routine described in this paragraph, plus supplementation of critical B12 daily, represent my fundamental approach to a supportive unrefined plant-based diet. The paragraphs below describe possibilities for fine-tuning the diet via further supplementation (which I do not sell or profit by), as well as a suggestion for those who want to minimize supplementation.
  
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  I take refrigerated vegan DHA from microalgae for longer chain omega-3s (bought from the site www.DrFuhrman.com, or “O-Mega-Zen Vegan DHA” by NuTru via www.veganessentials.com), plus Evening Primrose Oil that includes GLA. (DHA is not the hormone DHEA.) Also daily: 2-3 teaspoons of flaxseeds that I grind and keep refrigerated for at most two weeks, root-shooting sunflower kernels, or “raw” walnuts soaked for at least 24 hours (to 6 days in the refrigerator, rinsed every day), often half an avocado.
  
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  The supplements that are in bold fonts below are important for everyone to consider, whether omnivore or vegan. I consider B Complex highly desirable to support the nervous system and help even out moods, avoiding or mitigating some cases of depression. B12 is critical for vegans to supplement.
  
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  Useful supplements that I’m taking daily: A 500 mcg B12 Dot. 3 tablets of Coenzyme B Complex by New Chapter spread throughout the day. 800 IU Veglife vegan D2 when I don’t get enough sunlight for an extended period (400 IU in the morning, 400 IU at night). Trace Minerals by KAL Neutraceutical.
  
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  The Vegan Health Study (www.VeganHealthStudy.org) revealed by testing my blood that a few micronutrients mentioned below were at the low end of the normal range. With these supplements I may be overdoing it somewhat, but my levels of micronutrients show up in the normal ranges in the blood tests. As desired, I may experiment with dropping some of these supplements, then testing again to find out if my levels drop below the normal ranges in the blood tests.
  
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  The need for some of these supplements may be more real for older vegans since the body makes some conditionally essential molecules less well than in youth, as detailed in the chapter “Conditionally essential supplements to the vegan diet”. Additional supplements that I’m taking: 300 mg R-Alpha Lipoic Acid by Biochem. 200 mg CoQ10. 500 mg each of L-Carnitine, L-Taurine, L-Tyrosine by Country Life. 750 mg NAC by Biochem. Capsules of probiotic bacteria of various strains, including acidophilus. Iron by Floradix as directed on the bottle. Homocysteine Support Formula.
  
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  If one dislikes taking so many supplements, in a near-vegan “minimalist omnivore” diet, most supplements could probably get replaced by a minimal amount of sardines, say a third or half a small can daily at a maximum, with every other day possibly enough. An optimal approach would still include supplementing the B12, B Complex, D and GLA. The reason I mention sardines is they would introduce less mercury and other toxins such as PCBs than larger fish, while providing DHA as well as the other nutrients in flesh such as L-Taurine and L-Carnitine, and the amino acids. Although it’s complicated supplementing more, as a vegan I avoid the ingested mercury, PCBs, and cholesterol from fish as well as other animal–based foods.
  
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  Over the years I’ve changed my daily diet to increase protein to 40-60 gm/day, since I may not assimilate plant protein as well as other people, due to low HCl secretion into my stomach. Plant-based protein powder partially takes the place of legumes if I’m not getting enough of them to top off my need for protein. In that case I supplement about 20 gm from either plain Rice Protein Powder from Nutribiotic, or Veg Protein Booster by Naturade. I buy plain powder, treating it as a supplement by simply taking a teaspoon or two when I eat, from a refrigerated mug of it pre-mixed with water.
  
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  I used to eat thawed frozen edamame (green) organic soybeans for extra protein for variety instead of other legumes. I’ve moved away from the edamame, more toward fermented soy products such as soy yogurt and tempeh, as well as the protein powder. The Chinese have eaten fermented tempeh far longer than tofu, which is merely a precipitated soy curd. Fermentation may well reduce or eliminate problems reported against soy, problems such as possible toxicity to the endocrine system resulting in hypothyroidism. Still, I do limit quantity.
  
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  Many chefs add lots of salt to tempeh to cover the bitterness. I soak tempeh in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours to let bitterness leach out, so that hardly any seasoning is needed, then prepare it boiled, possibly with miso added. While soaking, it needs to get rinsed every 24 hours, even stored in the refrigerator.
  
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  0 milk products. Legumes and green veggies contain calcium. As an ingredient, soy yogurt (Wildwood’s unsweetened “Pleasantly Plain Soyogurt”), soft silken tofu or chic pea spread (hummus) can substitute for dairy in sauces in any traditional cookbook, and textured vegetable protein (TVP) or seitan for flesh. I like Wildwood’s superb organic unsweetened soy yogurt (“Pleasantly Plain Soyogurt”) better than any yogurt I’ve ever tasted, including dairy in bygone years, since it has none of dairy yogurt’s bitter aftertaste. It’s thick, smooth, and agreeably mildly sour, as a yogurt should be, due to the lactic acid produced during effective fermentation by living probiotics. It works beautifully as sour “cream”. I figure that the probiotics have brought life to the cooked soy cream base, so I count it as a living food.
  
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  My daily staples include kale or broccoli or organic leafy greens (no dressing) or both. If raw, blending using a Vitamix releases the nutrients from within the tough cellular enclosures. Blending with an apple reduces the bitterness. If I steam veggies, drinking the juice recaptures vitamins lost in the water. (If you’re taking a blood thinner such as Coumadin, please consult a health professional before eating a substantial amount of green veggies.)
  
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  I enjoy boiled and blended orange sweet potatoes, blending them with the cooking water, eating the slightly bitter skins separately. I also enjoy the full–of–life flavors of raw foods, even thinly sliced, skinned sweet potatoes in season, and carrots. If softer sliced raw sweet potatoes are desired, soaking in water in the refrigerator softens them as they swell with water.
  
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  Eating mostly cooked food plus fresh greens and fruit, I’m practicing some of the features of the macrobiotic diet [The Macrobiotic Way by Kushi www.kushiinstitute.org]. Unlike macrobiotic, I rarely eat food that’s been heated higher than boiling. I also tend to avoid tamari (soy sauce) and vinegar since I don’t feel as vibrant after consuming those concentrated fermented condiments. Where macrobiotic recipes call for oils, I use none, substituting water-based sauces. I do eat more leafy greens and raw fruit than generally practiced in macrobiotics.
  
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  If I occasionally over–eat any foods (whoops), I take digestive enzymes extracted from aspergillus yeast, and a probiotic supplement or include a ferment to help quell formation of candida yeast. If I eat nut ferments instead of soy yogurt or probiotic supplements, I limit the amount to just a little due to the high fat and acidity in nut ferments.
  
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  Before boiling legumes or dark grains, I soak them from 8 to 24 hours, depending on the size of the kernel, then discard the soak water and growth inhibitors that have leached into it, rinsing the seeds. At the moment, I’m not so wedded to eating raw sprouted grains, boiling them instead, since I can eat larger quantities with the starches fluffed out by soaking and boiling for easier digestion. Boiling fibers softens and loosens them so that they pass out of the stomach more readily than raw fibers.
  
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  If I have root-shooting sprouted legumes or grains on hand, I usually don’t eat more than a cup of them at a sitting.
  
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  Sometimes I eat a teaspoon of chlorella powder (YaeYama from Source Naturals, 1 lb. size), since it provides extra chlorophyll and protein.
  
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  Often I eat 3 or 4 teaspoons of nutritional yeast spread throughout the day for the protein and many other nutrients it contains. (Please see “Super nutritional algae” and “Nutritional Yeast”.) Although nutritional yeast is one of the vegan foods with more L-lysine than L-arginine, that amount of yeast may well not contain enough excess lysine to balance the rest of my protein intake.
  
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  I occasionally drink sweet green wheatgrass juice when I can get it easily, although it doesn’t seem to be necessary for vibrant health. Hippocrates Health Institute recommends 4 oz. total wheatgrass juice spread over the day. Probably for me that’s too much. Please note that wheatgrass that’s grown out too long tastes bitter, and may show strands of mold forming.
  
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  Raw green sunflower sprouts seem to suit me very well when I can get them. Green sunflower sprouts don’t feel good to me if they’ve grown out so much that they taste bitter. They have to get cut younger to taste mild, before the second pair of leaves grows out.
  
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  I usually don’t make complicated recipes, since I spend enough time chopping or blending so that anything more seems burdensome. Most raw recipes include lots of fats. The emphasis on fats doesn’t work for me since I don’t feel vigorous for a long time after eating larger quantities of them. I eat 400–500 calories of fats daily, usually from a handful of soaked raw walnuts, freshly ground flaxseed, and olives or half an avocado a day. I avoid refined oils, since they weigh me down and qualify as junk food.
  
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  When I cook foods, I usually boil them. Foods can get sautéed in water-based sauces rather than olive oil.
  
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  If I ever do drink any wine, it’s just a sip or two to check out the flavor, since alcohol neither helps my digestion nor sits well. I try not to eat so much fruit, especially at the end of a meal, that fermentation occurs in the digestive tract, producing alcohol and toxins.
  
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  Mixed feelings: Although I adore the sheer sensuality of swirling a bite of banana about in my mouth and the fun flavors and textures of other fruits, it’s probably better for me to emphasize boiled yams, grains, lentils and green veggies due to my tendency to mild hypoglycemic reactions to fruit and to the possibility of fruits feeding candida yeast or mold. I’ve had this tendency toward mild hypoglycemia most of my life. I usually avoid refined sweets.
  
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  When I’m traveling I eat puffed grain cakes like rice or spelt for convenient calories, or dry Ezekiel cereal, plus powdered greens. I’m continually trying to find ways to improve my travel diet, usually taking a backpack of food.
  
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  I rarely eat TSP (textured soy protein). Some manufacturers neglect to clean the oven out between batches, resulting in burned pieces mixed in with the bulk of TSP that was toasted only once. Although TSP tastes lousy if it’s stale, when it’s fairly fresh it has a mild nutty flavor. One can soak and mix TSP with other foods to increase their protein content, but I wonder whether TSP gets completely digested.
  
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  I’ve tried bodybuilder Arlin’s high fat diet, but found it difficult to digest so much fat, mostly avocados, and stay active. If I eat them at night, I don’t sleep long enough, just 3 to 4 hours. Possibly avocados are such power foods that once finally digested they support high activity. With my cool digestion I experienced that high energy level less frequently eating avocados during the day than I would have liked. Using substantial quantities of digestion-stimulating condiments like cayenne to fire my digestion of fats doesn’t feel good to me over the long term. I do enjoy half an avocado per day.
  
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  Preparing almost all my own food, it would be possible to eat an extremely low salt diet. However, I may take 1/4 teaspoon of NaCl spread over the day, especially if I’ve sensed one of the symptoms of hypoNatremia such as recurrent déjà vu or spaciness, due to a tendency toward mild hypoNatremia if I don’t add salt. (Please see “Diuretic disorders”.) I have tried drinking as much as a pint of celery juice daily, but still don’t seem to get enough sodium from food alone to counter my insufficiency of anti-diuretic hormone and aldosterone. With 1/4 teaspoon of NaCl daily I feel grounded and focused.
  
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  By varying the calorie content of my food, with green veggies being low calorie, I can fine-tune my body fat to maintain about half a handful of abdominal fat while sitting.
  
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  I relish the clarity and vigor the whole, unrefined plant food diet supports, as well as “hardly ever” getting sick.
  
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  I walk or cycle about an hour and a half each day, also use free weights to maintain upper body strength for 10 minutes. During the winter I love to get out skiing occasionally, but use the mini-trampoline or treadmill daily; during the summer I board–sail if I have the chance.
  
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  I sleep from 5 to 7 hours.
  
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  I minimize stimulants such as caffeine, occasionally drinking organic green tea or making a sauce with organic cocoa powder if I want caffeine.