The Simple Solution

When I was recovering from my heart attack I felt like I had been given a second chance on life and had better not screw it up. I knew I had to lose weight and start eating right, or I would be asking for trouble in my later years. I believed I had a good handle on the exercise part - thirty minutes a day of aerobic exercise, alternating between straight aerobic and interval training, and weight training including machines and free weights.

It was the diet/nutrition part that depressed me. I knew I was essentially starting from ground zero, because I never paid attention to what my mother or teachers told me about how I should eat. But when I started trying to learn about it I felt swamped by conflicting information.

I want things to be simple! Why make life more complicated than it naturally is?

After reading a pile of books, talking with physicians and nutritionists, and thinking through things as best I could, I came up with a simple solution. Here it is - plant-based nutrition, also called phytonutrients.

Here is what you should do (and what I aspire to do every day) ...

• Eat the nine to thirteen servings daily of fruits and vegetables that the government recommends. Eat more than that, if you can.
• Ensure that you get a variety.
• Eat as much as you can in the raw state. If you must cook them, steaming is best. Only steam veggies until they are crunchy, not mushy. Boiling vegetables leaches the nutrition out and it is thrown away with the water (unless you are keeping it for a soup or something). Remember that heat destroys some nutrients, so any cooking will eliminate those from that dish. Microwaving has been shown to also destroy some nutrients, so avoid that when you can. Actually, some vitamins are destroyed by exposure to sunlight, which, after all, is electromagnetic radiation too.
  
• Focus on fruits and veggies that have high nutrient density (that is, a lot of nutrition per calorie that the food contains) How do you do that? Easy... eat the dark green and purple leafy veggies, eat the red and purple berries, eat the fruit skins. Dark colors mean nutrients and antioxidants are in there.
  
• Ensure that your fruits and veggies are organic, because honestly, nobody knows what trace amounts of pesticides and fertilizers do to humans.
  
• Ensure that they are vine-ripened, because fifty percent of the nutrition in a fruit or vegetable develops in the last week or two before it ripens. Grocery stores contain produce that was picked a week or more before ripeness so that it would ripen along the way or in the store, but if the product was not connected to the mother plant, the nutrition does not develop as the thing ripens.

You think I'm advising you to become a vegetarian. Did I say to quit eating meat? No, I did not. It has been shown that red meat is not good for you, but the best red meat on the market is grass-fed free-range buffalo. If buffalo is not available, purchase grass-fed beef. Cattle did not evolve to eat corn, and it makes them sick, which is one reason the stockyards have to inject them with antibiotics - that, and the fact that in their last days they are standing hock-deep in their own shit. I mean, the guys who are going to slaughter the cattle and process meat for us to eat start with an animal that is covered with shit. Grass-fed, free-range meat is best. But eat it sparingly.

Everyone has heard about chicken and fish. Don't eat the chicken skin. Don't fry it - as delicious as fried chicken is. (Yes, I eat fried chicken once in a while... maybe one meal every six months, I'll have two pieces.)

Do I eat junk? Yes, of course I do. I had a hot dog last week. Yes, I know what hot dogs are made of. I know they have nitrates in them. I ate one anyway. I had a Coke, too, even though I will advise you to stay away from high-fructose corn syrup. I had Fritos. Yes, I know they have a high fat content and lots of salt. When was the last time I had a hot dog, Fritos, and a Coke as a meal? Two years ago. Moderation is important.

The bottom line is this - humans co-evolved with plants. We can consume a lot of other things without dying from what we swallow, but our bodies need phytonutrients to function properly. If your body is properly nourished, there many ailments that will get better without medical intervention.

I can hear you now... nine to thirteen servings of a variety of fresh, organic, vine-ripened fruits and vegetables every day? Nobody could do that!

Heh, heh. How can you do it? That's for me to know and you to find out!

Oh, okay. I'll tell you. But it is lunchtime, so I've gotta go. I'll tell you later.