![]() ![]() TOPIC: What Is The Best 8-Week Diet Plan For A Summer Ready Body? The Question: The summer is steadily approaching and now is the time to start getting ready for. My sole goal with this blog is to squash out bad science and give folks access to accurate information about diet. What you decide to do with the stuff I say here is completely up to you. As a former decade- long vegetarian (and vegan for the last few years of that), I understand and respect that food choices are sometimes based on more than our own health. I’d like to offer some of those ideas on this page so that anybody personally committed to veganism can maximize their chance of staying healthy, and hopefully avoid the most common pitfalls us annoying ex- vegans blather on about. Although I think many folks would do well with a higher fat intake than some of those doctors recommend (with some caveats we’ll talk about next), the concept of eating. Avoid high- omega- 6 vegetable oilslike soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, or margarines made from these oils. This is particularly important if you’re pregnant or breast- feeding. Woefully unknown to the public and mainstream health experts alike, vitamin K2 is critical for a healthy heart and skeletal system. Among other things, it helps shuttle calcium out of your arteries (where it contributes to plaque formation) and into your bones and teeth, where it rightfully belongs. There’s a new book out called. The chief vegan source is. ![]() If you avoid soy, eat a raw food diet that disallows natto, or simply don’t want to shovel slimy ammonia- scented globs into your mouth, look for a vitamin K2 supplement containing. Vitamin D is crucial for a wide variety of functions. Unfortunately, since supplemental vitamin D3 is usually derived from wool, nearly all vegan versions contain vitamin. I highly recommend using either of those over the D2 versions more commonly available. I personally take about 5,0.
IUs a day, but you may need to adjust your intake depending on your body size, how much sun you get, and whether you’re trying to aggressively treat a deficiency versus maintaining healthy vitamin D levels. Get the most out of your beta carotene. Vitamin A is crucial for healthy bone tissue, vision, proper hormone function, making fully- intact babies, and other things generally regarded as good. ![]() ![]() Unfortunately, the conversion process is wildly inefficient: most folks absorb only a tiny fraction of the beta carotene they consume, and only a fraction of that ever becomes vitamin A. Although some people are just genetically doomed to be poor converters and will probably struggle as vegans no matter what they do, there are a few ways to maximize your absorption and conversion of vitamin A precursors: Eat beta- carotene- rich foods along with some fat. If you’re deficient in them, your vitamin A status will probably be impaired. Lightly cook some of your beta- carotene sources to break down fiber and improve absorption. These foods contain phytates that block the absorption of minerals like calcium and iron, along with enzyme inhibitors and tannins that can cause digestive distress. If you choose to include grains, legumes, or nuts in your diet, you can neutralize some of the anti- nutrients and increase mineral availability by giving your food some tender lovin’ prep. For whole grains, do the following: Put the grains in a bowl filled with enough warm water to cover. Add apple cider vinegar or lemon juice at a ratio of 1 tablespoon for each cup of grain. Let it all soak for at least 7 hours at room temperature. Drain the soak water and cook the grains as you usually would. For most legumes. Lentils and split peas should be soaked for 7 hours, but without any vinegar or lemon juice added. Raw nuts, too, should be soaked in warm water for 7 hours without an acidic medium, but you can sprinkle the soak water with sea salt (and then air- dry them once they’re done). This may sound labor intensive, but it really doesn’t take all that much actual work. Non- heme iron, the form found in plant foods, is less bioavailable than heme iron in animal products. If you’re into green smoothies, those are prime opportunities to blend up something fruity and vitamin- C- packed with an iron- rich leafy green. Also avoid drinking tea or coffee with high- iron meals, since these beverages contain substances that reduce iron absorption. Be kind to your thyroid. Impaired thyroid function can result in fatigue, cold hands and feet, hair loss, poor concentration, trouble losing weight, and short- term memory rivaling your grandma’s. Here’s a table with the iodine content (among other nutrients) of several common sea vegetables. Goitrogenic foods. Strawberries, peaches, and spinach are also somewhat goitrogenic. You don’t have to give up these foods completely (crucifers in particular have some great anti- cancer compounds), but definitely scale back on them if they’re currently a large part of your diet, especially if you already have hypothyroid symptoms. ![]() Not so innocent. 9. Even “The China Study” makes B1. T. Colin Campbell writes: “If you do not eat any animal products for three years or more, or are pregnant or breastfeeding, you should. In fact, low B1. 2 and high homocysteine probably. Try going gluten- free at least as a 3. It shouldn’t take more than 3. Google to find recipes for sauerkraut, kimchi, “real” pickles, fermented salsa, and other delectable vegan- friendly fermented fare, and most health food stores carry some of these things pre- made. Consider supplementing with taurine, especially if you’re pregnant, nursing, or extremely active. Although your body can synthesize taurine from a combination of other amino acids, many folks. Look into “bivalveganism,” a combination of plant foods and non- sentient shellfish. Oysters in particular are a great source of iron, B1. D, and have a small amount of true vitamin A as well. Bivalves don’t have a central nervous system and are generally not considered sentient by traditional criteria, so vegans who avoid other animal products may be more ethically comfortable consuming a few oysters per week. But for the sake of making this page insufferably long, here’s another pile of odds . Unfortunately, these programs don’t distinguish between vitamin K1 or K2, don’t have RDAs set for nonessential amino acids like taurine, usually record beta carotene as “vitamin A” and don’t adjust for its abysmally low absorption rate (meaning that what. Blood Glucose Testing![]() In other words, nutrient trackers can only show you what you’re putting in your mouth, not what your body can actually grab onto. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Calcium in your blood and calcium in your bones are two. Steer clear of websites and forums that tend to “whitewash” bad experiences people have with veganism or that ban members who report health problems (not to name names). If someone says you can get all the B1. Coenzyme Gods, run, far and fast. And as somebody who used to put full faith in everything I read on Vegsource. I’d also recommend doing your own research before trusting what you read on vegan sites about human digestive anatomy, meat studies in the news, and the miraculousness of seitan. That said, my absolute favorite vegan expert is. Norris is a vegan RD who’s astoundingly honest about the shortcomings of a vegan diet, offers science- based solutions to health problems, and. Among all the plant- based health authorities out there, he is hands- down the most likely to give you the truth. There’s no doubt that our modern factory- farming practices suck, but this book shows. Many vegan foods like strawberries, coffee, wine, chocolate, and asparagus are even more environmentally destructive than factory- farmed meat, and Fairlie shows that some of the damning statistics we hear about animal agriculture are grossly inflated. Based on Fairlie’s research, the most sustainable system is. Also worth reading is. I’ve provided some of my own thoughts in an. Just like all those great- grandmas out there who lived to be 9. Guinness as their main food group, there are some folks who really. I have my doubts about how it’ll play out across generations, but on an individual basis, thriving vegans do exist (such as the phenomenal. You may be truly physically incapable of absorbing or converting certain nutrients in their plant form. Your health history, your gut ecology, your medical conditions, and even what your mom ate while you were gestating all influence your current nutritional needs. Trouble thriving is not a personal failure. As much as veganism roots itself in compassion, please consider that you, as a living breathing human, also deserve your own kindness.
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