High Nutrition on a Low Calorie Diet

Low Calorie, High Nutrition

Doing Calorie Restriction the right way: I've come across a lot of diets over the last 10 years, and many of them seem to miss out on important nutrients or have serious imbalances which can cause some issues over the long term. When we judge whether or not a diet is working for us, we'll usually just look at the physical changes of our body and not pay much attention to anything else. When eating a very low calorie diet, you really want to make sure that you pay extra attention to the nutrients you are getting to avoid deficiencies. For calorie restriction to work, this is very important. Slight deficiencies over the long term can cause increased rates of disease; they usually don't kill you immediately. 

Deficiencies and imbalances: As a raw food vegan myself, I've had to adjust my diet slightly, as well as use targeted supplementation to protect against deficiencies and imbalances. Unfortunately, in the raw food community - which is growing in popularity - some people are being very ignorant when it comes to these potential hazards. Take for example zinc to copper ratio! These two minerals compete at the same sites for absorption in the gut; so getting too much of one can throw it out of balance and cause a secondary deficiency in the other.  In a raw food diet, copper is usually abundant in plant foods, so we get plenty of that. The problem lies in that we get plenty of copper, but not enough zinc, thus throwing out that balance. It's really not uncommon to get 4 - 5 mg of copper on a raw food diet. Ideally, you want to aim for a Zn to Cu ratio between 8:1 to 10:1. So you want 8 - 10 mg of Zinc, for every 1 mg of copper in your diet. Getting these ratios correct is important because it can have significant effects on your health. Getting this ratio is important because elevated copper and low zinc will increase the burden of oxidative stress in the body, by decreasing levels of superoxide dismutase which is responsible redox reaction or dismutation of superoxide free radicals into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. These enzymes are part of the intraceullular and extracellular antioxidant defense system in the body and are important for protecting against cancer!  Zinc is also involved in many catalytic activities involving 200 enzymes. It plays a significant role in DNA synthesis, cell division, wound healing, immune function and also prevents accelerated ageing.

Any imbalance here can very easily be corrected with supplementation. So if you have to supplement, please do! Signs of zinc deficiency will not show up right away; one symptom that I came across myself early on was dry rough hands. Other symptoms like poor immune system, skin problems, hair loss and more can show up. I've known a few people on high plant diets who had these problems and corrected them when they started to supplement. 

Garlic can enhance the absorption of Zinc: Taking garlic with your food can significantly increase the bioavailability of Zinc by 10 to 70 percent. Every time I have beans, I always try to include some freshly crushed garlic.

Other potential deficiencies on a raw food vegan diet: B12, Calcium and Iron. Unlike Zinc, these can be easily tested for, so get blood work done and supplement where necessary. I personally take a B12 supplement called Methylcobalamin; and I choose my sources of calcium wisely! Kale has more bioavailable calcium than spinach. So remember, even if your CRON-O-METER shows up that you met the recommended daily allowance (RDI), you still can be low.

Eat a diverse range of foods: This is one way to ensure that we are getting proper nutrition and all the protective compounds in plant foods. There are many types of fruits and vegetables which provide unique phytochemicals that are very beneficial to your health and longevity. One of the reasons I think eating a strict fruitarian diet is bad is because fruits have never been shown to be more beneficial than vegetables. Vegetables are much more nutrient dense than are fruits. Fruits can provide you with a lot of calories, but you get vitamins, less minerals, and fewer phytochemicals. 

The aim is simple: Get the most nutrients in the fewest amount of calories possible. A low calorie diet should ideally meet all vitamins, minerals, fatty acids with diet alone. If you can't do that, then don't be afraid to supplement where it is needed.  I'm no longer a strong proponent of taking huge amount of supplements unless there is a specific disease or problem to target. Sensible targeted supplement will only help you in creating a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle. A low calorie diet or a raw food diet is very healthy when done right. Unfortunately, a lot of people miss things on the diet because they didn't have the right information or were misinformed by others.

What I eat in a week: I've had requests in the past by a lot of people to show what I eat in a week. So from Monday I will record everything until Sunday. I'll put information in CRON-O-METER also. So look out for updates on this!


Reference 

1. Gautam S1, Platel K, Srinivasan K. Higher bioaccessibility of iron and zinc from food grains in the presence of garlic and onion. J Agric Food Chem. 2010 Jul 28;58(14):8426-9. doi: 10.1021/jf100716t.

2. Josko Osredkar and Natasa Sustar
Copper and Zinc, Biological Role and Significance of Copper/Zinc 
Imbalance
http://omicsonline.org/copper-and-zinc-biological-role-and-significance-of-copper-zincimbalance-2161-0495.S3-001.pdf