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

Raw Food vs Cooked Food

Is Raw Food Better Than Cooked?

In the raw food community it's common knowledge that fresh raw food contains more nutrients than cooked food; but is this always the case? And should we always consume raw fruits and vegetables over cooked?  Well, the short answer is no, because it entirely depends on which food we're talking about. Although raw food contains many nutrients that are beneficial to our health, some are better absorbed once the food has been steamed or boiled.  This is simply because cooking breaks down the tough cellulose walls and releases the nutrients; and therefore they become more bioavailable. This is why I'm not a strong proponent of a 100% raw food diet. By limited yourself to only raw foods, you're limiting the amount of valuable compounds that have proven health benefits. Basically, you want to look at the 'net-benefit' when choosing to eat your food raw or cooked. You'll invariably decrease the amount of certain nutrients, while increasing others, but this is why it's important to have a wide variety of raw and cooked fruits and vegetables. For example, cooking may increase the level of carotenoids, but decrease the level of phenolic compounds such as caffeic acid, ferulic acid, quercetin, kaempferol etc. (1). Steaming and boiling seem to be beneficial for some vegetables, whereas frying foods should absolutely be avoided.. Our digestive systems are perfectly able to breakdown the food without enzymes coming from the fruits and vegetables themselves.

Although the nutritional value of foods like brown rice, wholegrains, potatoes are lower than most plant foods, they can certainly be part of a healthy diet for most people, and should not cause any problems. In fact, many raw foodists find it difficult to consume enough calories because of the quantity of food they consume which are not energy-dense! So these foods are rich sources of calories that you can consume if you're falling short of your caloric intake. Legumes such as beans can also be a very healthy and an important part of the diet. One study found that legume intake is the single most important predictor of survival in older people! For each 20g increase in daily intake, there was a 8% decrease in mortality. (2)

From the current evidence that we have, there is no clear advantage of consuming a 100% raw food diet over a high raw food diet between 70-80%. People who practice calorie restriction are not on a 100% raw food diet, but have results that match or are better than raw foodists on several health markers. All of these foods are very good sources for complex carbohydrates and should be consumed as part of a healthy diet. As much people try to aspire to be 100% raw foodists, there is no proven benefit to being this strict. Eating healthy cooked foods is perfectly fine, and in some cases, is more beneficial. I only consume a 70% raw food diet, and have obtained excellent health from doing this diet for over 10 years. Perhaps many raw food obtain 'guru' status because of how strict they are. So many people in the raw food community are trying to reach the same 100% goal as them, but not everyone can achieve this level of discipline. Fortunately, to get great results and great health, you do not have to adhere to a full 100% raw food diet. You just have to a eat a whole food diet which is high in raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Table 1 

Raw Foodists are deficient in Lycopene: In a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers looked at the level of carotenoids in strict long-term raw foodists. In the study they found that despite the fact they were consuming a high level of carotenoids from raw fruits and vegetables, a large number (77%) of the raw foodists were below the normal range for lycopene; and the best predictor for lycopene levels was the amount of fat consumed in their diets. Many compounds including lycopene are fat-soluble; that means they need to be taken with fat to be absorbed adequately. For this reason, it highly recommended that people on raw food diets consume adequate amounts of fat and/or include processed tomato products in their diets. (3). The biggest trade-off when cooking tomatoes is that you lose Vitamin C. Fortunately this vitamin is abundant in a raw food diet anyway.

Tomatoes contain a significant amount of dietary lycopene compared to many other foods. Unfortunately, by eating tomatoes raw, you're losing out on obtaining a significant amount of an important phytochemical. Our body's only able to absorb approximately 10-30%, so to get the most from your diet, you would have to either cook the tomatoes or consume other tomato products which have been processed. tomato sauce, tomato juice, tomato paste, and ketchup are some of the best sources of lycopene. (4, 5)

Why is lycopene important? Lycopene is distributed throughout the body to various organs such as adrenal glands, prostate, breasts, liver and testes; and it's also stored in adipose tissue. It has been found to be protective against many types of cancer including breast, prostate and lung cancer; it's also protective against cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and macular degeneration. (6). Lycopene also significantly lowers the level of oxidative stress. Researchers found that 30 mg of lycopene was able to reduce baseline DNA damage by 9%. (7). In other studies, they have shown that tomato paste can reduce lymphocyte (white blood cell) damage by up to 50% with just 7 to 16 mg of lycopene per day! (8,9). If all these benefits weren't enough to make you want to get more lycopene in your diet and body... lycopene concentration in the skin has been associated with better skin health and increased perceived attractiveness. (10). The glow one gets from carotenoids, signals better immunity and fertility to the opposite sex. (11).

References:

1. Miglio C1, Chiavaro E, Visconti A, Fogliano V, Pellegrini N. Effects of different cooking methods on nutritional and physicochemical characteristics of selected vegetables. J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Jan 9;56(1):139-47. Epub 2007 Dec 11. PMID: 18069785

2. Darmadi-Blackberry I1, Wahlqvist ML, Kouris-Blazos A, Steen B, Lukito W, Horie Y, Horie K.

Legumes: the most important dietary predictor of survival in older people of different ethnicities.

Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(2):217-20. PMID: 15228991 

3. Ada L.Garcia1, Corinna Koebnick1, Peter C. Dagnelie, Carola Strassner, Ibrahim Elmadfa, Norbert Katz,  Claus Leitzmann1 and Ingrid Hoffmann1. Long-term strict raw food diet is associated with favourable plasma. b-carotene and low plasma lycopene concentrations in Germans British Journal of Nutrition (2008), 99, 1293–1300 PMID: 18028575

4. Gartner C, Stahl W, Sies H. Lycopene is more bioavailable from tomato paste than from fresh tomatoes. Am J Clin Nutr 1997;66:116–22 http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/1/116.abstract

5. Rao AV, Agarwal S. Role of lycopene as antioxidant carotenoid in the prevention of chronic diseases: a review. Nutr Res 1999;19:305–23. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271531798001936

6. A.V. Raoa,∗, L.G. Rao. Carotenoids and human health Pharmacological Research 55 (2007) 207–216

7. Sridevi Devaraj, PhD, Surekha Mathur, PhD, RD, Arpita Basu, PhD, Hnin H. Aung, PhD, Vihas T. Vasu, PhD, Stuart Meyers, DVM, PhD, and Ishwarlal Jialal, MD, PhD. A Dose-Response Study on the Effects of Purified Lycopene Supplementation on Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress PMID: 18689558

8. Riso P, Pinder A, Santangelo A, Porrini M. Does tomato consumption effectively increase the resistance of lymphocyte DNA to oxidative damage? Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;69:712–718. PMID: 10197573 

9. Porrini M, Riso P. Lymphocyte lycopene concentration and DNA protection from oxidative damage is increased in women after a short period of tomato consumption. J Nutr. 2000;130:189–192. PMID: 10720168

10. Darvin, M. et al. 2008. Cutaneous concentration of lycopene correlates significantly with the roughness of the skin. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 69,943-7. PMID: 18411044 

11. Ross D. Whitehead mail, Daniel Re, Dengke Xiao, Gozde Ozakinci, David I. Perrett mail

You Are What You Eat: Within-Subject Increases in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Confer Beneficial Skin-Color Changes Published: March 07, 2012DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032988
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0032988