These 6 tips will help you eat more plant based foods for optimal health. They are gathered from personal experience and research.
1. Abandon Quick Fix Diets
100% of quick fix diets are designed to ultimately fail. Diets are created to get you to spend your money to help you initially lose some weight, then relapse, regain, and go spend your money on the next quick fix diet in an attempt to achieve that initial weight loss like before. Quick fix diets are NOT designed to “cure” the problem.
And they don’t cure anything. They absolutely exacerbate the problems that cause our weight issues and obesity by the first place.
Every single quick fix diet that is designed to cut calories way low, cut all fat, fat all carbs, and/or cut all sugar are further disrupting your natural biological brain chemistry that decide when, what, and how much to eat. When we deprive ourselves of calories, carbs, fats, and/or sugar we do initially lose weight. You are also sending your body into starvation mode.
Starvation mode releases chemicals and hormones in your body that informs your brain of the following: “there is a famine! We MUST seek out as much high fat foods as possible!”
Therefor you start craving high fat high caloric foods even more than you did before you started your diet.
The longer you fight these impulses the stronger these chemicals become, causing you to irresistibly crave high fat, high sugar, high caloric foods (like pizza, deep fried whatever, bacon, French fries). You are literally fighting against millions of years of biological evolution designed for the ultimate survival of the human race. None of us are capable of sustaining that battle for very long.
So inevitably we “cheat” or straight up give up on our diet. So now that you finally gave into your cravings and ate something off your diet plan what does your brain think is happening now?
Your brain now tells your body “hey we are still at risk for the next famine, I need you to obsessively store as much excess fat as possible, even more than ever before”. Your brain and body literally treat this as a matter of life and death.
Okay what do I do then? We tell our brain we have ample access to food and we eat the right food. We do it until we balance our hormones and chemistry so that the day comes when we no longer crave the wrong food. We work with our biology and Mother Nature until we cure ourselves with plant based foods.
Mother Nature created the perfect environment for us to have a harmonious relationship with food. Humans started processing food to make it profitable. Which started off beneficial in some ways such as: accessibility, sustainability, abundance, and livelihoods for many families. Unfortunately all those benefits are now at the expense of our health.
2. Understand and Eliminate Foods that are Addictive
I know this is a plant based dietary plan so many of my readers are already vegans, however I am still going to describe the addictive qualities of dairy. I think it is important information to have whether you are already vegan, vegetarian, or neither. You don’t have to be a “perfect” vegan in order to follow and benefit from these guidelines.
So here is the deal with Dairy:
Dairy is scientifically proven to be addictive! It literally has opiate like qualities in it! So cheese, which is condensed dairy, has the highest concentration of these opiate like chemicals called “casomorphines.”
Casomorphines release dopamine in your brain which makes you feel nice and good (like popping a low dose Vicodin). Learning this explained so much to me! Cheese was the hardest thing to stop eating. I used to love blue cheese.
Why do we love cheese so much? It smells like feet and tastes kind of….. funky if you really think of it. Try to get a kid to eat blue cheese. They wouldn’t touch it. But they love kid friendly cheeses like Mac and cheese. It is all in those casomorphine opioids that make us feel so good.
Doctors and scientists believe dairy contains these opioid chemicals to ensure the survival of ones offspring. All dairy comes from breast milk (of cows mostly). The cow has to be pregnant or just given birth to produce milk. Mother Nature intended that milk go to a new born baby calf (not adult humans).
How can nature ensure the survival of a new born baby? Put drug like chemicals in its milk to make absolutely sure the baby consumes enough calories to grow and survive. All parents have noticed that look on a newborn baby’s face when he or she is breast feeding. Super content, they even look like they are nodding off.
My personal feelings are that we shouldn’t be consuming anyone’s breast milk after we wean off our own mom’s. But certainly if you are wanting to lose weight, accept that dairy, yogurt, and especially cheese are not going to get you there.
The next addictive food culprit is processed sugars.
Studies have shown sugar to be up to 8 times as addictive as cocaine and actually affect the same receptors in your brain.
When we eat foods that are high in processed sugars it releases dopamine in our brains. Over time our brains get used to that amount of sugar and starts needing more and more in order to produce that same amount of dopamine. By this point your sugar cravings are not going to be satisfied by eating a piece of fruit.
If sugar is so bad why are you telling me to eat fruit? Because! Because fruit contains natural sugars that are accompanied by vital nutrients like fiber, protein, and vitamins. The natural sugars in plant foods like fruit are released slowly in your blood keeping your blood sugar steady as they break down.
This is the opposite of processed sugars which have zero nutritional value. Processed sugars cause your blood sugar to spike sky high and then drop suddenly causing you to “come down” and desperately crave more.
Unlike casomorphine opioid containing dairy (which we no longer need at all after we wean off mom’s breast milk as an infant), sugars we will crave all our lives. Natural sugars are fine, and the longer we eat fruit over candy or cake the more we actually crave fruit and stop seeking out processed sugars.
Humans have evolved to a point where we know how to manipulate literally every natural pleasure inducing aspect of life and we over indulge, abuse, and become addicted to those things over time. Things like alcohol, drugs, sex, nicotine, and food have caused many people many problems.
Just remember***IF IT GREW FROM THE EARTH, EAT IT FIRST***
3. Chia seeds
Chia Seeds are great for weight loss and weight maintenance. Not only are they high in protein and fiber, they absorb moisture. This means they will continue to expand in size even after you’ve consumed them. While their nutritional value remains the same they grow in size inside your stomach which tricks your brain into thinking you’re full for a longer period of time.
SUGGESTED USE as an appetite suppressant: sprinkle a tablespoon or less in your regular meal to extend satiety and add some protein and fiber. Or take a teaspoon or so in between meals with a snack or some liquid. Do NOT consume dry as they could get stuck in your throat and expand causing issues.
Chia seeds are also known as Salvia Hispanica and is part of the mint family. It is native to Southern Mexico and Guatemala. There is evidence to show that Chia Seeds were cultivated by the Aztec in pre Columbian times. Chia produce flowers that are purple or white and grow in clusters.
Chia is grown commercially for its seeds which are high in omega-3 fatty acids. They are also high in protein and fiber.
Chia seeds can absorb liquid when soaked thereby making them optimal for egg-replacement in vegan baking.
The following nutritional facts are for one oz of chia seeds dry: 138 calories, 9 grams of fat, 5 mg sodium, 115 mg potassium, 12 grams of carbs, 10 grams of dietary fiber, 4.7 grams protein, 17% calcium, 12 % iron, and 23% magnesium.
4. Agar Agar
Agar Agar is an appetite suppressant just like Chia Seeds. It absorbs moisture and expands in your stomach tricking your brain into thinking you are more full than you are. It must be boiled for at least 5 minutes in order to activate the gelling (growth) agent.
SUGGESTED USE as an appetite suppressant: Try boiling one tablespoon in some tea or soup and drinking/eating it before it fully solidifies.
Agar Agar is a jelly like substance that comes from algae. It is derived from the part of the algae’s cell that forms the supportive structure of the cell wall. Chemically, Agar Agar is a polymer made up of subunits of the sugar galactose. The jelly like quality is only released upon boiling your food product for at least 5 minutes. The gelling properties make this ingredient great for vegan desserts, cheeses, fruit preserves, soups, ice creams, and more.
Other popular uses of Agar Agar include: microbiology experiments, laxatives, soup thickener, a clarifying agent in brewing, and for sizing paper and fabrics.
Nutritional facts of Agar Agar include: 2 tablespoons contain 3 calories, 1 mg sodium, 23 mg potassium, .1 gram fiber, .1 gram protein, 1% iron, and 1% magnesium.
5. Prep raw vegetables for easy access
You are way more likely to consume more raw vegetables if they are already prepped.
Let us say it is lunch time and you are craving a big fat bean and rice burrito with guacamole. Yum! Then you think “I should nibble some cabbage or carrots before I eat my burrito full of carbs so I get a little full first and don’t over eat.” But then you think about how you have to get out the cutting board, slicer, knife, etc and you make an excuse just to eat some more vegetables later.
But if you can just grab a handful of ready-to-eat prepped vegetables and toss then on your plate next to your burrito (or sandwich, or pasta,etc) you will have zero excuse.
Raw vegetables are not the MOST delicious food in the world but they are the most nutritionally valuable. They are low in calories and high in vitamins and minerals. They help your brain chemistry readjust to actually craving healthy food over high fat, cheap, and processed food. Vegetables help you feel full longer and avoid urges to binge on high fat food.
6. Drink Water
It is very important to stay hydrated. Sometimes by the time we actually feel thirsty it can be easy and tempting to grab a high sugary high caloric flavored drink like juice, soda, Gatorade, etc. These are always going to be unnecessary calories. Stay hydrated with water.
I like to keep cold cucumber water in my fridge. The cucumber adds flavor and some vitamins and minerals to satisfy your cravings.
Water also boosts your metabolism and cleanses your body of waste. Water will act as an appetite suppressant so drink it before, during, and in between meals. The more hydrated your body is with water the less water you actually retain, therefor you can and will lose a few pounds in just Water weight wishing days of replacing flavored drinks with just water.
Drinking water is also going to help balance those hormones and chemicals that are out of whack from a lifetime of eating and drinking processed foods.
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