What’s on the Menu?
In This Chapter
- The origin of dietary guidelines
- Introducing the Food Triangle
- Plant-based food groups to please your palate
- Eating at the top of the triangle: leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables
Dietary goals and guidelines for Americans date all the way back to 1894, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed the first generation of a food composition table and guideline, Foods: Nutritive Value and Cost. Much of it was centered on overcoming the economic barriers that existed for food choices. In 1916, the USDA Farmers’ Bulletin 712: School Lunches provided foods grouped for the first time to facilitate public education through discussions about appropriate preparation of balanced school lunches. At that time, the five food groups were protein-rich foods, cereals or starchy foods, fatty foods, vegetables and fruits, and simple sweets. Since starvation and undernutrition were so prevalent in children, much of this messaging centered around ensuring adequate intake. A year later, in Food for Young Children and a series of three bulletins entitled How to Select Foods, milk gained increasing emphasis across all diet recommendations, particularly for children. Food recommendations were based mostly on the USDA’s charter to promote the sale of agriculture, and in all these early bulletins, it was clear that food promotion and the economy of food was as much a priority as the fledgling health recommendations.
Over the next century, the USDA periodically updated and re-released food guides. These guides have progressed through 12 major food groups in 1933 to the Basic Seven Food Guide in 1942. In 1956, the seven were condensed to the “Basic Four” food groups—meat, milk, vegetables and fruits, breads and cereals—in the publication called Essentials of an Adequate Diet. In 1979, the Hassle-Free Guide to a Better Diet emphasized calories and fiber, allowing sweets, fats, and alcohol to supplement the basic four food groups in moderation. Beginning in 1980, the first Dietary Guidelines for Americans emerged, and this report is currently updated every 5 years.
The Food Guide Pyramid that emphasized a hierarchy of food intake recommendations was introduced in 1992. With grains as its foundation, followed by fruits and vegetables; then dairy products and meats, eggs, beans, and nuts were stacked on top. Sweets and fats appeared at the tip of the pyramid to represent their minimal recommended limited intake. This widely recognized pyramid was tipped over on its side in 2005, and in 2011, they retired the pyramid and MyPlate was born.
Today, you can log on to the MyPlate interactive website and learn about how many servings are recommended for you (based on your age and estimated calorie needs) and use their tools, such as daily checklists, quizzes, BMI calculators, and more. Yet again, the new MyPlate divides foods into new agriculturally centered groups of dairy, grains, vegetables, fruits, and proteins. Hey, we now know where to get our protein; it’s on the plate!
Through this evolution, it has become quite clear that a conflict continues between economics and nutrition. Protein was likely used to blur the difference between beans and beef, but as we learned in Chapter 2, it’s not a particularly helpful way to think about food. Recall that research demonstrates increased healthspan by limiting those essential amino acids, which result from excessive animal protein in the diet. We believe using protein as a group adds to macroconfusion and talking about food using actual food names (e.g. carrots, kale, and lentils) may be a better choice, instead.
Unfortunately, politics are involved in the making of these government guidelines and heavily influenced by lobbying and funding. Because of this, health concerns often take a secondary position when determining these recommendations. However, independent entities and practicing dietitians have developed food group guidelines based strictly on health outcomes found from sound scientific research.
One of the issues everyone faces is overcoming dietary bias. Food is an integral part of culture, family, celebration, and even self. Attempting a diet that is radically different from how you have been eating can be alarming. Even physicians and dietitians are often in a situation of unfamiliar dietary waters. We have some sources in Appendix D and even journal articles we wrote specifically to help your physician better understand the nutritional benefits of a whole food, plant-based diet. Actually, it’s more difficult to overcome the bias in the discussion than to execute it in real life.
Ditch the Pyramid for a Triangle
While some might find food groups helpful, we’d like to arrange them in a slightly different way. Because the nutritional density for plant-sourced food is so much higher than most animal products, it’s a lot easier to get what you need without a lot of planning. In fact, from a purely nutritional perspective, it’s far easier to live exclusively on plant-sourced food than exclusively on animal-sourced food. Many of you are transitioning from a mixed, omnivorous diet and we want to take the guesswork out of your journey. Until the new diet is equally familiar, convenient, and enjoyable to your old diet, you won’t have the willpower to overcome the urges; one or more of these three motivations will eventually take you back to old habits.
We’ll stick with the general groups of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and herbs and spices. To date, each of the former groupings of food have attempted to simultaneously address both agricultural economy and nutrition. Much of this advice is carried over from a time when starvation and malnourishment resulted in undernutrition. We want to arrange food purely for healthspan and that translates to sufficient nutrition with the minimum calories to meet your activity needs.
Mixed Greens
According to the World Health Organization, in 2011, we crossed a major historical milestone: the number of people worldwide who were overnourished outnumbered the people who were undernourished. In June 2017, it was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that nearly one third of the worldwide population is overweight or obese.
We would like to introduce the Food Triangle as a new paradigm to arrange food. It was developed by one of our coauthors along with researchers at Harvard and National Institutes of Health to represent a wide range of research data supporting healthspan and longevity. In chapter 1, we discussed the role of diet in extending the lives of a wide range of organisms. The Food Triangle takes the guess work out of food choices. It’s a simple tool for not only recognizing food choices that will lead to weight gain, but also a helpful reminder of how to eat to get the most nutritional bang for the buck.
The Food Triangle provides an easy way to visualize food organized by both increasing energy density and distribution of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. It places emphasis on whole-food in place of macronutrient percentages.
(Used with permission from Mary Ann Liebert Publishers, Inc.)
Here’s how to use the Food Triangle. At the top (apex) of the triangle, you’ll see the emphasis on the green side of our food palette, with leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, bulbs, mushrooms, and stems. These should be the foundational foods for every meal and, in terms of volume, the biggest part of your plate. These foods can be eaten in nearly unlimited quantities and they are loaded with vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antimicrobials, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and fiber. All this plant goodness and you know what’s missing? Calories. Hence, unlimited eating!
Now, down each side of the triangle, there is an increase in the energy-providing foods that will fuel your activity. They are divided on the left side as animal-sourced food and on the right side as plant-sourced food. This is because plants and animals concentrate nutrition differently. For example, we discussed in Chapter 4 that phytonutrients and fiber are found only in plant-based food. What plant- and animal-sourced food have in common is the calories that fuel activity. Animals tend to store energy as various fats (mostly saturated), while plants tend to store energy as starches and sugars. Foods chosen from the left side of the Food Triangle represent an Atkins-, vegetarian-, or paleo-style diet. They tend to eliminate whole-food starches and fruits (note, we didn’t say carbs) from the diet. A plant-based, or vegan, diet is composed of foods down the right side of the Food Triangle. Now that we have the top and the sides of the Food Triangle defined, let’s explore some of the fun of using this tool to predict our food future.
Recall that the early guidelines for eating and balanced meals were mostly directed at overcoming malnourishment due to the economic scarcity of food that existed at the time. When we look at meals from many cultures, we see an interesting pattern: steak and potatoes, burger and fries, fish and chips, pasta and meat sauce, curried meat and rice, cheese and tortillas (quesadillas), pork and beans, eggs and pancakes. Do you see it? Yes, each of these traditional meals are composed of foods from across the bottom of the Food Triangle–bottom feeding! If calories and food are scarce, as they were a century ago, this makes perfect sense. But today, in our world of sun-up to sundown eating, this is a perfect way to pack on the pounds.
We have a simple message for you to follow: keep eating to the right! It’s a straightforward formula for increasing health span and, if you ditch the salts, oils, sugars, and flours, you’ll find that choosing what to eat is greatly simplified and proper weight and good health are magically achieved. We’ll return to more details on weight management in Chapter 15. Let’s take a closer look at our food palette and see how eating to the right is a one-stop shop for plant-powered health.
The New Palette to Please your Palate
On the right side of the Food Triangle, we find vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and herbs and spices. Although some might see a plant-based diet as restrictive, for most people, eating to the right is going to increase the variety of food, resulting in more choice. The best part of our new food palette is that macroconfusion vanishes. No more carbs to count and no need to worry about protein. By eating a wide range of intact plant-based food—apples not apple juice, beets not beet sugar, potatoes not french fries—your diet is filled with vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antimicrobials, antioxidants, and fiber. Let’s take a closer look at all the amazing goodness each group has to offer.
Vegetables
Interestingly, the term vegetable isn’t scientifically defined. Rather, it’s a culinary term. The closest thing to a definition for vegetable is an edible plant or part of a plant other than a seed or sweet fruit. With that definition, categorizing certain foods such as mushrooms can be tricky.
Mixed Greens
Is corn a vegetable, fruit, or grain? Actually, it is all of these. Botanically speaking, corn is a fruit. When harvested and eaten, corn is a vegetable. If harvested when the seeds are dry, it’s classified as a grain.
The vegetable category includes the following:
Underground Storage Organs (USOs) are the underground parts of plants which are rich in starch or sugar and used for plant energy storage. USOs include roots, or taproots (carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, and radishes); tubers, or underground swollen stems (potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, jicama, cassavas—manioc or yuca, Jerusalem artichokes, and celeriac); bulbs, or leaf bases (onions, leeks, garlic, and shallots); corms, or underground stems (water chestnuts, malanga, tannia, eddo, yautia, and taro); and rhizomes, or underground stems (horseradish, ginger, turmeric, and burdock).
Stems and stem shoots of the plants eaten as vegetables include celery, asparagus, kohlrabi, rhubarb, cardoon, ginger, and bamboo shoots.
Buds and flower buds are protuberances on the stems or branches of the plants. Examples are broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, capers, globe artichokes, and cabbage.
Leaves of plants consumed as vegetables include spinach, kale, collard greens, beet greens, turnip greens, endive, lettuce, Swiss chard, watercress, arugula, purslane, rapini, radicchio, and mustard greens.
Nonsweet fruits are buds or flowers of plants that are fleshy and contain seeds. Great variation occurs with respect to appearance and composition. Vegetables in this category may include cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados, pumpkins, olives, sweet peppers, chili peppers, eggplants, breadfruits, and bitter melons.
Whole-plant sprouts are edible, germinated plant seeds usually produced by soaking seeds in a specific manner. These nutritionally dense vegetables contain high levels of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. Seeds commonly sprouted and consumed are alfalfa, broccoli, chickpeas, mung beans, peas, sunflower, quinoa, clover, buckwheat, and fenugreek.
Fungi are small, plantlike organisms that lack chlorophyll and cellulose and absorb food through their cell walls. When referring to vegetables, fungi are more commonly known as mushrooms. Lauded for their numerous health benefits, gourmet mushroom varieties include portobello, shiitake, maitake, chanterelle, oyster, king oyster, crimini, porcini, enoki, button, truffle, morel, and straw. Medicinal mushrooms, typically taken in teas or powder form, include turkey tail, reishi, zhu ling, chaga, and cordyceps.
Sea vegetables, as the name implies, come from the sea and are filled with minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and fatty acids. Included in this category are nori, dulse, kombu, and wakame.
The vegetable group consists of the most nutrient-dense food available, overflowing with vitamins, minerals, starch, fiber, phytochemicals, antioxidants, amino acids, and essential fatty acids. Veggies are also very low in calories. They provide the maximum nutritional bang for your caloric buck!
Healthy Hint
Sprouts are superfoods. They’re rich in easier-to-digest energy; bioavailable vitamins, especially B-complex, alpha-tocoherol (vitamin E), and beta-carotene (provitamin A); minerals; amino acids; proteins; enzymes; and phytochemicals because these nutrients are all necessary for a germinating plant to grow. Sprouts are easy to DIY. All you need is a clean jar, water, and some seeds, and in a few short days, you’ll have sprouts.
Fruits
Colorful, sweet, and often edible, fruit is the reproductive, seed-bearing portion of a plant. Plants use fruits as a method to disperse their seeds and, using animals as the middlemen, increase proliferation.
For purposes of nutritional consideration, fruits can be divided into the following groups:
Citrus fruits are characterized by a thick rind, most of which is a bitter white pith known as albedo, covered by a thin, colored skin known as the zest. The flesh of the citrus is segmented, juicy, and acidic. Flavors range from bitter to tart to sweet. Grapefruits, lemons, limes, kumquats, oranges, and tangerines are in the citrus family.
Berries are small, juicy, antioxidant-rich fruits grown on bushes and vines. Thin-skinned berries contain many tiny seeds—so small, some are not even noticeable. Berries must be fully ripened before harvest because they won’t ripen further after they’re picked. Included in this category are blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, and currants.
Melons are members of the gourd family. The dozens of melon varieties can be divided into two general categories: sweet (or dessert) melons and watermelons. Sweet melons have a dense, fragrant flesh and a netted rind. Watermelons have a watery, crisp flesh with a thick rind. All melons are approximately 90 percent water. Included in the melon family are cantaloupe, honeydew, casaba melon, crenshaw melon, Santa Claus melon, watermelon, red seedless watermelon, and gold watermelon.
Pomes, or tree fruits, contain a central core with many small seeds and thin skin with firm flesh. Apples, pears, and quince are pomes.
Stone fruits, also known as drupes, are characterized by thin skin, soft flesh, and a single woody stone or pit. These fruits tend to be fragile, with a short shelf life. Included are apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, and cherries.
Tropical fruits are native to regions around the world with hot, tropical, and subtropical terrain. Because of ample transportation, these fruits are available for consumption everywhere. The most commonly eaten tropicals are bananas, dates, kiwi, passion fruit, mango, papaya, and pineapple. But you can find the more exotic tropicals such as jackfruit, rambutan, lychee, cherimoya, mangosteen, durian, custard apple, dragon fruit, longan, guava, and star fruit at farmers’ markets, local Asian markets, or even online. Many of these have flavors that aren’t easily described; the best way is to experiment for yourself and enjoy nature’s dessert.
Grapes are technically berries that grow in large clusters on vines. Thanks to the wine industry, they’re the largest crop in the world. With at least a dozen varieties, grapes are classified according to the color of the skin, either white or red. Not only are grapes used to make wine, but they’re commonly eaten fresh or dried (raisins). Included in the most popular varieties are Thompson seedless green grapes, Concord grapes, and red flame grapes.
Fruits are healthiest consumed fresh and as close to harvest as possible, when the nutrients are at their peak concentration. The moment a fruit is plucked, certain micronutrients begin to degrade. After fruit is cut, blended, juiced, or manipulated in any other way, oxygen exposure is maximized due to increased surface area and oxidation begins.
Plant Pitfall
Canned fruits typically contain added syrups (sugar products), juice, and preservatives. Canned fruits are also subjected to high heat during the canning process. Make canned fruits your last choice for fruit options, and if you must use them, be sure to rinse them before consuming.
Frozen fruits may be more ideal than fresh sometimes in terms of nutrient content. Fruits are usually flash-frozen, which means they’re thrown in the freezer immediately after they’re picked. This process slows nutrient degradation.
Dried fruits, as the name implies, are dehydrated and are a more concentrated source of sugar without any of the satiating water content. Although they are healthy treats for most, dried fruits should be limited if you’re trying to watch your weight or blood sugar. Select fresh fruits instead on most occasions.
Whole Grains
Grains are a low-cost simple staple most cultures around the world have consumed as the basis of their diets throughout history. Botanically classified as grasses that bear edible seeds, grains are also referred to as cereals. Kernels of grain are usually protected by an outer hull or husk and are composed of the germ, the endosperm, and the bran.
The germ, the smallest constituent of the grain, is the only part that contains fatty acids. The endosperm, the largest component, is high in both starch and amino acids, which is why it’s the part utilized in making milled products such as flour. The bran that covers the endosperm is full of fiber and B vitamins. It (sometimes along with the germ) is removed to make refined products. To consider a grain whole, it must retain all three parts when consumed.
You can include a vast variety of whole grains in your diet. Some popular whole grains include brown rice, wild rice, barley, and oats. Supergrains like amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat are excellent choices and versatile in recipes.
Definition
A supergrain is a grain extremely high in essential amino acids, including lysine and methionine, not common in other grains. Supergrains are also exceptionally high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
Legumes
Legumes are plants from the pea or pod family and include all beans, peas, lentils, and soyfoods. They are excellent sources of amino acids, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Of the hundreds of types of beans, some are used for their edible pods, while others are used to shell for fresh or dried seeds. Included in the legume category are green beans, snow peas, shelling peas, black-eyed peas, okra, all varieties of lentils, and all dried beans. Although peanuts are technically legumes, they are nutritionally and culinarily more like nuts.
It may surprise you to find items like snow peas and okra in this category. However, the definition of a legume is a fruit or seed of any bean or pea plant consisting of a casing that splits along both sides with the seeds attached to one of those sides.
Nuts and Seeds
Although nuts and seeds may get a bad rap for being high in fat (yet another victim of macroconfusion), they are extraordinarily nutritious and health promoting. A better way to think about nuts and seeds (and avocados, too) is that they are jam-packed with powerful nutrients and fat simply comes along for the ride. Paradoxically, despite the high fat and calorie content, people who consume nuts regularly tend to have lower body mass indexes and less body fat. Clinical studies have repeatedly demonstrated zero weight gain, and in some cases a weight loss, when adding nuts to the diet. Some might call them magical calories as they seem to disappear, but there is ample evidence to support that adding nuts and seeds to your diet is a net positive.
Using the Food Triangle, you will load up on the foods at the top, add enough nuts and seeds to get basic phyto-goodness and round out your diet with whole-food starches. Don’t be fat-phobic, but at the same time take note that you can overeat nuts and seeds more easily than starchy vegetables or fruits. With that out of the way, let’s dive in on the nutrition.
Mixed Greens
In one clinical study, a single serving of Brazil nuts (20 grams or approximately 4 nuts), significantly lowered LDL-c (“bad” cholesterol) and raised HDL-c (“good” cholesterol) within 9 hours of consumption, and these new levels remained for 30 days!
While individual nuts and seeds boast their own nutritional profiles, generally speaking, they are loaded with essential fats, phytosterols, lignans, ellagic acid, trace minerals, vitamins, and ample antioxidants. Consuming 1 to 2 ounces (or 30 to 60 grams) per day has been shown to promote cardiovascular health and protect against type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, macular degeneration, and cholelithiasis. It has even been shown to enhance life span. Seeds, too, are special in that their essential fat ratios are well balanced, and they contain multiple trace minerals and phytonutrients. We’ve included a table of essential nutrients found in nuts, seeds, and other high-fat plant foods. These foods make excellent bases for sauces and dressings and enhance absorption of fat-soluble nutrients. Go nuts!
Notable Nutrients from Nuts, Seeds, and Other High-Fat Plant Foods
Herbs and Spices
Offering minimal calories or macronutrients, herbs and spices encompass a whole category of ingredients that often goes underappreciated. These powerful gems offer not only flavor and variety, but also ample phytonutrition and disease-fighting capability. Aim to integrate more herbs and spices—such as turmeric, garlic, and ginger—into your food as a base infusion in a recipe, a seasoning sprinkled into a dish, or a topping before the first bite.
Putting Greens at The Top of Your World
The top of the Food Triangle emphasizes these truly magical foods because they’re genuinely like nature’s medicine. No other food group is as nutrient-dense as leafy green vegetables. Here are some of the reasons leafy greens are the superheroes of the plant-based world:
Because leafy greens are so low in calories and high in fiber, they’re ideal for weight management.
They’re cancer-fighting powerhouses.
Atherosclerosis, the process of clogging arteries, is hindered by leafy greens.
Leafy green intake is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
The carotenoids hidden by the dominating chlorophyll pigment boost immunity.
Many disease processes can be ameliorated by a consistent supply of leafy green vegetables. (We’ll discuss this more in Chapter 16.) Because of their strong ability to heal and reduce risk of disease, treating your body to a constant stream of greens like spinach, kale, and collard greens, will do it good. You can do this easily by making green smoothies and adding leafy greens to soups, pasta dishes, stews, salads, and virtually any recipe you make. Ask for side dishes of steamed greens when eating out, and order a salad as an appetizer or as the main dish.
Greens range from neutral to bitter in taste, so you can match them with what you’re eating. Interestingly, there are two potential genetic taste oddities: Some of you may find brussels sprouts bitter, while others might think cilantro tastes like soap. There are many complex flavors in greens that will take time to appreciate if your basic palate is dominated by sugar, oil, and salt. An interesting experiment to try is steaming kale and tasting it every 30 seconds over 6 to 8 minutes. You might find that it tastes slightly bitter when raw, but at about 4 minutes, it becomes bright green and the bitter flavor is replaced by a nutty, mild flavor. For many that haven’t really cared for kale, this may be a wonderful discovery.
Plant Pitfall
Oxalates are naturally occurring salts found in many plant foods such as berries, almonds, cashews, peanuts, soybeans, okra, quinoa, cocoa, tea, and chocolate, but oxalates are especially found in some leafy green vegetables, such as spinach, Swiss chard, collard greens, parsley, leeks, and beet greens. Because they may decrease absorption of calcium and other minerals, emphasize variety in foods eaten on a regular basis.
With so many different varieties and tastes, you can experiment to see which ones you prefer to eat and in what ways. Just be sure to eat them as often as possible to boost and protect your health!
The Least You Need to Know
- We have a long history of puzzling pyramids, plates, and macroconfusion.
- The Food Triangle offers a unique, super simplified tool to help guide your daily food choices.
- The focus of your plant-based diet should be on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and herbs and spices.
- A huge variety of whole-plant foods can tempt your creativity and easily keep your nutrition sound.
- Incorporate leafy green vegetables into your day as often as possible to benefit your health in every way possible.