Re: How many veggies do you eat?

[Guest guest]

>Hi All,

>

>I'm concerned that I'm not getting enough veggies in my diet, but then

>again, maybe they aren't as important as I once thought? So I thought

>I would take a poll and find out what you all are eating. I would say

>I get about 3 servings per day in addition to kimchee. Also about 95%

>of my diet is comprised of traditional foods/traditional food

>preparation including broths, meat and fish, raw dairy and eggs,

>coconut oil/cream, soaked grains (minimal), nuts & seeds.

>

>

How do you define " serving " ? I eat 3 1-cup servings of kimchi

a day, which is probably enough vegies for anyone, but we

may have a salad too, and I often cook with tomato sauce

and add onions and garlic to about everything. Also I commonly

have potatoes with dinner. I have 2-3 fruits a day too, plus

wine with dinner.

I think fruits and vegies both have good stuff in them that

might not be found in meats (raw organ meats being exceptions).

But also, I just love them! The pectin in apples helps the gut

bacteria produce butyrate, the colorants in berries and grapes

are antioxidants, cabbage has vitamin K.

Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

> I'm concerned that I'm not getting enough veggies in my diet, but

then

> again, maybe they aren't as important as I once thought? So I

thought

> I would take a poll and find out what you all are eating. I would

say

> I get about 3 servings per day in addition to kimchee. Also about

95%

> of my diet is comprised of traditional foods/traditional food

> preparation including broths, meat and fish, raw dairy and eggs,

> coconut oil/cream, soaked grains (minimal), nuts & seeds.

>

>

I'm so glad you asked this - I was thinking about it more and more

lately.

I probably don't get as many veggies as you do. A couple of times a

week I eat tomato, radish or cucumber at breakfast. I've started

stir-frying a mix of carrot, green peas, broccoli, bok choy and

sprouts with ginger and garlic plus protein of choice and I have

that for lunch. I really need to eat more dark leafy greens but I

don't care for salad during cold weather. I also eat a lot of dairy,

eggs, coconut milk, etc. I probably have 1 fruit a day.

Magda

[Guest guest]

I feel that the bulk of our diet SHOULD be vegetables. If it is not,

then it is too easy to eat too much protein or grains, which will

cause health problems in the long run... I'm starting to see that

alot of people way overdo protein. Check out Jack Tips book, The Pro-

Vita Plan. I highly recommend it!

Becky, who eats 2 good sized salads, 2-3 cups cooked veggies, and 1-2

cups of fresh fruit per day.

>

> > I'm concerned that I'm not getting enough veggies in my diet, but

> then

> > again, maybe they aren't as important as I once thought? So I

> thought

> > I would take a poll and find out what you all are eating. I would

> say

> > I get about 3 servings per day in addition to kimchee. Also about

> 95%

> > of my diet is comprised of traditional foods/traditional food

> > preparation including broths, meat and fish, raw dairy and eggs,

> > coconut oil/cream, soaked grains (minimal), nuts & seeds.

> >

> >

>

> I'm so glad you asked this - I was thinking about it more and more

> lately.

> I probably don't get as many veggies as you do. A couple of times a

> week I eat tomato, radish or cucumber at breakfast. I've started

> stir-frying a mix of carrot, green peas, broccoli, bok choy and

> sprouts with ginger and garlic plus protein of choice and I have

> that for lunch. I really need to eat more dark leafy greens but I

> don't care for salad during cold weather. I also eat a lot of

dairy,

> eggs, coconut milk, etc. I probably have 1 fruit a day.

> Magda

[Guest guest]

[] I'm concerned that I'm not getting enough veggies in my diet, but then

again, maybe they aren't as important as I once thought? So I thought

I would take a poll and find out what you all are eating. I would say

I get about 3 servings per day in addition to kimchee. Also about 95%

of my diet is comprised of traditional foods/traditional food

preparation including broths, meat and fish, raw dairy and eggs,

coconut oil/cream, soaked grains (minimal), nuts & seeds.

[MAP] My impression is that a good level of veggie intake can be

anywhere between 0% and 50% of a diet. Humans are very flexible. As

far as ideal diets go, not just adequate or good ones, I'd say the

range would be between 5% and 50%. At a minimum, some sea veggies and

some leaves would be the top priority.

In the winter you can use dried leaves of all kinds in soups, as is

ubiquitous in cuisines around the world. Additionally, various

veggies and other plant foods lend themselves to root cellaring. And

of course kimchi!!!! (BTW, , your diet sounds incredible--why

worry?)

Getting a high percentage of your diet from veggies would entail

eating a lot of starchy roots, a successful practice in various

cultures. There is no intrinsic advantage to getting a big chunk of

calories from starches (roots and/or good seeds) instead of fat, or

vice versa, although they are not equivalent for a small percentage of

specific individual physiologies, as well attested by the sorts of

people who populate these kinds of email communities.

The mainstream wisdom about veggies seems correct to me. They do

indeed supply countless nutrients not available from animal foods,

although none of these are essential. Personally I like to stack the

odds of getting good stuff, especially currently unidentified

nutrients, by eating a varied as possible diet, and so I eat a lot of

leaves, sea veggies, non-starchy roots, stems, and sprouts (which are

sort of veggies, sort of seeds), all in small quantities. As a rough

estimate, about 25-35% of my diet is veggies, depending on the season.

I also eat non-sweet fruits like peppers and tomatoes. If you

factor out starchy roots, which I don't consume at all, this is on the

extreme high end of veggie intake. I haven't heard of anyone, offline

or online, who eats this many veggies. I'm not suggesting my diet is

superior to others; I eat this way for personal reasons largely

related to a low calorie intake. Also, my fruit consumption is

negligibly small if you factor out " veggie fruits " , essentially just

some wild berries I pick in season. Nothing wrong with fruit, just a

personal choice resulting from several independent considerations.

About 95% of my veggies are from a local (ten minute drive) organic

farm, my garden (working on this part! total newbie!), or foraged from

the wild (my backyard). The main exceptions are ginger and garlic,

and of course sea veggies, but I get them from Larch Hanson in Maine,

so they are wild and about as bioregional as possible for me.

Ultimately, I think of veggies in two categories. The first category

is great stuff, the second is neutral.

1) concentrated, often medicinal foods used in small quantities.

Consider the word " herb " , which essentially captures this idea by

referring to a spectrum of leaves (and possibly roots) used in very

small quantities. Each plant offers its own unique cornucopia (and

possibly pharmocopeia) of secondary nutrients (antioxidants, etc), and

a little probably goes a long way. Very few non-starchy veggies lend

themselves to consumption in large quantities due to insoluble fiber

content. From a theoretical perspective as well, excessive fiber

could inhibit mineral absorption.

2) caloric filler, with potentially useful low-level nutritional

contributions in ideal soil. This category is basically starchy

roots.

[becky] I feel that the bulk of our diet SHOULD be vegetables. If it is not,

then it is too easy to eat too much protein or grains, which will

cause health problems in the long run...

[MAP] I have one word for you: fat.

This is the email group about NT after all! :-)

Okay, I never stop at " one word " ... If " bulk " means more than 50%,

good luck; I'll believe it when I see it. Assuming the standard fixed

protein amount, about 20%, you'd have to drop your fat intake down

below 30%, certainly doable but sketchy, and that's an *enormous*

amount of starchy roots you'd be eating, in low-fat recipes no less.

While this is feasible, to suggest that such an extreme diet " should "

be eaten is, of course, absurd, considering it offers no inherent

health advantage over a diet with more fat instead of veggies, not to

mention the vocal minority of people with compromised physiologies

requiring high fat diets.

Also, there is nothing inherently health-adverse about grains or other

seeds. Many cultures have thrived basing a huge chunk of their diet

on " good " grains (not modern common junk grains like wheat), nuts, and

legumes, prepared suitably.

Finally, for the average person with no special goal other than to be

healthy and happy, if they can achieve this eating only, say, 5%

veggies, why should they eat more? Since our species is so dietarily

flexible, it would be hard to disconfirm this approach. Keep in mind

the traditional diets of the Inuit (no veggies except some stomach

contents of prey) and the Masai (no veggies except herbal medicine).

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay