The PhytoAthlete

Thanks for posting this Richard. It is very good information from Dr. Fuhrman. I believe Dr. Fuhrman himself has said in the past that the ANDI scores are not the end all. I believe he is in the process of revising how he calculates it actually since new nutrients have been found in some foods like mushrooms and onions. I believe he has said the main purpose of the ANDI scores is to encourage the consumption of green vegetables, berries, and other nutrient rich foods and discorage the consumption of processes foods such as sweets and oils by revealing how nutrient barren they really are. My main focus is to eat foods high in nutrients, especially phytonutrients/antioxidants,(which are also calculated in the ANDI to my understanding, atleast to what is currently known about them in foods. I believe there are a lot yet undiscovered) so I do try to eat more of the higher ANDI scoring foods.

How often are you eating during the day? Are you getting hungry at night because you aren't taking in enough calories during the day or is it just a habit and not true hunger? These would be questions to consider. If you must eat that late then try to eat only healthy options like fruits/vegetables. Beans and nuts/seeds/nut butters are healthy as well but they would be adding a lot more calories late a night right before I assume you are going to sleep, which within itself isn't necessarly bad IF YOU actually need these calories for your daily activity. The reason you hear so much negative comments about eating late is because usually for most people they are just adding extra calories they do not need right before going to sleep, then they end up gaining fat weight from it.

I believe spirulina is good for you. It has 2 grams of protein in every ounce and 56% of it's calories come from protein. It also should be a good source of phytonutrients/antioxidants. The main downside, it is little high in sodium, but if you don't have high amounts of sodium from other foods on the days you eat it you should be fine. Also, I have read some reports of spirulina being contaminated with toxins, but I do not have any sources to offer where it could be obtained without the concern of toxins.

How has this been going for you, is this been enough calories for your workout load? If not, I would suggest adding some cruciferous vegetables in the afternoon snack. If so, I would eliminate the hot cocoa afternoon snack and just eat the cruciferous vegetables instead. Basically, either way I am suggesting more cruciferous vegetables. This would add more phytonutrients and antioxidants to your diet. Although, cocoa does contain some antioxidants as well you are already having it for breakfast so the vegetables would give you a greater variety of different types of phytonutrients/antioxidants.

Same here.

I would suggest little more protein/fat, like around 15-20% for protein and 15-20% for fat with the rest being carbs which would be in the 55-65% range. Do you know what your various ranges are now?

Welcome. Congrats on getting back into training. This will certainly be the best thing for your long term health. And you are so lucky to be able to play online poker. Here in the states all the big online sites were shut down, it sucks.

I think the most important factor here is exactly what did the 10 men eat who were on the LOV diet? If you get adquate amounts of the essential amino acids, which can be accomplished without eating meat, you should be able to gain muscle just as well as the meat eater. The study doesn't go into enough detail of exactly what the LOV control group was eating, maybe they didn't know enough about nutrition to eat proper amounts of the essential amino acids? Even the study states this "Therefore, if the remaining amino acids (called indispensable or essential) are not consumed in sufficient quantities, protein production is affected adversely. The quality of protein in a food is determined by its indispensable amino acid content. " So maybe the answer is they weren't consuming sufficeint quantities of amino acids because they didn't know how to eat properly. Plus, the study is on a very small number of people, 19 total, and only 10 of which were in the LOV group. I feel confident that if someone eats properly, they can gain muscle with a no meat diet at any age. You may have to be more aware of your amino acid intake for the age group studied because you will naturally be losing muscle mass normally which makes it harder to maintain or gain muscle mass at that age.

I agree with basically everything you said Baby Hercules. Especially this part "Also, when you're eating cleaner you become very aware of anything that doesn't resonate with your frequency. It becomes ridiculously easy to choose food after that. White rice, white potatoes, white (hell, most) breads, and anything else that has calories first, nutrients second, just does't feel right" The healthier you eat the more your body will respond to unhealthy food(respond in a negative way i mean). I always try to eat nutrient rich foods, especially phytonutrient rich. I love wild rice as well.

Recently a study has linked white rice to type 2 diabetes. If you eat a lot of it you may want to try black/brown instead. Here is link to the study. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3307808/?tool=pubmed

Where is this separate topic heading you mentioned? thanks

Very well said, I agree 100%.

Thanks Dylan

Hello everyone, I have been eating the way I do now for nearly 5 yrs. I had some major health issues 9 yrs ago. I am owner of the website http://www.the-phytoathlete.com please visit and read about my story and if I can help anyone let me know.