Daily Archives: December 31, 2015

130 grams of fiber, 2400 calories

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How do I eat ~100 grams of fiber, on average, every day? Here’s my full dietary breakdown from December 30, 2015:

my diet 12-30.png

Green tea is associated with reduced all-cause mortality risk (https://michaellustgarten.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/drink-green-tea-reduce-and-all-cause-mortality-risk/), so I start every day with  green tea + lemon.

Then, I ate a giant salad (https://michaellustgarten.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/what-i-eat-giant-salad/), consisting of pickles, lettuce, tomato, purple cabbage and corn, and topped with a blended dressing of fresh lemon, sesame seeds, cumin, jalapeño, and raw garlic.

Also on the list were sardines, which I eat every day. Snacks in between bigger meals were carrots, 1 whole red pepper, mushrooms, and a Brazil nut.

Then I ate a big bowl of broccoli topped with cherry tomatoes. I added mustard powder after the broccoli and tomatoes were done cooking (~10 minutes), because broccoli’s sulfurophane content decreases with cooking time (https://michaellustgarten.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/restoring-boiling-induced-sulfurophane-depletion-in-broccoli-with-mustard-powder/).

At some point after that I had cod liver oil, to get my daily dose of Vitamin D and the fish oil fatty acids, EPA and DHA. I just (last week) sent my blood for analysis of my circulating Vitamin D, so I may need to increase my vitamin D intake based on what the result shows.

Next I had my beet-berry smoothie (https://atomic-temporary-71218033.wpcomstaging.com/2015/08/09/beet-berry-smoothie/).

For dinner I had my barley-veggie mix (https://michaellustgarten.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/what-i-eat-barley-cauliflower-collard-tomato-celery-onion-corn-mix/), including barley, cauliflower, celery, tomato, corn, collards, onions and olive oil. Also, with an orange for dessert!

In sum, 2400 calories, 130 grams of dietary fiber, and maximal nutrition!

fiber 130

7/2017 Update: When considering the link between linoleic acid and all-cause mortality (https://michaellustgarten.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/the-essential-fatty-acid-linoleic-acid-dietary-intake-and-circulating-values-whats-optimal-for-health/), Ive increased my intake of omega-6 fats, almost exclusively from walnuts, while cutting my carbohydrate intake to try to stay calorie neutral. In doing so, this change increased my HDL from 28 to ~50, while keeping my total cholesterol < 150, and LDL < 70.

If you’re interested, please have a look at my book!

Calorie Restriction Pioneer Roy Walford: Where Did He Go Wrong?

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With the goal of improving health and extending lifespan, Roy Walford was a pioneer in terms of  studying (and implementing) a diet that is calorie restricted but that also contains optimal nutrition (CRON). Unfortunately, Walford died at age 80 from complications related to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Were there any factors in his nutritional approach that increased his risk for developing ALS?

On Walford’s website, http://www.walford.com, he listed 2 sample days of both food intake and his resulting macro- and micronutrient composition:

day 1.png

Although several micronutrients (calcium, sodium, zinc) are below the RDA on day 1, Walford’s 2-day average bring these values close to the RDA. However, his Vitamin E intake on day 1 and day 2 (shown below) are glaringly deficient. On day 1, his Vitamin E intake was only 2.8 mg. On day 2, it was 6.1 mg, for a 2-day average value of 4.5 mg. The RDA for Vitamin E was updated in 2000 (Food and Nutrition Board, 2000) from 8 mg to the current 15 mg-he wasn’t close to either value!

day 2

Dietary Vitamin E has been reported to be decreased in patients with ALS, when compared with ALS-free controls, as shown below (Veldink et al. 2007). Although the subjects of Veldink et al. had an increased calorie intake when compared with Walford (2842 and 2938 calories in controls and in ALS patients, respectively), when scaled down to Roy’s 1500 calorie intake, a dietary Vitamin E intake of 9 mg would be found in ALS patients, with 10.8 mg found in the controls. For comparison, Walford’s 2-day Vitamin E intake was only 6.1 mg! Interestingly, the only other dietary nutrient category that was significantly different between ALS patients and controls was polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) intake, which was also low (8.8g) in Walford’s 2-day diet.

als e pufa

I’m not at all saying that Walford’s dietary deficiencies in Vitamin E and PUFA caused his ALS. It’s also unknown whether the 2 days that he posted on his website are representative of his overall CRON approach. But it’s an interesting observation, isn’t it?

If you’re interested, please have a look at my book!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G48A88A?ref_=k4w_oembed_omIChDjq2EkggX&tag=kpembed-20&linkCode=kpd

References

Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Vitamin E. Dietary reference intakes for vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and carotenoids. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press; 2000:186-283.

Freedman MD, Kuncl RW, Weinstein SJ, Malila N, Virtamo J, Albanes D. Vitamin E serum levels and controlled supplementation and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener. 2013 May;14(4):246-51

Veldink JH, Kalmijn S, Groeneveld GJ, Wunderink W, Koster A, de Vries JH, van der Luyt J, Wokke JH, Van den Berg LH. Intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E reduces the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2007 Apr;78(4):367-71.