In search of answers and proof for the doubts I had, I followed several courses. At the Wageningen University and Research I followed a MOOC entitled “Plant Based Diets – Food for a Sustainable Future”. At the European Academy for Natural Healthcare in Antwerp I became a food coach. With the online courses of PNI Europe and Natura Foundation I delved into the evolution of Homo sapiens, explored the insights provided by orthomolecular medicine and by clinical psycho neuro immunology (cPNI). Today I present the conclusions I reached after this journey.

The Evolutionary Perspective

The most important insight I developed the past year is to take an evolutionary perspective to understand how we should live. The modern human arose about 300,000 years ago in Africa. Our DNA has not evolved much since then. To comprehend our dietary requirements, we must look at our evolutionary roots. Throughout our history, animal proteins have played a crucial role in shaping our physiology and cognitive development. As hunter-gatherers, our ancestors relied on animal sources for sustenance, which provided essential nutrients, such as complete proteins, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, iron, and vitamin B12, that were vital for our survival and flourishing. Red meat became only relatively recently a frequent source of protein. This also applies to grain-based foods like bread.

Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine emphasizes the significance of optimal nutrition for achieving and maintaining good health. It recognizes that everyone has unique biochemical needs so a one-size-fits-all approach does not suffice. The Natura Foundation also promotes an evolution-based approach in which animal proteins offer a highly bioavailable and complete source of essential amino acids. Proteins are the building blocks of life, enabling numerous vital functions in the body, including tissue repair, hormone synthesis, and enzyme production. The course I followed strongly encourages the consumption of vegetables and fruit in combination with fish and other seafood as well as of eggs and poultry.

Clinical Psycho Neuro Immunology

Clinical PNI (or “KPNI” in Dutch) explores the intricate interplay between the mind, body, and immune system. I love the holistic approach of this school of thought and its strong basis in science. It highlights the impact of psychological and emotional well-being on overall health. While plant-based diets can certainly provide adequate nutrition, it is crucial to consider the potential psychological and emotional effects of dietary choices. cPNI highlights several potential health risks associated with the consumption of soy and legumes (e.g. Anti-nutrients and digestive issues). For some individuals, the inclusion of animal proteins in their diet may positively influence their mental health and overall well-being.

Stay Off Mammals

Both cPNI and orthomolecular medicine raise concerns regarding the consumption of red meat and dairy because of Neu5Gc (N-Glycolylneuraminic acid). This is a type of sugar molecule found in these animal products. Neu5Gc is considered a non-human antigen as our bodies do not naturally produce it. When you consume red meat and dairy products containing Neu5Gc, your immune system may recognize it as a foreign substance, potentially leading to chronic inflammation and triggering autoimmune responses. Red meat and dairy are also known for increasing other health risks. For one I’ve chosen to stay off red meat and considerably limit my consumption of dairy… even cheese !

Ethical Dilemmas and Considerations

I have great respect for those who live a vegan life. Ethical concerns surrounding animal welfare have prompted many to adopt this lifestyle. The ethical argument against the consumption of animal proteins is compelling, as factory farming practices often involve cruelty and environmental harm. Acknowledging these concerns, it is essential to promote ethical and sustainable farming practices that prioritize animal welfare, such as free-range, grass-fed, and organic farming.

Striking a Balance: A Healthy and Sustainable Approach

While acknowledging the ethical dilemmas surrounding animal protein consumption, and the implications on the environment, it is in my opinion realistic to consider the negative health aspects of veganism. A healthy and sustainable approach to diet should consider individual biochemistry, cultural diversity, as well as the environmental impact of our choices. Incorporating a variety of protein sources, including both plant-based and animal options, can provide the necessary nutrients for optimal health while minimising ecological impact.

Conclusion

The question of whether the human diet needs to include animal proteins is multifaceted and requires careful consideration. Exploring the evolutionary perspective, orthomolecular medicine, and clinical psycho neuro immunology reveals the significant role that animal proteins have played in our development as a species.

To achieve optimal health while fostering a more sustainable future, my recommendation is to embrace a diverse diet that focuses on the following basic rules:

• Eat natural: steer away from processed foods.
• Eat the rainbow: consume mostly foods that are alkaline (ph > 7), veggies and fruits.
• Mind your proteins: limit your consumption of acidic foods (ph < 7) but make sure you get enough proteins.
• If you eat animal proteins, ensure the inclusion of ethically sourced produce, preferring fish, eggs and poultry.
• Minimise dairy, avoid eating red meat altogether (for many reasons, more than mentioned above).

Apart from all this: relax, take enough rest, sleep well (check out “the healthy big five“)!

1. Live healthier by following a 100% plant-based lifestyle
2. Reduce in the process our impact on the planet’s resources
3. Eliminate animals’ suffering and stop the huge scale production of animal protein. 

The win-win-win is ideal in multiple ways. For instance, by cutting our consumption of animal proteins, we reduce the impact of massive meat production on the environment such as deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions AND we improve our health e.g. lower the risks of heart-related diseases and cancer. Also, by reducing the massive scale of animal farms, we reduce the risks of pandemics for humans AND we improve animal welfare.

Hence, my reasoning has been: “let me demonstrate that I become healthier on a plant-based diet and hopefully in the process I’ll inspire others to contribute to the triple win.” 

To validate this reasoning I went back to school, graduated as a food coach in June 2022, and followed a course from PNI Europe (introduction in “clinical psycho neuro immunology”, “KPNI” in Dutch). Both courses have convinced me to revise my standpoint to some extent.

I still do not eat meat!

However, I have reintroduced animal protein in my regimen. This is a departure from my idealistic win-win-win standpoint, so I feel the need to explain what and why I changed.

What Has Not Changed: A Solid Plant-Based Foundation

I still believe that a mostly plant-based approach to life is the way to go. From a human health point of view, our menu should be based on 80% alkaline ingredients, vegetables and fruits! This still needs to form the bulk of man’s diet. Why is explained here.

Considering the amount of unhealthy crap (sorry!) in processed food, I still believe that organic, pure, non-processed food is the way to go. Please read the ingredients of what you buy before you put in your mouth. Wheat? Avoid – see why here. 

Vegetable oils, like sunflower and peanut oil, beware! They contain Omega 6 fats which are responsible for low-grade inflammation.

To lower the logistics impact of the food system, I still go for mostly seasonal and local produce. That’s why I’m a customer of Boerschappen.

Still No Steak For Me!

Red meat like beef, pork, lamb… are still on my black (or red) list. I strongly advise against eating these foods. The biggest issue: they contain a molecule, Neug5Gc, which humans cannot synthesize, and that presents many issues. The largest risk is that Neu5Gc results in low-grade inflammation. See for instance “A red meat-derived glycan promotes inflammation and cancer progression”. Or just Google “Neu5Gc”.

Additionally, the molecule resembles the human Neu5Ga and that means that pathogens (viruses and bacteria) can sneak in our bodies and make us sick.

Bottom-line: red meat lowers your immune defences. 

Not Fake Meat Either!

I occasionally order a veggie hamburger in a restaurant but I don’t buy the fake meat products you find in supermarket. That’s 100% processed food, and the ingredients are most often unhealthy. 

Only exception: tempeh because it’s mostly pure and it is fermented. Fermented vegetables contain bacteria that are good for one’s microbiome.

What Has Changed: Some Animal Protein

This has been months in the making but here it is… I am no longer a vegetarian. Let alone that I have adopted a vegan lifestyle. I have not joined the dark side completely either. I still don’t buy meat and I very rarely eat it. However, I am back eating animal protein: a bit of cheese, eggs, fish, and seafood. 

Note, by the way, that the awful Neug5Gc molecule is also present in milk and cheese, in high quantities in goat cheese. Eating that from time to time is a risk I’m willing to take occasionally. Cheese 🧀 and wine 🍷remain my drug of choice. Oh yes, and chocolate 🍫 as well.

What Happened?

Let’s go back to the beginning. When I engaged on my “French Food Philosopher” journey I was convinced that going vegan was THE solution for the sustainability challenges our planet is facing. A great win-win-win was the ideal that motivated me: better human health through good food, much lower impact on natural resources, far less animal suffering.  

Doubt however was gnawing at me. My professors made it clear that vegans do not get enough vitamin B12 and Omega 3 fatty acids. And as I’m against industrial, processed products, I found it weird that one of the “wins” meant compromising with an important principle: having to eat processed foods. 

Furthermore, I found that eating legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas) to get to my daily intake of proteins felt unpleasant. After all, flatulence is not only socially awkward, but also a sign that your body is struggling to digest something. And in my case, there is a clear indication that I struggle to digest legumes. One of the reasons for that can be found here.

The PNI course has made it clear to me that lectins, one of the substances contained in legumes, are not a human’s friend. See for instance “The Problem With Lectins” in this article.  

As always, it’s not an “all of nothing” law. The point is that we cannot rely on legumes, grains, seeds and nuts to live healthy lives. We also need some intake of animal protein.

Changed Menu

Long story short: everyone’s body is unique. It’s up to you to find out what best works for your health. I won’t deny that animal proteins can be needed in a human’s diet. In my case I eat fish or seafood twice a week. Poultry? I’m still seating on the fence.  

Additionally, I use ghee (clarified butter) to cook – next to coconut and olive oil. And you’ll find butter, a bit of cheese and a little dairy on my menu. Not a humongous change, but a departure from my ideal “win” based on a 100% plant-based lifestyle. 

Should you want more information, scientific sources or otherwise, please drop me a note.

A serendipitous event: a week or so prior to Valid’s Vitality week I had the pleasure to follow a lecture by Ekaterina Griga. Ekaterina is among other things a therapist and teacher in “Healing Food”. She discussed the Big 5 of healthy living. The bottom-line is: being healthy is a holistic endeavour. These Big 5 summarise what can do to remain vital: Breath, Hydrate, Eat,  Exercise, Rest. These Big 5 resonated in my mind during the whole Valid’s Vitality week.

Below follow some tips based on each of the Big 5. 

Breath!

Obviously the biggest of the 5 is ensuring that you keep breathing! In our modern life we are surrounded by a lot of stressors: all sorts of alerts from our smartphones – instant messages, social media messages, e-mails, breaking news… – loud urban noises, a never-ending list of things to do, etc.

Stress and breathing are very strongly interconnected. As your brain sends stress signals to your body, your heart starts pounding and your breathing becomes more superficial. This in turns triggers the production of hormones that prepare your body for a flight of fight situation. We are not usually involved in life-threatening situations, so stress-induced shallow breathing takes energy away from more important processes like digesting.

An interesting concept in relation to breathing is cardiac coherence: you can control your heart rate variability by controlling your breathing. Here is a simple article about this: “What is Heart Coherence, and Why is it so Powerful?”.  This piece contains more scientific explanations: “Cardiac coherence, self-regulation, autonomic stability, and psychosocial well-being”.

Hydrate your Body

What your body mostly need next to oxygen is water. Hence, make sure you drink enough of it! As your body needs to remain PH-neutral (see the topic acidic-alkaline balance under “Eat”), stick to water, fresh herb infusions and smoothies of fruit or vegetables. Basically, everything else is acidic. Do not worry too much about how much you drink. Drink when you are thirsty … or feel hungry! I learned that a light hunger feeling in fact is a cry for water. You are truly hungry when your stomach rumbles.

Eat Healthily

Most of my blogs are about this topic. Suffice to say here that the essence of healthy eating is about balancing the alkalinity in your food: you body needs 80% alkaline (veggies and fruit) and 20% acidic (protein-rich) foods. The older you get the more important it is to respect this basic (pun intended) premise.  See here for more information on this topic. As we explained during Valid’s vitality week, one can combine eating AND drinking healthily thanks to smoothies: there is a lot of water in fruit and vegetables so don’t hesitate to make a smoothie to get enough greens.

Exercise Brain and Heart

This is straightforward: as a species we are made to move. Our whole body needs exercise to stay in shape. Ideally, you should be active for 30 minutes every day. Walking is particularly recommended. Split those 30 minutes in 3 times 10-15 minutes if that suits you better, early in the morning, at lunch and after dinner for instance. During Valid’s week we introduced the “Ommetjes” (take a stroll) app which added a competitive incentive. Any kind of nudge helps adopting a new behaviour. That’s why we also introduced BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits concept during Valid’s vitality week.

Rest – At Least Sleep

When we rest, sleep at least, our body resets itself. Rest is vital for better mental health, increased concentration and memory, a healthier immune system, reduced stress, improved mood and even a better metabolism. Intermittent fasting is one of the ways to give your body a rest. Here’s a nice article about “The Benefits Of Resting And How To Unplug In A Busy World”. Here’s a good article – especially for students – about “The importance of rest for academic success” which explains the difference kinds of rest that you need. Do at least one thing every day to remain healthy: leave your smartphone or computer alone one hour before going to bed and get enough sleep.

Remain healthy? As easy as one through five.

What common sense has known for centuries is increasingly demonstrated by scientific research. A well-maintained microbiome, having a wealth of bacterial bugs in your belly, is clearly positive for your body’s immunity. Reversely, an unhealthy gut is known to be the source of many physical and mental diseases. This list is very long, from benign or mild (skin rash, burping and farting, acid reflux, stress…) to serious and even life-threatening issues (Crohn’s, various cancers, Alzheimer’s…). 

The short of it is: want to leave a healthy, preferably long, life? Take care of your gut!

Have Chronic Pains? Pay Attention!

Here’s something you might want to try. It’s called food combinations.  I have tried this for a few weeks, and I see results already: I’ve lost a few pounds, my belly is flatter, I sleep better, my feces look better…

The theory behind food combinations is very simple. Macronutrients (carbs, proteins, fats) are digested differently. Your body produces different enzymes for each sort of foods. Starches are digested by the enzyme amylase, among others. Amylase is present in your saliva. Fat is broken down by the enzyme lipase, made in the pancreas. Lactase breaks down dairy products. Proteases help digest proteins, like meat products and are produced in the stomach and pancreas…

Hopefully you get the picture: digestion is a complex process. The production of enzymes calls upon various organs: glands in your mouth, pancreas, liver, intestines. For each sorts of food various organs are used differently.

For more information, consult this article or this one.  

Food Combinations

For the body to process food efficiently and effectively we need to combine macronutrients wisely. This helps your body use a minimum amount of energy and absorb nutrients optimally. If you combine foods poorly, you exhaust your digestive organs AND miss nutritional benefits.

The bad news is that combining food healthily requires a radical new approach to preparing meals. There are a few good combinations and unfortunately, many bad ones. See below the illustration.

I am not making this theory up. It has been documented by Jan Dries, among other people, in various books. Jan is among other things the author of “The New Book of Food Combining: A Completely New Approach to Healthy Eating”. You can purchase this and other books by Jan on Amazon.com and Bol.com.

Good News!

The good news is that you can combine most vegetables anyway you want. There are a few exceptions as some vegetables are very rich in starch or fat so they fall in those categories. The way it works is that you may combine any category of food with another compatible one in the same meal. For instance:

• Breakfast – Overnight oats with plant-based milked (mostly water), avocado or any vegetable of your choice
• Lunch – A greens salad with nuts and seeds, with an egg omelette
• Diner – Stir fryed vegetables with rice.

In the illustration below you see a more comprehensive view of good and poor food combinations.

Fruit is a different story. Fruit is digested quickly, it leaves your stomach within approximately 20 minutes. You can best eat fruit separately, as an appetizer 20 minutes before any meal.   

What About Legumes?

Legumes, like white beans and chickpeas present an issue! They naturally are rich in protein and starch. As you can see in the drawing those two ingredients are incompatible in terms of food combination. This combination is also present in cereals but the ratio is better, the amount of protein in cereals is far lower than in the case of legumes.

In order to digest legumes well combine them with lots of vegetables. For instance mix a little bit of lentils in a salad with lots of green leafy vegetables.

A Good – and Tasty! – Food Combination Recipe

To make it clear that food combinations are compatible with a tasty meal, here’s an example. Thanks to Boerschappen again for the great ingredients and creative recipe!

The dish: celery medallions with truffle potatos, oven baked beets and (vegan) pesto.

Ingredients for two persons:

• 400 grams truffle potatoes
• 400 grams beets (the original recipe is with carrots but I replaced them)
• 200 grams celery
• Mustard, flour, water, pepper for seasoning
• Coriander / cilantro or whichever fresh herbs you have.

This foods combination is “green”:

1. Celery, beets, fresh herbs = vegetables 
2. Potatoes and flour = starch
3. Pesto = fat

Slice the beets in cubes and bake them in the oven on a tray for about 20 minutes. Boil the potatoes and cook them as you like.

Grate the celery. Mix that with a good spoonful of musterd, pepper, salt, some flour and water to bind the celery. Make little balls of the mixture. Throw the balls in a hot pan (use coconut or rice oil) and flatten the balls to create hamburger style paddies. Bake those 4 minutes on each side. 

Put celery medallions, sliced potatoes, beets on the plates, drizzle pesto. the chopped cilantro or other herbs on top. Enjoy!   

Alternative Plant-Based Burgers OK?

So what to do as a vegetarian or vegan? I have tried a couple of alternatives from the supermarket but can’t say their taste blew my sock off. On top of that: I looked at the ingredients’ labels… That too did not please me. Those “fake meat burgers” contain a rather long list of vague ingredients like flours and E numbers.

Why stop eating meat and choose an alternative that is unhealthy and has a unnecessary high carbon footprint?

Let’s take advantage of the protein transition to create a “eat healthier” transition!

Should you know of a healthy, carbon-neutral and tasty alternative, please let me know!

Home-Made Mushroom-Lentils Burgers

In the meantime, here is a good solution in case you crave a good burger: make one yourself.

Inspired by a delicious lentils meal earlier this week I looked for a recipe that combined those with mushrooms, one of my preferred Umami ingredients. Below is my version of De Hippe Vegetariër’s mushrooms-lentils burger.

Ingredients:

• Dry lentils, about 100 gram
• Mushrooms, 250 gram
• Shallot, one
• Garlic cloves, two
• Soja sauce, a couple of teaspoons
• Miso, a teaspoon
• Oats, a tablespoon
• Chia seeds, a tablespoon

Cook the lentils in water in about 30 minutes (follow the instructions on the package).

In the meantime: chop the garlic cloves and heat them up gently in a pan. Blitz the mushrooms together with the shallot and the soja sauce.

Add the mushroom mix to the hot pan with garlic and cook that up. Turn the oven on, around 180 degrees Celsius.

Using the same mixer, chop the oats fine and after about fives minutes add the oats, lentils and chia seeds to the mushrooms in the pan. Season it with salt and pepper. Let this simmer at low heat until the water is absorbed and the mixture feels consistent.

Turn the mix into six or eight paddies, lay them on a baking sheet and set this in the oven.

Turn the paddies after 5 minutes; they’re ready after another five minutes or longer if you prefer them slightly toasted.

Serve your plant-based as you like. Unfortunately I did not have fine bread buns today so I served them together with corn and romanesco with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Hope you enjoy those! Please let me know what you think.

This piece was triggered by a health incident that happened to a family member. An acute pain in the lower back led to a short stay in the hospital and a series of investigations. We are not sure about what exactly happened but it was caused either by a small kidney stone or by a beginning bladder infection. Either way this incident led me to look into the phenomenon of our body’s pH. To stay healthy we need to maintain a balance between the acids and bases in our bodily fluids and gases. This is called homeostasis. You can find more info on Wikipedia, among other places.

As a high-schooler I learned about the concept of pH (water is neutral, pH = 7), alkaline (ph > 7) and acidic stuff (ph < 7). Never until said incident did I realize that our body also needs to maintain a stable pH, around 7.4, between 7.35-7.45 to be precise. Alkaline is better than acidic for our body. Why it matters? Because a disturbed balance can lead to health issues.

Eat Alkaline, Avoid Acidic!

Let’s not dwell on the consequences. Just remember that acidity is bad for you. Your digestive system functions optimally if your pH remains neutral. The short-term issues of an acidic system are annoying: fatigue, diarrhea, constipation or bloating, heartburn, loss of libido… In the long term the impact can be serious: osteoporosis, chronic digestive problems, arthritis, joint and ligament problems, and yes: kidney stones! Read this piece, “The effect of body acidity on health” if you want to know more.

There are clearly enough reasons to avoid becoming acidic. The bad news is: acidity grows as we grow older and our body decays. More bad news: some foodstuffs are acidic and contribute to this process. So let’s try and avoid those.

The good news: there is plenty of foodstuff to eat your way toward maintaining a balanced and healthy pH. The recommendation is to eat 80% alkaline and 20% neutral to moderately acidic foodstuff.

As could be expected, plant-based ingredients fall mostly – but not completely – in the first category. And yes, as could be expected, what’s bad for you falls in the acidic category: sugars, alcohol, animal-based proteins, processed food. Surprisingly this category also includes fruits (sugar) and nuts.

Read a complete article on the “Total Wellness” website. Here’s an overview for your convenience.

An Alkaline Recipe

We recently ate at a nice restaurant in Breda, Chocolat, and were treated to a delicious “tomato steak tartare“ appetizer. Here’s my interpretation. Good news: it’s alkaline and it’s quite simple!

Your choice of tomato? Whatever you find but the meatier the tomato, the better. On the photo’s you see “Coeur de boeuf”.

Skin off: slightly slice the bottom and dip the tomatoes in boiling water for a few seconds. Dip them then in cold water and peal the skin off.

Dice it: slice the tomatoes and remove the seeds and excess water. Then chop the fruit (vegetable, whatever) in the smallest dices you possible can chop. Leave the chopped pieces in a strainer to drain.

Season it: prepare the seasoning of your choice. To add umami to the tomato I used two little shallots, chive, tea spoons of chopped capers, a little smoked paprika powder, cayenne and regular black pepper, sweet chili sauce and balsamic vinegar cream. Start with small portions, taste and add seasoning to your taste.

Rest and serve: leave the mix in the fridge to let it geld colder. Drain the water.

Spread the tartar on fresh bread or toast, add sprouts for decoration, crunch and some more alkalinity.

Enjoy and stay healthy!

Let me give you a real-life example and the list of my go-to pantry and freezer ingredients.

One of our favorite dishes is pasta. Fortunately nowadays it is simple to find delicious and healthy, plant-based pasta. By “healthy pasta” I mean one that is not based on wheat but on alternative flours like peas or lentils. Read here why I prefer to avoid wheat-based products.

A tasty sauce begins of course with chopped onions and garlic. Luckily onions and garlic stay good for a long time so hopefully you had some on hand before going away. That was my case today.

To add some heat and umami I like to use peppers. Have a jar of jalapeno peppers in your pantry if you don’t have fresh ones. Want some more bite and a little bitterness? Add chopped olives to the mix, think traditional puttanesca sauce: add capers if you have some. In my case I didn’t have any and I used green olives. No worries, the taste is still great.

No fresh tomatoes is not an issue either as long as you have a jar of passata, ready-made tomato sauce. Stock up organic passata, preferably in a glass jar instead of in metal tin. Glass is tasteless and resistant to acids. Some of the plastics that are used to coat food tins have come under criticism. The BPA / BADGE (bisphenol-A diglycidyl ether) that they contain can be passed on to the preserves in small amounts. This substance is suspected of being a possible carcinogen. So to remain on the safe side: choose passata in glass instead of in tin.

While your sauce warms up, set water to boil for the pasta. Add whatever greens and beans you have to your sauce. Luckily I had fresh spinach in the fridge and a tine of cannelloni beans in my pantry drawer. Although not on the picture I also added frozen peas to the sauce. Once the sauce and pasta are ready, throw the pasta in the sauce pan and serve, with or without added cheese or cream as you like (grated parmesan, mascarpone, plant-based cream…).

As promised, here are a few suggestions of things to keep handy in your pantry in jars, tins or frozen, year-round:

• Plant-based milk (oats, coconut, soja…) milk
• Legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas)
• Vegetables (green peas or runner beans, spinach, broccoli, canned diced tomatoes)
• Sauce bases (coconut cream or milk, passata)
• Grains or non-wheat-based carbs (rice, quinoa, couscous, plant-based pasta)
• Condiments (mustard, sambal, jalapeno peppers, grilled bell peppers, capers, olives)
• Spices
• Dry or canned fruits

Enjoy the summer and your vacation. And upon return: enjoy your meal!

A Plate Full of Knowledge

Those three items are keeping me intellectually busy:

• Two students in Nutrition & Health from the Wageningen University & Research, Eva Everloo and Ella Stephens, have produced an excellent online course on EdX – “Plant Based Diets: Food for a Sustainable Future”. I will share some of their wisdom and insights later. The course is now closed for enrollment but I reckon it will reopen one day.
• The new book “The Plant Based Athlete” finally reached my home. I’m on chapter 3, “It’s time to have the protein talk”. This book is well written, I highly recommend it already. It’s exciting as it promises to help you make a personalized choice, regardless of what your motivation and fitness levels are.
• I picked up a new hobby: reading labels on packages in the supermarket. The webinar “Food as Medicine”, in Dutch (“Voeding als Medicijn”) organized by Ivo Houben of How2BeHealthy, among other things, how to recognize healthy ingredients on food labels.

Glass Half Full: Protein Transition

Whether it’s DNA, karma or education, I have had to train myself to take a positive outlook on life. It is sometimes challenging to discover a silver lining in the flow of negative messages surrounding us. I choose to see the three aforementioned nuggets of knowledge as anecdotal evidence that the world is warming up (no, not talking about the climate) to the idea of a protein transition.

We need to eat less meat and adopt a plant-based diet. For the sake of our health, that of our planet and – yes, these are big words – the survival of the human race. Obviously I suffer, like everyone else, a condition called “confirmation bias”: I look for evidence that reinforces my convictions.

Hence my pledge to back my standpoint with objective evidence. Thanks to the sources I mentioned before I will come back to that!

Orange Dish

In the spirit of the European Football Championship (Soccer) and as the Netherlands are playing tonight I’m happy to close this piece with an orange dish. Thanks to Boerschappen for this “Oranje AVG”, it’s delicious. It is yummy and it is based on locally sourced ingredients, as always with Boerschappen.

• Just mix small potatoes with oil, pepper, salt and paprika powder and bake them in your oven for 30 minutes.
• Grill orange cauliflower (it’s extra full of vitamin A) for a few minutes in a pan and add them to the potatoes for the last 10 minutes and put a little (Dutch) cheese on top to melt.
• In a pan saute some garlic and onions and bake mushrooms and/or a vegetarian burger in a bit of butter (learned from Ivo: to bake, real butter is beter than olive oil).

Voilà: an orange potatoe-vegetable-burger dish. Full of healthy carbohydrates, proteins and fat and micronutrients. My photograph doesn’t do the dish justice. It really is delicious!

Based on a this dish, here is a reminder of what constitutes healthy foods, based on the Canadian government’s food guide.

Source: https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/

Enjoy, and stay tuned!

How it Works

As far as I’m concerned intermittent fasting is a way of life, an eating pattern, not a diet. Intermittent fasting (I.F.) means that you take all your meals within a relatively short period of time, or you eat one day and not the next. There are quite a few models to implement I.F.; this article describes five different methods, with a good analysis of their pros and cons.

My Own Experience

My I.F. pattern is similar to the “Leangains” or 16:8 method: fasting during sixteen hours and taking meals within an eight-hour period. I stick to this pretty strictly every weekday and follow a somewhat looser pattern in the week-ends.

A personal trainer, Marc Raats, introduced me to I.F. about three years ago. I wondered about how to go about eating in combination with exercising. I hated to go for a run with a stomach full with my breakfast (first meal in the morning, hence “break fast”). Marc told me he did not eat before exercising and he mentioned I.F. which I researched and ended up adopting.

My daily pattern looked something like this:

• Sport – Start the day with running or fitness, without eating anything until lunch
• Eat – Enjoy a big lunch at noon, snack with a fruit or vegetable snack around 3pm, have dinner around 6 or 7 pm.
• Fast – until the following day.

It took me about a week to become comfortable with this pattern. For sure, not having breakfast was hard at first. Warm beverages like tea and coffee helped me cope during the first few days.

For a variety of reasons I shifted the timeline and these days I eat a small breakfast around 8am, a large lunch and a light afternoon meal. I love to run in the morning, for up to two hours, on an empty gut. Ending my eight-hour eating cycle around 4pm means I digested well when I go to bed.

Weight Loss Benefits

When you are not eating you give your body time to lower insulin levels and your fat cells can then release their stored sugar, to be used as energy. You lose weight because your body burns fat if you let insulin levels go down.

During the past three years I noticed that whenever my weight goes up, for instance during holiday periods, I find it easy to bring it back to my desired level within a couple of weeks. To be completely transparent: my weight has remained steadily between 76 and 80 kilos.

Health Benefits

Besides losing weight, you may experience improved heart and brain functions because of reduced insulin. Research suggests that intermittent fasting is beneficial for reducing inflammation and improving conditions associated with inflammation, such as Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis and even stroke. It also helps to prevent diabetes type 2.

Another benefit of fasting that is strongly suggested by research is that it induces autophagy. Your body consists of billions of cells. Over time, unwanted molecules can build up inside those cells and sometimes this can damage the cells. Autophagy is the natural process whereby your cells remove these unwanted molecules. Autophagy also seems to play an essential role in the immune system by cleaning out toxins and infectious agents.

Warnings

Skipping meals and limiting calories can be dangerous for you if you suffer from conditions such as type 1 diabetes. Beware also if you take medications for blood pressure or heart disease as you may be more prone to imbalances of minerals during periods of fasting. In short: please consult your doctor before experimenting with IF should you take medicines for a chronic disease.

If you, like me, adopt intermittent fasting, be extra mindful of what you eat. As you may eat less in quantity, the quality of your calories is of more importance than before. Feed your body with healthy food and avoid “useless”, processed foods. As always, I recommend the blue zone guidelines to help you create a balanced menu.

Blue Zones Guidelines

Interesting? Want to know more about intermittent fasting? You can find below a few links of articles I used to prepare this article. I am also keen to hear about your experience, please share your thoughts and feedback!

Links for your information:

• Does Intermittent Fasting Work?
• Intermittent fasting: Surprising update
• Time-restricted eating – a detailed intermittent fasting guide
• 4 intermittent fasting side effects to watch out for
• Intermittent fasting: A path to changing life and fighting cancer
• Autophagy: Everything you need to know

Here’s a summary of this useful and interesting 1,5 hour webcast. You’re welcome 😜

As made clear by his background, refusing to work for a company that contributes to poor health, John Robbins is on a mission to help slash risks of chronic illnesses (heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia…) by 80% by doing four simple things:

• not smoking
• maintaining a healthy weight
• exercising regularly
• and most importantly by eating a healthful diet.

In his masterclass John, assisted by his son Ocean Robbins, deconstructs what he calls four lies (I prefer the word “myths”) and presents ten keys to a healthy diet. Here they come…

Four Myths

Myth #1: Healthy Eating iIs Confusing & Complicated

True, there’s a lot of confusion that is relayed by the media and sustained by all sorts of fads.

What constitutes a healthy diet is quite well understood and quite simple: eat more plants and fewer animal products, hy away from ultra-processed foods and eat whole foods.
Plant-based foods provide all that you need: fibers, anti-oxidants, essential fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals… all sorts of ingredients that are essential to your health.
Each body is different, however, so your diet needs to be fined tuned to your self.

Myth #2: It Can’t Bbe Real If My Doctor Doesn’t Know It

Surely you recognize this one! Doctors are not trained as dietitians and traditional medical education gives little attention to nutrition. Your general practitioner is trained to act as a firefighter. They look at curing your symptoms instead of preventing them in the first place.

Part of the responsibility is yours. Look at how to prevent illnesses through healthy habits rather than focusing on curing them.

Myth #3: Healthy Food Is Boring

It’s not for nothing that your kids prefer a “Happy meal” above broccoli. Indeed, people’s association with “good for you food” is that it’s unpleasant. And usually we associate food that is enjoyable with “bad for you food”. Unfortunately the food industry spends billions of euros every year on developing, producing and advertising foods that play on our natural desires for short-term pleasure.

It is high time that we realize that highly processed, fatty, salty and sugary foods are just as unhealthy and addictive as tobacco. The sugar tax may come, but you don’t have to wait. We all need to learn how to prepare and enjoy delicious AND healthy food.

Myth #4: You’re Too Small To Make A Contribution

Shifting to a (mostly) plant-based diet is good for you as well as for our planet. We know that 80% of the world’s agricultural land is used to produce meat, eggs and dairy products. The industrial food processes, from agriculture, the ensuing production and logistics that lead to processed food on your plate, have a great impact on our environment. These processes contribute to the destruction of ecosystems, the emission of greenhouse gas, climate change and in the long run they impact our ability to grow food.

For more information about this, read this article and study by the University of Oxford: “Plant-based diets could save millions of lives and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions”.

Something Robbins said truly amazed me: what do you think would happen if the entire world went vegan? Just bear with Robbins for this example. About how much land would become available?

The answer: we could AND feed the entire human population AND free up an area equivalent to…

• the whole of Europe,
• the United States,
• India,
• Australia,
• and China combined!

You can make a huge difference on some of these challenging issues by eating less animal products and more plants.

Ten Keys to a Healthy Diet

John and Ocean Robbins then turned to share tips, the “10 Mighty Plant-Powered Keys.”

Key #1: Eat REAL Food

This means avoid the ultra-processed food-like substances that make up most of the calories in the modern, Western diet. When you eat fresh whole food, you help your body to have all the nourishment you need.

Key #2: Eat… Not Too Much

Robbins claims that the average American eats 500 calories too much on any given day. So, eat plenty of fibers because it provides a sense of bulk that leads your belly tell your brain “I’m full”. Eat a nutrient-rich diet: with a whole-food diet you don’t eat excess calories.

Key #3: Eat Mostly Plants

Vegetables and fruits are the most concentrated sources of the nutrients your body needs in order to thrive.

Key #4: Drink Coffee

Surprisingly to me, people who drink coffee tend to live longer, to have sharper brains with lower rates of Alzheimer’s, to be less likely to get type 2 diabetes, and to have lower rates of obesity, heart disease, and cancer. Another good piece of news: decaf has about 75% of the antioxidants of regular coffee. Oh yeah: lose the milk/ cream and sugar!

Key #5: Eat Mushrooms

It seems like all the kinds of edible mushrooms contain bioactive compounds that have anticancer effects, especially hormone-related cancers such as breast- and prostate cancer. They inhibit an enzyme that produces estrogen in the body. They also contain lectins that help your body fight cancer cells.

Key #6: Eat Berries

Berries are good for your heart and your blood sugar balance. They contain critical minerals, vitamins, anti-oxidants and many other beneficial micronutrients. Berries are great foods for your brain, heart and overall health. Frozen berries also have these benefits.

Key #7: Eat Beans

… and other legumes like split peas and lentils. They are a critical source of protein. They’re also one of the leading sources of fiber in the human diet. They are also a rich source of vitamins and minerals, including folate, iron, magnesium, potassium and choline.

Good tip: to prevent gas soak your legumes for at least 24 hours before cooking them. Change the water and rinse them a couple of times. Cook them very well so they’re soft before you eat them

Key #8: Eat Greens

Any greens by any means necessary, of any sort: broccoli, Brussel sprouts, kale, roman lettuce, spinach, cabbage… We all know we need to eat greens. They are plenty of studies that demonstrate their health benefits to prevent all kinds of illnesses. Just do it, get used to their tastes!

Key # 9: Use Spices and Herbs

Of course spices present great culinary interest. Extraordinarily hundreds of studies have demonstrated that spices, like turmeric, garlic, basil, ginger, pepper, parsley… may help prevent Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia and can help reduce unhealthy levels of inflammation, protect against heavy metal toxicity, and even lower heart disease risk.

Key #10: Create Good Habits

The key to success is to create systems and norms so that when you’re taking the path of least resistance, you’re moving towards greater health. Time, money, social pressure can be experienced as major thresholds to creating those habits. Please try my life hacks, like how to prep your meals, or how to create plant-based umami.

And so they end this list: John and Ocean Robbins invite you to join their course entitled Plant-Powered & Thriving.

A lot of good stuff in this masterclass. After the useful data tips the masterclass turns to testimonials; people who followed the course and who explain how they changed their diet and adopted healthy habits. Some lost a great deal of weight and maintained their ideal weight. Others saw chronic diseases disappear or levels of medication dropped. More energy, clarity of thinking, better sleep are also mentioned as benefits.

In the testimonials people mention that sometimes significant changes appear within days. Based on my own change experience (not with the course) I can believe that.

Whether or not feel like following this 6-week course, I encourage you to adopt the 10 keys to a healthy diet! Go ahead, read my blogs and let me know if and how I can help you.