The End of Dieting: How to Live for Life (27 page)

PROTEIN 17.2 percent; CARBOHYDRATE 59.9 percent; TOTAL FAT 32.9 percent

Day 6

BREAKFAST

Overnight Oatmeal*

LUNCH

Huge salad with assorted vegetables and Pistachio Mint Dressing* or no-oil/low-sodium salad dressing

Leftover Greens, Beans, and Mushroom Stew*

One fresh or frozen fruit

DINNER

Carrots, red pepper, and Belgium endive with Avocado Pumpkin Seed Salsa*

White Bean, Wild Rice, and Almond Burgers* or Meat-Lover’s Beef, Bean, and Mushroom Burgers* on a whole grain pita with sautéed mushrooms, lettuce, and tomato

Sweet and Smoky Baked Beans*

Fresh or frozen fruit

NUTRITION FACTS FOR THIS MENU (White Bean, Wild Rice, and Almond Burger used for calculations): CALORIES 1,818; PROTEIN 82g; CARBOHYDRATES 303g; TOTAL FAT 44g; SATURATED FAT 6g; SODIUM 741mg; FIBER 80g; BETA-CAROTENE 20,831mcg; VITAMIN C 455mg; CALCIUM 662mg; IRON 26mg; FOLATE 1,237mcg; MAGNESIUM 698mg; ZINC 14mg; SELENIUM 54mcg

PROTEIN 16.9 percent; CARBOHYDRATE 62.6 percent; TOTAL FAT 20.5 percent

Day 7

BREAKFAST

Mixed Berries and Greens Smoothie*

1 ounce raw almonds (about 1/4 cup)

LUNCH

Baja Mango Black Bean Lettuce Wrap*

Flax and Sesame Crackers* with leftover Avocado Pumpkin Seed Salsa*

Fresh or frozen fruit

DINNER

Salad with assorted vegetables and leftover Pistachio Mint Dressing*

Bean Pasta with Cauliflower in a Garlicky Walnut Sauce*

Vanilla Coconut Nice Cream* with fresh or frozen berries

NUTRITION FACTS FOR THIS MENU: CALORIES 1,759; PROTEIN 62g; CARBOHYDRATES 204g; TOTAL FAT 92g; SATURATED FAT 20g; SODIUM 259mg; FIBER 61g; BETA-CAROTENE 10,724mcg; VITAMIN C 304mg; CALCIUM 789mg; IRON 19mg; FOLATE 937mcg; MAGNESIUM 774mg; ZINC 11mg; SELENIUM 32mcg

PROTEIN 13.3 percent; CARBOHYDRATE 43.1 percent; TOTAL FAT 43.6 percent

Soup and Salad Dressing Recommendations

In Tables 15, 16, 17, and 18 I make some recommendations for store-bought soups and salad dressings. Some contain sweeteners, preservatives, or other ingredients that I wouldn’t use in my own products, but they are better choices than others in their categories because they are lower in sodium and calories than the majority of comparable products.

A natural, unprocessed, plant-based diet provides 500 to 750 milligrams of sodium per day. I recommend that women stay under 900 milligrams of sodium per day and men under 1,200 milligrams per day. Most prepared foods contain very high levels of sodium, so when you use prepared products, choose carefully.

Table 15 shows soups that contain less than 150 milligrams of sodium per cup and are packaged in BPA-free cartons; Table 16 lists soups that are a little higher in sodium. I recommend the lower sodium ones for regular use. The higher sodium soups are suitable for occasional use or 1 cup a day, as long as you’re not eating any other foods with added sodium. Keep in mind that you’re likely to consume more than 1 cup, which will add additional sodium.

Broths and creamy soups that can be used as convenient bases are also included in the tables. Add your own cooked beans and fresh or frozen vegetables to create a more complete nutrient-dense meal.

Soups packaged in cartons are better choices than soups in cans. As I’ve said, the lining of most metal cans contains BPA, a chemical that exhibits hormone-disrupting properties. Disruption of hormone levels due to BPA has been linked to breast cancer, prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, infertility, birth defects, miscarriages, developmental disorders in girls, premature puberty in young girls, severe attention deficit disorder, cognitive and brain development problems, deformations of the body, sexual development problems, and feminizing of males or masculine effects on females. Research has also indicated
that BPA disturbs body weight regulation and promotes obesity and insulin resistance.
⁶

Table 17 lists canned soups that have reasonable sodium levels but aren’t recommended because of the potential for BPA exposure.

This product information may change, so always check nutrition labels before you buy.

Table 18 lists salad dressings contain no more than 150 milligrams of sodium per serving. They don’t contain refined oils, including olive oil, which are high in calories yet provide little nutritional value.

Instead of low-nutrient, refined oils, I use nuts, seeds, and avocados as the fat sources in my dressings. They are ideal in salad dressings because they enhance the absorption of nutrients from the vegetables in the salad. We need to eat healthful fats the way nature intended, in whole natural foods. If you use an oil-based dressing or olive oil occasionally, limit yourself to 1 tablespoon or mix with a more nutritionally favorable dressing.

D
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. F
UHRMAN
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OODS

Some people may object to my promoting my own products here. A few have even voiced their concern that my message is driven by commerce, which trumps my scientific message and integrity. I want to address that up front and state that offering products that allow people to maintain their commitment to healthy eating is consistent with my mission of enabling people to transform their lives and reverse and restore their good health and prevent disease in their future.

I was fortunate to be able to respond to a critical need and numerous public requests. When I started developing my products, there were simply no options for busy people who wanted to commit to a nutritarian lifestyle but who had no time to prepare healthy foods from scratch. There weren’t any no-salt-added prepared soups without BPA in the marketplace; there were no nut/seed-based salad dressings without salt and oil. Hundreds of people asked me to develop “medical foods” that can be used by heart patients and diabetics and health seekers so that these miraculous results of healing and recovery are easier, and in some cases even possible, to incorporate in their lives. My support team and I developed the Dr. Fuhrman products, and we have been rewarded with transformational success stories and letters of gratitude.

My products meet a need that isn’t met elsewhere. They are made in relatively small batches, with high-quality ingredients and therefore are relatively expensive to manufacture. I also recommend many other products that come close to meeting specific health criteria. I hope that other companies will develop and make available more healthful commercial food options, and I expect this to happen as this nutritarian food message becomes more mainstream. Making foods from scratch in your own kitchen is certainly preferable—it’s less expensive and can be even tastier when you use high-quality fresh ingredients. Purchasing prepared foods is only an option when preparing everything fresh yourself isn’t possible and otherwise would make nutritarian eating too difficult for you to maintain.

Importantly, my product sales enable support for the Nutritional Research Foundation, a 501c3 foundation that initiates and funds the
development of nutritional research. Purchases enable the continuation of much-needed research in this field of nutritional medicine, which is aimed at changing the face of healthcare worldwide. This research is essential to saving ourselves from the onslaught of pharmacological drugs and invasive medical procedures that ignore causation. So these purchases are also supporting a good cause.

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