Quotes About Nutrition

The population with the highest rate of the "Alzheimer's gene" has one of the lowest rates of Alzheimer's disease? This contradiction may be explained by Nigerians' extremely low blood-cholesterol levels, thanks to a diet low in animal fat104 and consisting mainly of grains and vegetables.105 So, it

It's been argued that for about 99.8 percent of our time on Earth, it was virtually impossible for us to regularly consume more than 15 percent of calories as fat.

After twelve weeks, there was a greater reduction in waistlines and body-fat percentage in the hibiscus group compared to those who got placebo capsules,

To remove refined grains from your diet is to remove America's number one source of calories. Switching to whole grains may help reduce body fat, but there's an even better swap. See the Wall Off Your Calories section for taking your grain game up a notch and graduate from mere whole grains to intact whole grains, such as oat groats (also known as hull-less or hulled oats).

For most of human existence, we were only getting the pinch of salt a day naturally found in whole foods.1902 Now, thanks mostly to processed foods, we're exposed to ten times more than our bodies were meant to handle.

Any diabetic can maintain normal blood sugars eating a stick of butter; only a cured diabetic can maintain the same feat eating a banana. As I detailed in How Not to Die, diabetes truly can be reversed this way with a healthy enough diet, sometimes in a matter of weeks and even without weight loss.4205

a study comparing thousands of omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans found that those eating strictly plant-based diets are three times more likely to have daily bowel movements.28 Looks like vegans are just regular people.

Fewer than 3 percent of Americans reach even the recommended minimum daily adequate intake of fiber.

Nearly everyone is suffering from a fiber-deficient diet, and that's just based on the wimpy federal recommendations of fourteen grams per thousand calories, which comes out to be about twenty-five grams per day for women and thirty-eight daily grams for men.1273 That's a far cry from the hundred grams our bodies were designed to get,1274 based on the diets of modern-day, isolated, hunter-gatherer tribes

The study found that after two hours of intense cycling, the number of monocytes (another type of immune system white blood cell) in subjects' bloodstreams took a dip. But those who were given the equivalent of about three-quarters of a teaspoon of nutritional yeast before they exercised ended up with even higher levels of monocytes than when they started working out.

reactive protein levels in the blood are ideally under 1 mg/L,

But in a society where it's normal to die of heart disease, having a "normal" cholesterol level is probably not a good thing.

The top-five sources of arachidonic acid in the American diet are chicken, eggs, beef, pork, and fish, although chicken and eggs alone contribute more than the other top sources combined.17 Just a single egg's worth of arachidonic acid a day may significantly raise arachidonic acid levels in the blood.18 Overall, omnivores appear to consume about nine times more arachidonic acid than those eating plant-based diets.

Waist-to-Height Ratio, or WHtR.120 Instead of a scale, grab a simple measuring tape. Stand up straight and take a deep breath, exhale, and let it all hang out. The circumference of your belly (halfway between the top of your hip bones and the bottom of your rib cage) should be half your height—ideally, less. If that measurement is more than half your height, it's time to start eating healthier and exercising more regardless of your weight.121

So why are vegetable nitrates and nitrites okay but the same compounds from meat are linked to cancer?110 Because nitrites themselves are not carcinogenic; they turn into carcinogens. Nitrites only become harmful when they turn into nitrosamines and nitrosamides.

Weight loss through calorie restriction and an even more vigorous exercise program failed to improve telomere length, so it appears that the active ingredient is the quality, not quantity, of the food eaten.

To walk off the calories found in a single pat of butter, we'd have to add an extra seven hundred yards to our stroll that evening. What about a Snickers bar? We'd need to jog a quarter mile for every single bite.

What if you give young adults two cups of water immediately before a meal? Do they then eat less? Indeed, they eat about 20 percent less, taking in more than one hundred fewer calories.

Overweight women were randomized to eat calorie-restricted weight-loss diets with or without a teaspoon of added cumin a day (half a teaspoon at both lunch and dinner). Over the three-month study, those in the cumin group lost about four more pounds and nearly an extra inch off their waists, in addition to significantly dropping their triglycerides and cholesterol.2727 Since cumin can be purchased in bulk for less than a dollar an ounce, a teaspoon would cost less than ten cents a day.

A recent systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized, controlled weight-loss trials found that about a quarter teaspoon of black cumin powder every day appears to reduce body mass index within a span of a couple of months.

A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered "ideal weight.

Preload studies, where people are fed a first course one, five, fifteen, twenty, thirty, or sixty minutes before the main meal, show that this fullness feedback loop may take about twenty minutes to fully tamp down our appetites.

The group of overweight nine- to twelve-year-olds randomized to the water intervention was told to increase their water intakes to the point their urine became straw-colored (pale yellow). Once again, not every kid complied, but those who did lost significantly more weight.3856 Inspired

Traditional societies tend to have more diverse gut flora in general, and the key is thought to be their extraordinary fiber intakes, which can reach 120 grams a day,2104 nearly eight times the American average.