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October 31, 2006
Quotidian Diet
A reader asks what a typical day for me might look like. Here's a repost of a former entry that includes a quick review. It is in fact hard to pack all the nutrients you need into a small caloric package. Here are a few tricks and tools I've picked up in my three years of CR'ing.
-- Low on B vitamins? Great sources (at low calorie cost) include mushrooms and brewers yeast. Lewis Labs is the only brand that tastes good! Add mushrooms to eggwhite scrambles/omlettes, stews, soups, faux pasta dishes (where you make a sauce and put it over yummy veggies instead of pointless pasta)
-- Having trouble getting calcium into your diet? Try nonfat plain yogurt (usually 40% of the RDA per cup) but flavor it with whatever you like. I like to add chopped bell peppers, fresh lemon, half-salt and garlic powder to make a vaguely Indian savory treat, as a topping for salad. It's also great with fruit and a touch of Splenda or sucralose. You can stir it into soups for a faux-cream effect.
-- Need more protein? EGGWHITES! Scramble them, omlette-ize them, microwave them and throw the chunks into soups and stews... the possibilities are endless, and the protein is high quality.
-- Coffee is a source of niacin. I am not making this up. I learned it from Mary.
-- Zinc is hard to get in a vegetarian diet, and a diet low in saturated fat is likely to be mostly vegetarian. Luckily, unlike a lot of vitamins and minerals, zinc is just as well absorbed in supplement form as in food. So take 15 mg of zinc (no more!) a day and stop worrying. Or just use zinc as an excuse to go pig out at a raw oyster bar. Hmmmm... raw oysters... hmmm...
-- Formerly fat-phobic? So was I! Start with nuts and progress to adding small amounts of oil. When you can bring yourself to do it, buy a bottle of flax oil, put it in the freezer, and put a teaspoon on your breakfast and a teaspoon on your dinner. Tastes great on veggies or fruits.
Especially blackberries!
It's not easy to get all your nutrition packed into a low calorie day, but it's essenatial to try, and come as close as possible. Besides, it's a fun game to see what good sources of vitamin this and mineral that you can find! Much more fun than watching baseball...
Posted by april at October 31, 2006 3:53 PM
Comments
you're for sure getting alot of media attention in NY. Have you seen the NYT article?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/health/nutrition/31agin.html?th&emc=th
Posted by: distar at October 31, 2006 8:52 AM
In spite of lower calories, I am willing to bet that most CRON-ers are exceeding the nutritional values of most non-CRON-ers. The more I read, the more I am inspired to really get to know the food I am eating on a nutritional level. I would be curious to see how my days stack up nutritionally -- nutrition software may be on my horizon.
Posted by: Gina at October 31, 2006 9:39 AM
I'm convinced that mushrooms are a nutritional miracle. They're not only chock full of B vitamins, but decent amounts of selenium, copper and even some of that ever elusive zinc, at an amazingly low calorie count. And the more I try to add them to things the more I realize that there's a place for mushrooms in nearly everything I cook, they add a lot of flavor.
Coffee is also a good source of potassium. Yay for coffee! :-)
Posted by: jj at October 31, 2006 10:02 AM
Hi April,
I seem to remember from your previous posts that Halloween is your favorite holiday. So Happy Halloween! Do you have any special CR treats planned for today? If so, please share. I'm always trying to think of some non-gak options for my kids on Halloween.
Posted by: Robin at October 31, 2006 11:53 AM
Hi April,
I've been reading the recent spate of articles on CR with great interest and find it fascinating. One thing I'm very curious about: do many female practitioners experience loss of menstrual function? And if so, how is their bone health? A lot of chronic dieters with low body weight lose their periods and get osteoporosis, and I wonder if this happens on CR. (Of course, unlike CR practitioners, these dieters are probably not getting all their nutrients, and there are many cultures in the world that eat far less than we do and have almost no incidence of osteoporosis.) I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
Posted by: Michelle at October 31, 2006 12:56 PM