The Primal Blueprint (26 page)

If we’re not supposed to eat animals, how come they’re made out of meat?

—
Tom Snyder

If you are trying to memorize the most important, life-changing sound bites from the
Primal Blueprint
, here’s another one: plants (vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and herbs and spices) and animals (meat, fish, fowl, and eggs) should represent the entire composition of your diet. While vegetables, fruits, and herbs and spices don’t provide a ton of calories, they should represent your main source of healthy carbohydrates and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, and thousands of other phytonutrients). Nuts, seeds, and their derivative butters, and animal foods are calorically dense, stimulate minimal insulin production, offer the best forms of healthy protein and fat, and should represent the bulk of your caloric intake.

Brightly colored fruits and vegetables supply high levels of antioxidants that are critical to good health. The flavonoids, carotenoids, and myriad other important phytonutrients found in these foods can serve as a powerful first line of defense against oxidative damage from aging, stress, and inflammation. Moreover, antioxidants and other phytonutrients appear to contain cancer-fighting properties, support immune function, aid in digestion, and help preserve muscle mass, a critical longevity component for those of advanced age.

While leading a healthy, balanced lifestyle will activate the genes that make our built-in antioxidant systems (catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione) fight hard against cellular and DNA breakdown, research suggests that we may require additional antioxidant support from foods and supplements. Of course, most processed foods and starchy carbohydrates are devoid of antioxidants, while vegetables, fruits, and nuts are the best sources of these natural antioxidants. It follows that if you want to be healthy and prevent disease (re-call from
Chapter 3
the discussion of oxidation as a central heart disease component; antioxidants protect against oxidative damage in the body), vegetables and fruits must take center stage in your diet. It is also apparent that modern food-processing methods, which include growing produce in soil bereft of important minerals and the widespread use of pesticides, may further hamper our efforts to get enough antioxidants. Consequently, many people may benefit from a prudent supplementation program.

“
Plants (vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and herbs and spices) and animals (meat, fish, fowl, and eggs) should represent the entire composition of your diet
.
”

For a quick primer, red plants (pomegranates, cherries, watermelon, etc.) have been shown to help reduce the risk of prostate cancer as well as some tumors. Green fruit and vegetables (avocados, limes, green beans, zucchini, etc.) are high in carotenoids that have a powerful antiaging effect and are especially helpful for vision. Yellow and orange produce (bananas, papayas, carrots, butternut squash, pineapple) offer beta-carotene for immune support as well as bromelain, which has been shown to aid in digestion, joint health, and the reduction of inflammatory conditions. Cruciferous (“cross”-shaped, with a branch and leaves) vegetables, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, arugula, turnips, bok choy, horseradish, and cauliflower, have demonstrated specific anticancer, antiaging, and antimicrobial properties. Nuts and seeds provide high levels of beneficial monounsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants (e.g., vitamin E and selenium), and a host of essential nutrients (e.g., manganese, magnesium, zinc, iron, chromium, phosphorous, and folate).

Plant foods also naturally promote a beneficial balance between acidity and alkalinity (also known as “base”, or non-acidic) in your bloodstream. Almost all cells prefer a slightly alkaline environment to function properly, but many metabolic processes, including the normal production of cellular energy, result in the release of acidic waste products. The buildup of acidic waste is toxic to your body, so it works very hard at all times to preserve a slightly alkaline environment, measured by the familiar “pH” levels. While we have evolved several highly refined buffering systems to balance our pH, ingesting acid-producing foods makes it that much more difficult to achieve pH homeostasis.

As you might guess, consuming heavily processed foods, sugars, grains, deep-fried foods, alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, carbonated drinks, artificial sweeteners, and many recreational and prescription drugs promotes an acidic imbalance in the body, a precursor of many health problems and diseases. In contrast, by emphasizing alkaline-forming foods—vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds—in your diet, you optimize your acid/base balance and improve metabolism to burn fat, build muscle, and reduce your susceptibility to environmental and dietary toxins. While they have tremendous health benefits, meat and dairy products also happen to be acid-producing, making it essential to balance the intake of these foods with sufficient vegetables and fruits that support alkalinity.

It is preferable to select locally grown, in-season, organic vegetables whenever possible. The shiny, buffed-up vegetables on display in our local supermarkets are typically cultivated in an objectionable manner—sprayed with pesticides, picked too early (and then artificially ripened by exposure to ethylene gas), jet-lagged from their distant origins
(thumbs-down from a green perspective), and even genetically modified to grow bigger and more colorful, albeit at the cost of being less nutritious.

It may take some acclimation to center your diet around vegetables, as we are so accustomed to reaching for packaged, high-carbohydrate snacks as a first option. Don’t follow the example of restaurants that serve skimpy vegetable portions seemingly just for decoration; serve yourself heaping portions that crowd everything else on your plate! Enjoy vegetables raw, steamed, baked, or grilled—even slathered in butter if you like. Cook or slice up extra portions for easy preparation or snacking the following day. Reject your attachment to cultural meal traditions centered on starches or grains and get wild and colorful with your meals! Have some steamed carrots and beets with your eggs for breakfast or kale, squash, and chicken for lunch. Try some of the many delicious vegetable-focused recipes at
MarksDailyApple.com
. Grab some stuff you’ve never tried before and ask your grocer about the best preparation methods.

While virtually all vegetables offer excellent nutritional value, some offer particularly high levels of antioxidants. One of the best objective resources to determine the antioxidant power of any vegetable, fruit, herb, or other food is the USDA’s ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) report. I like to aim for at least 10,000 ORAC units a day, which is easily obtained from a few servings of the top fruits and vegetables (the USDA recommends a much lower number, between 3,000 and 5,000 per day).

Here (in alphabetical order, not point value order; but don’t worry—they’re all gold medal winners) is a list of some of the highest antioxidant vegetables. Make a special effort to include these regularly in your meals: avocado, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, garlic, kale, onion, peas, red bell pepper, spinach, yellow squash

“
It may take some acclimation to center your diet around vegetables, as we are so accustomed to reaching for packaged, high-carbohydrate snacks as a first option. Reject your attachment to cultural meal traditions centered on starches or grains and get wild and colorful with your meals!
”

If, for reasons of budget or availability, you decide to eat nonorganic produce, note that there are varying levels of residue exposure risk depending on the item. Be particularly careful to avoid conventional sources of vegetables that have a large surface area (leafy greens, including spinach and lettuce, are treated with some of the most potent pesticides) or a skin that is consumed (bell peppers are perhaps the most pesticidetainted vegetable; also avoid conventional celery, cucumbers, green beans, winter squash, and carrots). If you do find yourself purchasing these, be sure to soak and/or rinse them with soap or a “fruit and vegetable wash” solution, which you can find in any health food store. On the other hand, conventional broccoli (also a good source of omega-3s), asparagus, avocados, cabbage, onions, and other vegetables with an easily washable or non-edible skin have minimal pesticide exposure risk.

Fruits are outstanding sources of fiber, vitamins, minerals, phenols, antioxidants, and other micronutrients. Generally speaking, the
Primal Blueprint
plan allows you to eat generous amounts of fruit (unlike many low-carb programs), with a few important caveats. For one, modern cultivation and chemical treatments have resulted in fruits that are large, brightly colored, uniformly shaped, and extra sweet, with much less micro-nutrition than the small, varied, highly fibrous, deep-colored, less sugary, and less insulin-stimulating fruits that Grok foraged for. As with Olympic gymnasts, higher presentation value means nothing if you receive poor scores in execution.

Three major categories that affect fruit quality are growing methods, nutritional value (glycemic and antioxidant levels), and risk of pesticide exposure. The “Fruit Power Rankings” chart in this section details which types of fruits to enjoy in abundance, which to eat in moderation, and which to strictly avoid. Regarding growing methods, organic fruit offers vastly superior nutritional value to conventionally grown fruits. Some experts estimate that organic fruits are 10 times richer in key micronutrients than their conventional counterparts! Organic fruits must manufacture high levels of antioxidants to defend themselves against pests—something conventional fruits don’t have to worry about, thanks to their treatment with synthetic herbicides and pesticides. (Notice an analogy here? Think Grok and his lean, strong, fit body hustling for food every day versus today’s channel-surfing couch potato enjoying delivered pizza).

Organic is not always the be-all and end-all, however. Organic fruits from distant lands are less tasty and nutritious because of their premature picking and long transit time to market. Thus, many experts advocate conventionally grown local fruit over organic fruits grown remotely. Even if local fruit is not certified organic, your local farmer
likely uses less offensive growing methods than large commercial operations, and the optimum picking time means the fruit has matured to be bursting with great nutrition and taste. Those living in progressive areas with thriving farmers’ markets and food co-ops might even encounter fruits designated as “wild.” As the term conveys, these fruits are as good as it gets…if you can find them. If you are so inclined, you may want to visit
seedsavers.org
or
seedsofchange.com
to purchase seeds and plant your own wild-variety fruit trees, berry bushes, and vegetable plants.

“
Many experts advocate conventionally grown local fruits over organic fruits grown remotely
.
”

Be strict (particularly with children, due to their substantially higher risk of harm from pesticides) about avoiding conventionally grown fruits with a soft, edible skin that is difficult to wash, such as berries. You can be less strict on fruits with tough, inedible skins that peel; they offer a protective barrier against chemical ingestion. If you must eat conventional fruits, wash your fruit thoroughly with soap or a special solution. Avoid genetically modified fruit, a concept that elicits serious health and philosophical concerns and is about as far away from Grok as you can get. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have insufficient research to guarantee their health and safe ingestion, as I discuss at length on
MarksDailyApple.com
.