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Originally Posted by joey m  Sorry, I never did get back to you which should have been my main focus. I agree that your diet is way too low in leafy greens. Your diet is also a bit too high in starch carbs, which tends to make me feel a touch letargic. If you replace some of those starchy carbs with greens and legumes, I think you will notice some definite improvements. |
I will definitely make a bigger effort to get those greens. B-)
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In terms of the Japanese, they tend to be healthy in spite of the fish, not because of it. There is one caveat -- by eating the fish they are getting ample levels of the DHA which is so important. You can reap the benefits of this by taking a vegan dha supplement, without having the downsides of eating fish. Fish is the most polluted food in our food chain (tends to be loaded in heavy metals, dioxins and other petrochemicals).
By taking a 175mg to 350mg dose of dha daily, your dha levels should become optimal within three months or so. Low DHA levels are strongly linked to many conditions, including depression.
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Ok, but here is my problem. I am trying to eat healthy, which would presumably mean natural. So far, we haven't been able to engineer healthy food, and I doubt we will anytime soon.
That said, when I started cutting meat and processed foods from my diet, it was because I was trying to eat more naturally. I don't take a B12 supplement because I don't like the idea that I have to take pills in general (say for headaches or a cold), let alone to get a vital nutrient. Originally, I thought B12 was my only concern due to the fact that I can't trust I'll get enough B12 from the soil that the plants come from...especially since I wash the plants I do eat anyway.
I may eventually start taking B12 supplements since I don't eat the B12 fortified cereal as often, nor do I drink B12-fortified soy/nut/rice milk at all.
But now I have to take a supplement for DHA? I've been reading that I can get enough DHA from eating more walnuts and flax seeds. Someone suggested hemp seed oil in another forum, which blew me away because I didn't know hemp was legal for anything but clothing.
In any case, it seems that I either take supplements, which is not what I want to do, or I have to add a lot more variety to my relatively boring diet. The latter sounds more exciting and healthy to me.
I just took the
The World's Healthiest Foods: Food Advisor and it is interesting how adding certain food groups to my diet more often can make a difference. I didn't add dairy, eggs, or meat, and it seems my only concerns are vitamin D and B12. This assumes, of course, that I get enough omega-3 fatty acids, which doesn't seem too hard if I eat the right plants.