Ready for some good news? While 2016 continues to be unpredictable, your diet doesn’t have to be. By simply building meals around vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, you can create a phytochemical shield against chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and even certain forms of cancer, according to a new position paper about vegetarian diets from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
The pollsters here — academic researchers — tout plant-based vegetarian diets as eating patterns that offer protective health benefits during all life stages, including pregnancy, infancy, early childhood, the teenage years and adulthood. It propels athletes, too. Look at tennis champs Venus Williams and Novak Djokovic, who remain at the top of their game with plant-based foods.
Feeling the Bern? A plant-based diet also cuts your carbon footprint in half by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and provides a natural shield against antibiotic resistance. On a cellular level, this nutrient profile — one that’s rich in fiber and lower in saturated fat — modulates the microbiota, creating antioxidant compounds that work overtime to boost energy, regulate hormones and metabolism, stabilize blood sugar and reduce inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein and extra body weight.
[See: 7 Reasons to Choose a Plant-Based Diet.]
Ready to take your plant-based diet up a notch? In addition to building meals around nutrient-dense, plant-based foods, here are three ways to turn plant-based into plant-plus:
1. Pump up your iron.
— Level 1: Vegetarian diets provide us with just as much — if not more — iron as omnivorous diets thanks to foods like dark leafy greens, cooked beans, fortified breakfast cereals, dried apricots and pumpkin or sesame seeds. However, the release of iron from plant-based food sources varies with each meal. The daily recommended amount of iron ranges from 7 to 28 milligrams per day for women and 7 to 11 milligrams for men. You’ll know you’re falling short on iron if you experience weakness, extreme fatigue, a shortness of breath, cold hands and feet or pale skin. But you don’t want to get too much either: Excess amounts are stored in the liver and can cause insulin insensitivity, Type 2 diabetes, heart arrhythmias and liver cancer.
— Level 2: Vitamin C enhances iron absorption, so if you’re looking to boost your iron intake, top your leafy green salad with citrus fruits like fresh oranges. To really maximize absorption, leave foods that inhibit iron — wheat bran, fruit compounds (apples, grapes, pears, berries and cherries), hot tea, coffee, red wine and other foods with phytates and polyphenolics — off your plate.
2. Choose calcium wisely.
— Level 1: It’s easy to consume the recommended daily amount of calcium, which ranges from 1,000 to 1,300 milligrams for men and women. The key is to know that foods like Chinese cabbage, kale, turnip greens, broccoli and bok choy provide more easily absorbed forms of calcium than others like Swiss chard, spinach and beets. If you skimp on calcium, which is stored in the bones and teeth, you could eventually increase the risk for a bone fracture, rickets or osteoporosis. However, too much calcium can be a bad thing. According to observational studies, consuming more than 1,500 to 2,000 milligrams of calcium each day may increase the risk for prostate cancer.
[See: 7 Ways to Get Calcium Beyond Milk.]
— Level 2: Don’t shy away from fortified foods, including calcium-set tofu and plant milks. While clean eating often puts us on a path to eating more plant-based foods, it doesn’t hurt to expand your palate and opt for a glass of soy milk, a tofu veggie wrap or steamed greens instead of the cold-pressed variety.
3. Enhance your zinc.
— Level 1: Zinc supports a strong immune system, which is why you’ll find it in immune-boosting tablets and cold remedies. Especially good food sources include soy products, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Women and men should aim for 8 to 11 milligrams a day, respectively, while pregnant and lactating women should consume slightly more. A zinc deficiency often leads to decreased immune function, hair loss, loss of appetite, stunted growth, and eye and skin lesions. Too much zinc can lead to nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, a weakened immune system and headaches.
— Level 2: Food preparation techniques, such as soaking and sprouting beans, grains, nuts and seeds, as well as leavening bread, can reduce phytic acid from binding to zinc, which makes it harder to absorb. By releasing these compounds, you increase zinc’s bioavailability. Organic acids, such as citric acid, can also enhance zinc absorption to some extent. This is another reason to take the Whole 30 diet, which forbids processed foods, with a grain of iodized sea salt. While no label is often the best label, not all processed foods — in this case, whole-wheat bread — is a bad thing.
[See: 8 Food Combinations to Embrace (and 3 to Avoid).]
What else should you know about how to make the most of your diet? In addition to building your meals around plants, supplement with vitamin B12 — or simply take a multivitamin. It’s easy to overthink our food choices, but by building meals around four food groups — vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes — you can take the mystery out of meal planning while increasing the odds of reaching and maintaining optimal health and vitality.
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3 Ways to Take Your Plant-Based Diet to the Next Level originally appeared on usnews.com
