The USDA SR-21 data base

Hi everyone,

In the last few days I have been preparing the data base for solving the above optimization problem and I would like to share with you my efforts as I progress...

But first let's define the goal.

Goal

Eat the lowest number of calories per day.

Constraint

Provide the body with all the nutrients that it needs.

Why such a goal?

Because the secret for optimal health is losing weight, maintaining low glucose level while providing the body with everything that it needs. If you try to use weight using the conventional stupid diets (weight watchers, atkins, etc) then at that low calorie intake your body won't get all the nutrients that it needs and it shall bug you with hunger will you surrender and regain all your weight back.

Which data base am I using?

There are several dietary programs in the market but I prefer to work with the data directly, I prefer to feel it, to touch it without the GUI of those programs, I would like to do things that are impossible with those programs. 

I am going to use the USDA SR-21 data base directly. You can download the zipped excel file from the following page.

This data base is an excel that contains information about any food that you can think about, cooked, not cooked, frozen, with salt, without salt, etc, etc. For each food it provides the number of calories, sugar, proteins, vitamin this, vitamin that and a long list of maybe 40 elements. 

Here's a snapshot - 

Now on a second sheet in the same excel I organized all of my intake for one single day.

Here - take a look

So you can see that I take two tbsp of almonds milk (using a blender) in the morning which adds 172.5 calories, 6.37 grams of protein to my diet.


My daily calorie intake

Summing up the numbers give us the number of calories: 1857.

And we can also draw the cake that tells us where do we get the calories from:

As you can see we get most of our calories from nuts & seeds.


The first nutrient that I am looking at - Protein

If we take as an example Protein as an important nutrient that should be provided to the body - then we see that I get 79 grams a day. This is very good. Where do I get them from? let's see - 

So you can see the importance of nuts, seeds and beans in this business. 

How can we get as many proteins as possible but without 'spending' lots of calories? That's a very easy question for the excel. We create an additional colum that contains the proteins divided by calories, sort everything according to that column and look at the winners - those that have the highest grams of protein per calorie.

So the winner is soy which requires 3.6 calories per gram of protein - that's very cheap. It is followed by all sorts of animals living in the cold sea, and also egg whites. This is followed by "normal animals", and followed by cheese.

Now if we look for vegan stuff then we can see

1. Water crest - 4.78 calories per 1 gram of protein.
2. Cabbage - 13.3
3. Some mushroom - 13.4
4. Beans - 13.5
5. Lentils - 13.6
6. Turnip - 13.7
7. Pumpkin - 13.8
8. Tomatoes - 13.8
9. Lettuce - 13.8
10. peas - 13.9
11. brussels sprouts - 14.1
12. oats - 14.2
13. tofu - 14.2
14. artichokes - 14.4
15. Brocolli - 14.7
16. Kale - 14.7
17. Kohlrabi - 15.8

Down below you can find the nuts & seeds at 30-40 calories per gram of protein. This looks like a waste of calories - this is not the reason why we include nuts & beans in the nutritarian diet. The reason for including them is that the body needs fat and instead of consuming olive oil or canola oil (empty calories), we prefer to consume it from the nuts & seeds where we can still get some nutrients apart from other benefits.

Needless to say that at the end of this list are all sorts of oils, sweets, margarines, puddings, candies, alcoholic beverages, all sorts of salad dressings are that are good for nothing - in short food that have lots of empty calories.

Aviel.

My nutritarian breakfast

Hi everyone,

Just a quick shot of my extremely healthy and nutritious breakfast today...

DELICIOUS, NUTRITIOUS AND FULFILLING!!

• 2 tbsp soy or almond milk
• 1/2 cup oats (old-fashioned rolled oats)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 chopped green apple
• 1 full tsp ground flaxseeds

Soak the oats in the water for the night together with the oats and the water.

In the morning add the blueberries, the flaxseeds and the apple.

I couldn't find fresh blueberries yet so I am using frozen yogurts. One package of 300 g costs ~30 IS (~9 $) and it can serve roughly two breakfasts. Expensive!

Aviel.

Couch Potato to 5K

Hi there everyone,

The "Couch potato to 5K" program takes a fat slob that sits all day in front of the computer screen and all night in front of the TV screen and slowly but surely makes him a 5K runner! The program spans over 9 weeks and the difficulty goes up and up and up. In the beginning you just run one minute and then walk two minutes and then run again a little bit and then walk briskly and so on. And after 9 weeks you can run 5Km without stopping...

I discoverd this program maybe 10 years ago and back then it worked! I started running with my kids back then and yes during the first/two weeks it was easy so they joined me. But then they found all sorts of excuses to avoid this but I continued. I still remember the day when I could run 2 Km and how I blogged about it in their website. Back then I progressed even more till I was able to run 10 Km and I even ran 21 Km three times in my life... But then came the injury, I got fat and since then my legs are not like they used to be.

Now since I am on vacation till the end of August (yes, I am...) and thus away from my gym which is in the office - I decided to give this plan a try. It's just for fun. I run, I walk, it's fairly easy. I know I am prone to injury, I know that my leg started becoming sugary, I am wearing insoles, I can't walk w/o them - I am so heavy that really running is not for me, but still I shall try it. It's not first on my priority list - it's not a commitment, I may stop when I feel a pain but just let's give it a try.

The cool thing about this program is that now you can download an android application that tells you when  to run, when to walk, when to warm up, how good you were and so on while you are listening to your music.  The application is called "C25K Couch to 5K by RunDouble".

Now I know that you geeks probably have better ideas for android applications. I know there are applications that are very friendly and encouraging and make you post to your facebook etc, so if you know how to connect them to the c25K program - drop me a line.

Aviel.

I am vegan!!! (starting today)

Hi there,

Yes I am vegan - that is I don't eat animal food. I don't eat meat or fish but that's no news cause I am vegetarian since I was 7.5 years old. But as a vegan - I don't consume milk, cheese, eggs and any other animal products. This is a happy day cause I have been dreaming about going vegan since I was 10 years old.

But the true story is not about the vegan way. I actually am following the nutritarian diet. My diet is way way stricter and is based on lots of green, berries, onions, mushrooms, beans, seeds & nuts. And that's about it...

In addition I eat fruits however I don't touch bread and wheat products. I drink only water and I don't touch any sweetened drink, not even artifically sweetended drinks.

Now my inspiration to all of this is a book written by Dr. Fuhrman called "The end of diabetes" which you can download directly to your kindle here.

This is not the first book by Dr. Fuhrman - the best seller one is "Eat to live" and it provides you with a dietary plan that will get you off your medicines. 

I strongly recommend this book - it can save your life.

I of course I will give way more details in future posts - but Just wanted to share this with you,

Aviel.

"

The cruciferous vegetables

I am still learning here about the new nutritarin diet and would like to present here the Cruciferous vegetables. If normal vegetables are wonderful for your health, full of nutrition, etc - then these guys here are super-super foods. They see some toxic compound trying to mess with your DNA and they get rid of him right away. You eat these things, they are a bit bitter for you but for cancer they are a deadly weapon. When you get older, let's say when you are 80-90 you notice that many people are dying around you - those that were not eating this stuff. You see, when the tide is over - you can clearly see who was swimming without a swimsuit. So yea, you don't have to love their taste - YOU HAVE TO EAT THEM!

How to eat them? Try to eat them raw and if you just can't then eat them lightly steamed.

Alright let's name them!


Arugula
ארוגולה

Bok Choy

בוק צ'וי

broccoli

ברוקולי

watercress

גרגיר הנחלים

HorseRadish

חזרת

Kohlrabi

כולרבי

Cabbage

כרוב

Rutabaga

כרוב הלפת

Red Cabbage

כרוב סגול

Brussels sprouts

כרובי ניצנים

Turnip & Turnip Greens

לפת ועלי לפת

Mach

מאשה

Mustard Greens

עלי חרדל

Radishes

צנונים

collard

קולרד

kale

קייל

Aviel.

The Nutritional Target Map

Folks,

Today's posts is very important - Do yourself a huge favor - read it & comprehend it. I am going to talk about nutritional density and fullness factor and understanding this issue is the basis for understanding how the best diets in the world work. This is new stuff!!

I am familiar with 3 diets: 

• Calorie restriction that uses this concept to optimize the number of years you live on earth.
• Doctor Fuhrman's "end of diabetes" diet that optimize your chances of getting rid of diabetes.
• Weight Watchers diet that optimize... well optimize the inflow of money into the pockets of the owners.

So first of all I would like to say that all of the information from this point onward - I got from this absolutely wonderful website: nutritiondata.self.com. I urge you to take a look and use this site as a great reference for optimizing your diet.

Today I am going to talk about the nutritional target map which is nutritiondata.self.com's trademark.

Each food gets two marks: its fullness factor and its nutritional value and thus is located somewhere on this grid.

The vertical axis is the fullness factor. Foods that are located at the top are very filling. That is - you eat them and you feel full. Food that are located at the bottom part of the grid are food that you eat and eat and eat and you never feel full.

The horizontal axis is the nutritional value. Food that are located at the right side are very nutritious. That is they have more nutriants per calore. You can think vegtables here. They are full of micronutrients, vitamins, phytochemicals and you get tons of these with few calories. On the left side you have all the food that give you nothing in return - you invest your calories, but you stay hungry, your body doesn't get what it needs. This is one reason why some people can't lose weight using the weight watchers method. It is perfectly ok there to eat a cake here and there but then the person is wasting his points on something that doesn't give any nutritional benefit. Then, after a while, the guy (or actually the lady) becomes hungry again.

So the trick is to make sure that most of the food that you eat is at the right side of the grid- high nutrition density. Also you want to reduce the number of calories, you want to eat less - so that's the fullness factor - you want to be at the top right corner of this chart in order to eat less food, feel full and get as much nutrition as possible with the few calories.

Now let's look at some typical foods...

French Fries (One large please... - Mcdonald's)

Well turns out French Fries are not that bad right? The nutritional value is average, but I would say that the fullness factor is quite low - which means you will want to eat more, more, more....

OK, next...

Cheese Danish - Starbucks

"A flaky pastry folded around a generous serving of cream cheese filling" mmmhoo whooo... yum, yum, yummy. Unfortunately this is one food you should avoid - it has almost no nutritions and you won't feel full after eating it. Do you get it? Do you understand why you end up fat after eating this? it's because you are hungry for more after this, it's because it has no nutritional value and your body neeeeeds nutrition!!!

OK let's look for one healthy food that I shall consume in large quantities in my diet.

Cooked Pinto Beans

Now this is what I call an ideal food - it is very nutritious and it is filling you and soothing your hunger. Amazing stuff.

OK, my gym instructor told me to look for low fat chicken because it's very nutritious and low fat, well let's see

Chicken Breast

This one is 4% fat but it doesn't matter much. It's quite fullfiling - that is after you eat it - you are ok in terms of hunger but look at the nutritional value... - it's very average.

Now let's go back to real food - shall we?

Raw Tomato

As you can see - extremely nutritous and very fullfiling. Now this is true for almost all veggies, they are super nutricious and super fullfiling. You eat as much as you want and you can never get fat. Actually - the more you eat - the thinner you get. Do you know why? Because they are so nutritious that your hunger shall go away.

Now let's talk about oil shall we? We do need 10-30% of the calories coming from oil. So which one would it be? Yes, I can read your minds - you are saying olive oil...  let's analyze this one - 

Olive Oil

First of all - all oil products must be located at the bottom of the chart. I hope this is understood but just in case let me clarify: oil is a product that makes you gain weight, the fullfilness factor is low meaning you are going to consume tons of olive oil before you feel full and on the way you are going to add thousands of calloreis to your belly.

So this is something that is common to all oils.

Now the question is if this is the best oil we can consume - and as you can see it has miserable nutritional value. It means that when you add this tbsp of olive oil to your salad - then you are wasting empty calories. It's better if you get these calories from something nutritous...

Is there such a thing? 

Let's see - 

Almonds

As you can see almonds are not only more nutritious but are also more fullfilling. Now this is not true only for almonds, it's true for all nuts and it's even more true for all seeds. 

In summary:

• You want to flood your body with nutrients to let it feel great and nourished.
• You want to do it w/o becoming fat.
• That's why you are looking for foods that are located at the upper right corner of the nutritional target map.
• Vegetables & beans are great winners.
• Abandon olive oil - forget about this myth - get your fat from nuts and seeds.

I really hope that you understand the information above - this is so basic and so important for having an optimal body.

Aviel.

I am diabetic

Dear friends,

A month ago I went to the annual medical checkup after 2.5 years on which I skipped and avoided the checkup. I was measured 137.8 Kg with a BMI of 42.1. I had to step down off the treadmill after 8.5 minutes during stage 3 out of 5. My blood pressure as measured at the doctor's office was 170/80.

Dr. Vardina Shumala was very nice to me, but at one point she put the glucose results on the table right there in front of my eyes - 129 !!  If your glucose reading is below 100 then you are OK. Up to 125 means pre diabetic but beyond that means you are diabetic.

I was shocked! Horrified! At the back of my mind I remembered that once you are diagnosed as diabetic - then that's for life, and that's for a short life. All those years I knew and I still know that if there's a need then I can become thin - I can put myself on a diet. All those years I knew that if ever I become pre diabetic then I will go back to non-diabetic, and here in front of my eyes I had this diagnosis:

           METABOLIC SYNDROME

           MORBID OBESITY - BMI 42.1

           DIABETES MELLITUS

           HYPERTENSION

           HYPERTRIGLYCERIDEMIA

After 2.5 years of neglection - the verdict was in front of my face - you are diabetic.

I looked at the doctor with tears in my eyes and asked if that can be reversed, if it's temporal and she said "oh of course it can", Wow I felt such a relief! She continued to tell me that two of her patients have gone through sleeve gastronomy, they lost so much weight and now they are out of diabetics.

When I was going to the family doctor the taxi driver told me "Listen, I was at your place years ago, I was fat, I had 'high sugar', and all of this is gone once I went through this surgery". I thanked him, I even tipped him for giving me this advice.

So Diabetic could go away - or couldn't it?...

Few days ago I got the result of the Hemoglobin A1C % - or as they call it HBA1C. That test confirmed that I am diabetic:

                                    Range   25/06/2013

HEMOGLOBIN AIC%    4.8-6    7.2(H)

I called the doctor today to try to comprehend this horrible result. I asked her what should be the test result one year from now such that she can say that I am not diabetic any more. She said I should be <100 and my HBA1C should be ~6.5 but that doesn't mean I am not diabetic - it only means that I can control it. I asked her if I demonstrate 5.5 - would that means that I won this disease and she said - no way! This disease is progressing and it's a horrible disease that affect the eyes, the kidneys, the legs and all I can do is try to make it progress more slowly. She said that once diagnose as diabetic there's no way back, it's just like a DNA thing - if you have blue eyes then you can't do nothing about it, you can wear brown contact lenses if you want but you can never change your genetics. It's beyond the numbers and the test results - she said - it's a disease and it's progressing.

Gone all of my dreams to live long and healthy life - this disease is going to progress no matter what I do. As per this doctor I shall be able to slow its progress using the right medications and later on by injecting insulin. She actually already prescribed a medicin for me  - 

"Tab. Metforming 850 mg X2/day, every day and every night after breakfast and dinner."

Yes, the last 4 years weren't great for me, I was and still am going through a divorce battle in court which I can safely say now - shortened my life. Also at work I had to work many hours a day and for many years in order to meet unrealistic schedules, in order to prove myself time after time, I was under tremendous stress and almost lost my job. I put aside my health, I forgot about my weight, I was rushing to the cafeteria, picking something quick to eat and eat it while seated in front of the computer, not losing a minute - always in a rush. Thank god with my new managers - this looks like history now, the schedule is reasonable, my personal manager is a sweet man and his boss commanded me to take it easy which is encouraging. "It's an order" he told me - to take it easy, slow down and take care of my health first. One should be lucky to chose the right wife and the right manager I guess.

At least I am lucky that I have such great parents - you can't chose your parents! 

Aviel.