1 Eat a WIDE variety of plant-foods, especially green and yellow vegetables, fresh fruits,
cooked legumes, and raw nuts and seeds. Eat large green salads frequently, sprinkled with
pumpkin seeds for their zinc and with walnuts for the omega- 3 fats.
- Whatever food is eaten, place a forkful into your mouth, then put the fork down and CHEW
THE FOOD TO A PUREE before you swallow it.
This allows you to savor the food (which is, after all, the reason you are eating it in the first
place) and, very importantly, to break up the plant-fiber to increase mineral absorption.
- Include vegetables soups, stews, and blended salads in your diet on a regular basis to
increase mineral absorption. - AVOID refined foods—especially refined carbohydrates like pastries, candies, (vegan) ice
creams, bottled fruit juices, breads, and pastas made with highly-refined flours (I almost never
eat breads or pastas any more—only an occasional slice of sprouted grain bread). - Breakfasts should generally be a bowl of fresh fruit with or without (non-“instant”)
oatmeal, with some raisins or dates added for sweetness to the oatmeal while cooking.
Lunches and dinners should be based upon large, fresh salads, hearty vegetable soups and
stews (with beans and other legumes served over quinoa, millet, or other non-gluten grains)
and generous helpings of steamed green vegetables (kale, broccoli, chard, etc.) Bean burritos,
lentil stews, whole-grain pastas, and casseroles provide satisfying meals and a wide range of
nutrients. A plethora of vegan cookbooks available online provide delicious easy-to-make
recipes.
Desserts and snacks should be melon chunks, organic grapes or other fresh fruit, which can be
frozen and blended into sorbets and “ice creams.”
- Assure omega-3 fatty acid sufficiency by eating a small handful of walnuts every day, along
with 1-2 tablespoons of freshly ground flaxseeds on your oatmeal. If there is any question of
fatty acid deficiency, indicated by dry skin and/or depression, take 300 mg of algae-derived DHA
(the content of one “vegi-cap” available at the natural food store) daily. - Assure vitamin B-12 adequacy by taking 1000 mcg of B- 12 twice weekly, preferably in a
liquid or sublingual form.
If the above measures do not produce the level of function and well-being desired, try adding
supplements to supply the nutrients most likely in short supply: