nutrient rich® healthy eating

 The state in which it is eaten.

Notice how precisely this maps to the Three Golden Rules. Remember those? They are:

Golden Rule #1: Eat what your body needs to function and perform well.
Golden Rule #2: Limit or eliminate what your body does not need from food.
Golden Rule #3: Eat your foods in as close to their whole natural states as possible.
(Return to pages 94-95 for the full definitions.)

You can see how these Golden Rules derive directly from the definition of Nutrient Rich®.

All nutrient-rich diets are plant-based. But not all plant-based diets are nutrient rich. It is
unfortunately possible to eat a purely plant-based diet that is not nutrient rich. You’ve already seen
that as well in previous sections.

Naturally, here you are learning how to eat a diet that is plant-based AND nutrient-rich!

Nutrient-rich diets are predominantly plant based since plants are where virtually all nutrients
come from. The exceptions are:

 Vitamin D, really a hormone, which is catalyzed by the sun

 B12, which is created by bacteria in the soil

 nutrients synthesized in the body, such as long-chain omega-3 fatty acids like DHA

Is a nutrient-rich food one that is rich in only one nutrient? Is a nutrient-rich food one that is rich in
some nutrients? No. Many foods are marketed as “nutrient-rich” on the basis that they contain one
or a few nutrients. That is not nutrient rich. As detailed on pages 91-92, nutrient-rich plant foods
contain:

 Health-promoting protein

 Real food carbohydrates

 Essential fats

 Vitamins

 Minerals

 Water

 Fiber

 Phytochemicals

 Other food factors such as healthy probiotic bacteria which flourish as a result of the fiber in

these foods, plant enzymes (in addiction to human enzymes) etc.

Using these clear, plain, precise and bottom-line parameters, you can begin to confidently eliminate
foods you once thought were nutrient rich, or that are marketed to you that way.