nutrient rich® healthy eating

A food can’t be nutrient-rich whole food, if it’s missing whole categories of nutrients.
A food can’t be nutrient-rich if it contains substances that make us sick.
And a food can’t be natural if it’s being eaten in a form where the original nutrients are denatured.

If you want to believe chicken is a whole food, then okay, it’s a whole food—but it’s still nutrient-
poor!

Comparing the Nutrient Density of Plant- and Animal-Based Diets.........................................................

As we’ve emphasized, you can eat a small amount of animal products and even refined foods and
still be eating nutrient rich. This works as long as:
 your calories from nutrient-poor foods are less than 10% of your diet, and
 90% of your diet is plant based and optimized for nutrient density.

Nutrient density is the defining principle of a plant-based approach to eating. Understanding the
nutrient density of foods and optimizing your diet is the key to eating for health and high
performance.
Here’s a little rundown of the nutrient density in a sampling of plant foods compared to animal
foods. Again, we look at what the food does have as well as what it doesn't.

Nutrient Composition of Plant- and Animal-Based Food (Per 500 calories of energy)
500 calories—100 calories each of Egg, Turkey Breast, Whole Milk, Ground Beef and Pork
500 calories—100 calories each of Whole Wheat Flour, Red Pepper, Kale, Mango and Canned
Garbanzo Beans

NUTRIENT

500 calories of

ANIMAL-BASED FOODS

500 calories of

PLANT-BASED

FOODS

Cholesterol (mg) 399 0

Fat (g) 33 5

Protein (g) 40 15

Beta - carotene (mcg) 140 36300

Dietary Fiber (g) 0 22

Vitamin C (mg) 0.3 1020

Folate (mcg) 49 220