Keeping It Simple: The Most Basic Everyday Way to Eat Nutrient Rich®
Most books on diet and nutrition are about 50% content, 50% recipes. This book has been 99%
content and 1% recipes. The reason is that you don’t have to use recipes to eat nutrient rich. As a
matter of fact, you don’t ever have to use a complex “recipe” to enjoy eating in a great-tasting
healthy way.
Sometimes you are just going to assemble foods in creative and convenient ways called
“concoctions” and simply fuel your body as you focus on other things—not as much on the meal but
more on the motive of simply getting your nutrient needs met. Other days, you may go all-out and
really put together a menu, maybe to entertain or just to please yourself.
In Step 3 of the Nutrient Rich® Healthy Eating Plan there are 80 Simple, Quick & Easy™ recipes
each using five whole food ingredients or less, including preparation videos; they will also likely
inspire other SQE recipes of your own making.
Here, I want to focus on the most basic way to eat nutrient rich. These are the simple food choices
that people who’ve been eating this way for a very long time usually fall back on themselves during
busy days. Master this, and worry about how to make more complex recipes later.
This is the simplest, quickest and easiest default plan for when food preparation time is limited and
eating 90% or More Plant-Based Nutrient Rich® foods is your aim.
- Breakfast: Fresh fruit, cooked whole grains (such as oatmeal), a sweet green smoothie, or a
green drink. - Lunch: Salad (greens and assorted raw veggies) with beans on top, 1 oz. raw seeds/nuts
(including dressing), and more fruit. - Dinner: Salad or steamed greens with more beans, and at least two (or more) cooked
vegetables, like mushrooms, tomatoes (really a fruit), onions, eggplant, carrots, beets, etc. (1
lb.); and fruit sorbet or nutrient-rich ice cream for dessert.
If you want animal foods, add in three to four oz of white-meat chicken or low-pollution fish three
to four times per week, as a side dish or as a condiment. Or you may substitute a small amount of
cheese or egg for the chicken or fish.
Alternatively, you may also wish to add organic tofu or tempeh; or a grain “meat” or other similar
vegetarian “mock meat” product (as your 10% processed/refined allowance, choosing the versions
made most responsibly with the most nutritious ingredients, such as organic bean and grain
burgers or organic soy/wheat/mushroom-based “chicken” or “beef”).
In particular, in the early days of a nutrition transition, when the detoxification process is going on,
having a small amount of animal product (assuming you are not in a health crisis) can help you both
psychologically and physiologically, as you develop your perspective, eating style and transition
your digestive tract.