Diets Always Fail

The word "diet" tends to have a negative connotation in our society.
People go on a diet in order to lose weight, gain weight, "detox", etc.

It's something temporary, that comes to an end as soon as the initial goals are achieved.

We don't want to go on a diet. What we want to do is to make a lifestyle change. We want to change our dietary habits and replace them with healthier choices.

When you see your diet as your dietary habits or lifestyle, you are acknowledging that it's something for life and not something transitory.

When we are on a diet, that is restricted in certain standards, we are setting ourselves to failure. As soon as we eat THAT food that is prohibited in our diet, we lost the battle. And then it may happen (and I'm sure many of you can relate to this, lol!) that since we already failed, we can allow ourselves to eat whatever we want again, until "next Monday", when we will start the diet over again!

On the other hand, if we don't follow a "diet", there are no breakdowns or defeats. WE DECIDE OURSELVES what is the best for us to eat, health-wise, and if on occasion we opt to eat something that is not that healthy, it's nothing more than our free will. No regrets and no guilt.

In short, what we want to do is to CREATE HEALTHY DIETARY AND LIFESTYLE CHOICES that will, over time, become simply our habits and part of our daily routine.

Why Dried Fruit Is Not A Good Staple

Dried fruit is a very dense and concentrated food. It provides a lot of nutrition, as well as energy.

Many people, especially those who are into the raw food diets, use dried fruits (mostly dates) as a staple food. 

I think that's a terrible mistake and probably why many start to develop health problems which eventually lead them to abandon the high carb vegan diet.

DRIED FRUIT IS BAD FOR YOUR TEETH

Dates and other dried fruits have a very low water content, which make their sugars stick to our teeth, feeding the bacteria present in our mouths and thus causing dental decay.

DRIED FRUIT MAY CAUSE DIGESTIVE ISSUES

They are very high in fructose and that, together with being devoid of water, makes them harder to digest. Eating dried fruits in big quantities may cause gas, bloating and indigestion, in particular to those with fructose malabsorption.

DRIED FRUIT DEHYDRATES YOU

Have you ever tried to eat a relatively big amount of dried fruits in one sitting? Unless you are properly hydrated prior and also drink a lot of water during and after eating them, they will dehydrate you, making you feel tired and sluggish

DRIED FRUIT IS ADDICTIVE

Their high sugar concentration makes dried fruit to be addictive and difficult to stop eating for many people, which might lead to overeating and a consequent weight gain.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soaking the dried fruit for a couple of hours before eating would decrease the negative impacts to a certain degree, as well as rinsing our mouths with water and/or brushing our teeth right afterwards.

Eating dried fruit as a staple just for the sake of "staying raw" is risky and silly. 

Let alone that there are no proven benefits of eating a 100% raw diet in contrast to a cooked plant based diet, but whatever benefits there might be, I highly doubt could be achieved by eating a sub-optimal choice such as dried fruit in big amounts.

Having said that, I'm not totally against dried fruit, and I think it has their place. There are certain moments where dried fruit can be a good option.

For example, dates are my first choice for fueling long runs or hikes. They serve great for that purpose, when you need a quick burst of energy and need something calorie dense and easy to carry.

They're also good as a small snack or when you crave something dense and sweet (like a dessert) and want to choose a healthy alternative rather than eating some kind of junk food like candy.

You Don't Need A Gym To Get Fit

There are infinite options on how to exercise and get fit without a gym membership.

Depending on your current fitness level you can determine what method/s to use.

For someone who is overweight and hasn't done any kind of exercise in years, a good kick start would be to incorporate a brisk walk into your daily routine as well as some easy body weight exercises such as jumping jacks, modified push ups (using your knees for assistance), crunches, hyperextensions and half squats in order to start strengthening the muscles.

On the other hand, for those who already have some kind of fitness, you can perform more challenging exercises such as burpees, full (deep) squats, regular push ups, walking lunges, chin ups and pull ups.

When people get to the point where all those exercises are no longer very hard to perform, I advice resorting to the cheap yet wonderful resistance bands.
You can get a good set of bands (each color has a different tension) for less than u$s 20 on eBay, and with some creativity you'll be able to work out every single muscle of your body.

I'm a big fan of resistance bands for when you can't have access to a gym. They're travel-friendly and you can get a really tough workout anywhere and achieve a lean and fit looking body with their help.

The exercises that you can execute with them are literally ENDLESS and as wide as your own imagination.

Of course, for those who are interested in bodybuilding it would be better and more fruitful to get a gym membership, but if your goal is to get in shape and attain a respectable level of fitness, know that these are some of the multiple options that you have.

Be Thankful For What You Have

Things have not been easy for me during the last couple of weeks.

As you know, I live in Israel. In southern Israel to be more precise.

The rockets attacks from Gaza have been continuous and, to be honest, I've been quite paranoid about it.

The Code Red siren warning about an imminent rocket attack can sound at any moment, and where I live we only have about 15 seconds to find a safe place to hide.
Since I don't have a shelter (bullet/bomb proof room) at home, I've been going somewhere else to sleep at night, where I can feel more secure.

Living in a situation like this would surely be hard for anyone, but it makes you feel thankful for what you have.
Many people take for granted having a shelter, food, health, etc., and focus on superfluous material things that are totally expendable.

Don't go blind. Don't be greedy. Focus on the basic things you have and be thankful for them. Many people would die for having just half of what you've got.

Calorie Restriction For Longevity? NOT.

It really boggles me that some people practice conscious calorie restriction for longevity reasons.

Calorie restriction has been proven by scientific studies to increase lifespan in animals.
We don't know if in humans it would have the same effect, but it makes sense, since by restricting calories we lower our metabolism, thus slowing down the aging process.

But it seems that the benefits of calorie restriction for longevity could be achieved only by restricting our protein intake (especially that coming from animal products).

This is an interesting video of Dr. Michael Greger where he explains how that might work:

My thoughts on the subject are that even if calorie restriction really prolonged our lifespan by a noticeable amount of time, why would we choose to live our life miserably just for a few extra years? Why would we want to live longer if our life was so wretched?

Dr. Greger explains very well the side effects of calorie restriction. It makes us feel sick and miserable, so I can't understand why someone would want to live to 100 years in that manner.

Personally, I would rather live to 70 feeling great and energized than to 100 feeling tired and ill.

Those who endorse calorie restriction also warn against doing heavy (or even moderate!) exercise, because that puts a stress on the body, and increases our calorie needs, which is, according to them, counter-productive for extending our lifespan.

But let's look at nature. I don't see any animals purposely restricting calories.
Generally speaking, carnivores only eat when they catch a prey and fast the rest of the time. They're adapted to do that.
But what about herbivores/frugivores/"plant-eaters"? Have you ever seen an orangutan or a gorilla calorie restricting? NO! On the contrary, they're eating all the frickin' time!
The same happens with cows, horses, rabbits, and other herbivores.

If we didn't have access to food, we would fast. But if food is plentiful, it's silly to think about restricting our food intake intentionally.

As long as we choose the right foods, there is no need to restrict anything. Our appetites are our best guides.

Do We Need To Eat Salt?

Have you ever met a salt deficient person? ...Me neither!

Sodium is an essential nutrient, which we get plenty of, when we follow a plant based diet. Leafy greens, celery, roots and tubers (such as carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and beets), melons, etc., are all very rich in natural sodium.

Our needs for this nutrient is very low. We can get by eating as little as 100-300 mg a day.
The truth is that our bodies are very efficient conserving sodium within the body. The less we consume, the less our bodies excrete, whereas the more we get, the more our bodies release.
High carbohydrates diets help the body retain more sodium as well (insulin increases fluid retention).

I have cut added salt from my diet about 8 years ago. In the last 3+ years that I've been eating a "high carb vegan diet" I've been even more meticulous about it. No canned foods or processed foods to prevent eating any table salt at all.

I tend to average between 200-400 mg of natural sodium per day. Sometimes I might get more if I eat a lot of carrots, beets or other high sodium foods, but that doesn't occur very often.

We know that when we exercise vigorously we increase the nutrients requirements, but despite of having run consistently during the last few years (last month I ran a total of 360 km, in the hot summer), I have never experienced any issue due to low sodium (no headaches, dizziness, muscle cramps, etc.).
My sweat is not salty at all, which proves that when our sodium intake is low our bodies conserve what they have. Isn't it amazing?

On the other hand, many people suffer from eating TOO MUCH sodium (from table salt). Excess sodium makes us retain fluid, potentially causing high blood pressure (which is linked to strokes, heart disease and other illnesses)

Most cases of hyponatremia (low sodium in the blood) are caused by overhydration and not from undereating salt.
There are always cases of endurance athletes drinking too much water during the events, thus diluting the blood sodium levels and getting in a hyponatremic state.
But how many people do we see getting hyponatremia from avoiding salt? You probably have never seen a single case, and might never do.

In my last year's blood test my sodium levels were perfect, as well as the other electrolytes tested (calcium and potassium).

I believe that we don't need to add any salt in our diets. I don't think it's natural nor healthy, as we can meet our sodium needs by eating whole plant foods.