The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [222]
About 12 hours later, I boiled two large pots of the pre-soaked legumes. One pot contained a mixture of navy beans, kidney beans, and garbanzo beans, along with red and green lentils. The other contained garbanzo beans only. When prepping the beans, I also pre-chopped some green peppers, red peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas, and sugar snap peas for the week. This way I couldn’t use chopping as an excuse for missing a meal.
The mixed beans were stored in the fridge and the garbanzo beans were then turned into homemade hummus and placed, with my pre-chopped veggies, on the wraps.
Questions with Dr. Berardi
WHAT WAS YOUR DAILY MACRONUTRIENT BREAKDOWN ON THIS DIET?
“The macronutrient breakdown, including supplements, was:
5,589 kcal [about the same as Scott Jurek during training]
247 g fat (38% of total caloric intake)
68 g saturated
64.5 g polyunsaturated
92 g monounsaturated
653.7 g carbohydrate (46% of total caloric intake)
112 g fiber
246 g protein (16% of total caloric intake)
“Even with the high caloric load, without B-12 supplementation and vitamin D supplementation, I would have fallen short of the RDA [recommended daily allowance] for both nutrients. With the supplements, I was more than adequately covered.”
WHAT WAS YOUR FOOD COST FOR THE WEEK?
“During the plant-based experiment, I was spending about $80 per week for food. That’s around $20–30 less than normal (i.e., when I’m eating a more varied diet that includes animal foods).”
WHAT IS YOUR BEST ESTIMATE OF YOUR SUPPLEMENT COST PER WEEK (UNDERSTANDING YOU MIGHT NEED TO DIVIDE SOME COSTS, AS A BOTTLE MIGHT LAST A WHILE)?
“During the experiment, I was using about $60 per week in supplements (BCAA, resveratrol, multi-vitamin, D, B-12, protein, greens, DHA, carb drink). That’s about $20–30 more than I might normally spend for supplements.
“This means that, combining food and supplement costs, I spent the same amount total as when including animal products.”
IF YOU HADN’T EATEN EGGS, WHAT DO YOU THINK
WOULD HAVE HAPPENED?
“Same exact results, I think.”
IF YOU’D CONTINUED THE PLANT-BASED DIET FOR SIX MONTHS,
WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAVE HAPPENED?
“I would have continued to gain weight, for sure.
“However, I think I might have created serious digestive problems. Many experts believe that continually eating foods that cause GI distress can lead to chronic gut inflammation, ‘leaky gut syndrome,’ and a host of autoimmune problems.”
VEGANS TALK ABOUT COMBINING FOODS FOR COMPLETE PROTEINS—RICE AND BEANS, FOR EXAMPLE, OR LEGUMES AND SEEDS OR NUTS. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?
“The research is showing that, to prevent protein malnutrition, food combining isn’t necessary. Rather, if all the essential amino acids are eaten in a single day, people are fine.
“However, from an optimization and sports performance perspective, I think that a complete complement of amino acids should be eaten each meal. There are some data to support that there’s an ‘amino-stat’ in the brain that senses blood amino acids. And if we eat incomplete proteins, the body releases the ‘missing’ amino acids from muscle to balance out the blood amino acids … It’s hard to build muscle or recover from training adequately if your diet is kicking off a muscle catabolic sequence.”
IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE VEGAN LONG-TERM USING ONLY WHOLE FOODS AND WITHOUT PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTATION?
“Yes, without protein supplementation, it’s totally possible, but it’s much more difficult. And without some guidance, it’s unlikely that people will do it properly if muscle building or high-level sport performance is the goal.
“But it is possible.”
WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES SELF-DESCRIBED “VEGETARIANS” MAKE?
“Just dropping animal foods. The worst mistake any would-be vegan could make is to simply stop eating meat. Then their lifestyle choice isn’t a positive