WARMING Cooked grains Cooked beans Meat, fish, fowl
COOLING Salads Raw fruit Steamed vegetables
NUTRIENT PROPORTIONS This dietary approach suggests only 10 percent of calories be obtained from fats, 10 to 12 percent from proteins, and 80 percent from complex carbohydrates, quite a radical change from the S. A. D. PERCENTAGE OF CALORIES PROVIDED BY VARIOUS NUTRIENTS IN THE PRITIKIN DIET
BALANCE Since it calls for whole foods, the Pritikin diet is essentially balanced. Some imbalances might occur with an overreliance on expansive warm-weather produce( salads, fruits, tomatoes) in a cold climate; some people might feel cold as a result. This could very easily be remedied by the use of hot dishes, hearty soups, and stews with beans, grains, and root vegetables. EFFECTS There is no better counterbalancer to the excesses of the S. A. D. than the Pritikin Program. We can think of it as a“ minus” diet, one that because of the lack of, or very small quantities of, certain elements( salt, protein, fat), causes the body to use up whatever excesses of those elements it has, excesses that, if allowed to remain, can cause much trouble and disease. The diet can often bring excellent healing results for people suffering from such disorders of excess as obesity, heart disease, hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure, diabetes, and hypoglycemia. Dramatic recoveries have been reported: people barely able to walk after heart attacks who were walking several miles daily after six months on the diet, blood pressure dropping, insulin requirements diminishing, and even pounds being lost at a steady rate. In addition, the seasonings and the cooking methods used in the Pritikin regimen generally have expansive qualities, quite appropriate if used to balance the tightening, contractive, congestive S. A. D. If adhered to for too long, however, past the point where it balances original excesses, the Pritikin regimen may have certain drawbacks. The total lack of added fats in what is a mostly vegetarian diet could cause a deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins, such as A and D, as well as of fatty acids essential to metabolism. This lack can, and often does, cause chilliness. Fat keeps our body temperature comfortable. A certain level of fat intake appears necessary for the production of energy from the breakdown of acetates, an intermediate product in metabolic heat production. 7 Because the diet is not only expansive but also cooling, it is most appropriate in( a) warm weather; and( b) under conditions of metabolic overheating, when people feel warm most of the time and are attracted to cold foods and drinks. When these conditions are not present, faithful adherence to the regime will cause a general cooling of the system, nonphysical as well as physical: Emotional warmth can be lost together with a warm inner feeling. Interestingly enough, many people on long-term very low-fat diets“ are notably irritable, fidgety, nervous, and depressed.” 8 COMMENTS A no-salt, no-fat approach works best with the 10 – 12 percent allowable animal protein included. It definitely has negative results when followed in a“ vegan”( zero animal foods) diet, for the food will be too loose and watery. I myself am not a pure vegan all the time, but I do eat a fair amount of my meals without any animal protein, not even dairy; whenever I’ ve tried cooking such meals with absolutely no salt or oil, I’ ve found them deeply unsatisfactory. Only a little bit of these elements restored the balance. If I didn’ t use that little bit, I found that after four days of completely salt-and-fat-free cooking, I would go on a binge of salty miso soup, bread and butter, and salt-cured olives. Something similar happened the first time I taught a salt-and-fat-free cooking class. I had used fairly expansive foods, including tomatoes and lettuce, and plenty of sharp seasonings. Several people who carried an excess of