The Thrive Diet

Before we dive into the details of nutritional stress (which forms the heart of the book’s mojo), let’s take a quick peak at stress as a whole.

Brendan points out the fact that there are different forms of stress: “Complementary, production, and uncomplementary.”

• “Complementary stress” includes stuff like exercise—where the stress you put on your body is a GOOD thing, aiding your body in strengthening itself and growing. According to Brendan, this is about 10% of our stress load.
• “Production stress” is a part of living a productive life where we’re going out, setting goals, showing up, and giving ourselves to the world. This is about 30% of our stress load.
• “Uncomplementary stress” is the term Brendan uses to describe “anxiety that produces no benefit.” This is about 60% of our stress load.

Now, obviously, we want to make sure we’re investing in the “complementary stress” category, ensuring that we’re growing and strengthening ourselves actively through exercise.

And, of course, production stress is just a part of being alive.

So, we want to make sure we understand the “uncomplementary stress” as much as possible so we can make sure that 60% isn’t kicking our butt and keeping us in bed, eh?!? :)

Within uncomplementary stress, Brendan establishes a few categories: Nutritional (70%), psychological (20%) and environmental (10%) stresses.

I’m going to pull a big chunk from Brendan’s book because he articulates the cause and effect of nutritional stress so perfectly:

“Nutritional stress, for the average North American, is by far the greatest source of uncomplementary stress, accounting for approximately 70 percent of it. Nutritional stress is a relatively new term. It is simply defined as stress created by food because of its unhealthy properties. This definition is far-reaching, encompassing most food many of us consider staples. And while this definition is accurate, it is not complete—nutritional stress is much more than just unhealthy food. Not eating the right foods can cause nutritional stress: Not eating enough natural, unprocessed foods rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, high-quality protein, fiber, essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and good bacteria (probiotics) is a major source of stress on our bodies. Without these nutritional building blocks, the body lacks the components it needs to regenerate completely and effectively. The result is a weaker, less resilient body, and, of course, more stress.”

AMEN.

Now, if half those words didn’t make sense to you, worry not.

Although we won’t be able to go into detail on all of them in this quick Note, Brendan has an exhaustive Appendix where he defines everything and also packs the book with what you want in your body, why, and HOW (through the recipes) to get your Thrive Diet thriving. (And, if you’re familiar with all that stuff, you’ll also be giddy to get the book because Brendan makes some powerful, subtle distinctions that can help you take your Thriving game to the next level.)

For now, let’s check back in to the idea of nutritional stress.

First, note the fact that Brendan states that nutritional stress accounts for 70 (!!) percent of uncomplementary stress. That’s 3.5 times the impact of psychological stress and 7 times the impact of environmental.

That’s a lot.

And the primary cause of it is “the overconsumption of refined food.”

From the fast food place to the “heat and serve” stuff filling our kitchen, most of our food is refined, denatured, and no longer a complete food source.

Look at white bread as possibly the best example: The wheat has been stripped of its germ (where all the fiber and minerals can be found), leaving a food source that is so devoid of nutritional value it can hardly even be called food.

Brendan goes into the details on the compromised health that results from the overconsumption of refined foods—from accelerated aging to chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

Bottom line is simple: Refined foods don’t have a place in the Thrive Diet.

(So, you may want to go ahead and start cleaning out your kitchen if you’re serious about Thriving. :)

That. Is. Hot. (And worth a re-read.)

So, how old are you?

I’m talking biological age, here!

Are you exercising regularly?

Remember: The more you push the faster your body will be regenerating itself. In six to eight months our body will nearly COMPLETELY regenerate itself!!

How cool is that?!?

And, what are you EATING?

As Brendan points out, your new tissue “will literally be made up of what we eat between now and then.”

* nudges you *

May I suggest you adopt a Thrive Diet? :)

And, avoid:

Same goes with our health.

Are you only “mildly disappointed” with your current health?

Saying to yourself: “It’s just a few extra pounds (or a few dozen!), I’m a little bit tired, I could look a little better and feel a little better, but I’m OK.”

—-> Insert slow leaking tire sound here <—-

Well, WAKE UP!

Are you waiting for the heart attack to get yourself in shape? The stroke to debilitate you? Diabetes to set in?

Pop your own tire and get fired up about optimizing your life NOW, pretty please. :)

…

Oh, and this goes for your relationship with your significant other/kids/colleagues, your job, your health, etc.

THRIVE!

Now, please. (Ahem. :)

Moving on to:

Can I get another “Amen!” (Thank you.)

Wow. That sums it up.

Are YOU borrowing your energy from coffee, high sugar drinks or snacks?

Guess what? It’s gonna catch up to you (if it hasn’t already). We can’t live on credit forever. We’ve gotta invest wisely and build a strong capital base nutritionally.

The best way to do it? Again: Eat a diet rich in plant-based foods. And take a short-cut to getting there by picking up this book!

Alright.

That’s a pretty good theoretical foundation, let’s step into “Understanding the Thrive Diet” (Chapter 2).

First lesson:

Net-gain. Cool concept.

So, your body has to invest energy to GET energy from your food. Make sense?

Here’s the deal. Let’s start with some refined food. First, because it’s not really food (and is missing enzymatic properties found in its whole form that would have aided in the assimilation of nutrients), your body has to work HARDER to process refined foods than it does whole foods. Not good.

Ironically, once our bodies have done that work, the actual nutrients it gets are less than what it would have gotten from whole foods as well. Follow that?

Unrefined foods: more work to process + less nutritional value once processed = REALLY BAD “net-gain.”

Juxtapose that with whole foods: less work to process + more nutritional value = REALLY GOOD net-gain. Make sense?

So, how about your diet? Start doing a little calculation every time you sit down to eat. Look at your net-gains. And, start increasing them!!! :)

How?

According to Brendan, we need to “Eat primarily foods that are—

• raw or cooked at low temperature
• naturally alkaline forming foods to pH balance the body…
• high nutrients the body can use without having to convert them…
• nutrient-dense whole foods
• vitamin- and mineral-rich, from whole food sources
• non-stimulating, to recalibrate the body and eliminate biological debt.”

All of which fall into the:

Check out the book for the details of the pyramid—including exhaustive lists of what falls where (and, again, how to make ‘em into yummy meals!).

My book is so marked up it’s funny. My Goddess and I have used it as our shopping list and I can literally feel my energy build as I integrate more and more ideas from the book into my life. Fun!

Remember the whole “net-gain” equation? And the fact that a great deal of our uncomplementary stress comes from our nutrition?

Well, we want to avoid making our bodies work harder than necessary to digest our foods.

Sooo, Brendan would suggest we eat more raw foods that are naturally packed with enzymes!!! :)

Alkalinity.

We could write a whole book on this subject (and many have been written!). Brendan goes into detail on the importance of maintaining alkalinity and how to maintain it. Know this: Digesting refined foods creates an acidic environment in your body (hello, acid reflux, disease, etc.). Your body MUST maintain it’s homeostatic balance of 7.35. It takes a LOT of work to stay there when you shove every refined food under the sun into your mouth.

That’s not good. Disease likes to play in that environment. Solution? Eat a Thrive Diet.

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