Another interesting fact on calorie restriction or intermittent fasting- reduction of inflammation or allows body to repair damaged cells: Oxidative damage to macromolecules and organelles occurs through normal metabolism. If these damaged molecules are not removed by autophagy, they change to a source for the production of free radicals that leads to oxidative stress, inflammation, and severe diseases. Autophagy functions as a protective mechanism that removes damaged or aged organelles to protect cells from further oxidative stress, dysfunction, and cell death. Data suggest that a decrease of amino acids due to CR stimulates autophagy and lysosomal proteolysis activity.
Have you tried steaming your greens? obviously some greens are firmer and take longer to steam, but when i steam a small pot full, I will layer vegetables based on there density, like carrots, sweet or regular potatoes for a bit before I add add any different greens. The veggies are much more flavorful when steamed especially organics and this way you don't add fats for sauteing or flavoring.
I got rid of the low carb kick, no way to exercise without carbs or consuming very little carbs. I find Its way better to cut back on fats and meats and consume higher amounts of carbs, but only steamed carbs. I make natural whole nut breads, I add flax, sunflower seeds, fennel seeds, chopped walnuts and almonds. I steam a pot of starchy vegetables and greens. I sometimes fast for 18 hours and than eat a pot of steamed veggies and starches, no need to eat anything else until the next day. I realize you cant just eat steamed vegetables but there are plenty of other options you can cook up without using oils or fats from meat.
I could never get into it in the first place. I got rid of empty/processed carbs a long time ago, but could never give up my "good" carbs.
I'm going by the standard definition as it relates to dietary recommendations. Little or no "prepared" foods, and no junk food. As breads go, I opt for sprouted whole grains and, as I noted a while back, small amounts of sourdough walnut bread as dessert.
Yes for sure no junk, but if its me making it, its as natural as I can make it, without going out to forests and harvesting acorns like the Indians did to make there type of bread, but this is not reality. Sprouted flour or grains can be purchased just like other high quality grains. The old style wild corn that is not b3 deficient, its still out there but again not reality, unless you go off grid and gather your own sustenance. Today we can still achieve a healthy diet, if we do enough research on available ingredients and use the ones that are healthy enough for our own personal needs.
I like steaming mine, because i can control how firm i would want my vegetables, i certainly wouldn't want to destroy there nutritional value by over cooking them and there's that other thing of dilution of flavor.
I try not to get too caught up in it. I just try to stick with whole foods, bread being pretty much the most "processed" food item I buy. (I'm not a baker.) I do eat a fair amount of canned beans, because I read that the flash heating and canning process actually helps the beans retain more of their nutrients than home cooking. Of course, the canned beans are in water and with no added salt. I cook my own lentils because I have not yet found a salt-free canned version.