X-Message-Number: 5347
Date: 06 Dec 95 02:49:06 EST
From: "Steven B. Harris" <>
Subject: CRYONICS: Life Extension Shake
Dear CryoFolks:
Every so often as nutritional knowledge improves, I'm forced
to update or revise my recommendations for the ultimate life
extension instant breakfast. Here is the latest incarnation of
that drink, which fills so many important nutritional needs that
I thought many people on this newsgroup would be interested in
it, as one more weapon in the fight to stay out of liquid
nitrogen as long as possible. If you don't smoke and take
vitamins, what's the single most important thing you can do to
avoid your remaining cancer risk? I think after long study that
very probably the answer is to cut way back on meat, and eat soy.
This recipe makes it easy to start out. In human epidemiological
studies, 20 grams of soy protein per day is plenty enough to make
a significant difference in cholesterol levels and cancer rates.
================================================================
A TASTY VEGETARIAN HEALTH SHAKE (NO LIE)
(c) 1995 Steven B. Harris, M.D.
For many reasons, breakfast is the most important meal of the
day, just as mom used to tell you.
For one thing, in the A.M. your brain's hormonally controlled
desire for carbohydrates is high, and for fat, is low. This
makes it easy to eat "good for you" low-fat meals in the A.M.,
but increasing fat-hunger also makes it increasingly difficult to
eat virtuously as the day wears on. We've all had this
experience.
For another thing, breakfast calories count less, as we know
now. As it turns out, the popular idea that calories eaten in
the evening are more likely to get turned into fat during sleep,
is an old wives' tale which is perfectly true.
Since your body "counts" calories during the day, eating a
significant amount of calories (even low fat calories) for
breakfast offers you the opportunity to have the willpower to
bypass those nutritionally disastrous foods which may be the only
things you'll find in vending machines, cafeterias, or fast food
places while at work.
But many people don't eat breakfast. They don't, because they
don't have much time in the mornings, and they mistakenly believe
that they should take advantage of the relative lack of appetite
which many people have just after getting up (sometimes boosted
by coffee, or even a cigarette). But this strategy doesn't
really work, and in fact tends to backfire. We know that the
average overweight person does not eat breakfast (beyond perhaps
some wake-up coffee), has one or two high-fat snacks during the
day, then begins to eat high-fat foods continuously from the time
he or she arrives home from work in the afternoon, until time
for bed at night. The results speak for themselves. Sometimes
people think that the results would be even worse for them if
they started eating at breakfast. But with the right breakfast,
they are wrong.
A decently-planned breakfast shake is an alternative to the
daily starve and binge cycle now trapping too many people in
affluent countries. Such shakes are quick and easy to make with
a blender, and are also easy to design to near nutritional
perfection. The components of a good shake are carbohydrate,
protein, fat, fiber, and flavor-- and with a blender it's
possible to put in exactly what we need, and still get something
that tastes good. Let's take the components one at a time:
Carbohydrate: A little sugar is necessary for a good shake,
but most of the calories ought to come from easy-to-dissolve, but
nearly tasteless small sugar-polymers. These are intermediate in
complexity between starch (which is hard to dissolve), and
sugars. These smaller polymers are digested slowly enough not to
raise insulin as much as simple sugars. The small sugar polymer
product derived from corn is called "maltodextrin," and it can be
bought under trade names like "CARBO-HIT" (Mega-Pro) in the
body-building sections of health food stores. Any body-building
product which is 100% carbohydrate, but contains no sugar, is
maltodextrin (even if the label does not contain the word).
Maltodextrin is a white powder containing about 225 Calories per
1/2 cup (56 grams). It is lactose-free.
Protein: Here the choices are between soy, milk, and egg
proteins. Soy protein (available as 90-95% isolates in body
builder sections of health food stores) has a number of benefits,
including low methionine for low homocysteine production (unless
methionine is added-- stay away from these products); and low
lysine for low insulin levels. Soy is not quite so "balanced" in
amino acid ratios as milk and egg proteins, but the differences
are mostly due to the very same limiting amino acids which may
make soy protein beneficial (limited protein is not a problem in
Western diets). Soy products also contain other compounds like
saponins and isoflavones (principally genistein) which both
inhibit cancer (prostate, breast, colon), and impressively lower
cholesterol levels (far better than equal weights of bran or corn
oil). Soy protein is also present in soy milk, which is availa-
ble in non-fat versions which have 6 or 7 grams protein per cup
(don't bother with the 3 g protein per cup versions). Soy
protein isolate contains about 60 Calories per 1/4 cup (13 grams
protein). These soy isolates do not contain the high levels of
protease inhibitors which cause problems in animals fed raw
soybeans as a single protein source. Processed soy products are
perfectly good foods for human consumption, as demonstrated by
the diet and disease profiles of millions of Asians.
Fat: polyunsaturated omega-6 fats-- such as occur in corn or
safflower oil-- lower cholesterol levels, but apparently increase
cancer rates. On the other hand, most saturated fats, such as
occur in coconut or palm oils; and also trans-fats, which occur
in hydrogenated oils, raise cholesterol levels. Thus, the ideal
fats to stave off fat-hunger and add calories, are the
monounsaturate residue triglycerides, which lower blood
cholesterol without causing cancer. The best sources of these
fats are hazel nut oil, avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil,
unhydrogenated Canola oil, macademia nut oil, and almond oil. Of
all these, the author prefers almond oil, and finds that the
others have peculiar "olive-like" tastes which are hard to hide
in a sweet breakfast shake. Oil could be left out of a shake
completely, but it's hard to fool the body completely about fat
in the diet, and any shake which "sticks to the ribs" through
lunch, must realistically contain a little fat. The 1 tablespoon
of almond oil added to this shake (14 g fat) represents 120
Kcals.
Fiber: for fiber and body in a shake it's hard to beat a
banana, which not only adds flavor, but also potassium and 100
nearly fat-free Calories. This, plus ice for cooling, and
vanilla for additional flavor, completes our recipe:
******************************************************
Jenny Stein's "Soy Vey!" Banana-Vanilla Anti-Cancer Anti-Heart
Disease Shake:
To a blender add:
1/2 cup maltodextrin
1/4 cup soy protein (no added methionine)
(This can be done as dry ingredients the evening before. A mix
of 2 parts maltodextrin and 1 part soy protein powder (by volume)
can also be made up in bulk, for even faster measurement)
In the AM add:
8 oz non-fat 6 or 7 gram protein per cup soy milk
(author's favorite: SOY-MOO brand)
1 tablespoon almond oil
5 drops vanilla extract
2 large ice cubes (made from distilled water)
1 large banana
Blend on "low" blend setting, until smooth (60 seconds or so),
for a drink of 16 oz. Chug it down, rinse the blender under the
tap, and you're out the door!
For other flavors, chocolate syrup or frozen strawberry fruit can
be added to taste. Non-fat fruit yogurts can also be added.
************************************************************
Nutritional Analysis (for the plain banana/vanilla version):
Protein: 20 grams (about 1/3 of daily protein requirement)
Carbohydrate: 105 g (~30 grams sugar)
Fat: 15 grams (70% monounsaturate)
Energy: 615 Cals (Kcals), 20% from fat
Cost (Vanilla): About $1.75, depending on where you shop or
mail-order. This compares reasonably to $1.50 for the same
calories from 3 Carnation Instant Breakfasts with skim milk (200
Calories each). Calorically, an "Instant Breakfast" is not much
of a breakfast. To be sure, it would be possible to duplicate
the approximate food value in the above shake in the same volume
at about the same cost with two Instant Breakfasts, condensed
skim and regular skim milk to make 16 oz, and some almond oil.
But the resulting drink would have milk casein in place of soy
protein and soy nutrients, and also have a lot of lactose (unless
you add lactase too...).
Again, note that some fat and fat-calories have been added
deliberately, in order to avoid "daily Calories eaten late in the
day" trap. There is no point in trying to make this a "low-
calorie" shake-- that defeats the entire purpose of the thing!
Also, vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids have been not
been addressed here, on assumption that supplement pills, fruits,
vegetables, and other fat sources (Canola, linseed, fish) will be
added later in the daily diet.
Some health-seekers will immediately think of adding the
traditional "health-drink" things like brewer's yeast, vitamins,
and lecithin to this recipe, and my advice is: don't. These
things taste awful! Take pills with the shake if you must, but
that is all. It takes an unusual person to drink something most
mornings over the long run if it doesn't taste pretty good.
ENJOY!
Steven B. Harris, M.D.
(May be reprinted without permission, if done not-for-profit).
Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5347