 Hello there, and welcome to the wonderful world of plant food. In continuing the discussion of health and nutrition, today's episode is going to look at the basics of plant foods and where they come from. After that, we're going to look at the variety of diets which predominantly focus on eating plants as a dietary staple. What we're about to get into is some of the most essential information out there concerning nutritional health and overall well-being. Yet much of this is still not commonly taught in the world. So just as we discussed the types of meats and dairy products, now we're going to do the same, but with plants. Let's start with some basic plant biology. Generally on a plant there are several main sections. You have the roots, the stem, the leaves, the fruits, the seeds and the flowers. Each section of the plant has a different purpose and generally these are as follows. Roots and leaves are used to draw in energy and nutrients from either the sun or from the earth. The stem is then responsible for moving the newly obtained nutrients to where they need to go. The flowers produce fruits which contain the seeds and the DNA required to create another plant. The cycle of life continues. Now while plants come in all varieties and have many unique self-defense, reproductive and communication mechanisms, in essence, that's it. It's ridiculously simple. But of course, we can't talk about plant biology without at least touching on the relationship between sacred geometry and plants. While the Phi ratio and the Fibonacci sequence can be found within all plants, from the spacing on leaves to the placement of branches, most plants also contain the structure of a torus. Whether it's an apple or the roots and branches of the tree it came from, they both resemble the same to rooidal field that encompasses our planet, solar system and even our galaxy. But getting back to plants, the list of plant-based foods is next to identical to the different parts of plants that we listed just a moment ago, but are often defined slightly differently. Let's take a look and go over some examples of what you might expect in each category. First you have your seeds and nuts. Seeds are foods like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds. Nuts are basically seeds that come in a hard shell, like a Brazil nut, walnut, almonds and pine nuts. Generally, nuts and seeds are very nutrient dense, especially when raw, often carrying a generous amount of calories, fats and complex carbs. They are a great source of proteins, vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytonutrients. The next category are your grains, which technically are also seeds, either with or without the hulls of fruit layers attached. Grain seeds often include wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley and many others. Grains are most often used to produce bread, pasta, oatmeal, granola or other cereals, tortillas and grits. In today's modern era, grains usually come either unrefined or refined. Unrefined are also called whole grains, which are just as nutrient rich as the nuts and seeds we just looked at. When they are refined, however, this process removes the bran and germ from the grain, giving it a finer texture and improving the grain's preservation qualities. But this process also removes the richest source of nutrients including the proteins, vitamins, healthy fats, digestive fiber and minerals. Many farmers have a practice of enriching their grain, which adds many of the nutrients taken out back into the product, but generally not as healthy for you. This can even sometimes be toxic, such as the example of adding a metallic iron instead of dietary iron to enriched flour, which the body can't actually digest. Generally, if you're going to eat grains, you'd want to keep them whole. And to close out the topic of grains, there is also this controversial thing called gluten, which is found in many cereal grains like wheat, rye, spelt and barley. Gluten is a protein molecule in the grain responsible for giving an elastic texture to the dough. This stuff is particularly harmful to those with celiac disease, but many also find their body reacts poorly to eating it regardless, which is called non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Your body knows what you should and shouldn't be eating, so if something in your diet causes you to feel discomfort afterwards, try eating less of those things and see how you feel. Anything in excess can be unhealthy, so always remember that moderation and fully balanced nutrition are keys to a healthy and happy life. The next category of plant foods are called the roots, which are the bottom half of the plant body and are rich with starches, a predominant carbohydrate that humans use for energy. In this category, you'll find things like potatoes, carrots, beets, cassava, radishes and parsnips. Often a very confusing subcategory in roots are tubers. Tubers are defined as a much thickened underground part of a stem or rhizome, and so this means that things like beets, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and turnips are all technically tubers. Next, we have our fruit category. Most of us are probably pretty familiar here. Fruits come from the flowers of the plant and are often described as the sweet or fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seeds. Apples, oranges, grapes, pineapple, banana, kiwi and pears. So less commonly thought of as fruits, but still are, include squash, avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, and many others. We also have a category called legumes, which encompass anything that has a seed pod, such as beans and peas. Most commonly here you might find lentils, peas, peanuts, and all kinds of beans like black beans, kidney beans, and garbanzo beans. And of course, last but certainly not least, we have the vegetable category, which basically covers everything else. You see, the definition of vegetable is actually all of the other plant parts, including some of the other categories, such as roots, leaves, and stems. Thus, by our modern definition of today, vegetables can encompass anything that is not a fruit. Like the leaves, such as spinach, kale, and lettuce, the roots like beets and potatoes, and the stems like celery and broccoli. Virtually all of these dark green vegetables contain tons of fiber and are loaded with essential vitamins and minerals. Now moving on to plant-based diets, there are many different types of plant based diets out there, and they vary depending on if they include any type of animal product. A fully plant based diet is called vegan, which is a diet that consists of vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, grains, and seeds, omitting any and all animal products. You also have raw veganism, which is the practice of eating no animal products and also where the food is never cooked, though sometimes dehydrated or warmed at a very low temperature to ensure that the phytonutrients are not broken down by the heat within the plants. Veganism has also become a social movement onto itself, where many are becoming vegans as a personal and social voice against animal cruelty in the world, and this also includes not wearing clothes or buying products that used animals to create it. Vegans often get labeled as being extremists and get a poor reputation as a result of the actions of a few passionate activists. However, this does not discredit the nutritional fact of the diet itself. The next category begins to move away from a diet with no animal products whatsoever, and is called vegetarian. This includes all of the plant-based foods that we described, but also allows the consumption of eggs and dairy with no meat products. Vegetarianism is also divided into three categories, ovo-lacto-vegetarianism, which is the model that we just described, then ovo-vegetarianism, which includes eggs but no dairy, and lacto-vegetarianism, which includes dairy but no eggs. Continuing on, we have semi-vegetarianism, which is mostly vegetarian or vegan, but with the occasional or specific inclusion of an animal meat. One example of this is called pescatarian, which defines itself as a person who does not eat mammal flesh, but still eats fish and other forms of aquatic life. While we're talking about diets, the question comes up. Can a diet of exclusively plants provide all of the nutrition required for healthy human function? The answer is absolutely yes. All of your vitamins and minerals, your proteins, your carbohydrates, everything can be obtained through plants alone. In fact, more and more research is coming out proving that you can be healthier and function more efficiently when consuming a diet free of animal products, and even more so when it's predominantly raw, which we'll cover in greater detail soon. Now, that's pretty much it for this episode. But in closing, we'd like to wrap it up by talking about diets and food in general for a moment. From our experiences in life, we've found that all of us can become very attached to various things in this world, which mean a lot to us. For some, it's our faith. For others, our favorite sports team, TV show or video game. And for a great many of us, it's our food. We know that talking about food and diets, and especially suggesting diets, or at least suggesting to make changes, can often cause an internal uproar. But we also know the importance of standing up for the topics that matter is critically important to the world right now. Further, we'd like to note that all of the different definitions we just covered, especially regarding the classifications of diets, are really all just boxes that we've collectively used to describe and define different ways of life and belief systems pertaining to the foods that we eat on a regular basis. You might remember way back when we covered the boxes of understanding from episode 12. We'd like to reiterate that at the end of the day, you are the one in the driver's seat of your life. You get to make your own decisions. All we want to do is provide the scientific and spiritual information on what different types of diets are generally more conducive to a long, healthy and happy life. Your food and the nutrients therein is the fuel for your body. Are you filling up on the highest grade of nutrition you can? Or are you eating just based on what looks good or what you've grown accustomed to? So as we continue to explore what our bodies really need for optimal nutrition, we'll be going deeper into the discussion of raw diets and what can really happen to our food after we cook it. So thank you so much for watching and we'll see you again soon.