The Archetype Diet

by Dana James

  THE PHYSICAL Orange-pigmented plants are rich in carotenoids such as beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and zeaxanthin. These phytonutrients help increase skin-cell turnover for a refined and clear complexion. They also boost the immune system by improving the mucosal lining in the nose, throat, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract to decrease bacteria and viruses entering the body.

  THE ENERGETIC Orange will bolster the power of the second chakra, the energetic center of beauty and clarity. When the second chakra is out of balance, you can become jealous, judgmental, and restrictive. You may deny yourself pleasure—or overindulge in it. Femme Fatales are the most susceptible to this. (And she’s the one avoiding the mango smoothie because she’s afraid there’s too much sugar in it!)

  EAT THEM FOR . . . Clear skin, boosting the immune system, improving mental clarity, dropping judgment, and enhancing self-esteem.

  MENU SUGGESTIONS Papaya smoothie; carrot ribbons with mint and pistachios; roasted carrot soup; chia seed pudding topped with fresh apricots; a juicy peach as a snack.

  PRACTICAL TIP Drink a papaya smoothie before going on a date to boost your self-confidence.

  Yellow Plants

  THE PLANTS Golden beets, yellow tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, sweet corn, yellow squash, grapefruit, pineapple, yellow watermelon, lemon, and golden kiwifruit.

  THE PHYSICAL Yellow foods contain the phytonutrients lutein and zeaxanthin, which slow the rate of oxidative stress in the body. Decreasing oxidants delays the aging process and frees up the stress hormone cortisol so it can be used to help deal with emotional stressors. These same phytonutrients help prevent macular degeneration by countering free radicals that can damage your eyesight.

  THE ENERGETIC The third chakra represents personal identity and yellow plants can help bring it into balance. When the third chakra is out of balance, you can exhibit perfectionist tendencies and become overly controlling and stubborn. Wonder Women are most at risk for a third chakra imbalance.

  EAT THEM FOR . . . Reducing stress; bolstering the immune system; enhancing eyesight; increasing mental clarity; and cultivating self-trust, resilience, and dignity.

  MENU SUGGESTIONS Golden-beet salad with fresh basil; grapefruit with coconut sugar; yellow bell pepper with hummus; yellow tomatoes drizzled in olive oil with sea salt; snack on golden kiwifruit.

  PRACTICAL TIP Eat an omelet with yellow tomatoes before an important business meeting to sharpen your mind and increase your resilience.

  RAW VERSUS COOKED

  While raw vegetables contain more live enzymes, phytonutrients, and fiber, cooked vegetables are easier to digest, and that may mean you actually get more nutrients from them. It’s also much easier to eat 1 cup of cooked spinach than 8 cups of raw spinach (the amount needed to make 1 cup of cooked spinach). Contrary to popular belief, heat doesn’t destroy vitamins and minerals, but it is true that when you boil vegetables for more than twenty minutes, some of the B vitamins, chlorophyll, and, no doubt, some of the phytonutrients are leached out into the cooking liquid. This is why a slow-cooked stew is so nutritious—you keep all of the good stuff rather than draining it off!

  Nonetheless, as soon as you cut a vegetable or fruit, the vitamin C content starts to deteriorate. This is why it’s far better to buy whole vegetables than precut ones, though if using precut vegetables is the only way you’ll eat them, they’re better than nothing!

  In general, eat raw vegetables in summer and cooked vegetables in winter. You likely already eat this way since cooked vegetables, stews, and warming broths are more appealing and easier to prepare in winter, while fresh tender greens are more readily available in summer. In the transitional seasons of spring and fall, eat a combination of cooked and raw. However, if you’re feeling scattered (hello, Ethereal), skew your meals toward more cooked vegetables, which are very grounding. If you are feeling a little stuck and stagnant, eat more raw vegetables, which help you feel light and airy.

  Green Plants

  THE PLANTS The deep greens of winter such as kale, Swiss chard, spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and bok choy; spring greens such as gem lettuce, asparagus, celery, cucumber, zucchini, peas, and French beans; fruits such as kiwifruit, pears, green apples, and limes.

  THE PHYSICAL Cruciferous vegetables like kale, Brussels sprouts, and Swiss chard contain glucosinolates, which are phytonutrients that alter how estrogen is metabolized. All women benefit from eating cruciferous vegetables, but because Nurturers tend to have excess estrogen, they should include them on a daily basis to help regulate this hormone. Glucosinolates also improve blood-sugar regulation and insulin levels.

  Tender greens contain fewer phytonutrients (the ones scientists have identified anyway), but they are still rich in magnesium, vitamin C, manganese, folate, chlorophyll, and potassium. We need all of these nutrients for cellular communication and enzymatic function. Don’t skip them.

  THE ENERGETIC Green plants support the heart chakra, which is the point of integration between the physical and the intuitive realms. It opens you up to love, kindness, and compassion. When decisions are made under a balanced heart chakra, they are made from unconditional love. If the heart chakra is blocked, love can be transformed into acts of control and manipulation or excluded from your life altogether. By focusing on expanding and opening the heart chakra, you can bring more peace and intimacy into your life. Eating greens can energetically support this. Energetically, the soft spring greens can help to soften you emotionally, while eating earthy greens can help make you more resilient.

  EAT THEM FOR . . . Regulating estrogen and insulin levels; reducing the risk of estrogen-sensitive cancers; and opening up to love, kindness, and compassion.

  FOOD IDEAS Baby kale in a smoothie; spring green salad with avocado; pea soup with a squeeze of lime; sautéed broccoli rabe with lemon zest.

  PRACTICAL TIP If someone has annoyed you, access your compassion by drinking a green juice made of cucumber, lime, green apple, and mint, and forgive them.

  Purple Plants

  THE PLANTS Purple carrots, eggplant, purple cabbage, blackberries, blueberries, plums, Concord grapes, black figs, dates, cacao, and acai.

  THE PHYSICAL These plants are rich in the phytonutrients quercetin, ellagic acid, resveratrol, and anthocyanins, which are most well known for their ability to improve cognition and mental agility. In one study, busy working mothers were asked to drink 12 ounces of Concord grape juice once a day for twelve weeks and then perform a driving test to assess their cognitive function.3 When they drank the juice, they noticed improvements in their memory and driving performance. Quercetin and resveratrol also have neuroprotective properties and can help regulate chronic inflammation.

  THE ENERGETIC The sixth and seventh chakras represent creativity and intuition. Their color frequency is the indigo-violet found in purple plants. When these chakras are out of balance, intuition can be misinterpreted. You can also feel scattered and spacey. Ethereals are governed by these two chakras and are the most vulnerable to these imbalances.

  EAT THEM FOR . . . Greater brain power; clearer intuition; brain protection; enhancing creativity; integrating intuition with intellect; and feeling grounded and connected.

  MENU SUGGESTIONS Roasted vegetable salad with purple carrots; eggplant dip; slaw made with purple cabbage and carrots; fig and cacao truffles.

  PRACTICAL TIP If you’re feeling scattered, try chia seed pudding topped with cacao nibs and figs.

  White Plants

  THE PLANTS Onions, leeks, ramps, garlic, scallions, and cauliflower.

  THE PHYSICAL Allium, a sulfur compound found in the onion family, acts as an antibacterial and antiviral agent. Cauliflower doesn’t contain allium but it does have estrogen- and insulin-regulating glucosinolates, which are also anti-inflammatory and can alter genes that initiate inflammation.

  THE ENERGETIC The eighth chakra is located above the head. I
t is the aura and reflects the well-being of the person projecting it. It is connected with the frequency of white. According to Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, in Meditation as Medicine, “The eighth chakra is the body’s first line of defense against illness.”4

  EAT THEM FOR . . . Bolstering the immune system; fighting off a bug; enhancing your aura.

  FOOD IDEAS Cauliflower topped with hemp seeds; chickpea pancakes with scallions; garlicky lemon vinaigrette; grass-fed steak with ramps; scallions in a kale salad.

  PRACTICAL TIP To help fight off a cold, make a warming cauliflower soup with leeks and garlic as soon as you notice symptoms.

  CHAPTER 8

  The Protein Paradox

  We all know that the body needs protein to function properly, but most women don’t understand exactly how much they’re supposed to eat. In general, women who follow an omnivorous diet tend to overeat protein—especially now that protein-rich diets like Paleo and Whole30 have gained traction—while women who follow a vegan diet may not eat enough.

  If you eat excessive amounts of protein, the most obvious clue is the overdevelopment of muscle, particularly when combined with intense exercise. When Sophia came to me, she complained that her legs looked stocky and bulky. She assumed this was her genetic makeup and feared she’d have to give up her career as a ballerina. Within four weeks, we’d reshaped her legs to look lither and lighter by dramatically recalibrating her protein intake. Kat, a yoga instructor, despaired over her thickset legs, which made her feel more like a shot-putter than a lean yogini. When we cut her protein intake in half and swapped out grass-fed red meat for fish, she rediscovered her lithe physique (and lost twenty-five pounds in the process). This took three months.

  While there is an ongoing debate over how much fat or carbs one should consume, protein is the most emotionally charged because it is principally animal based. While there are very real ethical considerations that motivate some people to follow a vegan diet, it’s not my place to tell you how to feel about these issues. Instead, I’ll focus on the amount and types of protein that are best suited to a female’s biochemical needs. Despite what you may have heard, an omnivore diet is no less healthy than a vegan diet, provided you get the composition and quality right. When researchers looked at eleven thousand health-conscious people who ate red meat in addition to raw salads and fresh fruit, they found no difference in cancer, heart disease, or death rates between omnivores and vegetarians.1 By eating a plant-skewed omnivore diet (which the archetype meal plans are), you’ll get the benefit of eating vegetables and high-quality protein. If you are a committed vegetarian or vegan, you can still reap the benefits of the Archetype Diet, though because your protein will come from other sources (primarily legumes and grains, which are comprised of more carbs than protein), weight loss might be a little bit slower for you. Just be patient and you’ll see results, I promise.

  WHY IS PROTEIN IMPORTANT?

  Protein is used structurally by the body to create enzymes, neurotransmitters, hormones, skin, bone, muscles, and immune cells. The more metabolically out of balance the body is, the greater the demand for protein. The healthier the body, the less demand for protein. This is why there is no one firm answer on how much protein you should be eating. It depends on the status of your health and your wellness goals. As you read through the seven major functions of protein, think about your body today and whether it requires more protein or less.

  The body uses protein in seven important ways:

  To burn fat: Protein triggers a fat-burning hormone called glucagon, which tells the body to use body fat as its fuel source.

  To decrease hunger: Protein switches on the gut peptides, which signal to the brain that you’re full. This is why it’s all too easy to help yourself to a second (or third) slice of bread, but eating a second chicken breast is unappealing.

  To support the thyroid: The thyroid hormone, thyroxine, is made from the amino acid tyrosine, which is principally found in eggs, turkey, fish, and shellfish.

  To improve the mood: The neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), which biochemically influence our mood, are made from the amino acids tryptophan, tyrosine, and glutamate, respectively.

  To aid digestion: Digestive enzymes are synthesized from amino acids. If you have insufficient digestive enzymes, you can feel bloated and gassy. Digestive enzymes help break down food into individual components for easy absorption and assimilation.

  To enhance beauty: The protein molecules collagen, elastin, and keratin are required for thick, luscious hair, firm skin, and strong nails and bones. Protein is also the basis for muscle synthesis. Underdeveloped muscles make the body look fragile.

  To detoxify the liver: The liver uses amino acids to neutralize toxins so they can be removed from the body safely.

  If any of the above cellular processes are a concern for you, you may not be eating enough protein, especially if you’re vegan. Temporarily transitioning to a higher-protein diet can be beneficial and help heal the body.

  How Much Is Enough?

  To enhance weight loss, it’s most effective to eat protein at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Eating protein regularly throughout the day helps to keep blood sugar levels stable, the appetite balanced, and the body in a fat-burning mode. It won’t work to double up on protein at dinner—a salad for lunch with no protein and an 8-ounce steak for dinner is not following the plan, even though the total daily protein intake is the same. Beneficial fat-burning hormones are stimulated each time you eat protein, and you’ll miss out on these benefits if you don’t eat protein regularly.

  In general, you can use your palms to guide the amount of protein you should be eating. The larger your body, the larger your palms and the more protein you need to be healthy. For most women, this will be a 4-ounce serving of animal protein at lunch and at dinner, but it may be as small as 3 ounces if you are only five feet tall or up to 5 ounces if you are six feet tall. If you’re a Nurturer, you’ll add an extra ounce to what you determine your palm size ounce to be. If your palm size indicates 3 ounces, then you’ll eat 4 ounces as opposed to the 5 ounces prescribed in the Nurturer chapter. If your palm is equal to 5 ounces, then increase the portion size to 6 ounces.

  At breakfast, you’ll eat (or drink) 12 to 15 grams of protein. This is equivalent to two eggs or a smoothie made with a plant-based protein powder. You don’t need a smoothie with 20 grams or more of protein. More is only better if you are training to be a bodybuilder or a CrossFit champion, but that is a very specific body-shaping goal and beyond the scope of this book.

  If you feel hungry all the time, it’s likely you are burning up carbohydrates, not body fat. When this happens, it’s even more important that you don’t feed the body carbohydrates. Instead, eat a larger serving of protein to decrease the appetite and switch the body into a fat-burning mode. Nurturers will benefit the most from increasing their protein intake since they tend to have trouble burning fat. This is why I have added a hint more protein (an extra ounce) to her diet.

  You might have noticed that I have not given you an overall protein number to strive for. That’s because numbers (calories or grams) distort how you look at food. Instead, focus on a protein-based breakfast and a palm-size serving of protein at lunch and at dinner. Snacks should be fruit, fat, or vegetables and not protein, unless you are looking to develop more muscle or you are diabetic and need extra protein to balance your blood-sugar levels.

  NOT ALL PROTEINS ARE CREATED EQUAL

  All types of protein will aid in the important bodily functions described above, but there are big differences in the amino acid composition of the various sources of protein. Some, like dairy, stimulate more insulin and decrease fat burning. Others, like grass-fed red meat, contain more leucine and promote muscle synthesis (often needed for the Ethereal). Your archetype’s meal plan has been designed with these factors in mind. And while
I won’t go into the complexities of each protein source, I do want to put the common misconceptions and fears about protein to rest.

  Animal-Based Proteins

  I want to start by saying that at no point should you be eating meat that has been processed or derived from factory-farmed animals. These have a poor nutritional profile, not to mention severe environmental consequences. The only animal-based proteins I want you to eat are organic, sustainably raised and grass-fed, or wild. If you cannot find these high-quality animal protein choices, please choose a plant protein instead.

  THE BEST CHOICE If you want to lose weight and develop toned, elongated muscles, fish and shellfish are by far your best option. When Kat, the yoga instructor who felt like a shot-putter, was tempted to join her husband for a steak, she remembered my guidance: “Fluid, floaty, and feminine.” If it glided, it was her energetic match. Instead, she opted for a piece of grilled whitefish drizzled in olive oil, lemon zest, and sea salt. In my group programs, women always lose more weight on those weeks in which they eat mostly seafood rather than other types of animal protein.

  Scientists, too, are observing this. In a highly publicized weight-loss study from Israel, researchers studied subjects who followed a high-protein, low-fat diet or a Mediterranean diet for two years. The women on the seafood-rich Mediterranean diet lost the most. In fact, the average weight loss for women on the Mediterranean diet was more than double the weight loss of the women on the low-fat and high-protein diets.2 Interestingly, men lost the most on the meat-heavy, high-protein diet. This is precisely what I see in my practice—men and women respond differently to the same diet.