The Power of Plants

"Eat your veggies.  They'll help you grow big and strong."

How many of us had a parent remind us of that at meal time? Hopefully, most of us … because it might have been the best advice our parents could ever give us.  Sure, we thought we were being punished at the the time … little did we realize they were giving us information that would give us power!

One of the keys to gaining real 'Potamus Power is to make sure you are eating lots and lots of plant-based foods.  One of the reasons why the hippopotamus is a perfect icon for health is it's diet … of lots and lots of greens! Sure, I don't recommend eating nearly a hundred pounds of grass a day like the hippo, but you sure shouldn't feel limited in the number of leafy greens you consume.  Chow down on nutrient-dense plant-based foods daily.

They provide energy

Before the body can turn cooked food into usable fuel, it must produce enzymes to aid in the digestion process. Creating these enzymes costs energy and as we get older our enzyme production naturally slows down.  We need to get plenty of enzyme-rich foods in our regular diet so our enzyme-production system doesn't have to go into overload.  Plant-based foods, especially when raw, are easily digested.  Boom!  Energy saved is energy you can put to other uses!  But remember, cooking your plants can destroy the enzymes that contribute to overall health, so go ahead and eat 'em raw.

Conservation over consumption

When the body doesn't have to expend a lot of energy digesting, it can conserve energy for other functions. When we start to eat, we begin spending digestive resources in an effort to convert energy stored within food (yes, we're talking calories here!) into usable sustenance. Now, if you remember your high school science class, whenever energy is transferred from one form to another, there’s an inherent loss.  The amount of energy lost in this process varies depending on the foods eaten.  Plant-based foods are high-net-gain foods that deliver us energy by way of conservation as opposed to consumption.

Processed and refined food requires more digestive energy to break down and transfer that "caloric energy" to the body.  A calorie may be the measure of food energy but simply eating more calories doesn't exactly fill us with energy, does it?  Why?  Because our bodies are expending so much energy to break it down and make use of it.  Chow down on some plants instead and conserve that energy for other uses – like burning fat!

If you want to be filled with 'Potamus Power … then obey your mama and eat those veggies!