Great diet and anytime drink

I have been looking for a low cal drink that I might enjoy instead of the tea POW's drank.  I was checking around and learned they were given several types of liquid drinks other than tea.  One drink I had never heard of, was Roasted Barley Tea ("RBT").

This I learned is a popular drink in Japan and Korea.  By chance I know someone of Korean ancestry and they were able to direct me to a Korean grocery store.  There I was able to purchase RBT in both tea bags and in bulk.  Surprisingly this was very inexpensive as 15 tea bags (large) each making 2 liters of tea was only $2.49.

I was first tempted to roast some of the barley I had on hand.  Better sense told me to buy it pre-roasted, bagged and ready to make since I did not know what I was doing.  I boiled 2 liters and threw in one bag and let it steep for 10 minutes as the package said.  It seemed weak to me, so I let it steep over night.  Next mourning the tea was noticeably darker and the kitchen smelled like I was roasting nuts. Yum.

Barley beta-glucan soluble fiber lowers cholesterol and reduces risk for coronary heart disease

Since Barley was a key item POWs consumed, I have included it in my meal plan. Barley is one of grains I have on my pantry shelf for the occasional recipe that requires it.  I found the following web pages on Barley helpful and informative.
Barley lowers cholesterol and reduces risk for coronary heart disease
Barley - all about

Hmmm.  Perhaps there was something more going on with feeding the POWs barley than I first thought.  Was feeding barley as part of their diet something that the Japanese knew was good for them?  Odd that it has taken 65 years for the FDA to "catch up" on this revelation.

Eliminating fattening foods from meals

I've been working on checking the labels on foods and getting ideas for food to select for the plan.  One thing I must decide like us all, is what do you do with all the fattening foods I have now and love.

Do you trash them?  Eat them as a way of saying goodbye and fond memories? Hope that someone else in the house will eat them and pretend that they are not there?

Clearing out that fridge and the freezer is another mine field. Do I really WANT to stop eating all this? That answer is no. What I want is to better use the foods I have and use them to my advantage.

Eating low or no fat

After looking over the food list and doing some internet surfing, it is clear that the POW meals were almost fat free. Since meat and diary items were limited and/or scare there was little to supply fat in the diet. By tradition, Japanese meals are lower in fat. Trying to wean myself away from food I like and reducing portions is going to be tough.

I'll search my pantry and the grocery store and see what items I can include that will help achieve an ultra-low fat diet. I'm looking for items that will fit into this plan, some will of course not be true POW foods.  Nutritional attention is important as I am not into getting sick. Beriberi was a real life threating ailment for POWs brought on by lack of the vitamin thiamine from their poor meals. An interesting book on Beriberi can be read HERE. Other diseases such as dysentery and Pellagra affected them.

I'm also looking into how the GI's that were repatriated were treated.
Interesting reading on potatoes here.

Diet Plans, do they work?

Well, I have tried a few guru weight loss plans in my day.  Do they help you lose weight? Sure, but then so does a broken jaw.  Now I admit that some of the meals I had were down right tasty.  Some plans were not too pricey either. Still, others were socially acceptable and not thought of badly. If all that was true, then why am I still overweight and am not on them?

For me, the answer revolves around several key points.

POW meals

The following are comments from actual prisoners of war regarding the meals they ate.  They are from different Japanese encampments but all have a similar diet.  I have compared these and they reflect a good cross-section view of their meals. Summary at the end of this post.

"Monday, Wednesday and Friday they got two meals a day of rice and daikon soup (Daikon is a large white radish). On Tuesday it was rice and daikon soup in the morning and rice and soya-beans in the afternoon with two small buns of bread. On Saturday rice and soya-beans again in the afternoon but no bread. On Thursday and Sunday the meal was rice and pork soup in the morning and pork stew and bread in the afternoon."

The Experience Purpose and Goals

I have formed my own opinions about how your body handles surplus food or the lack of food.  Over the years I have been interested in the effect lack of food and water would have on the body.  Recent climatic changes have effected the otherwise normal (for that area) lives of many.  I have lived where food and water is plentiful and within easy gasp, in fact food is almost hard to avoid.

I have read about the lack of food on prisoners of war from various time frames.  Recently I was reading about the food rations POW's survived on in WWII at the hands of the Japanese.  These POW's in many cases were forced into heavy labor and endured conditions that are hard to describe.

I believe the primal human body is still functioning as it was designed to function.  We, as modern man have failed to realize the cause and effect of abundant and adulterated food on the body.  The simple fact the body stores food during times of surplus in the form of fat and arterial plaque is a given.  The key to better health maybe that we as humans fail to trigger the opposite effect (the consumption of the stored fact and plaque).

So with the aforesaid in mind I will be blending these views and thoughts into a loose plan. I have no intention of becoming sick. Multivitamins and good sense are in the mix. 180 lbs. is my planned stopping point. My goal is to base meals, foods and drinks upon the food served POW's, modern diets and my personal tastes.  The reduction of fats is a key part. Portions will go up and down accordingly.

Vitamins and minerals Optimum list

The average American diet is simply not as healthy as it should be.  By following four keys to good health – an optimal diet, a vitamin/mineral supplementation, avoidance of ingestion or absorption of chemicals and a reasonable level of exercise – we can unlock the door to a more energetic, enjoyable and healthy life.


Food and  nutrition
We live in an age where much of the nutritional value of our food is lost, due to transporting, processing, and preparing conditions. Foods grown today are not as mineral rich as they once were due to over farmed soil. In addition, chemicals, additives and preservatives impact the wholesomeness of the foods we consume. Did you know that High Fructose Corn Syrup interferes with the absorption of copper (Turnlund, 1999)? By including in our diet a good quality vitamin/mineral supplement and by improving the quality and kinds of foods we eat, we can remedy this condition.   

Today, if optimal health is one of our goals, even if we follow an optimal diet, a high quality vitamin-mineral supplement is no longer an option. It is an essential addition to our meals. Moderate exercise whether it be of choice or by physical exertion can address the sedentary modern life.  The reduction of weight into a more manageable zone reduces stress on our bodies and prolongs our lives.


After scouring various books, scientific studies, various nations RDA's and RDI's (Recommended Daily Amounts and Recommended Dietary Intake), medical doctor recommendations, and other health related sources, I have compiled the following daily nutrient table as to the best balance of all (In my opinion).