THE TICK THAT BIT ME

The Choline Diet: Herbivore Style 07/01/2012

In the past, my choline diet posts have been mostly geared towards omnivores, as eating eggs and meat is an easy way to get one’s daily dose of choline. If you’re new to this blog–or just forgetful–I’ve been on a choline-rich diet since I started getting treated for Borrelia hermsii and Anaplasmosis last year. My doctor recommended this because I had some neurological involvement with my illness–brain fog, chronic fatigue, arthralgias–and there’s research that suggests that eating choline helps our bodies produce more of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Choline has also been linked to lower levels of inflammation. In addition, choline is particularly important for pregnant women, as higher choline intake during pregnancy is associated with a lower risk of neural tube defects in infants.

Image via doubleeaglefitness.wordpress.com

So that’s why I’m always telling my readers to eat their eggs and meat and green veggies. However, since a study led by Scott Commins at the University of Virginia linking lone star tick bites to red meat allergies gained national media attention (ABC, CNN) a few weeks ago, I’ve been thinking about how to make my choline recipe recommendations more herbivore-friendly.

After my last choline-related post, I stumbled upon the USDA Database for the Choline Content of Common Foods, which is a fairly good resource (and handy since it comes in a searchable PDF), although it doesn’t include everything I like to eat. (For example, the desserts section is severely lacking.) The other issue with it is that the choline values are reported in mg per 100 grams of food, and the average person may not eat 100 grams of some of those food items in one sitting–particularly the spices. (100 grams of chili powder, anyone?) So keep in mind that the choline numbers below are based on that ratio, and don’t think you’re getting 120 mg of choline in a pinch of mustard seed. This week, I decided to go through the database and find the foods with the most choline. For my herbivore/vegetarian readers out there, whatever your reason for avoiding meat (moral, dietary, tick-bite-induced allergy…), here are the top choline sources from several non-meat categories:

Top 10 Veggies:

1. edamame—56 mg*
2. broccoli (boiled) —40 mg
3. cauliflower (boiled) —39 mg
4. tomato paste—39 mg
5. artichokes (boiled)—34 mg
6. peas (boiled)—28 mg
7. spinach (cooked) —28 mg
8. asparagus (boiled) —28 mg
9. sweet corn (boiled) —22 mg
10. red potatoes (baked) —19 mg

Top 10 Fruits:

1. dried figs—16 mg
2. clementines—14 mg
3. avocados—14 mg
4. dried apricots—14 mg
5. raspberries—12 mg
6. raisins—11 mg
7. prunes—10 mg
8. mandarin oranges—10 mg
9. medjool dates—9.9 mg
10. bananas—9.8 mg

Top 10 Nuts and Seeds:

1. flaxseed—79 mg
2. dry roasted pistachios—71 mg
3. roasted pumpkin seed kernels—63 mg
4. roasted cashews—61 mg
5. dried pine nuts—56 mg
6. sunflower seed kernels—55 mg
7. almonds—52 mg
8. hazelnuts—46 mg
9. dry roasted macadamia nuts—45 mg
10. pecans—41 mg

Top 5 Legumes:

1. creamy peanutbutter—66 mg
2. boiled navy beans—45 mg
3. baked beans—28 mg
4. firm tofu—28 mg
5. soft tofu—27 mg

Top 10 Spices:

1. mustard seed—120 mg
2. dried parsley—97 mg
3. garlic powder—68 mg
4. chili powder—67 mg
5. curry powder—64 mg
6. dried basil—55 mg
7. paprika—52 mg
8. ground turmeric—49 mg
9. ground ginger—41 mg
10. onion powder—39 mg

*All measurements are given in mg/100 g of food

I hope these lists get you on your way to a diet more rich in choline, whether it includes meat or not.

This concludes the herbivore section of this post. If you don’t want to be tempted with any meat, try clicking over to some of my other posts.

***

If you’re here in search of choline diet inspiration of the omnivore variety, I haven’t completely forgotten you. Here’s a glimpse of what I had for lunch.

Steak sandwich on pumpernickel with avocado and tomato.

Happy Sunday, everybody! And watch out for ticks!

Related articles

• Eat Your Eggs, Benedict!
• Snacking in the name of choline
• Ehrlichia: confusing cousins, the blood supply, and the new kid on the block
• My Story
• Four (surprising) places ticks hang out
• Fresh Friday: 10 Reasons to Eat Egg Yolks (doubleeaglefitness.wordpress.com)