NUTRITION: What should we eat?
What I Learned and Where I Found It
By Bob Parvin
Where can we get reliable nutrition information? Most doctors are not well trained in nutrition. They are more likely to reach for their prescription pad than to suggest diet and lifestyle changes. We simply must inform ourselves, which is not difficult.
Nutrition is the science of food, its nutrients, and the body's response. (It is also the process of nourishment or being nourished.) If someone calls himself a "nutritionist," beware. Only about half of the states have professional standards and licensing procedures for the nutritionist designation.
Dietetics is the science or art of applying the principles of nutrition to the diet. In the yellow pages we can find Registered Dietitians, a credential awarded by the American Dietetics Association. An R.D. may only have a B. S. degree in food science, but some also have an M. S. degree. They vary in competence.
There are many "nutrition entrepreneurs" who are constantly flooding the bookstores with diet books for popular consumption, and some of them also sell a food product line. Their nutritional expertise varies. I cite one of them below who has something worthwhile to say.
Since I am not a nutrition expert, I rely mostly on experts that I have faith in such as those responsible for the excellent Harvard nutrition site on the Web, Nutrition Source. I also search the Web and mostly for university sites by entering in Google search words followed by a space and by site:edu. Below I suggest three books on what to eat that I think are very good for the general public.
My bottom line is that foods range from health positive foods like most fruits and vegetables at one end and health negative foods like hamburgers and French fries at the other end. The more we avoid the health negative foods, eat a variety of health positive foods, and control our calories the more healthful our diet will be.
We need to recognize that deciding what we should eat involves value judgments. What value do we place on cultural, ethnic, religious, philosophical, attitudal, hedonistic, and environmental factors as well as on habit and health. But my concern here is mainly health.
Before getting into choosing eating plans or food guides I will first cover what I have learned from elementary nutrition books about the nutrients including the macro-nutrients consisting of the "good" and "bad" carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fiber, and water and offer some tips about foods. I will also mention the micro-nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.
Your feedback will be welcome. Please send an e-mail message to me, Bob Parvin: bandcparvinXhotmail.com (Substitute @ for X. I'm trying to hide my address from spammers.)
The carbohydrate foods are the backbone of diets of most cultures. They provide a clean-burning source of energy. The whole foods also provide important incidental fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. What exactly are carbohydrates? Here is an outline glossary of the carbohydrates:
In making food and beverage choices we need to be aware of the amount of sugar in common foods. We don't often realize just how much sugar we are consuming. For example, a 12-ounce can of a typical sugar-sweetened soft drink may contain about 8 to 10 teaspoons of sugar or about 150 empty calories. (Would you ever put 10 teaspoons of sugar in a large glass of ice tea?) Many teenagers drink two 16-ounce cans of pop per day. That's equivalent to about a 3/4 cup of sugar! To make matters worse, the sugar is usually high-fructose corn syrup, and the health effects of high levels of fructose are worrisome. See for example The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Yogurt is a great food, but have you ever eaten an 8 oz. cup of fruit yogurt thinking you were getting a nutritious, low calorie snack? Your cup of fruit yogurt contained about 7 tsp. of sugar!
How about artificial sweeteners? Five have been approved by the FDA (saccharin, aspartame, neotame, acesulfame-K, and sucralose), and two more are under review. To compare them see Artificial Sweetener Reference Chart. I use Splenda in the large box that "measures cup for cup like sugar," which is a mixture of sucralose and maltodextrin. It won't lose sweetness during long baking, which is a consideration in baking my granola. Some people may be allergic to sucralose, so one should start with a small amount.
The newest FDA approved sweetener is neotame, which is about 8,000 times as sweet as sugar. It is intended for commercial use in soft drinks, jams and jellies, baked goods, frozen desserts, puddings, etc.
There have been anecdotal reports of safety issues with all of these artificial sweeteners, but I will warily accept the FDA approval, which means that after a lot of testing nothing bad about them has been found yet. However, the long-term effect of some of the newer products is not known especially when consumed in high doses such as in diet soft drinks. (It is well to remember that sugars are not "health foods" either.) For more on the safety of these sweeteners go to Are sugar substitutes safe?
In my tea I use liquid stevia, which is a natural herbal non-caloric sweetener that has a long record of safe use in other countries. I buy Now Foods Stevia Extract, 8 Fl-Ounces for economy. I pour it into a recyled 2-ounce eyedropper bottle. The FDA in its wisdom permits stevia to be sold as a food supplement but not as a sweetener and not as a food additive since they are not convinced that it is safe. For more on this interesting subject go to Stevia: Toxic or Tasty?
Some "sugar free" products contain "sugar alcohols" (polyhydric alcohols or polyols, sugar replacers) that include sorbitol, malitol, mannitol, lactitol, isomalt, xylitol, and erythritol (note the "ol" ending). Polyols are used commercially for bulk and texture as well as for sweetening. They are found in jams, jellies, beverages, baked goods, chewing gum, and breath mints. They do not cause tooth decay, but they may have a laxative effect for some people. The newer polyol, erythritol, (Eridex brand made by Cerestar) apparently is non-laxative, has only 0.2 calories/g, and is 70% as sweet as table sugar. Since the granules are somewhat slow to dissolve, it helps to grind them with a coffee grinder into a powder when it is used in baking. I sometimes use both Splenda and Eridex because I hesitate using a lot of either one alone. I obtain Eridex (erythritol) from Honeyville Grain. For more on sweeteners go to Sugars and Sweeteners in Food.
Here are some tips on sugar:
Desserts play an important part in our Western cuisines. A dinner is just not complete unless we finish it off with desert and coffee. Many of our deserts are not only high in sugar but also high in fat and particularly saturated fat. However, a "healthful dessert" is not an oxmoron. Here are some suggestions:
Digestion of starch begins in the mouth where the enzyme amylase in saliva starts breaking down the long chain starch molecules. Dextrins are intermediate short chain molecules. (Dextrin is commercially made to use as a fat replacer.) Digestion continues in the small intestines with amylase in pancreatic juice. The resulting smaller molecules are further broken down in the intestinal walls into simple sugars, mostly glucose, which are absorbed in the blood stream. A rise in blood glucose alerts the pancreas to produce insulin, which regulates the glucose level by controlling the absorption into the cells where it is either burned or stored. To make sure that there is a steady supply of glucose, the body stores some of it in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen and, of course, it converts excess glucose to fat.
Prior to the 1990s it was generally believed that complex carbohydrates were better for us than sugars because starchy foods were digested more slowly thus increasing blood glucose more slowly. However, research revealed that starchy foods vary substantially in the speed of digestion. So now starches are rated according to the blood glucose response. The preferred starches cause a slow blood glucose response that avoids a spike in insulin production, which will too rapidly decrease the blood level of glucose bringing on hunger pangs and an energy letdown commonly occurring in mid morning.
The blood glucose response is measured by the glycemic index (G. I.). Foods are compared to dietary glucose, which is arbitrarily rated 100. A G. I. of 55 or less is low meaning that the starch or sugar is slowly converted to blood glucose, 60 is medium, and 70 or more is high. Low is good, but we need also to look at the glycemic load (G. L.), which is the amount of glucose that is produced in a typical serving. It is calculated by multiplying the G. I. as a percentage times the grams of carbohydrate in a serving. One unit of G. L. is one gram. A G. L. of 10 or less is low, 15 is medium, and 20 or more is high. To see how this works, watermelon has a high G. I. but a low amount of carbohydrate, so the amount of glucose produced in a serving, the G. L., is relatively low. White flour has both a high G. I. and a high G. L. See Glycemic Index and Load. To get the big picture go to Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load, Satiety, and the Fullness Factor.
Since there are several factors determining the blood glucose response from foods such as the size of particles, the cooking time, presence of other nutrients such as fat and protein, and the acidity, the American Dietetics Association doesn't consider the Glycemic Index very helpful. See The Glycemic Index: What is it? However, some ADA members do find it useful. Of course, the G. I. is not the only criterion to use in choosing foods, but it is important in choosing among carbohydrates for a given meal. The ADA does advocate the use of whole grains, which do have a lower G. I. than more processed grains. However, some foods that are not heavily processed have a high G. I. such as baked potatoes unless they are slathered in butter or sour cream in which case the problem is changed to saturated fat.
How about low carb diets that have been popular? With the demise of Dr. Atkins interest in the very low carb diets is fading away fast. Low carb diets are often overloaded with saturated fats and protein.
Here are some tips for choosing your starches:
We need adequate amounts of both insoluble fiber as in wheat bran and carrots and soluble fiber as in oat bran and apples. Our cereals should contain other grains as well as oats. Another virtue of a plant-based diet is that it is more likely to provide adequate fiber. To learn more about the many virtues of fiber go to Fiber.
One of the major dietary problems that we seniors have is getting enough fiber and water to keep things moving. Even a good diet emphasizing whole foods may not provide enough fiber for us. We may benefit from taking psyllium, a soluble fiber, with adequate water. Metamucil may be the best known brand, but it is not the most economical source. I buy psyllium husks from a health foods store. They are free from questionable additives.
Pysllium may also benefit younger people who are overweight. Taking two teaspoons of psyllium with 8 ounces of water 30 minutes before a meal has been suggested as a weight loss aid, but one should check that out with a health care professional. (See for example Herbs for Obesity)
With a high fiber diet be especially careful to drink adequate fluid.
When we go without food for a while, the "fasting hormone," glucagon, is produced by the alpha cells of the pancreas. It stimulates the muscle and liver cells to convert the stored glycogen back into glucose to supply the brain and other cells. When our glucose level is too low, we have hypoglycemia, which can make us shaky and light-headed.
Type 1 diabetes or juvenile diabetes occurs when insulin is not supplied. In late middle age insulin resistance may occur in the cells, blood sugar rises, more insulin is produced, and the person starts down the path toward Type 2 or adult onset diabetes as the glucose level rises. To learn more about this vitally important subject, go to Insulin Resistance and Pre-diabetes. Advancing age and weight are the main risk factors, but to learn more about diabetes and other risk factors go to Am I at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes?
The subject of how much fat we should consume is controversial, but the Harvard nutritionists say that the problem is not so much the amount of fat that we eat but rather the kind of fat. So let's start off with a brief outline glossary on fats and see what is good and what is bad. Here are the three kinds of lipids or fatty substances:
Hydrogenated fats are a favorite of food processors. Unsaturated fats are subject to oxidation causing rancidity, and they are liquid at room temperature. So, food processors like to at least partially hydrogenate or saturate the oil with hydrogen. Saturation hardens the oil as is the case with stick margarine. Hydrogenated oils also have a higher smoking point, so they are desired for deep fat frying. There are two health problems: 1) Good unsaturated fatty acids become bad saturated fats. 2) Some of the unsaturated fatty acids are changed in shape to become trans fats. They increase the bad LDL cholesterol and lower the good HDL, so not surprisingly an association has been found between trans fats and heart disease. For more on trans fats go to Shining the Spotlight on Trans Fats.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had a product with the mouth feel of fats but not the calories? We do have it with fat substitutes, but they pose problems. (There's no free lunch in nutrition.) One concern with these fat replacers is that since they are not digested they pick up fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, & K) in the same way that mineral oil does and carry them out in the stool.
Most of the fat digestion takes place in the small intestines. The fat must first be emulsified by bile stored in the gallbladder and made by the liver so that lipase from the pancreas can strip fatty acids from the triglycerides. Some of the bile is caught by dietary fiber (mostly soluble fiber such as oat bran) in the large intestines and eliminated. Since cholesterol is used to make bile, this results in lowering blood cholesterol. The triglycerides are either absorbed directly into the blood stream or are reassembled into new triglycerides, wrapped with a lipoprotein to make them mix with the blood, and sent on their way in the lymph system.
The Harvard nutritionist say, "Although it is still important to limit the amount of cholesterol you eat, especially if you have diabetes, dietary cholesterol isn't nearly the villain it's been portrayed to be. Cholesterol in the bloodstream is what's most important. And the biggest influence on blood cholesterol level is the mix of fats in your diet—not the amount of cholesterol you eat from food." See Fats and Cholesterol.
Also see What are cholesterol, other lipids, and lipoproteins? from the University of Maryland.
Fat supplies a major part of our energy needs. When the body needs energy, it uses up its stored glycogen rather quickly and then turns to its fat supply. Upon demand fatty acids are released into the blood where they are broken into fragments which are combined with glucose fragments to produce energy, carbon-dioxide, and water in the clean-burning process. However, if glucose is not available, ketosis occurs and ketones are produced instead of carbon-dioxide and water. The body can burn ketones, but they upset the body's acid balance that can cause unpleasant side effects such as bad breath and headaches. This is one problem with the Atkins diet.
The first reason we need to watch our intake of saturated fats is that they are high in calories, and a second reason is that they stimulate the production of LDL cholesterol in the liver.
My favorite authority on fats in the diet is Dr. Willett and the Harvard School of Public Health. See Fats and Cholesterol.
Here are some tips for food choices with respect to fats:
There are some 20 amino acids and all but 8, which are called the essential amino acids, can be synthesized in the adult body. A "complete protein" contains all of the essential amino acids, as in all animal products such as meat, milk, and eggs. Our bodies utilize amino acids in a set proportion; therefore, if the protein is short on one essential amino acid, we can utilize less of the other amino acids for protein. So complementation increases the total protein utilization.
Cereal grains contain a modest amount of protein, but it is not a complete protein since it is especially short on the essential amino acids, lysine and isoleucine. They do have a good supply of tryptophan and sulfur-containing amino acids. Beans, on the other hand, have just the opposite amino acid profile, so you can see why grain and beans are such a good marriage. Each complements the other.
Milk has a complete protein but is especially rich in lysine, so milk supplements and complements the protein in oatmeal. Francis Moore Lappe in her Diet for a Small Planet said that the complementary protein must be eaten simultaneously to balance each other, but it is now generally thought they can be consumed a few hours apart. However, the "bookkeeping" is easier if we balance the proteins in each meal. For more on proteins go to Complementary Protein and Diet. Each culture has serendipitously found complementary foods that provide adequate amounts of all 8 essential amino acids in such combinations as beans and rice in Mexico and rice and soy products in Japan.
Digestion breaks the proteins into their component amino acids. It starts in the stomach where strong hydrochloric acid modifies the protein so that the pepsin enzyme can ultimately split the polypeptides into amino acids. In the small intestine the acid is neutralized by alkaline pancreatic juice. The intestine's cells either make needed new proteins or convert the protein into glucose for energy. Amino acids not used go into the blood stream and are carried to the liver where they may be used or put back in the blood for the use by other cells to make protein or for other uses.
According to the Harvard experts, we need a minimum of 1 gram of protein per 1 kilo (0.454 gram per pound) of body weight per day. If your healthy body weight is 150 lb or 68 kilo, you need a minimum of 68 grams of protein per day. Four ounces of lean beef contains 35g, one large egg, 6.5g, one-half cup of black beans, 8g, one serving of oatmeal, 3.5g, shelled walnuts, 17g per cup. Although animal foods are rich in protein, it is easy to get enough protein of good quality from a plant-based diet with a little planning.
When we have a surplus of amino acids, they are disassembled because they can't be stored; we use'm or lose'm. The amino group in the amino acid is excreted as urea, and the remaining "carbon skeleton" is converted to glucose and burned for energy or stored as fat. If the cells are hungry and have no glucose or fat available, they will disassemble the protein in muscle tissue to provide needed glucose for energy especially to feed the brain.
Would you believe that too much protein is hazardous to your health? It can weaken your bones and damage your kidneys in addition to other bad things. See The Dangers of having too much protein.
Red meat eaters can get their needed protein by switching to the Mediterranean diet which consists of mostly fresh vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, whole grains, fish, monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, moderate to low amounts of dairy and alcohol, and low amounts of meat. The conclusion from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study of data drawn from 214,284 men and 166,012 women ages 50 to 71 is that men who followed the Mediterranean diet more closely were 17% less likely to die from cancer and 22% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease. Women with a high score for following the diet were 14% less likely to die from cancer and 21% less to die from cardiovascular disease. Other finding are that those who consumed about a quarter-pound of red meat per day were more than 30% more likely to die during the 10 years they were followed than those who consumed the least. This should make us think twice before buying red meats and processed meats and make us more inclined to get our protein from non-meat sources. To read more about the study, go to The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. (The study also shows large benefits from regular exercise.)
Here are some tips on proteins:
Bottled water is not necessarily good quality water. The FDA regulates water sold in interstate commerce, but their standards are low. The National Resources Defense Council found that about 25% of bottled water is simply tap water with or without further treatment. Come to think of it, in view of all of the air pollution I think I will start selling bottled air.
Tips for drinking more fluid:
Finally, we come to the vitamins and minerals. When I was in grade school, we were taught this mnemonic: Colored (A), vital (organs, B1 or thiamine), coverings (B2 or riboflavin), fresh (fruit and vegetables for C), sunshine (D), variety equals vitamins. Knowledge of vitamins has come a long way since then, but the "variety equals vitamins" is still good advice.
The main question is whether or not we need vitamin supplementation. How many times have you heard this mantra (often from doctors): "If you eat a well-balanced diet, you do not need vitamin supplements." That's an obvious truism, but who eats a really well-balanced diet and how many of us would know if we did? The Harvard School of Public Health recommends a standard daily multivitamin "to fill the holes." See their page on Vitamins. Also see Multiple Vitamin-Mineral Supplements.
Some people need supplementation more than others. For example, we seniors who have a low food intake and lower absorption may need more vitamins and minerals across the board. Vegans may need supplemental vitamin B12, iron, and zinc. Menstruating women need more iron. People who don't drink milk or get out in the sun need more vitamin D.
We often read about the importance of antioxidants that protect cells and compounds like DNA from free radicals produced by oxidation. The free radicals are molecules missing an electron, and they go after DNA and other molecules to get the electrons. Antioxidants generously give up electrons to free radicals so that they don't get them from DNA and other molecules. Antioxidants include vitamins C and E, carotenoids, selenium, manganese, and probably many unknown substances. Dr. Willett advises that instead of taking high dose antioxidant pills we should eat lots of fruits and vegetables in order to get the full array of antioxidants.
The mineral we hear most about is calcium. Everyone knows that dairy products are a good source of calcium, right? I would like to believe that dairy products are a good source of calcium, but this is what the Harvard experts say: "The value of milk in preventing osteoporosis in older people is unclear. There is no scientific consensus at the moment." See Calcium and Milk for a few surprises. They say, "While calcium and dairy can lower the risk of osteoporosis and colon cancer, high intake can increase the risk of prostate cancer and possibly ovarian cancer." As an aging male, I'm not going to be enthusiastic about milk until the product is exonerated on this issue.
Also see Dietary calcium is better than supplements at protecting bone health.
It's not difficult to obtain an adequate supply of calcium on a plant-based diet.
In addition to vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals (plant chemicals) have importance in the biological activities of the body as in protecting against diseases. For example, one important phytochemical is lycopene, a powerful antioxidant in cooked tomatoes, is thought to protect against certain cancers. Phytochemicals are another important reason for eating our fruits and veggies.
An outstanding food analysis source is Food Category Explorer. Suppose that you want an analysis of long grain brown rice. At the top click "Cereal Grains & Pasta," type in "brown rice," and enter. On the next screen click "Rice, brown, long-grain, raw." Under "Food Energy" you can read the calories from carbs, fat, and protein and the total calories per serving. Cursor down to find a detailed analysis. Another food analysis source is USDA food values. The textbook cited below and others like it contain food analysis tables.
So, how many calories do we need per day to maintain a healthy weight? If our activity is light, we need roughly 15 calories multiplied by our healthy weight (1,800 for a 120 lb. woman and 2,250 for a man whose healthy weight is 150. For a more accurate calculation, go to Calorie Calculator. The trick in making food choices is to get the most nutrition within our daily calorie allowance.
Physical Activity
Elderly people are most likely to get inadequate exercise resulting in decreasing the calories burnt. Since our physical activity is less, our muscle mass decreases which also reduces the BMR. Furthermore, as we get old and put on weight and have joint problems, we move less, which results in even more weight gain.
To learn some good exercises go to Exercises for the Elderly; I especially like the "wall pushups." Brisk walking is good, but elderly people should be cautious of falling. A better alternative is to use an exercise bike or Stepper. We also need some upper body exercise to build muscle.
For the Government's exercise recommendations see 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans from the Office of Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Talk to your doctor before starting an exercise program.
(There is another set of nutrient standards called the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI), which includes the population-wide Estimated Average Requirements (EAR), Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for people with the highest needs, Adequate Intake (AI) for individuals when the RDA has not been established, and Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL). The Daily Value standard on food labels is presently based on the 1968 RDA but includes requirements for some nutrients not covered by the RDA.)
The panel doesn't show the nutrient percentages by weight. However, this is easy to calculate since it shows the serving size in grams and the nutrient per serving in grams.
Another important section of the Nutrition Facts panel is the list of ingredients in the order of the amount by weight. Look for partially hydrogenated soybean oil, which is not good. There may be several types of sugars, but the sugar amount is for the total. There also may be one or more of about 3,000 food additives. They are added to improve flavor, color, texture, stability, nutrition, and resistance to spoilage. They are all approved by the FDA, but the more polysyllabic chemicals a food includes the less I am inclined to buy it. To get the information on a food additive and its purpose, go to List of Food Additives. Since they are not listed alphabetically, use their "search" slot to find all about a particular ingredient. My favorite to exercise my tongue is polyvinyl polypyrrolidone (a color stabilizer).
For more information on food labels go to How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label.
About 30% of school children are overweight, and this has serious consequences. A recent study found that teenagers who carry excess body fat but aren't necessarily overweight show evidence of reduced blood vessel elasticity, which leads to high blood pressure and is an early warning sign of cardiovascular disease in adults. Excess fat is more strongly linked to stiffer blood vessels than high cholesterol. For more information go to Extra Body Fat Harms Blood Vessels in Teens.
Obesity is a relative term, but if you want to know if you have made the tubby team, go to Body Mass Calculator.
Fat is stored in fat cells, and the amount of fat stored depends upon the number and size of fat cells. The cells fill to a point and then divide. The more fat cells we have the more rapidly we regain fat that is lost. According to fat cell theory, it is important to prevent childhood obesity because new fat cells are mostly formed during childhood.
As mentioned above, a big tummy or "beer belly" indicates an accumulation of visceral fat, which is a serious risk factor if a man's tummy measures 40 or more inches and a women's is 35 or more. It is one of the factors associated with high blood pressure, high triglycerides, high LDL and low HDL cholesterol, and insulin resistance in the metabolic syndrome, which puts one at risk for a heart attack, stroke, or diabetes. For more information go to the excellent American Heart Association site, Metabolic Syndrome.
To maintain a healthy weight, all we have to do is "to balance food energy intake with energy expenditure by metabolism and physical activity." So simple in theory and so difficult in practice! When we reduce our calories, our body prepares for hard times and reduces the basic metabolism rate. To make matters worse, according to "set point" theory, the body has a genetically set favorite weight that it stubbornly defends. These defenses were good in the Stone Age when it was important to have fat reserves to tide humans over when the food supply was low, but in this age of year-around abundance of food they work against dieting. Many people have a lifetime struggle against avoirdupois, and some go to the extreme of having heavy duty bariatric surgery such as stomach stapling. The good news is that exercise lowers the set point and raises the basic metabolism rate.
To lose one pound of weight, we must burn about 3,500 calories more than we consume. To lose only one pound per week, we must have a negative balance of 500 calories a day.
Here are some suggestions for losing weight intelligently:
When we are grappling with our inner child over the prospect of a hamburger (2 to 4 Tbsp. fat) or French fries (1 or 2 Tbsp. fat) or chocolate cake (1 to 2 Tbsp. fat), we might picture in our mind taking a syringe and shooting the very questionable fats into our artery. Yuk! If that doesn't deter us, we should think about the calories. (burger - 400 to 700 calories; fries - 250 to 350; cake - 200 to 300) If we choose all three items, we will ingest about 3/8 of a cup of mostly bad fats and get from 850 to 1350 calories.
To learn more about controlling weight go to Weight Control from Harvard.
this contains a lot of advice that seems sensible to me.
"Calorie restriction" is a concept that is related to weight control and dieting, but it emphasizes the improvement of health and anti-aging rather than weight control. Calorie intake is minimized but the intake of needed nutrients is optimized. It is a proven strategy for extending life span in primates and other species, so the probability of doing the same for humans is an exciting prospect. Stay tuned on this important subject! For more information go to Hot Topic: Calorie Restriction.
I use "grain" in a broad sense including the edible hard seeds of cereal grains such as wheat, oats, barley, and rye and seeds of other plants such as buckwheat, sesame seed, quinoa, flax, lentils, soybeans, and beans.
Supermarkets don't usually sell whole cereal grains other than brown rice, but many health food stores do. My favorite source is Bob's Red Mill in Oregon, and I order on-line. You can buy the intact grains or foods like steel cut oats or rolled oats, rye, and barley and stone ground flour. We can buy golden flax, sesame seed, and quinoa (an excellent substitute for cereal grains). I buy the intact cereal grains and grind or flake them myself just before I want to use them.
Some of the cereal grains such as wheat and rye thresh free from their hulls or scales, and the seeds are often called "berries." Other cereals such as most oats and barley, especially those grown for farm animal feed, do not; however, there are "naked" species of oats and barley. Oats and barley without hulls are called "groats" and are suitable for human consumption. "Pearled" barley has the hull, germ, and some of the bran removed; therefore, it cooks more rapidly.
A naked cereal seed or berry consists of the germ and an outer layer of bran covering a starchy endosperm. The germ is very nutritious, but when it is milled, its oil becomes rancid if not stored under refrigeration. Therefore, we should keep milled whole cereal grains in the refrigerator except for rolled grains in which the enzymes causing rancidity are deactivated by heat. The bran is a good source of fiber and contains other nutrients. The endosperm is mostly starch, but it also contains significant protein. The protein in bread wheat is high in gluten, which makes an elastic dough that can rise during fermentation. However, some people do not tolerate gluten well.
If you are interested in whole wheat bread making I invite you to go to my bread page, Bread Machine Baking.
When I was a boy on the farm and my mother decided to have fried chicken for dinner (noon), one of us ran down a fryer in the chicken yard (free range chickens), amputated its head, scalded it, and removed the feathers. Mother eviscerated it and cut it into pieces. She had no reason to disinfect the knife and work area and carefully wash her hands with soap because the chickens were clean and healthy.
Broiler chickens are now crammed by the thousands into buildings and never get outside. The chickens are slaughtered and processed in a plant where sanitation is likely to be lax to say the least.
People may suppose that all meat and poultry is inspected by the USDA; therefore, it must be safe. In the first place, only meat that enters interstate commerce is inspected by the USDA, and there are a lot of pitfalls in the inspection program. (Meat in intrastate commerce is regulated by the states.) The USDA primarily serves agriculture rather than consumers; therefore, it is inordinately subject to pressure from meat producers and processors to minimize regulation. All food safety matters should be under the FDA, but meat is not. If you wisely invest in Marion Nestle's book, What to Eat, read the chapter entitled Meat: Questions of Safety." Also read John Robbins' extraordinary book entitled The Food Revolution, and you may never eat another hamburger among other things.
Hamburger is especially problematic. Any pathogens that are on the surface of the meat are mixed into the meat by the grinding. Therefore frying does not kill the pathogens unless the internal heat is sufficient. To learn about the safety problems with hamburger, read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser.
The bottom line is that we the consumers are responsible for protecting ourselves from meat borne pathogens. Read and abide by the safe handling instructions on USDA inspected meats. The meat safety risk (pathogens and hormones) piled on top of the nutritional risk is enough to make a vegetarian out of anyone.
The first gap in meat production is that there is no regulation applying to the production of the animals. Cattle feedlots are so unsanitary that antibiotics must be mixed in the feed. A second gap is that tested meat can be sold before the reults of the test are known. A third gap is that the USDA has no authority to recall contaminate meat although most producers do comply.
In addition to bacterial contamination we must be concerned about chemical contamination from pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. For a detailed discussion of the subject go to Pesticides and Your Food.
Using "organic" foods reduces the small risk of chemical contamination. See Organic foods: Are they safer? More nutritious? from the Mayo Clinic. I think their analysis is fair and balanced.
For some people vegetarianism is a moral philosophy or religious injunction as well as a diet option.
They are concerned about animal treatment as well as animal consumption. See, for example, A Vegetarian Philosophy.
Vegetarians include vegans (/vee-guns/) who are strict vegetarians that eat no animal products, lacto-vegetarians who also consume dairy products, and ovo-lacto-vegetarians who also eat eggs and are the most common vegetarians according to the International Vegetarian Union.
There are also ovo-lacto-pesco (eggs, dairy, fish) vegetarians, but perhaps they are more often regarded as "near vegetarians."
"Vegetarian" or even "vegan" are not specific enough to guarantee a healthful diet. White French bread is vegatarian, but it is not a healthful food even without butter. If you are a vegan, a healthful diet is a whole food, plant-based diet that is safe and balanced. This is the gold standard healthwise. If you are a near vegetarian, you can add a few animal products that are low in saturated fat. The Mediterranean diet is a good compromise or transitional diet for omnivores seeking a more healthful diet.
Aside from the moral question there are some important practical reasons for the plant-based diet. As a brief introduction to the virtues of the plant-based diet go to Eating for Life. To begin with, there is the environmental concern. One aspect of this is that feeding animals to feed us is a highly inefficient use of resources, and this is especially true in the fattening of beef cattle, which requires the most feed per pound of meat produced. Beef production requires an enormous amount of petroleum to produce the fertilizer and fuel needed. (See Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler. In some areas the fertilizer pollutes the ground water. In other areas ground water is pumped for the irrigation of feed grains, which in some areas has caused a serious drop in the water table. Beef production requires an enormous amount of water, which is becoming a scarcer resource.
When animals were raised, fattened, and milked on crop/livestock farms, the manure was used to fertilize the fields. With feedlots, pork and egg factories, and drylot dairies manure disposal becomes a serious environmental problem. Have you ever driven by a large feedlot on a warm day? Having been reared on a crop/livestock farm, I know about inevitable barn and barnyard aromas, but the feedlot stenches indicate to me that there is a serious sanitation problem.
Feedlots put cattle in such unhealthful conditions that they have to be fed antibiotics constantly. This causes pathogens that are also a problem for humans to become resistant to the antibiotics.
There are serious food safety issues in the way that meat is being produced, processed, and distributed. Due to factory farming the food pathogens are more widespread and due to the wide use of antibiotics the pathogens are becoming more virulent. Our food inspection is woefully inadequate, and since the production comes from a few very large producers that distribute the meat over very large areas, food contamination can affect very large numbers of people before the problem is isolated and the meat is recalled. See Of E. coli, feedlots and slaughterhouses -- and the right way to raise beef.
Ruminants such as cows, sheep, and goats expel, to use a nice word, serious amounts of methane gas, which has over 20 times the global warming effect of CO2. See Killer cow emissions and other bovine problems.
Now we come to the most important problem with animal food products. It is true that beef, pork, eggs, and milk provide high quality protein. In fact they are providing more protein than people should eat. A more serious problem is that these foods come laced with varying amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol and may also come with contaminants and pathogens, which are serious health risks.
In 1985 the Surgeon General started requiring this health warning on cigarettes: "Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy." If this warning is justified, then foods containing significant amount of saturated fat and cholesterol should carry this warning: Regular consumption of this food causes heart attacks, strokes, cancer of several kinds, obesity, and diabetes. Just how large are these risks? Consider this: The risk for heart disease for run-of-the-mill vegetarians is half that for non-vegetarians, and the risk for cancer is 40% of that for non-vegetarians. Now vegetarianism doesn't seem eccentric after all, does it?
A great gift that parents can give their children is to put them on a healthful whole food, plant-based diet early. (A vegan diet is fine for children, but it requires more supplementation and careful management than an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet to insure adequate vitamins B12 and D, protein, iron, and zinc.) Here is an excellent article on the virtues and precautions with a plant-based diet and especially a vegan diet for children: Vegetarian Diets for Children: Right from the Start. Parents should also have the book cited below entitled The New Becoming Vegetarian.
Here is a good vegetarian site: Vegetarian Basics 101.
If you are convinced that a healthy plant-based diet is superior to a meat-centered diet and are ready to make the change, make it slowly. First cut out the cured and smoked meats, sausage, lunch meats, hamburger, and steaks. Next, cut out all red meat. Then cut out poultry and farm-produced fish.
I suspect that when many people consider a plant-based diet, they wonder about how they can make a satisfying meal with adequate protein. For an ovo-lacto vegetarian or near vegetarian, getting enough good protein is easy. A vegan needs to rely more on nuts, legumes, and tofu for adequate protein and on a good daily multivitamin and mineral tablet for vitamin B12.
It is a challenge to come up with a good substitute for the traditional Western meat, potatoes, and vegetable plate. The best substitute for meat is dry beans. (Frozen fresh baby lima beans are also relatively high in protein.) For an excellent guide for cooking beans and grain see Cooking Beans and Grain.
It is nice to add a suitable topping. Here is a place to let the imagination run wild. How about whipped yogurt with an herb or chopped tomato sprinkled with basil topping on black beans, salsa on navy beans, or mustard sauce (mustard, yogurt or silken tofu, and a tad of brown sugar) on cooked dry lima beans? With beans on the plate you can skip the potatoes and have two vegetables such as broccoli and snap peas. I would have a small glass Swedish drinkable yogurt or buttermilk to round out the dinner. Skip the bread and butter and perhaps have a celery stick with herbed yochee on it. If you must have bread, have a 100% whole grain bread dipped in garlic olive oil instead of slathering it with butter.
My favorite meatless dishes are one-dish meals with enough for lots of leftovers. This includes vegetable stews, soups, casseroles, and salads. Although recipes help, we can do a lot of improvising.
My basic stew consists of a base of chopped carrots, celery, and onion. I can add to that any or all of the following: frozen baby lima beans, green bean, frozen cut okra, frozen corn, zucchini, a can of cut tomatoes, and a can of kidney beans. For the starch I can add cooked brown rice or pearled barley, or I can add whole wheat noodles or pasta. I like to flavor it with balsamic vinegar, garlic, and mixed herbs. This dish originally had hamburger in it, but now I substitute canned kidney beans for protein.
My vegetable soup is similar to the stew. I use about the same vegetables except no tomatoes. For protein I add small white beans or diced firm tofu. I also love green split pea soup or bean soup (both with carrots, celery, and onion added) with whole grain muffins. Here are online sources of meatless soup and stew recipes:
Water
Not the least of the essential nutrients is water. Dr. Willett says that we need 64 ounces of fluid from food or water per day if we are on a 2,000 calorie diet. If we do activities that raise a sweat, we need more. Caffeine and alcoholic drinks don't count as much as water because they are diuretics. Unfortunately, it is getting more difficult to be assured of good quality water.
All of the macro-nutrients produce calories (yes, including protein), which are a measure of the amount of energy provided by the "fuel." Fats are loaded with calories: 9 calories per gram (120 calories per Tbsp.) compared to 4 for carbohydrates, 4 for proteins, and 7 for alcohol. Our daily calorie requirement depends upon our Basic Metabolism Rate (BMR) and our physical activity. The BMR is approximately the amount of calories we burn while resting. It depends upon our genes, gender, age, size, body type, and muscle to fat ratio. ("Calories" is usually shorthand for kilocalories.)
Exercise burns off calories, but it also increases the desirable HDL in the blood, improves the heart's pumping efficiency improving circulation, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, increases muscle mass, and strengthens the bones. Those benefits should get us off of the couch, but there are many more. For more excellent information from Harvard go to Exercise. Notice that there are three important types of exercise: 1) cardiovascular exercise from such things as brisk walking for 30 minutes, 2) stretching exercise (when we are warmed up) to make us more limber, and 3) resistance exercise or weight training to build muscle mass, which increases the basal metabolism rate burning more calories while we are resting.
"Nutrition Facts" on Food Labels
One of the greatest advances in consumer protection is the "Nutrition Facts" labels on foods showing the basic per-serving nutritional information as required by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, which was amended in 2003 to be effective January 1, 2006, to require showing trans fats. The label now shows the serving size, the servings per container, calories per serving, calories from fat, and for the following it shows the amount in grams or milligrams and the "% Daily Value": total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, sugar, and protein. It also shows the % daily value for vitamins A and C and for iron and calcium. The "Daily Value" standard is the daily need for an average person eating 2,000 and 2,500 calories.
Obesity in America may be our most serious health problem: 65% are overweight, 31% are obese, and 5% are severely obese (morbid obesity), according to the American Obesity Association, and the numbers are increasing. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke, certain forms of cancer, gall bladder disease, respiratory problems, arthritis, hernia, and backaches. The connection between diabetes and obesity is so strong that medics have coined the word "diabesity," which is on an alarming upward trend in the US. (See Obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and physical activity) Obesity reduces physical activity that would burn calories, which results in more weight gain. For more go to Health Effects of Obesity.
To have an optimum diet, we need to adopt a whole foods life style. For example, for breakfast we should have a whole orange instead of orange juice out of a carton or plastic container so that we have a fresh product and get the valuable fiber and nutrients in the pulp. Have whole grain cereals instead of regular Cream of Wheat and grits and certainly instead of overly-refined, overly-sugared, cold kid cereals. Have whole wheat Cream of Wheat. Have "Old-fashioned" rolled oats instead of "quick oats" or "instant oats." Have whole wheat toast instead of white toast. For dinner we should have brown long grain rice instead of polished rice and especially instead of instant rice. Have whole pasta instead of white pasta.
A special kind of vegetable stew that I love is a good borscht. I put 4 cups of water in the 6-qt stew pot and start it heating. (I add some beef bouillon.) I slice 1 large onion and let it saute while I shred in the food processor 3 beets (save the tops because they are excellent for cooked greens), 1 turnip, and 2 large carrots and add them to the pot. After the onions are removed, you can saute some garlic if you like.)I slice 1/2 of a cabbage and add it along with a can of cut tomatoes and 2 cans of kidney beans for protein. Finally, I season it with salt, pepper, and a dash or two each of Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar. When I serve it, I put a dollop of whipped yogurt on top. Here are some online borscht recipes:
Another good meatless dish is a stir fry dish. Again, we can do a lot of improvising. Here are some online sources of meatless stir fry recipes:
I'm fond of meatless Mexican dishes. One of my favorite one-dish salads is a tostada for two. I put some olive oil in a heated frying pan and dump in a can of black beans or kidney beans and mash them with a potato masher. I dampen and heat two corn tortillas between two plates. I shred about six or eight leaves of romaine lettuce and chop two small tomatoes. I make a quacamole. The avocado should be just ripe enough so that the peel will easily pull off of sections. I mash the avocado and mix in a couple of tbsp of yogurt and add some herbs. I put a tortilla on a plate, spread beans on it, add romaine and chopped tomatoes. Spread on the quacamole. Add a salsa on top.
Another Mexican dish that I enjoy is a meatless burrito. Warm a large soft tortilla, pile on some heated canned black beans, microwaved frozen corn or cooked brown rice, chopped tomato, and yogurt. You can try adding condiments like enchilada sauce or taco sauce, cumin, or cilantro. Fold and add some salsa on top. Serve with a green salad.
For vegetarian substitutes go to The Road to Vegetaria.
Having a good lunch is a problem for working people. A suitable soup and sandwich is a good standby. At home a favorite for me would be a bowl of green split pea soup and a sardine sandwich on whole wheat bread.
What can a teenager eat at home in place of hamburger? Well, there are several veggie burgers on the market, but I would rather avoid manufactured food. Here is a tofu burger recipe: Mash 1/2 pound firm tofu, add diced onion, 2 tbsp flaxseed meal or wheat germ, 2 tbsp whole wheat flour, 2 tbsp soy sauce, and salt and pepper. Combine well and fry with olive oil until brown.
Another alternative to a hamburger is to grill a portobello mushrooms. To find out how, go to Grilled Portobello Burgers. This is an especially great tip if you have kids who love hamburgers or if you want to avoid meat. For two people I like to brush two small portobello caps (3 in. in diameter) with a mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, let stand, and fry along with slices of half of an onion for about 5 minutes on each side and serve with lentil, pea, or bean soup to increase the protein. Skip the fries! Portobello burgers are appearing on lots of restaurant menus. If you want a big burger, use six-inch caps.
When thinking of vegetables to serve think of the crucifers (cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and collards), cooked greens (spinach, chard, and beet tops), legumes (green peas and beans), summer squash, red and green peppers, and mixed green salads and choose regularly from all of these groups. Think of root vegetables like carrots (not potatoes) as more desirable starches.
A good plant-based breakfast is easy. One choice is a good cooked whole grain cereal. with added chopped walnuts, raisins, flax-seed meal, non-fat milk, cinnamon, but no cream or sugar. An even better choice is a good muesli. Add some chopped dates and walnuts, sunflower seed, and raisins to regular oat meal. Add some unsweetened apple juice, heat some if you prefer, and add some whipped yogurt. A good breakfast will get you through the morning at work without a doughnut or muffin.
If you want safe, fresh food, grow it yourself, and it's not at all that difficult. Think of having garden fresh snap peas, bush beans, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, sweet corn, and fresh herbs! See this seed site for a host of tempting possibilities: Vegetable Seeds Catalog.
A small garden is healthful and rewarding activity for adults and a great project for teen-agers. It is a physical outdoor activity that gets them away from the TV and computer. I wasn't thrilled to work in the garden when I was a teenager, but I did enjoy its bounty.
A garden need not take much space. I wouldn't have a lawn, but even if you do, you may be able to have a lot of garden around the border. If you are an apartment dweller with a south facing balcony, you can grow tomatoes in a tub.
John Robbins in his book, The Food Revolution (p. 384), says, "Will we become even more alienated from the natural world as our food becomes even more processed, refined, and adulterated? Or will our cities be full of urban rooftop gardens, with ever more people celebrating the pleasures of food that is wholesome, fresh, and full of vitality?"
A garden doesn't require great soil. Although we would like to have a deep, well-drained, rich sandy loam soil, we can do with less desirable soils. If the soil is poorly drained, try mounding (See Raised Beds.) If the soil is infertile, start by working in a lot of rotted manure or compost.
For more information of home gardening see Vegetable Gardening, but not being fond of spading, I would use no-till cultivation. See this great video: No-Till Gardening.
I will describe two types of food guides that are intended for the general public.
Isn't it interesting that MyPyramid is a product of the USDA, a department representing agriculture, rather than by Health and Human Services? Why do you suppose that milk has such a large swath of the pyramid? It couldn't be because of dairy industry pressure could it? Here are some food pyramids that I believe are nutritionally superior:
One of my favorite accessible and authoritative guide books for omnivores is Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating (2005) by Walter C. Willett, head of the Department of Nutrition. His recommendations are research-based, and he cites a lot of the research studies. He takes a stand on many important nutrition issues where nutrition textbooks may simply present the different points of view. He advocates eating fewer bad fats and more good fats, fewer refined grains and more whole grain and low glycemic carbs, fewer potatoes and more vegetables, and less red meat and more beans, nuts, fish, poultry, and eggs. The book includes a few menus and many recipes. To see a good portion of the Harvard wisdom, go to Nutrition Source.
Once an omnivore gets comfortable with Dr. Willetts advice including eating less meat and potatoes, he is then ready to switch from meat-centered to plant-centered meals and to read my next favorite food guide book which is The New Becoming Vegetarian: The Essential Guide To A Healthy Vegetarian Diet by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis (Paperback - Aug 2003). (Check out the reviews on the Amazon page.) It tells us about everything we need to know about nutrition and especially about the nutritional aspect of vegetarianism. It offers help on shopping and meal planning and has a recipe section. Having been reared on farm cooking, I was once concerned about how one can prepare a tasty, satisfying, nutritious meal that is meatless, but here is a book that will make it a lot easier for you.
An excellent book on supermarket foods is What to Eat (2006) by Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University. She is an expert on the politics of food, and her book is heavily laced with the subject. It is infuriating to find out how much big business adversely influences food selection and regulation. She exposes marketing ploys to get us to eat more overly processed food laced with polysyllabic food additives and various sugars and fats. It is interesting to consider to what extent the food industry is responsible for the current obesity epidemic. She often relates her own experiences that give the book a nice personal touch. She gives a lot of conservative guidance on food selection, but the ten most important words that she wants us to remember is "eat less [especially junk food], move more, eat lots of fruits and vegetables." I think her book is an interesting and enlightening long read (about 600 pages), but a "must read." To read an interesting story about her, go to Down to a Science.
If you are interested in your health and the health of our planet, read The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins. He discusses all of the risks of eating meat, poultry, eggs, amd milk including the serious risk of food-borne diseases. Read it, you may never again bring hamburger or an uncooked chicken into your kitchen. Check out the reviews on the amazon.com page for this book. It is more highly praised than any book I have ever seen on amazon.com. This book should be read by every health care policy maker in Washington and in the states, by every physician who always reaches for his prescription pad when treating patients with high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and by every literate American who has not informed himself on this subject.
One might expect that the American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide by Robert Larson Duyff would be the authoritative guide that we need. It contains much information and much of the book is on-line. See Preview of ADA Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. The book seems to hue closely to the conservative positions of the ADA, which seems to want to avoid contradicting anything in the USDA Food Guide or their pyramid and to avoid any rift with the agricultural producers and processors.
Here, with my bracketed remarks, are the ADA's dietary principles taken from Three Keys to a Healthful Diet:
Diet Books
One of the better diet books in my opinion is The G. I. Diet The Easy, Healthy way to Permanent Weight Loss (2002) by Rick Gallop. Although Gallop doesn't have formal scientific credentials, he has clearly done his homework as well as having had personal experience. He came up with a food guide that is very easy to follow and is based on principles similar to those advocated by Dr. Willett. The food choices are listed in green, yellow, and red panels according to their G. I. and fat profile. Serving sizes are described in terms of how much of the plate they cover. (Cover half of your plate with vegetables, 1/4 with lean meat, and 1/4 with starches. During Phase 1, the weight loss phase, his goal is to lose 1 pound per week by eating only "green-light" foods, which includes a generous amount of low G. I. carbs, with controlled portions. Phase 2 is the weight maintenance phase that permits one to eat some "yellow-light" foods and larger portions. His second book, which is more useful for most people, gives a summary of the G. I. diet concept and has many more recipes and tips: Living the G. I. Diet (2004).
Gallop "green lights" many meats including extra-lean hamburger (less than 10% fat), which I would "red light." He green lights all veal and skinless chicken breasts. I draw the line at eating veal considering how it is produced. I would still eat chicken but none that are in my supermarket's counter partly because of how they have been cared for, partly because of what they have been fed, and partly because of the pathogen risk.
The New Glucose Revolution, (2003) by Jennie Brand-Miller et al. is the latest and most authoritative guide to the Glycemic Index, which may be one of the most important developments in nutrition in the last two decades. It clearly explains the concept and includes the most authoritative Glycemic Index table. The recommendations are sometimes a little lax or inconsistent with the low G. I. stance, but the book is a useful reference book. A related book is The New Glucose Revolution Pocket Guide to Losing Weight. I prefer The G. I. Diet by Gallop.
For a discussion of various diets see Healthy Eating & Diet on WebMD. One of those diets is the The Dean Ornish Diet, which is a plant-based diet that along with exercise and relaxation has reversed heart disease. The diet meets Dr. Ornish's recommendation of less than 10% of your calories from fat. That is very restrictive! My favorite nutrition authority, Dr. Willett, on the other hand, says "Eat fewer bad fats and more good fats." The good fats are most vegetable fats including avocadoes,which I love. Also see What are alternative diet programs? from the University of Michigan Health System.
Many of the food plans recommend that we replace bad fats (saturated and trans fats) with good fats, and some of the plans recommend that we eat low glycemic carbohydrates or at least to replace highly processed grains with whole grain and eat lots of fruit and vegetables. The diets differ on the best combination of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. To better interpret the recommendations, we should consider what the World Health Organization recommends: carbohydrates 55-75% of total energy, protein 10-15%, and fat 15-30%. These are wide ranges, and the WHO is not infallible. However, the ranges indicate that a 40-30-30 balance as in The New Sugar Busters! and in Mastering the Zone is quite low in carbohydrates and high in protein by WHO standards. The Protein Power Lifeplan is even more extreme. The diet most tolerant of fat including saturated fat is the risky Atkins diet with very low carbohydrate and high protein and fat.
Determining the most healthful diet for an individual or for a group is an extremely difficult scientific problem and one that is always clouded with uncertainty and controversy. Science will never find the whole truth; it will only approach it by one consensus approximation after another. The 2005 consensus approximation will look quite outmoded in 2020. However, we shouldn't cynically ignore all recommendations; we should look for the authorities with the best credentials and follow their recommendations knowing that they are subject to change. Some of the nutrition entrepreneurs have some good ideas, but many of their conclusions are hypotheses rather than well-researched findings.
Introductory Nutrition Books
Introductory nutrition books are those used by colleges for nutrition majors and non-majors, but they are usually accessible, well-illustrated books suitable for anyone interested in nutrition. Here is what seems to be the leading introductory nutrition textbook in the universities:
Understanding Nutrition, 10th Edition (2005) by Eleanor Noss Whitney: Since it is quite readable and generously illustrated, it is a good book to browse, and since it contains so much information, it is a good reference book. Its appendix includes a very useful extensive "Table of Food Composition" and a good glossary. It includes some easily understood organic chemistry. (The amazon.com price for a new 11th hardcover Edition is $160. You can buy a "very good" used hardcover 10th Ed. for less than $20 and a 9th Ed. (2002), which I have, for as little as $0.02. What a bargain! You can see why I like to buy a good used copy of the next to the last edition of a textbook. They are not too far out of date, and they are huge bargains.) This book gives a lot of information on foods, nutrients, and digestion processes. It also has a chapter entitled "Planning a Healthy Diet." It explains three diet planning guides, which I wouldn't use. The approach to diet is too orthodox (ADA/USDA) for me.
Other On-line Resources
For an interesting nutrition newsletter go to Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter.
For a very good monthly news letter go to Nutrition Action News Letter published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and also see their Home page and Food Safety News. To see the complete contents of the News Letter it is necessary to subscribe to it. In 2007, the FDA Commissioner awarded CSPI the agency’s highest honor, the Harvey W. Wiley Special Citation.
CSPI is now working to:
The American Institute for Cancer Research has released these eight guidelines for avoiding cancer.
Note that these are the same steps that are needed to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. In order to reduce these degenerative disease we need to adopt a healthful lifestyle.
In the US the family dinner is a dying institution, and that is a shame. Childrens' extracurricular activities and parent work requirements have encroached upon the family dinner with seriously bad consequences.
One bad consequences is child obesity of epidemic proportions. (See Fight Child Obesity With the Traditional Family Dinner.
It has been reported that 17% of US children between ages 2 and 19 have been classified as obese--not just overweight but obese! (See Parents Failing To Recognize Their Children's Risk For Obesity May Be Contributing To Epidemic.
Some parents may think that chubby-cheeked little children are cute, but the Mayo Clinic says, "Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents." (See Childhood Obesity.)
A prime parental responsibility is to teach their children not only what to eat but how to eat it. These teaching include the following with respect to dinner:
Other teachings should include these:
Food Ethics
If it is morally wrong to do harm to others knowingly, then we should not serve others unhealthful food. Of course there are degrees of immorality. Although cream and sugar are unhealthful, serving them with coffee to guests may be an acceptable moral transgression, but serving regular ice cream and cake for dessert isn't acceptable in my thinking. Most people have strict standards of sanitation in food preparation. Why should nutritional standards be more lax?
I think we should have especially high standards in feeding children because it is an educational issue as well as a nutritional issue. Is it morally wrong for a mother to show her love for her children by serving them cookies made from a base of white flour, sugar, and saturated fat when she knows that these ingredients are not healthful? Probably most people would say that a cookie or two on special occasions won't hurt anybody. True, but when we are feeding children, we are also teaching them what foods are acceptable to eat and what aren't. We don't tell a teenager that one cigarette per day is OK even though it probably won't hurt them much other than to start an addiction.
I'll go even further. Is it morally wrong for churches to sponsor cake sales or to serve cake at church dinners? Absolutely! Some churches wouldn't think of serving a glass of wine, which may have some health benefits, but think it's fine to serve cake.
Is it ethically wrong for a person to feed himself unhealthful foods knowingly? That is a more debatable issue. I guess it depends upon what family responsibility one has and to what extent society may have to provide health care.
It is also morally wrong to mistreat food animals. Most beef, pork, veal, poultry, eggs, and milk are produced or fattened by factory-farms under bad to appalling bad conditions.
Copyright © 2005 & 2009 Robert G. Parvin. This web site is made available free of charge "as is," with no warranties whatsoever. Some of the food suggestions in this page may not be suitable for everyone, so if you are uncertain confirm their suitability by consulting your health professional. If you are dissatisfied with this web site, or any portion thereof, your exclusive remedy shall be to cease using the web site.