New and improved food guidelines....
Today's Post: Friday, 6-25-2010
On Monday (6-21-2010) EatingWell Magazine had an online story titled:
“What should Americans eat? Experts announce 8 new food rules.”
These 8 guidelines apparently are NOT those the USDA will issue but the likely superior ones that the scientists on their advisory committee recommended.
The magazine’s editors wrote them as a summary of the recommendations of those scientists if I read their article correctly.
I’ll initially list just the 8 guidelines. Then, I’ll comment.
1. Eat fewer calories.
2. Get more of your food from plants.
“This report emphasizes eating more vegetables, cooked dry beans and peas, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds”
3. Eat more fish.
4. Switch to low-fat dairy.
5. Eat only moderate amounts of lean meats, poultry and eggs.
6. Reduce intake of added sugars and solid fats.
7. Reduce sodium and refined grains.
“Their advice is to lower your consumption of sodium and refined grains (such as white breads, pasta, etc.), especially refined grains that are coupled with added sugar, solid fats and sodium.“
8. Exercise!
They ended their article with this quote.:
“Michael Pollan may have said it even more simply. His main food rule?
“Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” “
My comments:
“1. Eat fewer calories.
When far too many people today are now way too fat this is easy to say.
But it’s useless without information on how to do it successfully.
The key they partly covered in their other points is to do so in a way that does NOT increase hunger, does NOT trigger your famine response, and is doable enough to be sustainable.
Here are some of THOSE guidelines.:
a) Avoid eating or drinking things AT ALL that cause you to be hungrier or which give you more calories than they reduce your hunger.
(Put that way it seems almost obvious. But few people realize what that means in practice. NEVER drink soft drinks or diet soft drinks. Never or almost never eat foods made with refined grains or made with high fructose corn syrup. Don’t use artificial sweeteners and restrict natural sweeteners with no calories to a minimum because it seems that those make you hungrier more than the calories they save by replacing real sugar.)
b)Waste NONE of your calories on foods or drinks that harm your health.
(Put that way it seems close to obvious also. But an astoundingly large percentage of foods in most our grocery stores still contain such foods and drinks.
All the foods in the previous category fit here as they tend to cause heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
Oils high in omega 6 & such oils hydrogenated which then contain trans-fats are now known to be in this category. Omega 6 oils increase the inflammation now shown to cause heart disease and hydrogenated oils cause heart disease directly. Why waste your calories on heart attack starters?
c) Avoid most high glycemic foods that spike your blood sugar because the insulin spike that follows that makes you fatter.
Surprisingly for most people, whole grains and white potatoes fit here in addition to the really bad foods in the first category.
d) Be very moderate and occasional in eating things that have added sugar.
People like sugar and foods it is added to. Just emulate the French have them a few times a MONTH instead of several times a day!
e) Limit yourself to moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Moderate drinking seems to have health benefits and people enjoy it. It even may help women stay lean and trim according to one study. But heavy drinking is dangerous, tends to harm your health reliably, and adds large amounts of calories that are avoidable.
f) Do eat foods that support your health and turn off hunger and which mostly are high in fiber and low in calories.
Their next point is one excellent way to do this last strategy.
2. Get more of your food from plants.
“This report emphasizes eating more vegetables, cooked dry beans and peas, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds”
Similar to alcohol, whole fresh fruit is best in moderation and then eat mostly those that are lower glycemic and have more health benefits. Organic ones are safer and have more nutrients. Berries, stone fruits such as peaches, plums, and nectarines, and apples and pears do best at this.
Cooked dry beans, lentils, and peas have more fiber and are lower glycemic than whole grains. So limit whole grains and eat more beans and lentils.
The foods in this list that have the most nutrition and lowest glycemic index and the highest hunger reduction per calorie are the nonstarchy vegetables and surprisingly the nuts. However only raw or dry roasted nuts are safe to eat and then only for those who aren’t allergic to them.
Within the nonstarchy vegetables the ones with the most health benefits are the cruciferous vegetables, raw tomatoes, and cooked tomatoes. Greens come in a close second. And for variety, foods like green beans and asparagus are good.
3. Eat more fish.
The underlying idea here is to do two things get health OK, low glycemic protein and enough omega 3 oils. Doing so without harming your health also is wise.
Some wild caught fish are low in mercury and other pollutants – and high in omega 3 oils. If you can manage it, eating two or three servings a week of those is an excellent source of omega 3 oils.
Note that farmed fish and varieties high in mercury are harmful to your health.
DHA supplements and omega 3 supplements from purified fish oil or algae also work.
In a population that has been badly underfed omega 3 oils, doing those two things has astounding health benefits. It protects your heart, reduces pain and discomfort, improves your mood, and makes it possible for you to think better.
The protein in such fish turns off your hunger well; and the health benefits are well worth the investment in the calories.
4. Switch to low-fat dairy. & 5. Eat only moderate amounts of lean meats, poultry and eggs.
These two are here because those that most people have access to are grain fed only. That means that the fats in them are massively too high in omega 6 oils which is harmful to your health. Worse, the grains tend to be raised using herbicides and pesticides which then get bioconcentrated in the fat of such animals. Last, but far from least, factory farms too often still overuse antibiotics and these two will reduce your intake of those and the antibiotic resistant bacteria they cause.
So with grain fed stuff, eat it less and work on eating even less than that of the fats in it.
In addition, even in people’s who eat such foods from grass and pasture fed animals, those that eat such foods less than they eat plant foods tend to have better health.
Get grass and pasture fed when you can or go very lowfat with grain fed and then be moderate in your consumption either way.
6. Reduce intake of added sugars and solid fats.
Redundant points. Already covered above why to be very sparing with sugars and why NOT to eat transfats & to go easy on butterfat.
7. Reduce sodium and refined grains.
“Their advice is to lower your consumption of sodium and refined grains (such as white breads, pasta, etc.), especially refined grains that are coupled with added sugar, solid fats and sodium.“
It’s already covered above why to avoid foods made with refined grains. But there are two key points here that are new.
a) Most people are healthier with moderate salt intakes and many others will become sicker unless they have a low intake. Meanwhile most Americans are heavy consumers of salt.
b) A group of common pre-prepared foods and packaged foods contain the majority of the refined grains, excess salt, oils high in omega 6 – and even hydrogenated oils still.
These include white bread, brown appearing bread and pasta made with white, refined flour, packaged snacks, dry cereals, and packaged desserts.
People who eat NONE of these foods get far less excess salt, less fattening calorie foods, and less health harming oils.
When you consider that such foods plus soft drinks are the majority contents of the grocery carts and food bills of many Americans it becomes very clear where most of the obesity epidemic is coming from.
8. Exercise!
If you do vigorous exercise and more moderate physical activities every week, your body will contain more muscle and stronger bones. You will burn more calories directly. And, your metabolism even when resting will be higher.
So you can eat somewhat more and be less hungry while also being far less fat.
Those are the benefits of regular exercise that belong with food guidelines.
But the other health benefits are unbelievable large. It can literally take two weeks of posts to summarize them all.
With exercise it can truly be said, if people really knew what exercise did FOR them and NOT getting any exercise did TOO them, almost everyone would exercise.
Today's Post: Friday, 6-25-2010
On Monday (6-21-2010) EatingWell Magazine had an online story titled:
“What should Americans eat? Experts announce 8 new food rules.”
These 8 guidelines apparently are NOT those the USDA will issue but the likely superior ones that the scientists on their advisory committee recommended.
The magazine’s editors wrote them as a summary of the recommendations of those scientists if I read their article correctly.
I’ll initially list just the 8 guidelines. Then, I’ll comment.
1. Eat fewer calories.
2. Get more of your food from plants.
“This report emphasizes eating more vegetables, cooked dry beans and peas, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds”
3. Eat more fish.
4. Switch to low-fat dairy.
5. Eat only moderate amounts of lean meats, poultry and eggs.
6. Reduce intake of added sugars and solid fats.
7. Reduce sodium and refined grains.
“Their advice is to lower your consumption of sodium and refined grains (such as white breads, pasta, etc.), especially refined grains that are coupled with added sugar, solid fats and sodium.“
8. Exercise!
They ended their article with this quote.:
“Michael Pollan may have said it even more simply. His main food rule?
“Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” “
My comments:
“1. Eat fewer calories.
When far too many people today are now way too fat this is easy to say.
But it’s useless without information on how to do it successfully.
The key they partly covered in their other points is to do so in a way that does NOT increase hunger, does NOT trigger your famine response, and is doable enough to be sustainable.
Here are some of THOSE guidelines.:
a) Avoid eating or drinking things AT ALL that cause you to be hungrier or which give you more calories than they reduce your hunger.
(Put that way it seems almost obvious. But few people realize what that means in practice. NEVER drink soft drinks or diet soft drinks. Never or almost never eat foods made with refined grains or made with high fructose corn syrup. Don’t use artificial sweeteners and restrict natural sweeteners with no calories to a minimum because it seems that those make you hungrier more than the calories they save by replacing real sugar.)
b)Waste NONE of your calories on foods or drinks that harm your health.
(Put that way it seems close to obvious also. But an astoundingly large percentage of foods in most our grocery stores still contain such foods and drinks.
All the foods in the previous category fit here as they tend to cause heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
Oils high in omega 6 & such oils hydrogenated which then contain trans-fats are now known to be in this category. Omega 6 oils increase the inflammation now shown to cause heart disease and hydrogenated oils cause heart disease directly. Why waste your calories on heart attack starters?
c) Avoid most high glycemic foods that spike your blood sugar because the insulin spike that follows that makes you fatter.
Surprisingly for most people, whole grains and white potatoes fit here in addition to the really bad foods in the first category.
d) Be very moderate and occasional in eating things that have added sugar.
People like sugar and foods it is added to. Just emulate the French have them a few times a MONTH instead of several times a day!
e) Limit yourself to moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Moderate drinking seems to have health benefits and people enjoy it. It even may help women stay lean and trim according to one study. But heavy drinking is dangerous, tends to harm your health reliably, and adds large amounts of calories that are avoidable.
f) Do eat foods that support your health and turn off hunger and which mostly are high in fiber and low in calories.
Their next point is one excellent way to do this last strategy.
2. Get more of your food from plants.
“This report emphasizes eating more vegetables, cooked dry beans and peas, fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds”
Similar to alcohol, whole fresh fruit is best in moderation and then eat mostly those that are lower glycemic and have more health benefits. Organic ones are safer and have more nutrients. Berries, stone fruits such as peaches, plums, and nectarines, and apples and pears do best at this.
Cooked dry beans, lentils, and peas have more fiber and are lower glycemic than whole grains. So limit whole grains and eat more beans and lentils.
The foods in this list that have the most nutrition and lowest glycemic index and the highest hunger reduction per calorie are the nonstarchy vegetables and surprisingly the nuts. However only raw or dry roasted nuts are safe to eat and then only for those who aren’t allergic to them.
Within the nonstarchy vegetables the ones with the most health benefits are the cruciferous vegetables, raw tomatoes, and cooked tomatoes. Greens come in a close second. And for variety, foods like green beans and asparagus are good.
3. Eat more fish.
The underlying idea here is to do two things get health OK, low glycemic protein and enough omega 3 oils. Doing so without harming your health also is wise.
Some wild caught fish are low in mercury and other pollutants – and high in omega 3 oils. If you can manage it, eating two or three servings a week of those is an excellent source of omega 3 oils.
Note that farmed fish and varieties high in mercury are harmful to your health.
DHA supplements and omega 3 supplements from purified fish oil or algae also work.
In a population that has been badly underfed omega 3 oils, doing those two things has astounding health benefits. It protects your heart, reduces pain and discomfort, improves your mood, and makes it possible for you to think better.
The protein in such fish turns off your hunger well; and the health benefits are well worth the investment in the calories.
4. Switch to low-fat dairy. & 5. Eat only moderate amounts of lean meats, poultry and eggs.
These two are here because those that most people have access to are grain fed only. That means that the fats in them are massively too high in omega 6 oils which is harmful to your health. Worse, the grains tend to be raised using herbicides and pesticides which then get bioconcentrated in the fat of such animals. Last, but far from least, factory farms too often still overuse antibiotics and these two will reduce your intake of those and the antibiotic resistant bacteria they cause.
So with grain fed stuff, eat it less and work on eating even less than that of the fats in it.
In addition, even in people’s who eat such foods from grass and pasture fed animals, those that eat such foods less than they eat plant foods tend to have better health.
Get grass and pasture fed when you can or go very lowfat with grain fed and then be moderate in your consumption either way.
6. Reduce intake of added sugars and solid fats.
Redundant points. Already covered above why to be very sparing with sugars and why NOT to eat transfats & to go easy on butterfat.
7. Reduce sodium and refined grains.
“Their advice is to lower your consumption of sodium and refined grains (such as white breads, pasta, etc.), especially refined grains that are coupled with added sugar, solid fats and sodium.“
It’s already covered above why to avoid foods made with refined grains. But there are two key points here that are new.
a) Most people are healthier with moderate salt intakes and many others will become sicker unless they have a low intake. Meanwhile most Americans are heavy consumers of salt.
b) A group of common pre-prepared foods and packaged foods contain the majority of the refined grains, excess salt, oils high in omega 6 – and even hydrogenated oils still.
These include white bread, brown appearing bread and pasta made with white, refined flour, packaged snacks, dry cereals, and packaged desserts.
People who eat NONE of these foods get far less excess salt, less fattening calorie foods, and less health harming oils.
When you consider that such foods plus soft drinks are the majority contents of the grocery carts and food bills of many Americans it becomes very clear where most of the obesity epidemic is coming from.
8. Exercise!
If you do vigorous exercise and more moderate physical activities every week, your body will contain more muscle and stronger bones. You will burn more calories directly. And, your metabolism even when resting will be higher.
So you can eat somewhat more and be less hungry while also being far less fat.
Those are the benefits of regular exercise that belong with food guidelines.
But the other health benefits are unbelievable large. It can literally take two weeks of posts to summarize them all.
With exercise it can truly be said, if people really knew what exercise did FOR them and NOT getting any exercise did TOO them, almost everyone would exercise.
Labels: food guidelines that help avoid obesity, food guidelines that support your health, how to stop being fat
posted by David at 2:57 PM
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