Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy

In the last few years I’ve developed quite a fascination with health as a whole. The main two components being the obvious: what I consume and how I keep active.

To be honest, I was never one to take it upon myself to exercise. In fact, I dreaded it. This surprises some, but I realize the reason for my laziness was the reality that I didn’t know how good it felt to pick myself up and unglamorously sweat. Most of you can relate with that feeling, it just took me longer to understand the benefits and feel the difference. I’m currently staying active by walking my dog a handful of times a week (a mile or two) and dancing, kicking and punching the sweat out at kick boxing sessions 2-4 times a week. It’s fun, goofy and you can burn up to 600 calories within an hour if you’re giving it your all. I throw in a Pilates session or swim (fins and all) on occasion.

On to what I consume; as I mentioned in previous posts, I love food. I enjoy making food, eating food and talking about food. Who doesn’t love food? It’s actually a love-hate relationship because it can be the enemy staring you down when you are trying to resist and you least expect it. Especially when you have the sweet-tooth gene (thanks a lot, Dad). I’ve really had to change my eating habits in the last couple years for a few reasons. First of all, I get hungry all the time, so I need to eat all the time. Therefore, I need to be careful what I have around (if it tastes good, it’ll be gone soon). Secondly, I have low blood sugar, so I get dizzy if I don’t eat regularly and get enough protein. This is a really common problem, I’ve come to realize. Lastly, I have an extremely sensitive stomach. I envy my co-author who can eat anything and everything in any combination, order or quantity. Her father gave her the iron stomach gene.

I’ve decided to take it upon myself to understand what’s in the food I’m eating. There is so much contradictory advice presented to us on what to eat, which foods cure what, which will give us a “flat belly” and on and on and on.

“The jumble of information quickly turns into nutritional white noise that many people tune out.”

Walter C. Willett, M.D. (Eat, Drink and Be Healthy)

That quote is what pulled me into reading my first science-based nutrition book. Willett shares some holes in the USDA Pyramid. He worked on creating a new food pyramid with different and more expansive information. You’ve probably heard quite a few of these, but I thought they were good reminders nonetheless.

All fats are bad: Saturated fats (whole milk, red meat etc.) & trans fats (margarine, vegetable shortening etc.) can be blamed for clogging our arteries and leading to strokes, heart diseases etc. However, the Pyramid informs us to use all fats sparingly, while monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (olive oil, nuts, whole grains, fish etc.) are really good for your heart and shouldn’t be sparse in your diet.

All ‘complex’ carbohydrates are good: Six to eleven servings?! In the original USDA Pyramid, these servings include the starches like white bread, potatoes and white rice. In reality, our digestive system turns these starches “into glucose and pumps this sugar into the bloodstream… high spikes in blood sugar are followed by similar surges in insulin… triggering the unmistakable signals of hunger. These high levels of blood sugar and insulin surges are now implicated as part of the perilous pathway to heart disease and diabetes.” Carbohydrates we should be focused on are whole grains (brown rice, oats) and beans. It takes our bodies longer to digest these carbs, so they have a slower effect on our blood sugar and insulin levels.

Protein is protein: The Pyramid suggests equal amounts of red meat, fish, poultry, eggs, beans and nuts. However, red meat contains the previously mentioned saturated fat and cholesterol and may give us too much iron (it’s in a form our bodies absorb whether we need it or not) and should be consumed in moderation. We should be focusing on chicken, turkey, fish, beans and nuts, which have less and/or healthy saturated fats we need.

Dairy products are essential: The Pyramid suggests 2-3 servings a day. However, Americans already get more calcium than almost every other country in the world. Fragile bones? There is little proof that calcium consumption prevents broken bones when you’re older. While calcium is important, there’s no emergency to increase your intake. Focus on spinach, broccoli, tofu, orange juice and skim milk or you can take a calcium supplement.

Eat your potatoes: Potatoes really shouldn’t be considered a vegetable because they’re mostly easily digested starch. They should be grouped with the other carbs. They don’t contain the health benefits other vegetables have been proven to.

Bottom line? Eat “good” fats, whole-grain carbs, healthy protein sources, lots of veggies (hold the taters), take a multivitamin as your insurance policy and exercise.