Health, Taken Seriously

My first experience with the power of nutrition was in high school. I had developed a horrible case of bronchitis. After months of seeing conventional doctors and being put on three increasingly more potent doses of antibiotics, I was only getting worse. Finally, my mother took me to see a nutritionist. The nutritionist completely revamped my diet—no sugar, no white flour, no dairy, and more whole grains besides wheat. She also gave me a fiber supplement and some herbs that support lung health. After a mere three weeks on that diet, I was completely healed. Not only were my lungs clear and my laryngitis gone, but I also had more energy, and more consistent energy at that. I stayed on the strict diet for a few months and loved the way it made me feel. Periodically when my health has seemed compromised, I’ve returned to that diet and seen stunning results.

But eating like that is challenging. Try avoiding dairy and white flour and sugar. What is left? Primarily whole foods, which is what I ate. I had lots of whole grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and some poultry and fish. I couldn’t eat pizza, cold cereal with milk, crackers, cookies, etc. Essentially, I couldn’t eat any processed foods. In the 90s, this was a pretty rare diet. Now, thanks to our awareness of trans fats, white flour, empty carbs, and the shameless way most processed foods are prepared (the primary concern being longer shelf life and good taste, and not your health), a diet like this doesn’t sound so extreme. But I have yet to meet many people that eat this way. Sure it’s not convenient, nor cheap, but there are two reasons why you should consider it. One, because of the dangers that certain foods like high fructose corn syrup and white flour pose. And two, because the health benefits that whole, plant-based foods provide.

What is so dangerous about a little sugar? Well, first of all, in America, it’s not really a little sugar. The average American now consumes over 150 lbs of sugar a year (remember that sucrose, caramel color, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup are all sugar). The amount of sugar we consume has risen each year since 1982, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) surveys. The USDA advises adults to eat no more than 10 teaspoons (40 g) of added sugars each day (for a 2000 calorie diet), but the average American has twice that. It’s not hard to see why we eat so much sugar—it is added to everything, from bread to cereal to ketchup to jarred pasta sauce. Even foods that are thought of as “healthy” are loaded with sugar. For example, a typical cup of fruit yogurt provides 70% of your daily sugar allowance.

The reason why sugar is so dangerous for our bodies is that it is processed by our digestive tract extremely quickly. If you drink a 12-ounce can of soda on an empty stomach, all 40 g of sugar are absorbed straight into your blood stream. Once there, the sugar reeks havoc. It raises blood triglyceride levels, suppresses immunity by affecting white blood cells, and increases the production of the fat storing enzyme lipoprotein lipase. With time, high blood sugar can cause insulin resistance. This condition can lead to Type II diabetes, which has risen 57% in the U.S. from 1997 to 2004¹. Excess sugar in the diet can also lead to obesity. It’s not a coincidence that obesity rates have risen in the U.S. at the same time as sugar consumption has increased. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), over half of Americans are now overweight, with 1/6 being obese. Sugar’s empty calories can take a lot of credit for this.

Like sugar, white flour and the products made with it are also quickly absorbed into the blood stream, increasing blood sugar levels and increasing the risk of developing insulin resistance. When white flour is produced, the majority of nutrients are removed from it, including trace minerals and vitamins, and most importantly fiber. Fiber helps slow the digestion of food and prevent the blood sugar spikes that are so hard on our bodies. White flour and sugar are both fiber-less, simple carbs that provide little to no nutritional value. According to Dr. William Sears, excess simple carbs in the diet can suppresses the immune system, have negative affects on behavior and attention, promote sugar cravings, promote obesity (not just by providing calories but also by stimulating the production of enzymes that store fat), promote diabetes, and promote heart disease (by increasing blood triglycerides)². Why would you want to eat foods made with these ingredients?

Simple carbohydrates aren’t the only evils of processed foods. The other is unhealthy fats. Thanks to the fat-free trend of the 90s, fats have earned an unfair reputation of being unhealthy. The truth is, certain fats like essential fatty acids are extremely good for you, while only some fats are unhealthy. The two most unhealthy fats are saturated fats, found mainly in animal products like meat and dairy, and man-made trans fats. Saturated fats come primarily from high fat meats like beef or from whole milk dairy. Cheese is one of America’s top sources of saturated fat. Saturated fats increase your “bad” cholesterol, or low density lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol), and well as your total cholesterol. Trans fats are a synthetic fat made in an attempt to find an alternative to saturated fats. Healthy oils that are liquids at room temperature are pumped full of hydrogen gas, which breaks the chemical double bonds that make the fats healthy for our arteries. The result is a fat that is solid at room temperature which acts like a saturated fat, but contains no saturated fat. Trans fats are great for processed foods because they increase the shelf life (whereas using oils in foods would make them prone to becoming rancid) and improve the taste and texture of foods without adding saturated fat. Trans fats are added to everything from crackers and cookies and cakes to peanut butter and frostings and of course margarine. The problem is any fat that is a solid at room temperature will also act like a solid in your arteries, and create serious cardiovascular problems for its consumer. Indeed, it turns out that trans fats not only increase total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol like saturated fats, but also increase total fats in the blood stream as well as decrease high density lipoproteins (HDL) or “good” cholesterol. In addition, trans fats reduce your body’s ability to produce prostoglandins (hormone-like substances that are anti-inflammatory and regulate many of the body’s functions), and interfere with your cell’s ability to use essential fatty acids (by binding to cells where essential fatty acids should be binding instead)². For years, nutritionists warned of trans fats but it wasn’t until January of 2006 that the FDA required labels to list the grams of trans fats in its product. This was a huge turning point in our nation’s nutritional health, as many companies reformulated their products to remove trans fats. Consumers are also much more aware of trans fats and the health threats they impose now. But not all products have been reformulated and if something you like to eat contains any trans fats or partially hydrogenated oils, consider eliminating it from your diet. Your heart and arteries deserve better!

Processed foods not only contain high amounts of sugar, white flour, and trans fats, but also high amounts of sodium. A high sodium diet can put you at risk for developing hypertension, or high blood pressure. It’s also very hard to break a high sodium diet “habit,” so it’s extremely important not to get children hooked on salty foods as they learn to develop preferences for foods that will last a lifetime. Processed foods also tend to be very low in fiber and contain many chemical flavorings, colorings, and preservatives. All of these additives offer no nutritional benefit for you so it’s best to not bother eating them. When you see what amazing nutrients plant-based whole foods have to offer you, you will see that eating processed foods is not only about filling your body with unhealthy junk, but also about missing opportunities to load up on vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and fiber.

The FDA used to recommend that Americans eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. After decades of research piled up demonstrating the health benefits of fruits and vegetables, they increased it to nine per day (in 2005). Clearly, these plant-based foods offer something wonderful if it is now suggested that we eat almost double the amount! And they do. Fruits contain fiber, vitamin C, potassium (for artery health), phytonutrients, and caratenoids (including beta-carotene and lycopene). Certain fruits like berries contain powerful antioxidants called anthocyanins, as well as other cancer-fighting compounds like polyphenols. The skins of many fruits have to become strong and concentrated with many healthful compounds to protect them from the sun and environment, and when we eat them, we get to benefit from those compounds. Vegetables pack an amazing amount of nutrition into a very low calorie food that is loaded with fiber, fat free, cholesterol free, and provides complex carbohydrates. Certain vegetables pack even more punch, like cruciferous vegetables, which include broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. These vegetables contain many cancer-fighting chemicals, and are high in vitamin C, calcium, folic acid, and carotenoids. Other super nutritious vegetables include dark leafy greens, like spinach and kale.

What is so great about fiber, antioxidants, anthocyanins, and caratenoids? Fiber is extremely important to your digestive tract health. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of fiber is 14g/1000kcal, or about 25-30g/day. Most Americans only consumes about 15 g/day, according to the American Heart Association. Fiber is important because it slows digestion of food, which helps slow the absorption of carbohydrates into the blood stream. It’s much easier for our body to have slow absorption of food than fast, and much better for our bodies to have steady blood sugar levels rather than highs and lows. Fiber in your diet will help with the former. In addition, a fiber rich diet reduces absorption of fat, reduces blood levels of cholesterol, and improves weight control. Fiber helps control body weight by making you feel full without providing any additional calories (the calories in fiber cannot be digested by your digestive tract and therefore, fiber is calorie-free!) Fiber also flushes out any dangers of food that you do not want lingering in your digestive tract, such as carcinogens, and may reduce your risk of colon cancer³.

Antioxidants are important for your health because these compounds neutralize free radicals that can damage cells. They also reduce the signs of aging, which is why they are added liberally to many skin products today. Traditionally, we thought of antioxidants as only including vitamins A, C, E, and selenium but now we know that there are so many more antioxidants in fruits in vegetables, such as the polyphenols resveratrol and flavanoids (found in tea, coffee, soy and red wine, as well as fruits). Caratenoids, compounds that tend to color fruits and vegetables orange or red (carrots, sweet potatoes, red bell peppers, canteloupe, tomatoes) also act as antioxidants, as does lutein (abundant in dark leafy green vegetables). People that eat diets high in antioxidants have lower risks of cancer, heart disease, and some neurological diseases⁴. Certain antioxidants can also improve brain function, and multiple studies have found that antioxidant rich foods like spinach and blueberries reduce age-related declines in mental functioning^{5, 6}.

In addition to eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, it’s also important to eat whole grains and legumes. Whole grains offer 3-4 times the fiber and 1/3 more protein than enriched grains, as well as nutrients like zinc, folic acid, iron and minerals². All these nutrients and fiber are removed to make products like white flour, which is one reason why white flour foods are so inferior. When you are buying products, look for ingredients like whole wheat flour. Wheat flour is just white flour and any flour that needs to be enriched is not whole. It’s also important to eat grains other than wheat, such as oats, barley, quinoa, millet, amaranth, rye, brown rice, etc. Like whole grains, legumes are a great source of fiber. But in addition, they also offer protein and some varieties even contain antioxidants (red beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, etc.). One of the best things about legumes is they pack a nutritional punch, but are also inexpensive. Consider making soups like lentil soup or chili, or making bean spreads like humus or fava (made with split peas).

The last important component to a healthy diet that I will cover here is healthy fats. Yes, you can eat fat and feel good about it! It just needs to be plant or fish-based fats. These fats are unsaturated and liquids at room temperature, and if it’s liquid at room temp, it’s also liquid in your arteries. There are two types of unsaturated fat, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Then of course there are essential fatty acids like omega-6’s and omega-3’s (which include ALA, or plant-derived, and EPA/DHA, or marine species derived). Your body requires intake of monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and essential fatty acids, but it can make all the saturated fat it needs itself so there’s no need to consume it. Good sources of monounsaturated fats include olive oil, canola oil, nuts and avocados. Good sources of polyunsaturated fats include vegetable oils like sunflower, safflower, and corn, as well as seafood. These polyunsaturated vegetable oils provide us with plenty of omega-6 fatty acids. What most Americans are lacking are omega-3 fatty acids, and given all the press about the health of these essential fatty acids, it’s extremely important to try to increase your intake of them. The best sources of omega-3’s, cold-water fish like salmon and tuna, provide DHA. Vegetable sources of omega-3 provide ALA, which the body can convert into DHA (although this is an inefficient process that varies from person to person), and include flaxseed, flax oil, canola oil, soy, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and dark greens like spinach and kale. We need an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in our diet of anywhere from 4:1 to 1:1, but the typical American is up to 25:1². This means we consume too many omega-6 fatty acids and not enough omega-3, a condition which promotes an inflammatory state that increases the risk for narrowing blood vessels and blood clots. Therefore, it’s important to consume more omega-3 fatty acids, especially those from marine-species. If this is not possible for you, consider taking a fish oil supplement (but make sure the fish are small, wild, and tested for contaminants like PCBs and mercury). Cultures that eat diets high in animal fats (beef, pork, etc.) have a higher incidence of inflammatory, degenerative, and neurological diseases like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, ADHD, and depression than cultures that have diets high in fish fats, as Japanese and Mediterranean diets do². So remember to eat some fats, just make sure they are the right types of fats!

Many of the diseases we face these days can be prevented by eating a healthier diet⁷. For Americans, this means reducing our intake of processed foods that contain nutritional duds like sugar, white flour, and trans fats. It also means reducing our consumption of animal products such as meat and whole-milk dairy. Instead, we need to fill our plates with foods that are nutritional powerhouses, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seafood. These foods give your body the tools it needs to run its best. Not only will you prevent disease and signs of aging, as Dr. Oz has famously demonstrated repeatedly on Oprah⁸, but you will achieve a healthier weight and have more consistent energy. One of the best ways to ensure that you eat fewer processed foods is to try cooking more. If you aren’t comfortable with cooking your own meals, consider subscribing to a cooking magazine. For less than $20 a year, you can get seasonal recipes and cooking advice. Double the recipe and then eat the leftovers for lunch, instead of eating a frozen meal or going out. Empty your house of processed snacks like crackers and cookies and fill your pantry with healthy alternatives—trail mixes that include nuts, seeds, and dried fruits, veggies with a dip like humus, fresh fruit, plain yogurt served with fresh fruit, smoothies made from frozen fruit and soymilk, whole wheat toast with a natural nut butter, oatmeal with raisins and walnuts, etc. Examine food labels, looking for foods that are lower in sugar and saturated or trans fats, but higher in fiber. Read the ingredients list and buy breads and cereals made with whole grains, skipping ones with high-fructose corn syrup or enriched wheat flour. If you give it a try, I think you will find that eating wholesome foods tastes better and makes you feel better than any processed food ever could.

1. http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/incidence/fig1.htm, Accessed on Aug. 30, 2007.
2. Sears, William. The Family Nutrition Book. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 1999.
3. Park, Yikyung, et al. Dietary Fiber Intake and Risk of Colorectal Cancer. JAMA. 2005. 294: 2849 – 2857.
4. Stanner SA, Hughes J, Kelly CN, Buttriss J. “A review of the epidemiological evidence for the ‘antioxidant hypothesis’”. Public Health Nutr, 2004. 7 (3): 407-22.
5. Cartford C, Gemma C, Bickford P. Eighteen-Month-Old Fischer 344. Rats Fed a Spinach-Enriched Diet Show Improved Delay Classical Eyeblink Conditioning and Reduced Expression of Tumor Necrosis Factor α(TNFα) and TNFβ in the Cerebellum. Journal of Neuroscience. 2002, 22 (14): 5813-5816.
6. Andres-Lacueva C, et. al. Anthocyanins in aged blueberry-fed rats are found centrally and may enhance memory. Nutr Neurosci. 2005, 8 (2): 111-120.
7. Furman, Joel. Disease-Proof your Child. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2006.
8. http://www.oprah.com/health/yourbody/slide/20060501/yourbody_20060501_284_101.jhtml, Accessed on 9/1/07.

Filed under: Food and Nutrition on September 3rd, 2007