Eat Well, Eat Food: Five basics that will keep you living long and strong

By Lisa Turner

I’m 46 years old, and it’s a scary place to be. Not because I’m fearing 40—I’m not—but because mine is the first generation to be so hopelessly awash in conflicting nutritional information at the start of middle age. My parents didn’t suffer the same fate; they just went to the doctor once a year, and ate what (usually) he told them to eat.

But we no longer trust our physicians with our nutritional health and are turning to other experts--which is getting darn confusing, since everyone seems to have a different opinion. Is fat bad? Are grains evil? Will salt kill us before our time? And should we eat meat or become vegetarians? Every time we think we have a long-term food plan in place, the information shifts. What makes sense to me is, simply, to do what makes sense.

“Any dietary plan that sounds extreme, implausible or too good to be true, probably is,” says Steven G. Pratt, M.D., author of SuperFoods Healthstyle (William Morrow, 2005. “Studies make it clear that a diet based on whole, unprocessed and preferably organic plant foods, is the ticket to long-term health.”

That said, here are some basic, common-sense approaches to what we should be eating.

Rethink your carbs. Here’s what we’re learning: we eat way too many processed carbs—too much bread and pasta, too many cookies and cakes. Most of us were raised during the nutritional reign of the grain-heavy food pyramid. Now we know better. The noodles and breads of our youth were doing us more harm than good. And, contrary to popular belief, it’s not just white carbs.

“Even whole grains have a detrimental effect on blood glucose levels, if they’re not high in fiber,” says Shari Lieberman, PhD, CNS, FACN, author of The Real Vitamin and Mineral Book (Avery, 2007) and Transitions Lifestyle System Glycemic Index Food Guide (Square One Publishers, 2006). “If you’re talking about a special high-fiber bread with 6 grams of fiber per slice, that’s one thing. But most wheat breads only have 1 or 2 grams of fiber a slice. Those kinds of grains will be quickly broken down into glucose, causing a rapid rise in blood sugar and upsetting insulin balance. Over time, this leads to insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, inflammation, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

As for protein, our ancestors ate meat—so why are we having problems with it? “First of all, our ancestors didn’t eat the kind of meat we do,” says Lieberman. “All the studies that point to the harmful effects of meat aren’t done on organic, grass-fed or free-range meat products, which is what our ancestors ate. They’re done on factory-farmed animals treated with antibiotics and hormones, and fed a diet that’s not natural to them. It’s anyone’s guess what the results would be if we studied the health effects of meat raised the way our ancestors raised it.”

Second, we’re eating way more meat than our ancestors—who lived on farms and had to take on the substantial task of slaughtering their food animals. We’re eating an average of 195 pounds of it per year, or half a pound a day, more than we’ve ever eaten before.[i]You don’t have to be a complete vegetarian, but if you do eat meat, do it the way our ancestors did—organic, and in smaller portions. Serving size shouldn’t exceed 4 ounces uncooked, or 3 ounces cooked, says Judith Stern, ScD, professor of nutrition and internal medicine, University of California in Davis. That’s about what fits in the palm of your hand--or about a quarter of the typical steak-house serving.

Some say beef and poultry aren’t the best protein choices; they don’t have the healthy fats that fish do, and they’re lacking in fiber and the rich array of phytochemicals found in beans. “Beans are one of the best protein sources on the planet,” says Pratt. “Unlike animal proteins, they help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer, two of the most common diseases that kill people. They also stabilize blood sugar and help prevent insulin resistance, which protects against diabetes.” Whether you eat meat or not, it makes sense to eat a variety of beans and lentils. Make it simple by stocking up on canned beans, and getting into the habit of adding them into everything from soups and salads to curries, vegetables and marinara sauces.

You’ll also get plenty of heart-protective and cancer-preventive fiber by swapping grains and meat for beans, fruits and vegetables. A piece of most whole-wheat bread has a mere 2.5 grams of fiber; a cup of raspberries has 8.4 grams of fiber, a cup of Brussels sprouts has 6.4 grams, and a cup of kidney beans weighs in at a spectacular 15 grams.[ii]

Bottom line: skimp on the grains and meat, and load up on the veggies and beans. “You can safely go the rest of your life without grains,” says Lieberman. “There’s nothing in grains that your can’t get in vegetables and legumes. Many people in my practice have given up grains altogether, and they feel a heck of a lot better.” If you do eat grains, choose the highest-fiber varieties available, and use them sparingly. Make pasta primavera with a third of the noodles, and double the vegetables; in burritos, minimize rice, skip the meat, and pile on the beans and veggies. Much of the time, grains merely serve as a vehicle for interesting flavors. If you’re missing pasta, try slathering a garlicky tomato sauce over braised chard; curry is just as spicy and fragrant laced with lentils and served over sautéed spinach as it is over rice.

2. Retrain your palate. As a country obsessed with fast-food fixes, we eat too much salt. The average American consumes 1 to 3 teaspoons of it a day, the equivalent of 6,900 mg of sodium, or about three times the AHA recommendation of no more than 2,300 mg.[iii] A lot of it occurs in drive-through fare like burgers and fries, but even so-called healthy alternative to fast food—like a 6-inch submarine sandwich with lean turkey, no cheese and extra veggies on whole-wheat bread) contains about 1,651 mg. If you’re congratulating yourself on avoiding such dietary commoners (as I was), check this out. a bagel contains 449 mg of sodium; a tablespoon of teriyaki sauce has 690 mg; and a cup of spaghetti sauce contains a scary 1,203 mg. This is pretty normal food, stuff most of us eat on a regular basis. Even if you don’t eat sauce in a jar or packaged foods or any kind, a pinch here and a dash there of table salt quickly add up to way more than 2,400 mg of sodium.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration is considering lowering that amount by setting limits on the amount of salt that could be added to processed foods, like breads and crackers. The shift was precipitated in part by pressure from consumer groups, the American Heart Association (AHA) and medical experts, and in part by the results of a large international study on preventing chronic disease. That study found that a 15 percent reduction in salt intake could save an estimated 8.5 millions lives over a 10-year period.[iv]

If you’ve already kicked the fast-food habit, and you’re reading sodium grams on your jars of salsa and spaghetti sauce, you can further minimize your salt intake by cutting back on what you’re using in cooking and at the table. Stop shaking, and season foods liberally during cooking with disease-preventive herbs and spices. Garlic is a good pick; it’s versatile, and you can add it to most other foods. Or try turmeric or curry powder, cinnamon, ginger, rosemary and sage; all contain compounds that help protect the body from disease.

Our sugar consumption is as scary as our salt intake; last year, we consumed 156 pounds of it. That’s the equivalent of a staggering 31 five-pound bags for each of us. Those of us now congratulating ourselves on eschewing candy and sodas (that would be me) may want to peek at the packaged-food labels in our pantries; in my kitchen, sugar in its many guises showed up in soup, bread, crackers, pasta sauce, salsa, jam, organic peanut butter, canola mayonnaise, and more.

Here’s the problem with sugar: like refined grains, it causes a rise in insulin which prompts metabolic syndrome, inflammation and all its associated ills. That goes for honey, maple syrup and unrefined cane sweeteners as well. How much sugar is too much? “For certain people, any sugar at all is dangerous,” says Lieberman. “If you have elevated blood lipids or metabolic syndrome, you shouldn’t eat sugar at all.” Use agave syrup instead, which has a low glycemic index, or stevia, which has no impact on blood sugar.

But don’t use a lot of any kind of sweetener, even agave and stevia; ultimately, the goal is to break your addiction to ultra-sweet tastes. If you’re hooked on the sweet stuff, it’s often easier to go cold-turkey. Declare yourself sugar free, and purge your pantry of refined sweeteners and processed foods with hidden sugar. Stock up on fresh or frozen berries, apples, and other low-glycemic index fruits to satisfy your sweet tooth, and switch to agave nectar or stevia for your sweetening needs

Bust the fat myth. Fats are frightening to many of us. One problem is, we’re still recovering from 20 years of fat-free living, one that forced us into our current carb-heavy diet and made foods like olives, nuts and avocados forbidden fare. We’re starting to get the picture now; most of us are actually eating and enjoying fatty plant foods on a regular basis, and few of us recoil in horror from olive and canola oils, and almost everyone—even, finally, our government—realizes that trans fats are the work of the devil.

But if you’re still fearful of butter, here’s some big fat news for you: some vegetable oils have scary effects in the body, and some saturated fats aren’t the heinous health offenders we once thought. (Remember that our grandparents ate butter—the kind without added hormones and antiobiotics—on a regular basis and did just fine, thank you.) Polyunsaturated fats, found in some vegetable oils--sunflower, safflower, sesame, corn, soy, and peanut oils--are high in omega-6 fatty acids, which are pro-inflammatory, says Lieberman. The jury’s still out on whether they increase the risk of cancer, but they do increase metastasis of existing cancers, she says. Meanwhile, some saturated fats, like coconut oil, are healthier than polyunsaturated fats. “Pure, unhydrogenated, organic and cold-pressed coconut oil is a rich source of lauric acid,” says Lieberman, “which is anti-inflammatory and may be anti-viral.”

As for butter, the jury’s still out. While your family physician probably frowns on it, remember that these were the folks who said margarine was a gift from the gods only a few years back. Some health experts and, yes, medical doctors say there’s no conclusive evidence that saturated fats, which are naturally occurring and have been part of the human diet for thousands of years, cause cardiovascular disease or anything else. As with all things, of course, use it in reasonable amounts.

Overall, extra virgin olive oil, canola oil and coconut oils are the best choices. Use extra virgin olive oils for salads, dressing, and stirring into cooked foods (it has a low smoking point and isn’t suited for sautéing or frying). Canola oil can stand up to higher temperatures, and is best suited for sautéing, frying and baking; high-oleic varieties are also available for high-heat cooking. Coconut oil also has a high smoking point, and is great for frying and sautéing; you can also use it to replace some or all of the butter in baking.

Eat real food. Our grandparents weren’t facing these food demons: battling sugar addictions and salt habits, worshipping at the altar of refined grains, and cringing at the specter of fats. They grew, cooked and enjoyed food, and they ate without fear or guilt. Now, as our lives get busier, we’re eating out more, and dining on gigantic restaurant portions that are heavy on the meat and carbs, and laced with unnecessary salt, sugar and harmful trans fats. When we do cook at home, it’s often with processed and refined foods in a box, can or jar: pasta (refined flour) with marinara sauce (sugar and salt) or, worse, frozen entrees that are heavy on refined grains, polyunsaturated fats, salt and sugar. They’re all fast, cheap foods that are lacking in healthy fats, phytonutrients and fiber. And we don’t even know who cooked, stirred or packaged them; most of our meals these days are prepared by strangers.

And it’s making us fat and unhealthy—especially our addiction to restaurant dining. According to Margo Wootan, DSc, nutrition policy director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Americans eat out about four meals a week, and women who eat out more than five times a week consume an average of 300 more calories per day. It’s not uncommon for a restaurant entrée to weigh in at more than 1,000 calories, and some can top 2,000 calories for a single dish, says Wootan. And we’re not talking about fast-food drive-through burgers and fries. Perfectly respectable-sounding dishes, like chicken breast sandwich (1,000 calories) or broccoli and chicken pasta (2,060 calories), served at sit-down restaurants, can wreck anyone’s healthy eating regimen.[v]

We already know the healthy ordering tricks for restaurants--request a side of fruit instead of fries, order sauces on the side (or skip them altogether), ask for twice the vegetables and half the meat, and don’t even let the bread basket appear on the table. But it’s nearly impossible to learn the complete breakdown of foods used in preparation techniques, like polyunsaturated oils, or added sugar, or total grams of sodium, in the time we’ve allotted for our meal. Meanwhile, most restaurant entrees, sit-down or drive-through, remain heavy on the grains, meager on vegetables and beans.

The best solution is the simplest: shop for, prepare, and eat food--and only real, whole and unprocessed food--at home. That means skipping ersatz selections like processed foods and trans fats; cooking with olive, canola or coconut oil; minimizing or eliminating sugar and processed carbs; shaking on spices instead of salt; and going heavy on vegetables, fresh fruit, beans, nuts and seeds.

CHART

Monday

Breakfast: Tofu Breakfast Burrito

Lunch: Grilled Thai Salmon Burgers with Peanut Sauce I love the recipes you’ve chosen, but it’s doubtful that someone would make this for a lunch; I think it’s fine to suggest simpler, throw-together options for some of these slots. I may also include “make ahead” or “easy to pack” flags so people know they can do this easily.

Dinner: Mediterranean Chickpea Stew

Tuesday

Breakfast: Stuffed Green Chilies with Red Pepper Sauce ditto above

Lunch: Arugula and White Bean Salad with Rosemary Dressing

Dinner: Grilled Tuna with Green Olive Tapenade

Wednesday

Breakfast: Cherry-Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

Lunch: Chickpea and Roasted Pepper Salad

Dinner: Spicy Seared Tofu with Kumquat Sauce

Thursday

Breakfast: Wild Mushroom Frittata ditto

Lunch: Warm Mache Salad with Steamed Vegetables and Goat Cheese

Dinner: Slow-Baked Salmon with Red Wine and Honey

Friday

Breakfast: Omelet Primavera

Lunch: Sushi Salad ditto

Dinner: Jamaican Jerk Tempeh

Saturday

Breakfast: Baked Eggs with Smoked Salmon and Leeks

Lunch: Sweet Pepper and Black Bean Salad

Dinner: Basil-Coconut Curry with Tofu

Sunday

Breakfast: Spinach, Egg and Potato Casserole ditto

Lunch: Grilled Havarti and Avocado Sandwiches

Dinner: Eggplant Ratatouille with Kale and Beans

*For recipes, visit our recipe archives at DeliciousLivingMag.com

BIO

Lisa Turner is a food and nutrition writer in Boulder, Colorado. She devours vegetables, olive oil, and the words of Michael Pollan.

SOURCES

• Steven G. Pratt, M.D., author of SuperFoods Healthstyle (William Morrow, 2005), 858-344-3002, prattsteveg@aol.com

• David Grotto. R.D., L.D.N, author of 100 Foods That Could Save Your Life ((Bantam, 2008), 630-415-9825, 630-941-8762, davegrotto@comcast.net

• Christopher E. Ramsden, M.D., president of Applied Nutritional Biochemistry and author of Nutrition by the Numbers (Applied Nutritional Biochemistry, 2008), 312-822-0395, ceramsden@thenqi.com