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How nutritional science ruined the way we eat.
nytimes.com — Thirty years of nutritional science has made Americans sicker, fatter and less well nourished. A plea for a return to plain old food.
DigiDave- 1464 diggs
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- exsst, on 10/12/2007, -7/+32Good article.
- rebrad, on 10/12/2007, -26/+12This guy said something against science. Blasphemy Burn him!!!!!
- timo1023, on 10/12/2007, -10/+66Pfft. Like anyone has the attention span to read that. About halfway through the first page I got hungry.
- SpeedyG, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3You got to read the article?
All I got was a "Subscribe Now to Read This" message. - purple, on 10/12/2007, -15/+38I skipped the last paragraph on the first page, looked down to click on the second page, saw it was 12 pages long, and closed the window.
- FTLJohnson, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25I wish someone would post an article or three to digg about how to better store fruits and vegetables... I blow a fortune on fruits and veggies that go bad. How do you store a head of lettuce vs a potato vs a banana vs an avacado vs an apple?
Do you just stuff them in a drawer in the fridge? Surely some should be refridgerated... and some not... I wish there was a place this was all sorted out. - RiverBelow, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Is it nutritional science or thousands upon thousands more McDonalds' popping up everywhere!!?
- Pas3n7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15@FTLJohnson
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+store+fruit&btnG=Google+Search
I'll let you figure out the vegetable part on your own. - Netmindstorm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25It's a good article, and as others have pointed out, quite long. I found this part interesting, but you should read the full article for context:
"It might be argued that, at this point in history, we should simply accept that fast food is our food culture. Over time, people will get used to eating this way and our health will improve. But for natural selection to help populations adapt to the Western diet, we’d have to be prepared to let those whom it sickens die. That’s not what we’re doing. Rather, we’re turning to the health-care industry to help us “adapt.” Medicine is learning how to keep alive the people whom the Western diet is making sick.....Capitalism is itself marvelously adaptive, able to turn the problems it creates into lucrative business opportunities" - zeldafan, on 10/12/2007, -10/+14Wow, I'm surprised you guys even checked the length of the article, I read the first sentence, scrolled down a bit and said '***** this, I'll just read the digg comments for a summary'.
- FTLJohnson, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@pas3n7
Like I said, wish there was a place all of this was put together clearly and concisely, and in a geek friendly manner. As a digg user, I think you should assume any fellow digg user understands how to work a search engine. I could seach for the proper storing and care procedures for each veggie and fruit... I think it would be cool to have a geek friendly list / visually impressive chart of some sort. - Awap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9@FTLJohnson
Shop more frequently. I know lots of people who try to go to the store only once a week, sometimes only once every two weeks. The food will go bad if you do this. I go every two or three days. It sounds like a pain, but it's really not, because most of the time i make a pass through the produce isle, then leave. I only do a full shopping trip every week or so. It takes very little time, and freshness is very important to the taste of fruits and vegetables.
What the article said about buying from farmer's markets is good advice as well. The produce will be very cheap and very fresh. Around where I live farmers often leave things in stands by the road with a cash box, you leave a couple bucks and take your produce. For example, I got a pint of blueberries picked that day for only a dollar. - thumperings, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5can anyone tell me what this article said in a few sentences? cheers
- JesusFaction, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&ref=magazine&adxnnlx=1170046947-3QxKmUSw8HwNwR/SM2Rx+Q&pagewanted=all
article in a single page - controlguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And timely too...
I was just shown the book "The Real Age Diet", and my complaint was that I didn't feel that the suggestions in the book were supported enough by hard science. But this article is even saying that we're not likely to have any good science on nutrition until we move beyond our reductionist approach to studying the interaction of food and the human body. ( - cloakeddagger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5most of that article *IS* nutritional science.... now i don't know who to believe :S
- controlguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+29Best shortest summary I can give:
1. The relationship between food and the body is very complex, and we haven't developed the right tools for studying it. We tend to use reductionism in science: break down our understanding into small components and quantify the interaction of the components. This doesn't seem to work well with the study of food and the human body because we don't fully understand how different food components impact digestion and absorption.
Example: antioxidants in carrots. If you eat the carrots, you get the benefits. If you eat the antioxidant alone, you get nothing.
2. Fast food America: we want fast service, and so we try to take the "beneficial compoents" of food and package them in pill form. Not only does this not always give the promised benefit, they sometimes cause damage.
3. It's not just about low fat, low sugar -- the French defy all of our "health food" practices, and yet suffer less heart disease.
What to do: all studies suggest eating vegetables is good. Go to the local farmers market, buy local, fresh produce, and eat alot of *diverse* foods. Just buy different things for the heck of it. Also, eat less. Use common sense, and only eat what your great-grandmother would say is "food" (therefore, not ho-hos :( ).
These aren't my opinions, just the summary. - pile0nades, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@FTLJohnson
http://digg.com/health/How_to_better_store_fruits_and_vegetables - pile0nades, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3@purple
Print version is all one page.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=magazine&pagewanted=print - birdwatcher3000, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Actually what got Americans fatter is Pizza Hut, McDonald's and good old Coke. They should cook their own food over choosing ordering or fast foods.
- rossmcd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@FTLJohnson -
Potatoes should be stored at room temp (or slightly cooler, but not in a fridge) in the dark. When exposed to light, potatoes produce a toxin that will give you an upset stomach. The toxin turns it green on the outside and inside, so you can easily tell if your potato has been sitting out in the light too long.
Also - all root vegetables should have stems & leaves cut off before storage. (Carrots, beets, turnips, etc). The plant will continue to pull nutrients out of the roots as long as it can, so you lose nutrition from the root part the longer it stays intact and out of soil. - qwertydvorak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@FTLJohnson: first you get a shovel and dig a root cellar. i would say 6x6x6 should do it................
- goodoldharris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Good article, but totally wrong to blame the science of nutrition - which, if it's really science, just aims to improve on the state of our knowledge.
What's to blame for the sorry state of eating habits in the USA is a huge food surplus (in the USA and other economically developed nations anyway) + the "food" industry + marketing + stupidity on the part of consumers. - durzagott, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@thumperings:
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. - mahdaeng, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@ftljohnson
all sorts of good storage info here: www.providentliving.org - mahdaeng, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@awap
i agree with your comments on freshness - but not just for flavor
freshness is vital to the nutritional benefits to be obtained from fruits and vegetables
the longer a piece of produce sits, the more vitamins it loses - rossmcd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ROFL, the "how to store fruits & vegetables" made it to front page
- FoxFaction, on 10/12/2007, -14/+45Until there is a plant that tastes like a ho-ho, im not going to do it.
- ogden, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I used to be you. I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and as much as I wanted and laughed at the consequences. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, T2 diabetes and a major Dorian complex, At 24.
Now my penance is a low fat, low sodium, low gi vegan diet, 3 medications, and an *ASSLOAD* of supplements (about 30/day), and the possibility of kidney failure, blindness, neuropathy in the future ...
A lot of new research is indicating that a high fat diet can suppress production of mitochondria in cells and thus over a number of years alter your metabolism. Fat also seems to jam insulin receptors. It is thought that this may be one of the primary causes of T2 diabetes. - darkstar949, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@ogden - I hate to say it, but a purely vegan diet isn't that good for you either, there are a number of complex protein that - while they exist in vegetables - are better suited to be obtained from various meats. The best advice that I have heard in terms of diet is summed up as this - cook your own food, get your food fresh before you cook it, and have meat only as a side dish and you don't have to have it with every meal.
- Sargos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ogden
Have you ever thought about trying a low carb diet?
These diets are especially helpful for people with Type II diabetes (like me) and actually make you feel really good throughout the day.
I have researched the low fat diets, and they just tend to make you wolf down the carbs, releasing tons of insulin to compensate.
A low carb, no sugar, diet has freed me from having to deal with most diabetes symptoms and all of my blood work has been spectacular since I started (my heart is a lot healthier, even with eating more meat and fat. Fat is good for you).
- ogden, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I used to be you. I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and as much as I wanted and laughed at the consequences. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, T2 diabetes and a major Dorian complex, At 24.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12Someone commented earlier in another story that Americans still ate like children when they get older, but it seems to me that children merely provide an excuse to eat like that. My mom has been eating better but when she has my cousin's children around she picks less healthful food without any prompting from them.
- darkstar949, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Sounds about right - active children generally need more calories in terms of their body mass than adults because they are still growing, and they are active. However, most children are less active now a days are are more likely to a high fat diet that has little nutritional value.
- TonyBuzzan, on 10/12/2007, -4/+33That article took me so long to read I had to go to the refrigerator like 3 times.
- vsayuni, on 10/12/2007, -3/+28Thanks for the warning. I'd better go grab a few more sugarcoated butter sticks to get me through the article.
- davodavo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=magazine&pagewanted=all
Single-page version.- D4r7h3v1l, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7*looks at scroll bar*
no thanks. - avihappy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3The article is 12 Pages, I do not want to know how long the SINGLE page article is :O
- woog315, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12@avihappy: believe it or not... they're the same
- ahknight, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7@avihappy
One page.
- D4r7h3v1l, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7*looks at scroll bar*
- scabbers, on 10/12/2007, -9/+18I'm still waiting for all the Atkins dieters' guts to drop out of their assholes.
- dusanmal, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Well, most scientists agree on the fact that modern humans advanced due to the increased amount of the meat protein they were able to get and eat,... There are fossil records of humanoid species who ate mostly plant food. Extinct. There are fossil records of humanoid species who got more protein from other sources (ex. insects/termites). Also extinct. Yes, we are built to eat some meat and some plants but not as much plant material as we do now. Humans invented agriculture just some 10000 years ago for convenience while evolving for couple million years without it. For me there is no difference between eating industrially produced ho-ho's or large amounts of any type of grains or such in any other form. Until "industrialization" (farming) of wheat, rice, etc no human would likely keep any of those on the menu as more energy would be wasted on the collection than they are worth to us. As for other plant material, we industrialized them as well. While the wild boar is in the ball-park of content and size with the farmed pig, modern strawberry for example is couple of thousand times larger than its ancestral wild cousin and packed with "cheap tricks" sugary content not present in the original. In this sense Atkins diet, no matter how wrong in itself is still closer to our natural needs than any vegetarian will ever be (as I noted, fossil record shows that the original vegetarians are long extinct). Hence, I find this article helpful in highlighting some of our food-follies but ending short on the conclusion. You can't change millions of years of genetic history.
- FTLJohnson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9It's not going to happen.... The atkins diet is all about people eating leafy green vegetables. It's common delusion for people to think it's an "all meat" diet. As far as people's guts dropping out who do atkins wrong, and never read the book or consult their doctor... and do that stupid thing where they try to cut out all carbs (including highfiber veggies) those people have problems left and right... no waiting nessecary.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9>Plain talk about food — the committee had advised Americans to actually “reduce consumption of meat” — was replaced by artful compromise: “Choose meats, poultry and fish that will reduce saturated-fat intake.”
Does this sound a bit like "Animal Farm" to anyone else?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm- superal1394, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4yes, it really does, which scares me quite a bit. My school does that kind of stuff a whole lot as well.
please, no in communist Russia jokes. - FTLJohnson, on 10/12/2007, -11/+4In Socialist America, diet goes on you.
- superal1394, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4yes, it really does, which scares me quite a bit. My school does that kind of stuff a whole lot as well.
- bromanct, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I've got to say, as a junk food lover, that steamed broccoli with a little bit of butter mixed in is one of my favorite foods. Now, if only I could stop playing Wii and go to the supermarket...
- rebrad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's what Delivery is good for. You don't have to go anywhere.
- jesuschrysler, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10I've got you beat. I can literally see TWO grocery stores from my apartment, but my refrigerator has been empty for about two months. Del Taco and In N Out are marginally closer, and I'm a lazy, lazy man.
- techlinks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That reminds me of when I was visiting my older brother. Saw his empty fridge and he pointed me to the pizza brochure and said "there's the fridge".
No time to cook while playing WoW. - Y0tsuya, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Steamed broccoli tastes nasty. And people wonder why kids hate it. Stir-fry is the way to go.
- rossmcd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6If it's that nasty you're probably overcooking it. Broccoli doesn't need much time in the steamer.
- MortimerTempest, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2The best diet is a carnivorous one. At least that is what Owsley Stanley thinks so.
- Flufflebuns, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9If people are stupid enough to eat all the crap at the super markets, fast food places, and tons of meat each day, maybe they deserve cancer, diabetes, heart failure, clogged arteries, etc. I think it's awesome that an article like this gets in the New York Times, educate those worth educating, who'll actually listen. Let the idiots who only watch Fox News eat McDonald's all day, and then sue them for getting burnt on the coffee, and their kids getting too fat.
- orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"If people are stupid enough to eat all the crap at the super markets, fast food places, and tons of meat each day, maybe they deserve cancer, diabetes, heart failure, clogged arteries, etc."
I think that might be stretching it, after all I'm willing to admit that much of the utter ***** produced by the food industry taste very good and can be somewhat tempting. However, I think these people need to take greater responsibility and care for what they consume. - PSPon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2just need better educationz
- sremick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Except their poor choices and their resulting health problems cause MY (and your) health insurance premiums to go up.
- orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"If people are stupid enough to eat all the crap at the super markets, fast food places, and tons of meat each day, maybe they deserve cancer, diabetes, heart failure, clogged arteries, etc."
- orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Good article. But just as the author admits, eating healthy really should be a common sense no-brain-er. Fruits, vegetables, poultry, and fish should be the norm. For drinking, water, water, and more water. The human body is +70% H2O, it is simple logic that water is what were meant to drink. Most (but not all) is processed, or even worse synthetic ***** created by the food industry for profit, and admittedly for consumer enjoyment, but in many cases, at a high price with often disastrous results.
- Poco, on 10/12/2007, -9/+10I drink lots of water all day - it just comes in a red can with some sugar, colouring and natural flavours and some healthy CO2. It is still mostly water :-)
- nighthwk1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Of course, we've been drinking things like coffee, tea, wine and beer for thousands of years as well. While moderation is important (our ancestors probably did not drink six cups of coffee every day), don't assume that water is the only thing humans are adapted to drink.
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1>The human body is +70% H2O, it is simple logic that water is what were meant to drink.
No, what we eat is dependent on depletion levels not consistency levels. - orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"don't assume that water is the only thing humans are adapted to drink."
I never stated that water was the only thing humans were adapted to drink, I said it was the best thing to drink. Big difference. Please don't twist my words. - orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"But even eating too much fish gathered from the wrong places can be bad for you because of the very real danger of mercury poisoning... something we're responsible for in the first place, of course."
Most anything we eat, including the healthy food always runs some degree of risk for poisoning. - darkstar949, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Actually, a better way to phrase that is "fluids, fluids, fluids" with the added note of "preferably not the ones with a lot of sugar or corn syrup in them" - while pure water is still one of the best things you can drink, finding fresh pure water has always been one of the harder tasks for humans which is why beer and wine were often used as the primary means of getting fluids into the diet.
- zeero, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2why drink just water? that crap in the plastic bottles is horrible.. the plastic deteriorating, the water itself you don't know where it's from.. why not drink green tea? it's boiled water with no germs, it tastes good and is 100x healthier than just water.. (ask any asian person)
- hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1>But if nutritionism leads to a kind of false consciousness in the mind of the eater, the ideology can just as easily mislead the scientist.
Wait... You mean scientists cans be misled by ideology. Perish the thought. If we accepted that notion, we'd have to rethink all the science that is being done and we really can't afford to do that. The scientists tell us so. - Antz0rz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I like my diet. I eat anything that tastes good. Seems to work for me since I'm more in danger of being underweight than overweight :)
- techlinks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I hate you.
*Eats a Twinkie* - AtomB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Just because you don't weight much doesn't mean you are health.
- rossmcd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5There are other problems you can get from a bad diet besides being overweight. Acne, lethargy, problems sleeping.
- JimXugle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@rossmcd
Sounds like me... and I eat like *****.
Breakfast? Small scoop of Chery Garcia, maybe some Corned Beef Hash Later. - kelbear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You're a fat-person trapped inside a skinny person's body. That is the same philosophy that justifies all the ***** people give to fat-people. Too lazy to do what they don't want to do.
Get this, for fat-people to look normal, they have to be eat less than they want to eat(i.e be hungry). For normal people to look normal, they just eat normal. They don't have to try.
If you're fat and eating less than you want to and still not looking normal, then tough *****. You're still considered subhuman.
- techlinks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I hate you.
- Silencer7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14The author has written two excellent books (that I know of): One is The Botany of Desire, in which he explores the history and culture of four plants to satisfy human desires--apples, tulips, cannabis and potatoes. (Bet you didn't know Johnny Appleseed was basically a drug dealer). The more recent book is The Omnivore's Dilemma, in which he explores the whole chain leading to 4 different meals--fast food, industrial organic, small-farm organic and self-collected. I think the farm he visits, Polyface, really changed my whole opinion on what food really is, and what farms should be like.
They're both great reads if you care about what you're putting in your body.- tecpatl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Polyface is an amazing example of what hard work and a little sunlight can do to produce real wholesome food that people are willing to pay for. The Omnivores Dilemma was a wonderful read from the talk of corn sex all the way to how quickly "industrial organic" is taking over our supermarkets. Pollan's opinion on the role of nutrition in the past couple decades is also an interesting one.
- DrBokgi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10As a nutrition major I feel obligated to comment on this. This article shows how fad diets, media buzzwords, and cheap marketing schemes affected the American diet, not our knowledge of how food affects the human body. It'd be impossible to find one dietician that would ever recommend eating the way the majority of Americans do.
- jamthehut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This article reminds me of the best film ever, How to Get Ahead in Advertising. 1989, way ahead of its time.
- CheapDigWannbe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1At the same time nutritional science made it possible to produce enough food in order to support the greatly increasing human population. So it's our fault if we choose to pay less for good tasting yet often unhealthy food, wtf do nutritional scientists have to do with that?
- greves, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Glad I moved to Europe from the US... nice to NOT see "high fructose corn syrup" on EVERYTHING here.
- acomj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I think its (corn syrup)common in the states as a "corn subsisty" kind of thing, as we don't grow sugar cane in the US. As sugars go it is one of the worst for you (highly processed). It doesn't trigger the full response in your brain.
- HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1acomj:
There's just no evidence to back that up. Not a bit of it.
People demonize HFCS, yet it's just another sugar. It produces the same responses as other sugars. The biggest risk from HFCS is simply that because it's so cheap, companies may use more of it.
HFCS is very similar in composition to the sugars in fruit juice. - sremick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"we don't grow sugar cane in the US"
So what were those hundreds of thousands of acres of sugarcane I drove through in Florida? Or did Florida finally annex itself from the USA while I was sleeping?
- slothlovechunk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6We're just too rich, and our medical science is too good. We can eat like *****, be fat, and still live to 80 years old.
However, those 80 years are probably not 'quality' years. Just like we often choose food quantity over quality.- orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2"We're just too rich"
LOL!!! Speak for yourself buddy!
- orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2"We're just too rich"
- saska, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17The rise of artificial modifiers to food over the last 15 years has been meteoric and terrifying. So has the increase in chemically altered ingredients to save a few bucks for the mass-producers of packaged garbage.
When I was growing up, high-fructose corn syrup didn't exist. My son has pretty radical reaction to it (sudden intense hunger that is likely tied to an insulin spike, total inability to concentrate). And it's in goddamned EVERYTHING. Soda, "juice," crackers, cookies, ice cream, you name it. I don't shop at Whole Foods because I'm a hippie, I shop there because I'd like my crackers to just be crackers. I'm not storing them in the bomb shelter. They don't need a ten year shelf life. Not only does he behave better and feel better now, I do too, because I eat what he eats. And when I let myself eat crap I feel awful.
Anyway, before I digress into an off-topic rant, what I mean to say is this: it's not just the way the FDA ***** with the "food pyramid" or the conflicting advice of diet doctors. Behind the scenes, in practically everything we eat, there's junk that doesn't occur in nature. And you can change the way this affects you in a really simple way, by just buying FOOD and not packages with pictures of food on them that require reconstitution in order to bear some resemblance to the pictures.- DrBokgi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Good post. High fructose corn syrup has done some serious damage. It prevents people from feeling sated. Article on HFCS: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDGS24VKMH1.DTL
- saska, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Great article on HFCS, thanks.
- orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"packages with pictures of food on them that require reconstitution in order to bear some resemblance to the pictures."
EEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God dam thats gross....but so true! - kuhllax24, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7@saska
Here, here. I moved to Germany about four months ago, after having lived in New York for five years. I stopped working out after I got over here, regardless I lost 15lbs. And I was not on a diet, unless a diet consists of eating Sauerbraten, Spätzle, or some form of pork everyday, beer drinking about 4 days a week, plenty of chocolate, and lots of coffee. When my mom saw me at Christmas, she started freakin' out at how much weight I lost (and I'm not overweight to begin with).
What I'm getting at here is that, at least in Western Europe (excluding the British Isles), preservatives are verboten. I go to the supermarket, buy yogurt, eggs, or bread, the shelf life is maximum two weeks. I have no way of proving this whatsoever, but just through anecdotal evidence from friends who have lived in Italy and France, they ate and drink like the American pigs that they are, and they still lost weight!
My advice: always eat a hearty breakfast, stop drinking soda or diet soda (diet soda drinkers exhibit the same form of insulin resistance as people with Type II Diabetes), and for either lunch or dinner, have meat and vegetables (or a salad), without bread. The other meal you can eat whatever you want.
Guten Hunger. - dwhitbeck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, if you read the labes on almost any cereal, granola bar, or boxed food in general, you get the impression that you are just getting different flavors of corn syrup.
- minilogo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0i just saw the single page article and stared at the picture of the banana and thought about how cool it would look for a shirt
- UberC, on 10/12/2007, -3/+212 pages! ...too lazy. I need instant gratification like a youtube video or a cool picture on flickr.
- punkrock4life, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2requires registration. NO DIGG.
- bouche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4you gotta find a way to read the article. it's totally diggworthy and you should read the entire thing. it's an excellent and well-researched article.
- rossmcd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3And the NYT has ***** of informative articles every day. It's a site worth registering at. (Registration is free).
- ElusiveByte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Huh, I must have painlessly registered months ago and forgot. That's how easy it was.
- bouche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4you gotta find a way to read the article. it's totally diggworthy and you should read the entire thing. it's an excellent and well-researched article.
- salivalnz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I haven't read the whole thing (for the obvious and potentially ironic reason that I'm lazy), but I lost about 65lbs by changing my diet from processed foods and meat to fresh (and, occasionally, canned or frozen) fruit and vegetables.
Just thought I'd throw that out there. It's not a hard diet to follow because you can literally eat as much as you want and not put on a pound (it's 70% water most of the time anyway), so you're never hungry, and there's a pretty wide variety of fruit and veges out there so there's always something new to try. And fruit tastes good coz the bit that's not water is probably sugar! Only issue I have with it is that it's expensive, and because there's no real salt involved I crave salt sometimes. Otherwise it's great.- bouche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5dumping processed foods simply means learning to cook. it's not hard, and it's loads of fun. you only need a few basic tools. A good knife, decent cast iron pan, a big pot and a small pot, some wine, good music, and a cutting surface.
- salivalnz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Not even that.
I didn't eat cooked vegetables - I ate them raw. Not the likes of potatoes, naturally - but carrots and radishes, etc, I ate raw.
And of course fruit I ate raw.
Cuts down on the dishes, the prep time, and makes you healthier. A good deal all around, I reckon :)
- tardmongerster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Great, sensible article.
- firaley, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@dusanmal: First of all your comments about the fossil records is a little misleading. The early humans who had a mostly plant based diet probably died off for reasons other than nutrition, for example, inability to hunt. Having the brains and the balls to kill and cook animals was probably more of a factor than the nutrition of the food. Long term nutrition like we worry about is not something that determines the success of a species. People dying of heart disease and diabetes still live long enough to procreate. Without the invention of agriculture there is no way we would have been able to build the civilization we have it was not about convenience, it takes a lot of hard work to grow food, it was about bettering ourselves. I think collecting a plant is a lot less energy wasting then chasing down a wild boar, which, by the way, are considerably smaller than the factory farmed pig. Have you any idea of what farms are like now? Animals have been industrialized as much, if not more, than plants. At least plants are still grown outdoors mostly. Atkins can't hold a candle to a vegetarian. At least vegetarians believe in an extensive variety of food which is what our natural needs are.
I thought the article was a good read, though I admit I skipped a few pages... - conna, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3On the flip side:
Pharmaceutical companies and health care providers are making a killing... literally - universltravlr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13For Those With Short Attention Spans Here Is The Advice At The End:
1. Eat food. Though in our current state of confusion, this is much easier said than done. So try this: Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. (Sorry, but at this point Moms are as confused as the rest of us, which is why we have to go back a couple of generations, to a time before the advent of modern food products.) There are a great many foodlike items in the supermarket your ancestors wouldn’t recognize as food (Go-Gurt? Breakfast-cereal bars? Nondairy creamer?); stay away from these.
2. Avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims. They’re apt to be heavily processed, and the claims are often dubious at best. Don’t forget that margarine, one of the first industrial foods to claim that it was more healthful than the traditional food it replaced, turned out to give people heart attacks. When Kellogg’s can boast about its Healthy Heart Strawberry Vanilla cereal bars, health claims have become hopelessly compromised. (The American Heart Association charges food makers for their endorsement.) Don’t take the silence of the yams as a sign that they have nothing valuable to say about health.
3. Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number — or that contain high-fructose corn syrup.None of these characteristics are necessarily harmful in and of themselves, but all of them are reliable markers for foods that have been highly processed.
4. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. You won’t find any high-fructose corn syrup at the farmer’s market; you also won’t find food harvested long ago and far away. What you will find are fresh whole foods picked at the peak of nutritional quality. Precisely the kind of food your great-great-grandmother would have recognized as food.
5. Pay more, eat less. The American food system has for a century devoted its energies and policies to increasing quantity and reducing price, not to improving quality. There’s no escaping the fact that better food — measured by taste or nutritional quality (which often correspond) — costs more, because it has been grown or raised less intensively and with more care. Not everyone can afford to eat well in America, which is shameful, but most of us can: Americans spend, on average, less than 10 percent of their income on food, down from 24 percent in 1947, and less than the citizens of any other nation. And those of us who can afford to eat well should. Paying more for food well grown in good soils — whether certified organic or not — will contribute not only to your health (by reducing exposure to pesticides) but also to the health of others who might not themselves be able to afford that sort of food: the people who grow it and the people who live downstream, and downwind, of the farms where it is grown.
“Eat less” is the most unwelcome advice of all, but in fact the scientific case for eating a lot less than we currently do is compelling. “Calorie restriction” has repeatedly been shown to slow aging in animals, and many researchers (including Walter Willett, the Harvard epidemiologist) believe it offers the single strongest link between diet and cancer prevention. Food abundance is a problem, but culture has helped here, too, by promoting the idea of moderation. Once one of the longest-lived people on earth, the Okinawans practiced a principle they called “Hara Hachi Bu”: eat until you are 80 percent full. To make the “eat less” message a bit more palatable, consider that quality may have a bearing on quantity: I don’t know about you, but the better the quality of the food I eat, the less of it I need to feel satisfied. All tomatoes are not created equal.
6. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. Scientists may disagree on what’s so good about plants — the antioxidants? Fiber? Omega-3s? — but they do agree that they’re probably really good for you and certainly can’t hurt. Also, by eating a plant-based diet, you’ll be consuming far fewer calories, since plant foods (except seeds) are typically less “energy dense” than the other things you might eat. Vegetarians are healthier than carnivores, but near vegetarians (“flexitarians”) are as healthy as vegetarians. Thomas Jefferson was on to something when he advised treating meat more as a flavoring than a food.
7. Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. Confounding factors aside, people who eat according to the rules of a traditional food culture are generally healthier than we are. Any traditional diet will do: if it weren’t a healthy diet, the people who follow it wouldn’t still be around. True, food cultures are embedded in societies and economies and ecologies, and some of them travel better than others: Inuit not so well as Italian. In borrowing from a food culture, pay attention to how a culture eats, as well as to what it eats. In the case of the French paradox, it may not be the dietary nutrients that keep the French healthy (lots of saturated fat and alcohol?!) so much as the dietary habits: small portions, no seconds or snacking, communal meals — and the serious pleasure taken in eating. (Worrying about diet can’t possibly be good for you.) Let culture be your guide, not science.
8. Cook. And if you can, plant a garden. To take part in the intricate and endlessly interesting processes of providing for our sustenance is the surest way to escape the culture of fast food and the values implicit in it: that food should be cheap and easy; that food is fuel and not communion. The culture of the kitchen, as embodied in those enduring traditions we call cuisines, contains more wisdom about diet and health than you are apt to find in any nutrition journal or journalism. Plus, the food you grow yourself contributes to your health long before you sit down to eat it. So you might want to think about putting down this article now and picking up a spatula or hoe.
9. Eat like an omnivore. Try to add new species, not just new foods, to your diet. The greater the diversity of species you eat, the more likely you are to cover all your nutritional bases. That of course is an argument from nutritionism, but there is a better one, one that takes a broader view of “health.” Biodiversity in the diet means less monoculture in the fields. What does that have to do with your health? Everything. The vast monocultures that now feed us require tremendous amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to keep from collapsing. Diversifying those fields will mean fewer chemicals, healthier soils, healthier plants and animals and, in turn, healthier people. It’s all connected, which is another way of saying that your health isn’t bordered by your body and that what’s good for the soil is probably good for you, too. - jeff303, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The article seems well reasoned but is overly hard on packaged food. You can get really healthy, tasty, and cheap packaged food if you know where to look and you know how to read labels.
Even at the big grocery stores you can find good stuff like Kashi bars, shredded wheat, whole wheat pasta, etc. But make sure to read the label. What are the ingredients? What percentage sugar or fat is the food by weight (look at the nutrition facts)? Also bear in mind that manufacturers deliberately set the serving size on many products so that the trans fat amount rounds down to 0, but is still present (look for partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in the ingredient list to be sure).
Better yet, go to a healthier grocery store. Whole Foods is great but can be pricey on some items. Trader Joe's is very economical, healthy, and has many unique items. Get out there and explore your options - there are more than most people realize.- saska, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I find the Whole Foods store brands are cheaper than Trader Joe's. Organic milk at WF is ridiculously cheap, half the price of organic milk in a Safeway. The "boutique foods" are cheaper at Trader Joe's, but for everyday grocery shopping I end up spending less at WF and being more sure that what I'm getting is worth eating. (The fact that all of their meats are nitrate-free is a big bonus.)
- moudig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Whole Foods looks expensive because they sell other stuff (higher quality) than regular grocery stores. But compare two identical products and you'll be surprised!
- rossmcd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Has anyone else noticed that Trader Joe's foods are not as filling as equivalent foods from Whole Foods or other higher end grocery stores?
- NoTiG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Just another meat hating article. The truth is that it doesn't matter what you eat... as long as it is prepared properly, and of good quality.. and not refined. Especially since everyone is unique and better adapted to slightly different diets. There are societies and people that are perfectly healthy on pure animal food. There are also some that are healthy on mostly plant food. ALthough it is arguable that if you are going to be unbalanced and to one extreme or the other... meat is actually a better bet than pure plant food.
But as long as the food is prepared properly: The meat is not over cooked, the vegetables are not eaten raw and indigestible because of the cellulose, the grains are soaked first and or fermented to get rid of phytic acid and anti nutrients
And as long as it is not refined nad pre processed, prepackaged or laden with two many chemicals, old or rancid....
then it can be healthy.
Traditional foods of healthy primitive cultures are actually high in fat.. and fat is prized and meat is as well. Research weston price for more info. - NHbeacon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Now that I have my kids hooked on the crap, I have been weaning them off. But this just makes so much sense! I spent a week in Denmark and what struck me was the availability of grocery stores in downtown areas. It just made it that much easier to get fresh food on the way home from work rather than a trip to a superstore. Convenience along with the "science" of food preservation has changed our diets.
Great article to share. - TheKillDoctor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Article states that Fish Oil supplements come from fish and may contain mercury. They are NOT from fish but are an extract from sea weed.
- artsd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish" from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_oil
- saska, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Fish oil supplements usually come from fish and may contain mercury as a result. You get what you pay for. If the label doesn't say they've verified the absence of mercury, you can assume it is likely to contain it.
- artsd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish" from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_oil
- davidlove, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0In some cases, the wealthiest Americans were sicker than England's poorest," said Dr. Julie Mitchell, an assistant professor of medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
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http://free-moviedownload.tk- supermanred, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Stop spamming digg with your web site!
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- supermanred, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Stop spamming digg with your web site!
- mutatron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1First he contradicts his own thesis on the second page:
"At the end of the 19th century, British doctors were puzzled by the fact that Chinese laborers in the Malay states were dying of a disease called beriberi, which didn’t seem to afflict Tamils or native Malays. The mystery was solved when someone pointed out that the Chinese ate “polished,” or white, rice, while the others ate rice that hadn’t been mechanically milled."
Then he demonstrates his complete ignorance of the common man:
"Meat consumption actually climbed. We just heaped a bunch more carbs onto our plates, obscuring perhaps, but not replacing, the expanding chunk of animal protein squatting in the center. How did that happen? I would submit that the ideology of nutritionism deserves as much of the blame as the carbohydrates themselves do ..."
Does this fool actually believe that nutritionism is to blame for Biggie Sizing? - atomsforpeace, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0apples and bananas ftw.
- szembek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Any article that suggests we should eat "mostly plants" has no merit in my mind. Meat should be a side dish? Come off it buddy.
- rossmcd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why does it have no merit?
- Twango, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's never mentioned, but a lot of grocery stores put "food" (unprocessed) at the outside edges of the store.
Try to avoid the multi-colored boxes. You'll have less to recycle too. - JDenigma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sometimes you just hear so much conflicting, contradicting info. and health fads and what we're told seem to change from year to year that you just don't know what to believe sometimes. Well, here's my 2 cents for a simple solution. Instead of getting caught up in all that noise, keep it simple. My advice?
.......MEDITERRANEAN DIET.......
That diet as a lifestyle is a tried and true, proven healthy diet and you can't go wrong with it. Specifically the Mediterranean diet as followed by the population of the island Crete. The diet of those people represents the best of the diet.
More whole foods
less processed food
more fruits and veggies
less meat(specifically red meat) (fish is the healthiest meat to consume)
reduce or cut out that soda
everything in moderation
eat in smaller portions, but eat more frequently, particularly if you're more physically active
don't eat to the point where you feel "stuffed", but instead stop eating after you feel satiated where you feel like you have just a little more room in your stomach
of course get exercise (this is all common sense and a no brainer)
moderate consumption of alcohol, particularly red wine
substitute honey for sugar
That should be good enough - brenagail, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0All you have to do is remember that anything that's in a bag, can, or box is nutritionally empty.
Eat more whole unprocessed foods, reduce the amounts of processed food as much as you can. Drink mostly water instead of other beverages that compete for the water that is needed in your diet. Supplementing in certain ways is beneficial. Use coral calcium for added trace minerals, omega-3 from fish oil to add more of this essential fatty acid, and to include more raw fruits and veggies and two whole grains, add - ChefDanMar, on 03/18/2008, -0/+0Balance Moderation and Variety are in the end, the Keys to a successful and healthy lifestyle.
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