Eat intelligently, avoid malnutrition.

[Guest guest]

Malnutrition

JoAnn Guest

Oct 02, 2005 11:55 PDT

 

 

How many of these top nine foods do you consume?

 

Whole cow's milk

2% milk

Processed American cheese

White bread

White flour

White rolls

Refined sugars

Colas

Ground beef

 

A recent USDA (US Department of Agriculture) assessment of the top nine foods

consumed by Americans clearly illustrates our pattern of over consumptive under

nutrition.

 

They consisted basically of dairy, white flour, white sugar and ground beef! We

might think that dairy foods are a good thing; however they are full of

saturated fat and, for many people, the cause of allergies, sinus problems, ear

infections, bone

loss, Type 1 diabetes, and chronic constipation. Milk is also the number-one

cause of anemia in children from intestinal blood loss.

 

The Federal Trade Commission recently asked the USDA to look into the scientific

basis of the claims made in the milk mustache ads. Their panel of scientists

stated the truth clearly: Milk does not enhance sports performance, there is no

evidence that it is good for your bones or even prevents osteoporosis (and in

fact, the animal protein in milk may cause bone loss), and it is linked to

prostate cancer and heart disease, not to mention the digestive problems

experienced by 75% of the population who are lactose intolerant.

 

And after dairy foods, the most common foods are all sugar or quickly turn to

sugar when they hit your stomach - white bread, white flour, white rolls,

refined sugars and

colas fueling the epidemic of insulin resistance. Lastly, there is ground beef,

very high in saturated fat, hormones, antibiotics and xenobiotics as well as the

occasional toxigenic E. coli!

 

No wonder over 85% of Americans have one or more degenerative diseases by the

time they turn 65. These foods have a very low NCR, or nutrient to calorie

ratio.

In other words, they are nutritionally empty calories. Believe it ornot, the

more sugar you eat, the more vitamins you need to process that sugar.

 

Beside simply low-NCR foods, we are gorging on excess calories. A recent study

in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA 1999,282(16): 1579 -

Caloric Imbalance Public Health) revealed that 50% of US adults are overweight,

and 22% are obese (>30lb overweight).

 

A recent update of that study found that in just a few years, the obesity rates

increased from 22% to 30% and the overweight population increased from 50% to

65%. This exponential growth is frightening. Our caloric intake from 1976 to

1996 skyrocketed. Men increased their caloric intake by 2,239 calories a day and

women increased by 1,646 calories a day. This is over and above what they were

already eating, nearly doubling their daily caloric intake.

 

In 2000, Americans spent $110 billion on fast food. This exceeds the amount

spent on higher education, computers or new cars. On any given day, about 25% of

Americans visit a fast food outlet and the typical American eats three burgers a

week from one

of 30,000 fast food outlets. [Guinness Book of World Records]

 

While our philosophy of Ultraprevention, or personalized medicine,helps us

recognize the differences among people, and the need for different diets for

different body types and genetic predispositions, we have created some general

guidelines for everyone that will work for a lifetime of sound and intelligent

eating. The fundamental omission

of modern medicine is the complete lack of awareness of how nutrition can create

health or disease. We give lip service to eating a low-fat diet if you have

heart disease, or drinking more milk if you have osteoporosis (which in fact may

contribute to it), or avoiding spicy foods if you have reflux, but the central

idea that the most

important thing in creating a vital and well functioning body is eating vital

food

- food with life - is absent from medical practice.

 

We divide foods into categories and lump all foods together into those

categories - carbohydrates, fats and protein, and fiber. But not all

carbohydrates are equal, nor are all proteins or all fats as the USDA food

pyramid would have us believe. To illustrate, the carbohydrates in popcorn could

not be more different in their effect on your body

than the carbohydrates in beans.

 

Those in popcorn raise your blood sugar dramatically, thereby increasing your

risk of cancer; those in beans slow sugar absorption and therefore reduce your

risk of cancer. With proteins, there is a difference between animal and

vegetable proteins.

 

Excess animal protein can increase your homocysteine, cause bone loss and

acidify your blood, while vegetable proteins from nuts, legumes, and seeds can

lower homocysteine (in part because of the folic acid they contain) and help

increase bone density. Fats are also different. Saturated fat from animal

sources can increase your risk of heart disease, while polyunsaturated omega-3

fats from fish or flax seeds

can cut the risk of sudden death in half.

 

Basically, we can separate foods into two basic categories, 1) High quality or

high-nutrient density or high NCR and 2) Poor quality or low-nutrient density or

low NCR. The Ultraprevention dietary recommendations focus primarily on

high-quality foods in each category. Through this simple concept, a healthy

eating program can be

developed that is not a diet, but a program that supports and enriches your

metabolism, immune system, detoxification, and reduces inflammation and

oxidative stress while vanquishing malnutrition. A rich diversity of choices is

available in our philosophy of the "varieties of eating experience." Some may

need more fat, or less fat, or may have higher protein needs, or not tolerate

starchy carbohydrates. The best barometer of what you need is how you feel. When

you eat properly for your

genetic constitution and metabolism you should feel great, and when you are

not you will feel lousy. Pay attention to how the food you eat makes you

feel and experiment with different amounts of different categories of nutrients

to see how they make you feel. You are the best judge of what works for you.

 

If you eat properly for you, your weight will become normal, your energy will

improve and often many seemingly unrelated physical complaints would disappear.

Think about it: your body can only operate with the quality of food you provide

it. In other words: junk in, junk out. Or eat vital food and revel in your

vitality.

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets