NORMAL EATING

By Marie Dufour, RD – Interesting discussion in the NYT this morning, about what constitutes “Normal Eating.” Of course, there is no agreement.  Perhaps because there is no such thing as “Normal Eating.”

NORM has two meanings, according to the dictionary.

- Standard, or model – What we should do and are expected to do.

- Average, or mode* – What we actually do and measure.

                           * Note:  The word “mode” (as in “Apple-pie-a-la-mode”) also means “fashion” in French, a detail that is not lost on my French upbringing…

So, does our eating conflict just come from the dual meaning of the word “normal?”

Standard models abound.  The USDA has worked hard to develop dietary guidelines and the MyPyramid.gov website to help us define individualized healthy standards.  What is normal for me (1200 Kcal/day need) is not for my husband (2200 Kcal/day need) or our work team (3000 Kcal/day need).  But Standards are not just about calories.  They are also about ethnicity.  Our family tends to adhere to a Mediterranean-style diet because we were reared in Europe and always grew our own vegetables.  Moving to the US in our twenties, we felt that eating American-style was totally abnormal, of course.  And now that we live in Paraguay, our diet of fruit, vegetables and fish seems abnormal to the locals who survive on beef, corn and mandioca.  Normal standards vary around the world. 

Averages vary as well and are directly related to economic status and market availability.  Again, I’ll take my microsome of Paraguay because, typical of a developing country, the lines are so well drawn here.  The economically disadvantaged have a tendency to be of a healthy weight, still living according to traditional norms and not touched by modern-world marketing (no food stamps here!).  But the wealthy have a tendency to be overweight, and I can see them lining up at fashionable fast-food restaurants and their kids having replaced the traditional zero-calorie drinks with sodas and juices.  And then, there are the legions of under-nourished  (by porverty and/or alcoholism) with emaciated bodies and very, very abnormal eating.

Perhaps there is such a thing as “Healthy Eating” although eating too much of healthy things can be unhealthy and one can still eat something classified as “unhealthy” but keep a healthy balance.

HEALTHY BALANCE… yes, that’s the concept.  And it’s a concept that involves EDUCATION and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.  How boring!

- Education:  know what the standard is for YOU.  Calorie-wise, fat and sugar-wise, protein-wise.  Develop a plan that works with your daily lifestyle, ethnic background, taste, cooking abilities and budget.

- Personal responsibility:  Yes, all this is WORK.  But our health and that of our children warrant our attention and efforts.  And if we don’t think so, well we won’t live very well for very long, and, sadly, our children’s lifespan will be even shorter than ours.

I’m no fun, I know.  But neither is eating a bland diet of measured portions in a hospital bed…

Filed under: Lifestyle, community nutrition, diet , childhood obesity, community nutrition, diet, ethnic eating, Health Nutrition Blog, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, heart health, Marie Dufour RD, Mediterranean Diet, normal diet, normal eating, nutrition, nutrition education, obesity, Paraguay, weight control, weight loss, women's Health

GO SUGAR-LESS

By Marie Dufour, RD - The American Heart Association (AHA) is putting a number on how much added sugar is allowable in our daily diet: five teaspoons for women, nine teaspoons for men.

Given that an average soda contains about eight teaspoons of sugar and that our average daily intake is a jaw-dropping 22 teaspoons, we have some serious work to do to change our collective behavior with regards to sugar.

New research suggests that sugars added to processed foods may have a harmful impact on fat metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress, which means higher cause for obesity, heart disease and cancer.

What can we do?

1) Sugar drinks. As I explained in an earlier post killing-us-sweetly , liquid sugar presents the greatest danger to our health because our system does not register liquid calories as nutrition. Fruit juices are, for that reason, no better nor healthier than soda.

Action: BAN SODAS and FRUIT JUICES.  Here, in Asuncion (Paraguay), our friends and co-worker can no longer purchase a soda or juice bottle without whispering the word “VENENO” (poison).  It took us 3 years of bashing our little group over the head with the Poison word, but the only soda they now purchase are sugar-free and they have replaced fruit juices with whole fruit.  And in social outings, our friends know what kind of cocktail we drink: “Anything Zero.” 

2) Sugar at the table.  The jar of sugar belongs in the cupboard, not on the table.  Although an occasional teaspoon of sugar is harmless, our 21^st century distorted taste for sugar increasingly craves sweetness (+19% in the last 30 years).

Action: Use sweeteners like STEVIA (another Paraguayan wonder, now available in the USA), SPLENDA, Nutra-Sweet* or saccharin.  They are proven safe for most people. 

3) Processed foods. Read the labels and look at the amount of sugar listed per serving size.

Action: Drastically limit the consumption of cookies, crackers, sugar cereals, milk chocolate, fudge, candy, ice cream, sherbet, and designer coffee syrups.  

Above all, don’t pack any high-sugar or “liquid candy” items in your kids lunchboxes.  A fruit and water is fine; a soda or juice is not.

* Patients with PKU should not use Nutra-Sweet or similar sweeteners.

Ref: Johnson RK, et al “Dietary sugars intake and cardiovascular health: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association” Circulation 2009; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.192627.

Filed under: Lifestyle, diet , Added sugar, AHA & sugar, childhood obesity, community nutrition, diet, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, heart health, kids, kids' health, Less sugar, limit fruit juice, limit soda, limit sugar, liquid candy, Marie Dufour RD, men's health, nutrition, sweeteners, Teaspoon of sugar, weight control, women's Health

POPCORN – A GOOD MOVE

By Marie Dufour, RD – Nothing like popcorn-and-a-movie to pick me up… my husband’s popcorn, that is, because I’ve been shunning the fluffy stuff for years.  Love the smell, but won’t touch it.

 But with this week’s report on how good popcorn is for us, I wonder if I’ve been wrong to keep the poor little puffs at arms’ length all those years.  What I worry about is the burnt popping oil at the bottom of the kettle, the butter slathered on top and the half-salt-shaker poured over a gallon-size barrel of popcorn.  Yet, reports have it that popcorn is good for us. Personally, I find it hard to digest, and need a lot of water to help it down, a fact that is not lost on my aging bladder and is sure to ruin my movie-watching.  Am I wrong?

 As it turns out, popcorn, like breakfast cereals and other grain products, contains high amount of polyphenols.  These antioxidants, also present in fruit and vegetables, protect the human cell from oxidative damage, namely cancer.

 Now, this report sounds great.  Hey, we were all mistaken thinking that the benefit of whole grain cereal came only from their fiber content.  It now looks like wheat, corn, oats and rice have the same antioxidant properties as vegetables, fruit, walnuts and tea leaves.  The amount of polyphenol varies with different grains.

 It’s great news, because the US diet is sill predominantly grain-based… though it is grain to which we add salt, butter, oil, and sugar.  And this is where we need to be careful.  I can already see the cereal boxes and cracker packages on the shelf, with health claims such as “With antioxidant fiber.”  A good thing too, since we’ll need these antioxidants to balance the oxidative damage caused by metabolizing all the fat packed in those little “healthy” whole wheat crackers.  Ditto for yesterday’s BBQ (see http://dominomarie.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=202)

 Be a critical consumer and read the food labels.  Choose your grains as un-processed as possible, without fat or sugar.  Yes, whole grains are definitely a healthy component of the diet: fiber-filled and antioxidant-rich.

As for popcorn, let’s make it air-popped, no salt-no butter please.

(PS – Popcorn, seeds and grains are no longer contra-indicated in individuals with diverticulosis)

 

 

Ref: file://localhost/American Chemical Society (2009, August 19). Whole Grain Cereals, Popcorn Rich In Antioxidants, Not Just Fiber, New Research Concludes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 24, 2009, from http/::www.sciencedaily.com­ :releases:2009:08:090818150

Filed under: Lifestyle, diet , antioxidant, cancer prevention, diet, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, heart health, Marie Dufour RD, Mediterranean Diet, men's health, oxydative damage, polyphenol, popcorn, women's Health

BBQ Alert – OXYCHOLESTEROL HEAVYWEIGHT

 By Marie Dufour, RD – It’s Sunday, and I know North America is gearing up for its last summer BBQs just as much as South America is firing up its ritualistic Domingo Asados.  And why should you think twice? You’ve been faithfully downing your statin pill every night and feel safe about your cholesterol level.  But think again.  On the cell oxidation scale and heart disease risk, world-champion LDL (“bad”) cholesterol has just been toppled by the new challenger: OXYCHOLESTEROL.

This new heavy weight is formed to some extent in our bodies by oxidation, the reaction between fat and oxygen.  But the major food source of oxycholesterol comes from heated fats, fast foods and partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils.

And now, I’m going to ruin your Sunday BBQ & asado.  Don’t think that because you’re grilling your burgers, you’re safe from the oxy-gorilla.  Just the process of heating animal fat produces oxycholesterol.  Adios charbroiled burgers, grilled steaks, fried chicken, and “milanesa.” The worst on the oxycholesterol scale?  Fast foods, according to researchers.

Where to hide? Not in partially-hydrogenated oils, not in margarine, not in trans-fats.  The hydrogenation process of oils creates the monster as well.

But there is a way to compensate the oxidative action of oxycholesterol: with antioxidants.  You know … fruits and vegetables, beans, herbs and spices, and nuts.

Since scientists have no idea yet whether or not statins lower blood level of oxycholesterol, go ahead and self-medicate.  When you decide to have a BBQ, serve a nice green salad with walnuts, throw halved tomatoes, zucchini and asparagus on the grill, serve a pot of black beans, fill a basked with strawberries and cherries and decorate the table with grapes and plums.

Now, enjoy your burger in a whole-wheat-sunflower-seeds bun with portabella mushroom… it’s a healthy thing!

Ref: American Chemical Society (2009, August 23). Little Known Type Of Cholesterol — Oxycholesterol — May Pose The Greatest Heart Disease Risk. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 23, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2009/08/090820123923.htm

Filed under: Lifestyle, diet , antioxidant, asado, Barbecue, BBQ, cholesterol, community nutrition, diet, fat oxidation, grilling food, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, heart health, Marie Dufour RD, nutrition, obesity, oxycholesterol, weight control, women's Health

ULTIMATE MOTIVATION

Need motivation to change your eating habits?  Just 344 days before launching his 28,000 km Sea-Doo Ultimate Ride to raise worldwide cancer awareness, Capt. Jeremy Burfoot is musing about fruits and vegetables.  Catch his healthy spirit at:

http://london-sydney.com/blog/food-drink-and-easter-eggs/

EAT, and LIVE WELL  -  Domino Marie

Filed under: Lifestyle, diet , alcohol, Cancer awareness, cancer prevention, diet, drinking, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, heart health, Jeremy Burfoot, London-Sydney by PWC, Marie Dufour RD, Mediterranean Diet, men's health, nutrition, Sea-Doo ride, The Ultimate Ride, weight control, women's Health

THE TRUTH ABOUT CARBS

For the last 2 days, I’ve blogged about carbs at http://dufourcrunch.blogspot.com/ , telling you how we NEED carbs in our diet IN VARIETY and IN MODERATION, of course.  And the Carbohydrate Authorities have heard my plight and are answering every question you may have on carbohydrate nutrition, glycemic index and then some… 

So, pour yourself a nice cup of tea, or make a big tumbler of Yerba Mate (you can see I’m still stuck in Paraguay)… and read on…

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161547.php#ratethis

EAT carbs, and LIVE WELL

Domino marie

Filed under: Lifestyle, community nutrition, diet , Atkins, carbohydrates, diabetes, diet, glycemic index, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, heart health, low-carb diet, Marie Dufour RD, men's health, nutrition, obesity, sports nutrition, weight control, women's Health

REGRESSIVE NUTRITION

By Marie Dufour, RD.  The human body has not evolved to process the foods currently been fed to its organs.  Result? Heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and shortened life expectancy.

 It’s not a question of whether we’ve been created by a Higher Being or have evolved from primary life forms.  Whichever way we have appeared on this planet, we have slowly evolved to the life form we are today.  Over millions of years (or hundreds of thousands, or thousands), we have gradually adapted to our food environment.  We have lived off of the products of the earth in the most natural ways.  We’ve been hunters and gatherers first, then farmers.  But the industrial revolution has also brought a nutrition and health chaos.  I hinted at this concept yesterday in Meal Hierarchy but came across a medical news report this morning that I thought worth investigating.

Just released, a 7-year study of the 9,000-strong Tsimane tribe in the Bolivian Amazon reports the absence of vascular disease and heart attack. The main killers in this population are infectious and parasitic diseases. The Tsimane have high levels of C-reactive protein, which is a marker of inflammation used in the US to predict heart disease.  Although inflammation is prevalent (2/3 of the population have intestinal worms), peripheral vascular disease is virtually unknown.

Which brings us back to diet and lifestyle.  The Tsimane live a very traditional lifestyle.  They fish, hunt, gather, cultivate the soil, live in family groups and have little contact with the modern world. This tribe in the heart of the Bolivian Amazon lives the way our body is designed for: limited intake of non-processed foods*.

The human body is just not made to deal with the high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar and increasingly high-protein regimen we are putting it through.  Perhaps in few hundred years it will have adapted to this regimen.  But for now, it has not.  The change has been too sudden. The result is devastating to our specie:

Our children’s generation will have a shorter lifespan than ours.

We need to make a conscious and concerted effort to make what I will call “regressive food choices.”  Select fruits and vegetables, whole grains, seeds and nuts as our nutrition base, with a mix of non-processed meats and fish, organic dairy… and teach our children and grandchildren to do so.

Let’s go back to the more primitive “us”.  Regressive Food Choices: it’s a wild thing.

* “Non-processed foods” doesn’t mean “raw food.”  It means foodstuff that has not been denaturated through industrial processing.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/160425.php

Filed under: Lifestyle, community nutrition, diet , Amazon diet, amazon tribe, C-reactive protein, diet, Health Nutrition Blog, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, heart health, Marie Dufour RD, Mediterranean Diet, men's health, Natural diet, nutrition, regressive nutrition, Tsiname diet, Tsiname Indians, unprocessed foods, weight control, women's Health

MEAL HIERARCHY

By Marie Dufour, RD – Nutrition pioneer Adelle Davis knew what she talked about: fuel your day with a hearty breakfast, sustain the energy with a solid lunch, and ease into the night with a light dinner.  It’s been a proven recipe for centuries.  Yet, in the last 40 years, we’ve turned this wisdom upside down.  Result: massive and global obesity and its associated chronic diseases.

 Millions of years of evolution has led our specie to function a certain way.  Looking back just 100 years ago, our predominantly farm-based civilization would eat a hearty breakfast before going to work in the fields, sustain the pace with an energizing lunch, and satisfy the dinner time with a bowl of soup and a piece of cheese.  There were no on-the-go eating and no midnight snack.  In less than 100 years, we have challenged our evolutionary nutritional balance in many ways, including meal patterns.

We now have a tendency to skip breakfast, lunch-on-the-go and, ravenous, gulp a fat-charged dinner.  No wonder we’re running into trouble!  Meal patterns alone are an essential part of healthy lifestyles.

Here’s a meal pattern for health:

- Eat a hearty breakfast made of protein (low-fat dairy, eggs or egg whites), whole grains (oats, whole breads), fruits and/or vegetables (oranges, berries, seaweeds, soy) depending on taste, culture, etc…

- Sustain energy with a complete lunch including protein (meat, fish, cheese, beans), grains (rice, bulgur, barley), fruit and vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, banana, berries) and nuts;

- Ease into the night with a light dinner of vegetable soup (carrot, pumpkin, broccoli) and dairy (low-fat yogurt, hard cheese) or soy product.

Now, repeat after me: “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.”  It’s a healthy thing!

Filed under: Lifestyle, community nutrition, diet , 3 meals daily, Adelle DAVIS, breakfast, cancer nutrition, childhood obesity, community nutrition, diet, Evolutionary eating, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, heart health, Marie Dufour RD, meal patterns, Mediterranean Diet, men's health, weight control, women's Health

BAN THE HAM

Are we seeing the end of the ham sandwich?
The World Cancer Research Fund is asking parents to stop serving kids processed meat. The reason? Processed meat such as ham, bologna and salami can lead to bowel cancer.

Cancer Council nutrition manager Kathy Chapman recommends limiting the amount of processed meat a child eats. There are two reasons for that recommendation:

1 – Processed meats such as ham, bologna, salami, hot dog and pastrami are loaded with sodium nitrite and are high in saturated fat;

2 – Processed meat are low in healthy vitamins and minerals and a child eating only processed meats for lunch is missing out on full nutrition.

Ham sandwiches are easy to prepare and oh-so popular… and OK in moderation.

What’s our new strategy? Let’s keep that ham sandwich once a week, and find other options for the rest of the week:

- tuna sandwich or tuna lunch-pack with baby carrots;

- hard-boiled egg with cherry tomatoes;

- bean dip with vegetable sticks and sunflower seeds;

- home-roasted turkey with lettuce & tomato.
Add a fruit to that and your kids will thank you… in 20 years!

Filed under: diet , cancer prevention, ham sandwich, healthy kids, healthy living, kids lunch, Marie Dufour RD

THE SPARC-to-FAT LINK

 By Marie Dufour, RD – How do we store fat, and why do we store fat in abnormal ways? This is what scientists in Liverpool intend to explain.  They found that, when obesity is present, two hormones are increased:

- the appetite regulator Leptin, trying to limit fat storage; and

- the blood sugar regulator Insulin, in response to high demands for glucose metabolism.

While leptin and insulin work hard to deal with metabolic demands, they trigger an increase in SPARC protein.  This SPARC protein is responsible for a scarring of the fat tissue cells and prevents normal fat storage.  The excess fat can no longer be stored inside the cells, remains in the blood, and starts accumulating around organs.  In other words, Leptin says “Man, stop eating, and You, Fat, go somewhere else,” and SPARC says, “No, Fat, can’t park here!”

In their research about the effects of fast food, a Swedish group found that weight gain from excessive caloric intake (double the needs) caused a 33% increase in SPARC.  The good news is that they also found that a reduced calorie diet can decrease SPARC level and fat tissue scarring. 

What does it mean for us?  While this discovery is quite recent, we need to consider it seriously.  While the body can deal with occasional overweight, it responds in drastic ways to constant and habitual obesity.  It is one more reason why we need to avoid progressing from overweight to obesity and pre-diabetic condition.

 

ScienceDaily (2009-08-16) — http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090813142349.htm

Filed under: Lifestyle, diet , childhood obesity, community nutrition, diabetes, diet, fat storage, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, Hormonal response to obesity, Insulin, Leptin, Marie Dufour RD, men's health, nutrition, obesity, pre-diabetes, public health, SPARC protein, weight control, weight loss, women's Health