Like Ponce de Leon, most of America is looking for that
mythical place or diet that will keep us young, slim and beautiful. That
Magical Diet that allows us to consume all of the bad foods that we crave so
much but when taken in the perfect proportions, allows us to burn more calories
than daily visits to the gym. We all know it’s out there. It’s just a matter of
finding the Magical Diet. Like finding the Fountain of Youth.
Of course if you believe that, I also have some prime
Oakland A’s World Series tickets for sale. Really cheap! And like the Fountain
of Youth, there also is no magical diet. When it comes to nutrition, it’s one
of the few sciences that 1 plus 1 actually does equal 2 and 5 minus 2 does
equal 3. If you consume 1500 calories every day but burn 1500 calories every
day, your weight will remain the same. On the other end, if you consume 2000
calories every day even if those calories are from healthy choices like tofu,
carrots and whole wheat pasta but only burn 1500 calories every day, you will
put on about 1 pound every week (3500 calories roughly equate to 1 pound). And
likewise, if you consume 1500 calories every day even if it’s from butter,
cream and chocolate but burn 2000 calories every day, you’ll lose about 1 pound
every week. No magic, just basic ins and outs.
Fat
The bad boy of the nutrition world right? Like the lead
singer in a rock and roll band. So tempting but you know your mother told you
to stay away from them. Why? So concentrated in calories. Nine calories in one
little gram. That always seems to find its way to your waist or thighs. So stay
away from all fat. Right? Not exactly. Fat does have a roll in the human body.
For starters there are certain vitamins and nutrients that need dietary fat to
be absorbed. When we digest a meal, we produce a watery slurry of “stuff” that
we just swallowed. So for nutrients to be absorbed, they first must dissolve in
that slurry. What if they’re not water soluble? Like fat. Well, that’s where
bile acids come into play. Bile acids play well with both the watery side and
the fatty side… like a mediator. So if other fat soluble nutrients dissolve in
the dietary fat, they can also go on that ride called digestion.
Dietary fat also helps us to maintain our good or HDL
cholesterol levels. With HDL cholesterol, the bigger the number the better as
HDL cholesterol has a negative relationship with heart disease. In fact if you
restrict dietary fat too much, you’ll invariably lower your HDL cholesterol
levels. Not good.
Dietary fat also is the main nutrient that signals the
brain that we’ve had enough to eat so fat in essence helps us limit how much we
continue to eat. And finally, flavor travels mainly in either fat or salt. Look
for a processed food that’s free of fat means it invariably contain a lot of
salt (likewise salt free foods usually contain more fat).
And to further confuse you, all fat is not the same. The
four flavors are polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, saturated and trans. What
you do want to flavor your food with is the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated
variety. They are usually found in nuts and oils though as an aside, the black
footed Iberico Bellota pigs in Spain primarily gorge on chestnuts so their meat
contains a higher percentage of monounsaturated fat.
Polyunsaturated fats are found in fatty cold water fish
like salmon, mackerel and tuna and are better known as the omega-3 fats. The
only downside with polyunsaturated fats like canola, walnut and pumpkinseed
oils are that they do tend to oxidize (oxidize = rancid) easier than the other
fats so purchase smaller bottles (in darker bottles if possible) and better
yet, store them in the refrigerator. Monounsaturated fats are found in olive
and macadamia nut oil along with almonds and other nuts.
The fats that wear the black cowboy hats are saturated
and trans fats. Saturated fats are those that are solid at room temperature
like most terrestrial animal fats and their byproducts like cheese, butter and
cream. The reason they’re the “bad guys” is because they raise your LDL
cholesterol or bad cholesterol which increases your risk for heart disease. In
fact for reasons we still don’t know, dietary saturated fat raises serum
cholesterol more than dietary cholesterol itself. But if you thought saturated
was the “baddest”, there is another and his name is trans fat. Like saturated
fat, trans fat can also raise LDL cholesterol but it also has the tendency to
lower HDL cholesterol. Increase the bad and lower the good, that’s a double
whammy!
Protein
There’s no real difference in dietary proteins by itself
other than the fact that most animal proteins are complete proteins containing
all 9 essential amino acids whereas most plant proteins lack or are limited by
1 or 2 essential amino acids so that a combination of plant proteins need to be
consumed to make it complete (i.e., beans with rice and wheat). The main
difference is what “piggy backs” on those proteins, namely fat. The usual
animal proteins contain their fair share of saturated fat where plant fats are
usually poly or monounsaturated. But you can simply remove all traces of
visible fat whether it’s a chicken thigh, pork loin or beef eye of round which
lowers at least one meal’s dietary risks.
Carbohydrate
Also looked upon as one of the “bad guys” at least in the
eyes of the Atkins and other low carb diets. Since 1 gram of carbohydrate only
yields 4 calories (like protein), I think the “bad guy” image is totally
unwarranted. And it’s actually not wise to eliminate all carbs since 1) your
brain only functions on glucose which is the basic building block of
carbohydrates and 2) eliminating all carbs requires the body to shift to fat
for energy. While that might sound like a good thing, fat can’t be used
exclusively as fuel since “fat burns in the fire of carbohydrate”. When your
body tries to run exclusively on fat, it starts producing ketones which doesn’t
make you feel very good and it also throws off your blood pH making it more
acidic. Not a good thing at all. So enjoy your carbs, whole grain and unrefined
if possible but a cup of starches with each meal is compliant even with a
diabetes diet.
Baby Steps to a
Habit
Okay, I know some of what I say may sound a little like
preaching but I’ll be the first to admit that I also deal with that mid-life
“battle of the bulge” especially when returning from vacations. I also have my
share of “taboo’ foods that I refuse to give up… like French fries and potato
chips. And ever since I passed the half century mark, I’ve indulged in those
less-than-healthy cuts of meat like short ribs… and pork belly… and even
oxtail. But I’ve tried to lessen the impact of the negative by indulging on the
positive for most of the week like:
1)
Eating healthy during the work week and loosen
on the weekends. Since breakfast and lunch on workdays are primarily meant to
keep us going until the end of the workday, choose healthier choices since
they’re meant more for sustenance than pleasure. Thee weekend meals are for
pleasure. And you’re not depriving, just delaying.
2)
Eat only until you’re not hungry anymore. Don’t
eat until you’re full. If you’re not even hungry before a meal, just have a
fruit and a glass of water.
3)
Use a smaller plate for each meal. It’s harder
to consume mass quantities on a small plate than a large plate.
4)
Load half of your plate with veggies first. And
try to get 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day though 9 servings a
day would be ideal. If you do have diabetes, get more veggies than fruit.
5)
Spoil your meal by having an apple and a glass
of water 15 to 30 minutes before the meal. You won’t be as hungry and will
probably limit yourself to a reasonable serving.
6)
If you are trying to lose weight, do the 500
less per day routine by cutting back about 250 calories per day and increasing
exercise to burn 250 calories per day. The net loss over 1 week will be 3500
calories which translates to a 1 pound loss every week. And smaller cutbacks in
consumption and increases in exercises make it more sustainable. The last thing
you want to do is make drastic changes and while drastic changes can result in
greater and faster weight loss, if they’re not sustainable you’ll go right back
to old habits and put the weight back on.
7)
Don’t snack at work. I know every work
environment has a break room with loads of goodies. JUST SAY NO! It’s easy to take
a bite here, a bite there and next thing you know, you’re anywhere from 100 to
500 calories extra for that day. Now just multiply that by five times… every
week, every month, every year.
8)
Get regular exercise! It’s the one thing that
doesn’t come in a pill. I know it’s hard after a long day of work. Sometimes I
get home and look at my bike… and it just looks back at me. But no one can (or
will) exercise for you so as Nike says, Just Do It!
Just remember that any little change for the positive
usually leads to more changes. When those pants feel a little looser, you’ll
want to bike or run a little longer the next time. Or when your blood pressure
or cholesterol drops a little and your doctor delays those medications, you’ll
want to keep it up. And after about 3 months, those changes become a habit. A
healthy habit.
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