Do the Research on Your Eating Habits

Recently I interviewed a potential co-author who was a self-proclaimed expert on beautifying foods. Turns out her eating preference was raw foods, meaning nothing cooked. I asked her what she ate for protein. Her answer was avocados although she said she didn’t believe folks needed protein in their diets at all. And also, algae. She was sure that algae gave her adequate protein. After our conversation, I did some checking. A person would need to eat 15 cups of cubed avocado per day to eat the recommended daily amount of 45 grams of vegetable protein but would end up eating a whopping 345 grams of fat per day. Vegetable protein doesn’t provide all the amino acids that a person needs to be healthy. Meat, dairy, eggs, or fish are best. Food combining of legumes and grains can also provide high quality protein. I couldn’t find nutritional counts for algae, nor could I find algae in the grocery store. She said her goal was to turn me into a vegetarian.

Too bad she didn’t know the back story. Years ago, I decided our family would eat macrobiotic (no meat or dairy or eggs, only grains and vegetables with an Asian flavor.) Besides the inconvenient fact that I was cooking or involved with food about 5 hours a day, I gained about 30 pounds in 4 months. My husband lost about 30 pounds that he didn’t need to lose, and my 4-year old son became anemic. You wouldn’t have believed the loud and aggressive lecture I received from Brian’s pediatrician. “On the way home, you buy some steaks and a cast iron skillet, and you start feeding your family. And I never want to see your son anemic because of some dumb diet.” Yikes. Within weeks, Brian’s red blood cell count was high again, his energy was back, and my husband had regained his weight. Later when Brian was a teenager he told me he wanted to be vegetarian. I told him no in no uncertain terms.

What my potential co-author and I had in common was getting excited about the allure and glamour of a fad diet, while being unaware that it could be a bad idea from the point of view of health and nutrition. Or practicality. Neither one of us was going to fare very well as dinner guests or in regular restaurants.

Lots of folks “fall in love” with diet fads without doing the research. Perhaps you know some of these types of eaters:
• Fat-phobic. They don’t stock butter or olive oil in the pantry. Nor salad dressings. They do eat no-fat cheese and milk products. This is not a healthy or beautifying way to eat. The skin, nails, hair, and metabolism need fat. Especially essential fatty acids, best found in cold-water fish and fish oil. Eating no fat will most likely make you gain weight.
• Sugar-phobic. They don’t stock sugar but can’t shake a sweet tooth. By the way, virtually all of us have a sweet tooth. It’s biology. Which means some sweet foods – fruit, honey, and some vegetables - are important for our health. Instead they eat artificial sweeteners and some of the more natural sweeteners such as stevia and xylitol. The American Heart Association suggests that men eat no more than 8 teaspoons of sugar daily and women no more than 6. It’s perfectly healthy not to eat sugar, just go very light on the artificial sweeteners. They’ve been shown to increase a person’s risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, weight gain, and kidney disease.
• Calorie-phobic. They don’t stock calories in their pantry. At least not many. This can be a healthy way to eat, provided the person isn’t a bit crazy or too neurotic. But they may not be much fun to eat with.
• Soy-promoting. Their pantry contains tofu, soy powers, and soy milk. Not such a wise choice. Some soy is fine, but research has shown that eating too much soy can depress thyroid function and that eating too much soy powder can put one at higher risk of breast cancer. So have 2-3 servings of soy per week. Then eat regular food.
• Starch-phobic. This is me. I eat some starches, but mostly in the form of really crusty sourdough bread or a cookie now and then. At weddings, I eat a piece of cake. My husband keeps bread in freezer so he can heat up a slice from time to time. I avoid wheat and grain starches because research shows that a person doesn’t need to eat starches for nutritional reasons. A person does need carbohydrates, which come in many forms: vegetables and fruit. And, I confess, I also avoid the cakes and cookies because I love them and sometimes they get control over me and I overeat them.

If you’re a normal eater, stay that way. Before you adopt a new eating plan, check out the research to find out if it makes nutritional sense. Any “fad” food phobia taken can too far over too long a period of time could threaten your health. And perhaps your sanity and definitely your social life.

Lucy Beale
Author, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Glycemic Index Weight Loss and
The Complete Idiot's Guide Glycemic Index Cookbook
www.Lucybeale.com, http://lucybeale-weight-loss.blogspot.com/
801-501-8240