by Zane Hollingsworth via Flickr

What’s going on? There’s a lot of historical “proof” that many things will help cure different diseases or help to make us healthy. How many American mothers raised their children under the mantra “an apple a day will keep the doctor away”? Yet how many people now know that apples are one of the highest fruits in sugar content, thus high on the glycemic index and something that diabetics have to worry about having too much of?

Truth be told, if most people eat a proper diet they’re going to get all the nutrition they need most of the time. Sure, there are people who miss out on some nutrients because they don’t eat a true balanced diet, but in today’s world there are so many foods infused with so many vitamins and other things that it’s nearly impossible not to get at least a little bit of what you need from somewhere.

For instance, if you eat any cereal whatsoever, you’re covering yourself for a lot of vitamins that you used to have to eat something specific for. We don’t have scurvy anymore, even though everyone doesn’t eat oranges or citrus fruit, because it’s in so many other foods.

Back to supplements. With every passing day some college or independent research facility is putting a supplement to the test to see if it really offers any benefit that it’s stated to do. Anyone can put out a supplement and get around FDA regulations by saying it’s “not really” a medicine. Anyone can say they did a study to prove this or that. Then real science gets in the way and says “no, that’s not true”.

I’m not saying that maybe some supplements won’t help. What I am saying is that one needs to look at these things with a critical eye instead of just listening to the person in the health food store who’s telling you how great something is. You need to check out stories that will give you general information about nutritional supplements and make informed decisions instead.

He has recently lost 20 pounds in about 6 weeks. What’s amazing about it is that he didn’t set out to lose weight. What he did set out to do was reduce the amount of fat in his diet because he said he wasn’t feeling all that good after certain meals and wanted to change that feeling.

He started out by looking at what vegetables he would eat, which wasn’t a lot. He liked spinach, but had always eating it by boiling it and then putting a lot of butter on it. As a matter of fact, that’s how he ate all his vegetables. He decided to try a stir fry, with just a little oil and seasoning it with a few spices. Turns out he liked that a lot, but got hungry pretty quickly.

Through experimenting he started adding either chicken, salmon or shrimp to the meals, each with very little fat. That seemed to add a bit more heft to what he was eating so he didn’t get hungry as quickly. He also added other vegetables like carrots, onions, cabbage and broccoli. This turned out to be a great flavor for him.

One other thing he added as a regular thing was more cereal, which has no fat except for raisin bran. He was lactose intolerant but found that there was milk that was lactose free, and he bought 2% because that’s what he was used to from when he was younger. Turns out one cup of 2% milk, which filled his bowl, is only 5 grams of fat.

His plan was to reduce his fat intake so that it was less than 55 grams a day. He found that eating the meals he did was keeping him under 40 grams a day, even though he was suddenly eating 5 times a day. Eating more meals convinced his body to give up some of its fat reserves, and by not replacing all that fat, which came in many ways, he’d started losing weight.

He was stunned when, after two weeks, he decided to step on the scale and found that he’d lost 9 pounds. That was without almost no exercise. Since then he’s decided to give himself one day a week to eat whatever he wants and has added walking and some minor strength training into the mix. He’s also learned that by changing his eating behavior, he can’t eat like he was eating beforehand because it makes him feel sick, and he sees that as a good thing. He can eat a hamburger just fine, but a double burger with a large fries followed by ice cream… not anymore.

Sometimes simple food changes can be a good thing. It’s something to think about.
 

by Tracy Hunter via Flickr

One might not know how hard it is to get something like this right, but all you have to do is think about making something as simple as cornbread and mixing together two boxes of ingredients at once instead of just one. You might initially believe that if you’re going to do this that all you have to do is double everything. However, you find that when you bake the cornbread, it’s not coming out quite as you thought it might. Maybe the middle doesn’t cook all that well or the outside gets burned, or maybe it doesn’t spread the way you expected it to in the pan.

In that small experiment, you realize that you have to change many things, from how long you bake to what temperature to even how much of the other ingredients you should put into your cornbread mix. Do you put more or less milk in? What about the eggs?

If things can go wrong with something that simple, imagine what it’s like when you’re looking to make thousands, if not millions, of a product at one time in a factory. The chemistry alone can be daunting. It’s not just ingredients or temperature at a certain point. It’s the type of oven or vat you’re cooking in, how you’re putting your product into its packaging, how long it should cook or cool, the order of ingredients, the power of spices… so many things. Many times the corrections are minor, but it could take weeks of testing to figure it out. Other times the corrections are major and costly; there are a lot of great products that never make it to market because it would cost too much to create them.

This is one reason why homemade products, or products made locally, cost so much more than products from large companies. Local products are made in smaller quantities to retain their quality, while larger companies might end up cutting some corners to get out what they do. Don’t take my word for it; make some rice krispie treats, then go out and buy a box of them, and taste them yourself. I believe you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

Answer: YES and NO-Depending on the Manufacturer/Brand name because of the ‘live’ GOOD bacteria that promotes gut/colon health. Also yogurt has less fat and sugars than ice cream. Please read the Ingredients list to make sure what is in it.

Main reason is yogurt has lactic acid bacteria for intestinal health and immune system in general. Another reason is the amount of FAT in ice cream compared to Frozen Yogurt. Yogurt is made from low fat or regular fat milk (3.5% fat). Ice cream is usually 10 % to 16% fat.

Question – Since white bread is made from wheat why is it bad for you?

Answer: White bread is made from part of the wheat without bran, complex carbohydrates, fiber, germ and all good things. It is just starch and also is lower in protein than Whole Wheat bread.

Answer to this Yes & NO. Read on…….

Answer: Food Poisoning is mainly TWO kinds:

A. Microbiological,
B. Chemical.

A. MICROBIOLOGICAL has three sub categories (a) Contamination during manufacturing or preparation and (b) Under processing (Equipment malfunction) & (c) Post Process Contamination (the processed food in the container-can, carton, pouch, etc) get contaminated/infected after it is properly processed to make it safe for storage and consumption much, much later..

     (a) Contamination: This is mainly due to Unsanitary practices, i.e., not washing the prep area/utensils (knives, cutting boards, etc), properly, fruits and vegetables coming from the field, cross-contamination, i.e., same area used to prepare meats such as poultry, fish, pork, beef and other meats and fresh vegetables served as salads and garnishes prepared on the same area using same knives and other utensils. Getting sick from fruits and vegetables and contaminated foods depends on the contaminant (E.Coli, Fast Food places and other Food Establishments are most common for this kind of food poisoning. Pathogenic type, Salmonella, (certain Viruses, etc) that are very VIRULENT, i.e. their MID (Minimum Infection Dose) is very small. For Children, infants and older adults it could be fatal (because of the smaller body mass and/or debilitated immune system).

How quickly you get SICK after eating this type of contaminated food depends on ‘how much contaminated food was eaten’. These pathogens have to multiply in your system and trigger response by your defenses(fever, vomiting, head ach, etc).

     (b) Under processing (Equipment malfunction): Canned Foods get microbiological (Bacteria, Yeast, Mold, Virus, etc.) sterilization processing. Botulinum Toxin is produced by surviving spores of Clostridium Botulinum bacteria.

This is one of the deadliest of BACTERIAL toxins. However, this toxin is easily destroyed by cooking (boiling the canned food). YES: This is the TOXIN that is destroyed by cooking the contaminated food.

     (c) Another type of Food Poisoning is by eating the food in which toxin is already produced by the bacterial growth. The bacteria are destroyed by their own toxin (e.g.: endotoxin by Staphylococcus Aureus).

NO: This toxin CAN NOT be destroyed by COOKING any length of time or even pressure cooking.

It is very difficult to detect this problem by looks of the food-flavor, color, smell, etc. The common foods are cooked: meats, fish, vegetables, etc., those that are NOT acidic (pH above 5.0) and stored un-hygienically. At Room temperature these bacteria can grow overnight and produce toxin. In refrigerator they still can grow, but slower. When hot food is put in a container and put in refrigerator while it is still hot they grow. Best thing to do is let the food cool before transferring in to a clean container for storing in refrigerator. As a rule of thumb any food stored in refrigerator for more than 3 days should be discarded.

Typical symptoms after eating these types of food are stomach-cramps, headache, some times vomiting and diarrhea.

How soon you get sick: couple of hours, depending on how much you ate!!!

B. Chemical Food Poisoning: There are several sources starting from the field: insecticides, disinfectants in washing water, accidental contamination, etc. These are rare in US produced foods. Not so in some imports (Example: melamine in infant formulas from China!!!).

Food Poisoning is mainly of three kinds:

1. MICROBIOLOGICAL: Spoiled food due to microbiological growth of “BAD” – Bacteria, Yeast, Molds and also contaminated with infectious viruses.

2. CHEMICAL: Presence of chemicals – accidentally added or intentionally added (to make the food look good)

3. TOXIC SUBSTANCES: The ‘Toxins’ are produced by certain bacterial growth and the bacteria are self destroyed by their own toxins (e.g. Staphylococcus-generally called Staph, Botulin by Clostridium). The bacteria may be absent because they self destroyed after producing the toxins.

People eating the food tainted/contaminated as above usually show these symptoms – fever, vomiting, nausea, headache, etc., from a few minutes (due to toxins) to several hours. Sometimes depending on the contamination type, it could be overnight (E.Coli, Endotoxins, Salmonella, Yeasts, etc).

Bacterial toxins – Botulin (a deadly toxin. It is easily destroyed by cooking while Endotoxin from Staph.. bacteria is NOT destroyed by heat). These are very potent and deadly toxins and are NOT obvious by bad smell or color of the contaminated food. Best solution is SANITATION by food preparers (the only solution to prevent these problems).

Chemicals also are not destroyed by heat.

Food Laws and Regulations are there for these reasons to prevent these problems. Even then these problems surface and make news (Contaminated Peanut Butter, Ground Beef, etc., in recent times).

Viruses are easily destroyed by heat (cooking the ‘contaminated’ food).

Question – I have a problem with triglycerides and my doctor said I needed to stop drinking, even though I don’t drink that much. What’s the relationship between triglycerides and drinking and are these some alcoholic beverages worse than others?

Alcohol is metabolized like sugar because it is a product of sugar fermentation. It has to do with physical activity (of the consumer!!); I mean the calories generated must be used for energy. If not, it is on its way to storage deposits pathway, which are TRI-GLYCERIDES.

Question – I love hot dogs and I only buy the ones that say “pure beef”. Are those legitimate and is there such a thing as a healthy hot dog?

There is NO such thing as Healthy Hot Dog. Hot dogs taste good because of its spice blend loaded with salt. Hot dogs are made from parts not fit for retail sale as prime cuts, ground beef, steak etc. Hope I am not making it sound graphically GROSS!?

Question – Are veggie burgers really a healthy alternative to eating meat, or are the health benefits overrated?

YES & NO. It depends on the ingredients used. Read the ingredient list all ready to eat foods (manufactured foods). Thanks to NLEA (The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990).

Fat is the one that gives mouth feel and flavor impact to the foods we eat. What we like to eat is controlled by the ‘sensory properties of the food’. Salt, sweet, sour and bitter are the FOUR basic tastes on the tongue. Umami is the fifth taste. We are unconsciously programmed from the day of birth to develop like and dislike of foods we eat which continues in our life. We eat food with our eyes (appearance), touch (texture), nose (smell), tongue (texture one more time) and lastly for our BODY (health). This is the main reason that the food industry scientists are trying to mimic so called ‘healthy foods’ to behave like traditional foods that are ‘perceived’ to be ‘less’ healthy’!

Question – I’ve always fried foods with butter or margarine and now I’m hearing of people frying things like eggs with olive oil. Is that better, does it change the taste, and are there other oils that will work just as well?

Yes. It is better. Olive oil has its own ‘signature’ flavor profile due to its ‘antioxidant‘ compounds. Few smart consumers pay attention to flavor changes in their traditional food items. Canola oil is next better than margarine. Butter is not bad as long as it is not rancid and used moderately.

Question – I used to love KFC chicken, but since they switched to cooking without trans fats I think the look and the taste is different. Yet I’ve been told that I shouldn’t notice a change in taste. Am I imagining that, or are there some people who really can taste the difference?

We are used to the foods fried using ‘hydrogenated oils’. Regular oils (corn, soy bean, peanut, etc) are liquid at room temperature because they are ‘un-saturated’, and turn rancid (picks up OXYGEN in the air) depending on the time and temperature. So they are ‘hydrogenated’ (becomes ‘trans-fat’) to prevent/slow rancidity. Many food chains are using ‘un-hydrogenated’ fats/oils which are from different sources (palm, canola, etc) These have slightly different flavor profile, only ‘few’ (attentive/smart) consumers notice flavor change. Maybe you are ‘that smart few’.

The insulin in your blood is looking for the sugar (glucose) to maintain a safe level to cater to your energy need. You can try eating ‘slow burning carbs’, i.e., releasing glucose at a steady rate so you have continuous but a ‘much’ slower’ rate (NO glucose peak in about 2 hours and then reach 70s and 80s probably when you feel sugar craving!) of glucose in your blood stream. These are whole grain granola bar, good quality pasta, Uncle Ben’s rice (par-boiled). Also recommend including a good amount of ‘greens’ in your diet.

I can discuss some novel approaches to alleviate this issue!!