The question of the decade, “What should I be eating”.  With all the fad diets and  nutrition magazines telling us a million different things to eat and in thousands of different proportions, it is a constant struggle to know what the best food choices are to live a healthy and fruitful lifestyle.  Here are some GENERAL guidelines on making better choices when food shopping.

FIRST AND FOREMOST, avoid purchasing foods that have any of the following ingredients or mention any of these things:

1-     Hydrogenated fats, trans fats – partial or whole

2-     High Fructose Corn Syrup

3-     Any Heated polyunsaturated oils

4-     White Flour (any ingredients that end with –ose)

Hydrogentaion: This is the process that turns polyunsaturates, normally liquid at room temperature, into fats that are solid at room temperature – margarine and shortening.  To produce them, manufacturers begin with the cheapest oils – soy, corn, cottonseed, or canola, already rancid from the extraction process – and mix them with tiny metal particles – usually Nicole oxide.  The oil with its nickel catalyst is then subjected to hydrogen gas in a high pressure, high temperature reactor.  Next, soap like emulsifiers and starch are squeezed into the mixture to give it a better consistency; the oil is yet again subjected to high temperatures when it is steam cleaned.  This removes its unpleasant odor.  Margarine’s natural color, an unappetizing grey, is removed by bleach.  Dyes and strong flavors must then be added to make it resemble butter.  Finally, the mixture is compressed and packaged in blocks or tubs and sold as a health food.  Consumption of hydrogenated fats is associated with a host of serious health problems including sexual dysfunction, increased blood cholesterol, paralysis of the immune system, cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, low birth weight babies, birth defects, decreased visual acuity, sterility, difficulty in lactation and problems with bones and tendons.

Your best defense is to avoid them like the plague!

 “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon

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Polyunsaturated Oils: When these oils are heated they become rancid.  Examples of common polyunsaturated oils are flax oil, canola oil, soybean oils, perilla oil, hemp oil, corn oil, and cottonseed oil.  Avoid cooking with these oils at all costs.  Better choices to cook or bake with are coconut oil, olive oil (low temp), and lard.  See the “Skinny on Fats” article for more info.

High Fructose Corn Syrup: “Mother Linda” puts it best:

http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html

White Flour (-ose): When we consume refined sugars and starches, particularly alone, without fats or protein, they enter the blood steam in a rush, causing a sudden increase in blood sugar.  The body’s regulation mechanism kicks into high gear, flooding the bloodstream with insulin and other hormones to bring blood sugar levels down to acceptable levels.  Repeated onslaughts of sugar will eventually disrupt this finely tuned process, causing some elements to remain in a constant state of activity and other to become worn out and inadequate to do the job.  The situation is exacerbated by the fact that a diet high in refined carbohydrates will also be deficient in vitamins, minerals and enzymes, those bodybuilding elements that keep the glands and organs in good repair.  When the endocrine system thus becomes disturbed, numerous other pathological conditions soon manifest – degenerative disease, allergies, obesity, alcoholism, drug addiction, depression, learning disabilities and behavioral problems.

                                                “Nourishing Traditions”, by Sallon Fallon

SECOND, when selecting foods there are three things that should be asked when looking at each ingredient:

1-     Are the fats primarily SATURATED or UNSATURATED?

2-     Does this a have LOW CARB or a HIGH CARB value?

3-     Is this ORGANIC or NON-ORGANIC

Saturated vs. Unsaturated

The fear of saturated fats and cholesterol; based on a premise that leaves many questions unanswered.  For centuries, human diets have consisted of significant amounts high quality saturated fats like, fresh butter and cream, lard, beef, lamb, goose, and duck fat, and coconut oil.  Only within the last 50 or so years has saturated fat, which are the body’s natural fats used for appropriately functioning cell membranes and for critical energy in important organs such as the heart and other muscles, been synonymous with disease.  The reason for this is the sources of theses animal fats.  The animals we are getting these fats from are not healthy animals.  They are all over worked and shot up with all kinds of hormones and fed the cheapest forms of food like grains, soy, and corn products. In stead, the recommendation is to eat a diet low in fat and low in cholesterol.  Let’s take a closer look at a popular “healthy” food eaten by millions everyday.

Ingredients:

Tomatoes with tomato puree, cooked macaroni product, tomatoes, tomato puree,

dry curd cottage cheese, onions, beef, mushrooms, low moisture part skim mozzarella cheese, corn syrup, modified cornstarch, garlic, tomato paste, enriched wheat flower, Parmesan cheese, salt, spices, Romano cheese (made from cow’s milk)hydrolyzed vegetable protein and autolyzed vegetable protein and autolyzed yeast extract, corn oil, sugar, xanthan gum, dehydrated onions, erthorbic acid, caramel coloring, dried beef stock, natural flavorings

 Lean Cuisine Lasagna with Meat Sauce

95% FAT FREE, 35% LESS SODIUM

No saturated fats in this meal, must be healthy.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

Unsaturated fats can and should also be a part of your diet, but there is no reason to fear saturated fat from 100% grass fed organic animals.

For a more in depth look at the breakdown of animal and other products into percentages of saturated and unsaturated fats refer to article The Skinny on Fats

LOW CARB vs. HIGH CARB: In general this is referring to what we have already discussed.  An efficient way to delineate between the two is by using the glycemic index.   Lower Carb Items are going to have  a lower glycemic index value (closer to 0).  Higher Carb Items are going to have a higher value (closer to 100).  See www.glycemicindex.com for specifics. In general we prefer to eat foods, for the most part,  lower on the glycemic index.

ORGANIC VS. NON-ORGANIC

Organic food is grown without the use of toxic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or chemical fertilizers.  Not only are organic foods better for your health but they are better for the environment.  Organic foods have been shown to have higher nutrient levels and fewer toxins than conventionally grown foods.

You might be saying, well that’s great but what portions of what kinds of foods should I be eating.  That is where things start to get tricky.  There is no such thing as a ONE SIZE FITS ALL DIET.  Each individual has its own unique genetic makeup that controls how foods react in our system.  Some people do better on higher protein diets while others do better on slightly higher carb diets, while most of us are somewhere in between.  A way you can start to figure out which foods are right for you is simply based on how you are feeling after you eat different combinations.  Do you feel like your energy levels fluctuate throughout the day?  Do you have sugar cravings?  Do you feel like you can’t focus for long periods of time? These signs are the body’s way of telling you that something you ate wasn’t exactly what it needed.

See Customized Nutrition for details on finding your Metabolic Type