Hello, excuse me if I am not fully upto speed on these topics - as I am new to the news groups and
as a man of 40 years young who has always been skinny no matter what I eat, I have never much
worried about my diet, instead being happy to rely in my youth on the diligence of my mother and
girlfriends as so many young men do! ~;o)
Now at my grand old age I find that I am as physically active as ever, but often lack the energy to
cope with the many responsibilities I now have in life. Worse still I have been informed that
despite the wide availability of critical nutrients in food, my age restricts my body's ability to
absorb some of these so well, such as the Qten coenzyme. Given that I am still regularly required to
out perform and chase around 20 year old young men in order to keep then in order, I have now found
it necessary to educate my self a little more in these matters! However, I am really only just
starting to make the effort to learn seriously about diet and nutrition.
As I understand it, the human race started out eating mainly fruits and then vegetables. As we
developed we started eating meat. It is only in a third phase of our dietary development that we
started eating breads, cereals, pasta and the like. I have heard it suggested that our bodies' have
perhaps still not yet fully evolved to deal with this ?
Many people talk about fruit and vegetable diets and some swear by the Paleolithic Diet but these
sound a bit extreme, as I was always taught to just follow- a balanced three course meal to ensure
my health. The Norwegians and Danes are famous for being very tall and large, in large part perhaps
because they eat such a meat biased diet (Denmark = densely populated and both countries have little
available farm land). The eastern cultures however, tend to eat meat with their vegetables and rice,
and still tend to be very small by comparison. Perhaps this is the origin of all the legends of
giants, dwarfs and little people around the world?
In Japan at least, increases in size have been noticeable in recent years due to exposure to foreign
eating habits, particularly hamburgers and other junk food. Does this not tell us anything?
The Mediterranean traditional diet consists much more of fruit and vegetables, as well as pasta. I
personally have not noticed any special overweight problems there. In Europe it tends to be the
Germans in particular who are berated for their over-weight tendencies. In fact they were the only
European nation who, along side the Americans were berated by the airlines about loosing weight if
they wanted cheaper airflights! They do eat copious amounts of cream and fat, particularly in their
desert collection. The Polish people on the other hand seem to have old habits still persisting
which include the spreading of pure lard on toast for breakfast. A friend of mine reported this one
with alarm after having been fed this delicacy. Only after eating it and delighting at the great
flavour did he realise what it was, much to his consternation. I have not heard of the Pols have
serious national obesity problems, but that maybe more to do with the lack of national research and
statistcs, at least that have been published. My friend assured me that the Polish men he met,
whilst good and friendly people, were quite intimidating due to their fitness and power, most likely
developed during their national military service, and generally required to be maintained
afterwards.
The British cuisine is even more famous. Fatty foods, fried breakfasts and the like cause great
consternation amongst Europeans. But think, UK is a mongrel nation formed from the Europeans in the
first place with all the inherited cultural and cuisine traditions, though clearly modified and
developed in our own style over the centuries. The Great British breakfast takes on a whole new
outlook, if you have been up since the crack of dawn, working out in the fields and cow sheds on a
farm or anywhere in the countryside. Cold. dark and damp mornings throughout the year can really
bring a chill right down into your bones. Just the smell of a British Breakfast when returning from
these arduous working life routines can be quite a revelation! The flavour is much better, and it
contains much of the energy and other content you need to survive this way of life, though obviously
local availabilities always plays a large part in any such cultural diet.
Dairy produce provides much of the vitamin D that we need to compensate for the lack of sunshine to
stimulate melanin production process via which Indians and other warmer climate populations get
their nutritional requirements. This became very apparent in the UK many years ago, when Indian
immigrants did not adjust their dietary habits to the new climate and frequently developed problems
with bendy joints and bones from a disease known as Rickets!
So where does all this leave us I wonder?
Is it really that diet that is the problem? Or is it the balance of our diet, particularly in
conjunction with our chosen life styles and genetic dispositions?
If it is the latter, then the next question that arises is, this a matter of education? Or simply
one of people's own self-discipline, particularly in respect to *listening* to their own bodies?
The body is constantly giving feedback through the sensation of taste cravings and feelings of
comfort or discomfort as we anticipate the next meal. Outward signs are more obvious, but tend to be
a case of looking in the rear view mirror to see where we are going! Overweight, shortness of
breath, lack of energy, problems with joints or even concentration (states confusion, absent
mindedness, memory problems) or are signs of a potential dietary defiance. The right kind of fatty
acids such as the well known Omega 3 group derived best from deep sea oily fish clearly affect these
things, as a good friend of mine knows only too well. Genetic inheritance left him and his sister
with all sorts of problems at school, particularly in terms of concentration and his joints and even
skin problems. Concentration and his mental faculties have significantly improved since taking Omega
3 supplements and just generally eating more fish.
Even if we spot the signs, do we have the motivation to do anything about it?
We need good motivation in order to make the commitment to following a healthier diet, but if it
does not appear to give any noticeable benefit to our chosen lifestyle it can be difficult to
maintain the discipline long enough for it to become a habit and hence part of our lifestyle. After
that the going gets easier as always.
I look forward to your comments and hopefully some enlightenment!
Pähkis
"Diarmid Logan" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
http://www.dailyreviewonline.com/Stories/0,1413,88~10973~1939334,00.html
>
> Calorie increase linked to carbs
>
> Findings could reinforce current trend to avoid pastas and breads
>
> By Anahad O'Connor, New York Times
>
> We knew we ate more; we knew we had gained weight. Now a new study that looked at 30 years of
> Americans' eating habits has pinned down how many more calories, carbohydrates and fats are
> eaten daily.
>
> From 1971 to 2000, the study found, women increased their caloric intake by 22 percent, men by 7
> percent.
>
> Much of the change was found to be due to an increase in the amount of carbohydrates we have been
> eating. The findings may reinforce the current trend among those sometimes known as carb-avoids,
> of reducing or even eliminating foods like breads and pastas.
>
> And while the percentage of calories Americans get from fat, especially saturated fats, has
> decreased, the numbers might be deceiving. The actual amount of fat eaten on a daily basis has
> gone up. It just makes up a smaller percentage of the total caloric pie now that we are eating so
> many more carbs.
>
> The study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reported in its current
> Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found that in 1971, women ate 1,542 calories on average,
> compared with today's 1,877, while men went from 2,450 calories a day to 2,618. Those numbers
> dwarf the government's recommendations of 1,600 calories a day for women and 2,200 for men.
>
> Cookies, pasta, soda and other carbohydrates appear to be mostly to blame. Among women, carbs
> jumped from about 45 percent of the daily caloric intake to almost 52 percent. For men, they grew
> from 42 percent to 49.
>
> "This just confirms that Americans need to be more focused on a total calorie decrease," said
> Jacqueline Wright, an epidemiologist at the CDC and the author of the study.
>
> Wright said it was unclear whether the study would influence a revision of the Agriculture
> Department's familiar food pyramid, which currently emphasizes a diet rich in breads and grains.
>
> The findings come at a time when public health officials are concerned about a national epidemic
> of bulging waistlines. According to the National Institutes of Health, two-thirds of Americans are
> overweight and one-third are obese. Between 1971 and 2000, obesity rates more than doubled -- a
> result, many experts say, of an obsession with oversized portions.
>
> According to the report, most of the surge in caloric intake occurred in two periods, from 1976 to
> 1980 and from 1988 to 1994. An earlier report by Dr. Lisa Young of New York University tied that
> increase to decisions by national restaurant chains to expand portions of foods like French fries
> and hamburgers. Serving sizes, Young found, became two to five times bigger in those years, and
> cookbooks joined the trend by increasing the portion sizes in recipes.
>
> It is no surprise, said Dr. Gary Foster, the clinical director of the weight and eating disorders
> program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, that "we've become more overweight
> as a country as candy bars are now king-sized and sodas are supersized."
>
> "It's much tougher to manage your weight in this environment than it was in 1970," Foster said.
>
> Part of the problem, some experts say, may stem from the traditional dietary advice to steer clear
> of fatty foods. That advice, they say, helped set off an explosion of "fat-free" carbohydrate-
> laden foods that Americans mistakenly believed they could eat with few consequences.
>
> "It's been the standard advice for decades that Americans should follow lower-fat, high-carb
> diets," said Dr. Meir Stamp-fer, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School
> of Public Health. "But now it's backfiring. It's clear that this doesn't work because it's not as
> satiating and people just start eating more calories. This report doesn't demonstrate that, but
> the results are consistent with it."
>
> The notion that carbohydrates can lead to weight gain has become the mantra of millions of
> dieters. On the Atkins program, for example, people can get up to two-thirds of their calories
> from fat and are allowed to eat fatty foods like hamburgers, as long as the bun is set aside.
>
> Wright said it was not clear what influence the popularity of low-carb diets would have in the
> long term, but added that the increase in carbohydrate consumption had not been as significant in
> the most recent surveys as it was in earlier years.
>
> But saturated fat is still a concern, and experts warned that the latest figures should not be
> taken as direct support for any of the low-carb diets. Instead, Wright said, they should be a
> reminder to Americans to eat less and exercise regularly.
>
> Foster said: "This doesn't tell us anything about the effectiveness of any one dietary approach.
> It suggests that we've been eating more calories over time and that most of it is coming from
> carbs. But particular diets need to be tested and supported by clinical trials."
