General Diet Plans and Questions - Some very good info from the Harvard School of Public Health on the food pyramid

Hi all,

I am in Chile in the middle of a research visit and it is a really wonderful country and a great experience so far.

But it is indeed the world wide web and you can stay connected anywhere. I came across this website just now and it has some really good, good, info. I am sure it will get the Mrs. Jim seal of approval as well :-) BTW Mrs. Jim I really appreciate all the great info and advice you give in this section of the board.

Here is the link, enjoy, Ciao, Larry.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/pyramids.html

First off that is pretty good stuff. It is good to know that a couple of drinks a day are healthy and that most nuts are healthy as well. I like that the very bottom of the pyramid emphasis weight control and exercise. I also like that non whole grains are moved to the top and that red meat also stays there.

But that brought up something with me. When you go to a supermarket a lot of products say whole grain. Is there some guidelines they have to meet to say whole grain? Can you be fairly confident that you are indeed getting a whole grain product if it says so on the label? Ie can the supermarket bread that says whole grain actually be whole grain?

I've been following this for a while, and it all makes perfect sense. I've just ordered their book, Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743223225/3fatchionadie) which goes into further detail.

That's a wonderful website, Larry, thanks for the link!
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/images/color_pyramid2.gif



The Mayo Clinic has also published their own Pyramid, which you can read about at http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=357FAABB-312F-414A-A8D6401C15EE66B4&locID=

http://www.mayoclinic.com/images/image_popup/fn7_HealthyWeight.jpg

Originally posted by diamondgeog
Is there some guidelines they have to meet to say whole grain?

FDA Guidelines (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flgrains.html)

"For purposes of bearing the prospective claim, the notification defined "whole grain foods" as foods that contain 51 percent or more whole grain ingredient(s) by weight per reference amount customarily consumed (RACC)."

I actually wrote to the author of the book, I just put his name in the Harvard look up people thingie off the harvard.edu home page and there his email was. Here was his very short reply to the question that was bascially how do you know if something is whole grain or not....

you have to look at the ingredient list - look for whole wheat flour,
and
the like.

Hi there!

Dont believe everything Harvard says...

My boyfriend was telling me that on the news over in the UK, they where sayign how a few months back, Harvard said that eating heaps of fat was good for you, and how scientists were saying they where wrong. I dont know the exact details but it was along those lines.

I do think that their food piramid makes better sense then the original one we where brought up believing, but i would definately move red meat down a bit... i think we need it a little more then sparingly.

Cheers!

To the last reader - actually Harvard did promote some fats but you have to know the full details in order to appreciate what they were talking about. The former food pyramid makes no distinction between good fats and bad fats. At the time of conception of the food pyramid, they did not have the information they have now.

There are some good fats out there that raise your "good" HDL cholesterol and lower the "bad" LDL cholesterol levels. There are certain fats that have good properties such as fats derived from nuts, olive oil etc. These oils do things such as provide fuel for cells, protect nerves, help with blood clotting, hormone production, etc. This is what they promote - to know the difference and to eat the good kinds of fat.

Then there are foods that contain saturated fats and trans fat that do the bad things -- clog your arteries. etc. This is what they don't want you to eat more, and to reduce if possible.

That's the full story for ya :)

stef

More on EFA's (essential fatty acids)

Udo Erasmus is generally regarded as the leading authority on EFAs. Here's an article from his website:

To know how fats affect health, we must embrace two opposite stories. Most people know only the negative half of the fats story. We've heard it in many forms. The gist of the story is that fats are bad. Hence, the popularity of the low and no-fat diet craze. The reality is, used over a long time, a no-fat diet will kill you and a low-fat diet can make you very ill. It can set you up for cardiac arrest, stunt growth in children and harm liver, kidney, brain, immune, gland and organ function. In adults, early signs of insufficient healing fats include dry skin and low energy levels. What we need is not a high, low, no or fake fat diet. We need a Right Fat Diet. Such a diet emphasizes green foods, protein, minerals, vitamins, and optimum intake of the fats that heal. The truth about the fats that kill is that most of the health problems blamed on fat result from destructive processing that can change healing fats into killing fats. The fats that heal are sensitive to destruction by light, oxygen (air) and heat. When we fry, partially hydrogenate (margarine, shortening, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils) or deodorize (to make colorless, odorless, tasteless oils) our fats, a percentage of the healing molecules they contain becomes chemically changed, damaged, unnatural and toxic. Frying fats increases cancer and cardiovascular risk. Partial hydrogenation produces trans-fatty acids, which according to the Harvard School of Public Health, double risk of heart attack and kill at least 30,000 people in the US each year.

The fats that heal are called essential fatty acids (EFAs). Like minerals, vitamins and essential amino acids (proteins), they are essential for health and essential for life. Our body cannot make EFAs. It requires them for normal function of every cell, tissue, gland and organ.

EFAs are the parents of two families of molecules, called omega 3 (n-3) and omega 6 (n-6). Each family has several members: the EFA parent, several EFA derivatives and a few dozen EFA-derived hormones called eicosanoids. The parent n-3 and n-6 EFAs, called alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid, respectively, are found in small amounts in green vegetables and in large quantities in certain seeds and nuts. Flax is very rich in n-3, but poor in n-6 and can lead to n-6 deficiency. Sunflower and sesame seeds are rich in n-6, but contain almost no n-3. Fatty cold water fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel, pilchard, herring, trout and albacore (white) tuna contain n-3 and n-6 EFA derivatives. Eating fresh fish is better for health than swallowing overprocessed, damaged fish oils with their rancid burp taste.

To get the right ratio of both EFAs, we must mix and match the right kind of seeds. Too much of one crowds out the other and vice versa. If we optimize intake of both EFAs, the body itself makes the derivatives and hormones that EFAs are parent to. Optimum intake is about 2 to 5 daily tablespoons of an appropriate EFA-rich oil mixture with n-3 and n-6 in the right ration. EFA-rich seed oil blends made with health and the right ratio of n-3 to n-6 in mind, are found in brown glass bottles and boxed in the refrigerator section of health food stores. These oils also contain "minor" ingredients with major health benefits which make up about 2% of the oil and include chlorophyll, lecithin, vitamin E, carotene and phytosterols.

A n-6 deficiency (affecting people on low, no, wrong, or fake fat diets) can cause many degenerative symptoms including: low energy, dry skin, hair loss, kidney, liver and brain degeneration, attention deficit disorder, depression, poor wound healing, sterility, miscarriage, arthritis-like conditions, heart beat abnormalities that can lead to cardiac arrest and growth ******ation in children. A n-3 deficiency (affecting 95+% of affluent populations) can cause: low energy; weakness; impaired vision and learning; poor motor coordination; tingling sensation in limbs, high serum triglycerides and blood pressure, sticky platelets, edema, digestive problems, acne, weight gain, inflammatory diseases, allergies, auto-immune conditions and cancer. The easiest way to prevent and reverse EFA deficiency is with EFA rich oils made with care, with the right n-3 to n-6 ratio (2:1).

Some of the benefits of using a superior EFA product are: increased stamina, fast recovery from fatigue after exertion, elevated mood, greater calmness under stress, better mental performance, improved skin, lower triglycerides, healthier cardiovascular system, better digestion, bowel regularity, less inflammation and auto-immune symptoms, increased immunity, optimum insulin function, increased fat burning and better weight management.

Remember, fats don't make you fat. In our culture, most overweight results from excessive consumption of sweet and starchy foods. If we limit our intake of carbohydrates to our body's energy requirement, normal body weight is one of the benefits. Fats suppress appetite and therefore help to stabilize body weight. The good fats (omega-3 especially and omega-6), to some extent, increase body fat burning, decrease body fat production, and increase body heat production (i.e. fat burnoff without exercise).

For best results, lower carbohydrate intake and increase consumption of good (omega-3 and omega-6) fats made with health in mind.

His website is at http://www.udoerasmus.com/articles/udo/udo_index.htm Udo does make some really great products, but if they're a bit on the pricey side for you - try getting generic flaxseed oil or hempseed oil at Trader Joes. I alternate Udo's Choice and Trader Joe's flax (haven't seen hempseed oil yet - I hear it's excellent) and I love the results.

As far as the food pyramid, I'm not a fan myself...