Thursday, 3 September 2015

The New York Times's 'simple' eating guide sucks


Interesting New York Times article titled, Simple Rules for Healthy Eating, written by Aaron E. Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. Unfortunately, in my opinion - and drawing on the expertise garnered by the strong C+ I received in college biology class - his "rules" are a well-written combination of half-truths and wishful thinking. Here, in part, are his 'rules'.

1. Get as much of your nutrition as possible from a variety of completely unprocessed foods. Good luck finding unprocessed food these days. Fact is that between the food industry's fondness for genetic modification and farmer's reliance on pesticides and other chemicals 'unprocessed food' - eg. safe food... haven't been 'safe' for years. Don't believe me? Just Google 'is our food safe to eat?" or Check out WebMD . WHAT CAN WE DO? Write or email your local politician and tell her/him that you want the food industry to stop messing with our food.

2. Eat as much home-cooked food as possible, which should be prepared according to Rule 1. Eating at home allows you to avoid processed ingredients more easily.  You’re much less likely to stuff yourself silly if you eat home-cooked food. Wish that were true but fact is that most people that eat unhealthily do it at home - likely while sitting on the sofa watching TV.

3. Use salt and fats, including butter and oil, as needed in food preparation. Things like salt and fat aren’t the enemy. They are often necessary in the preparation of tasty, satisfying food. The key here is moderation. Use what you need. Seasoning is often what makes vegetables taste good. Add salt, butter, and oil! Are you nuts! Salt (and lack of exercise) is the leading cause of hypertension, while butter and oil and salt certainly aren't necessary to produce tasty food. Fact is we have no idea what veggies and fruit actually taste like anyway because what we buy at the grocery store are nothing but chemically rippened, genetically modified, sorry excuses for 'fresh' produce.
4. When you do eat out, try to eat at restaurants that follow the same rules. Ideally, you should eat at restaurants that are creating all of their items from completely unprocessed foods. Lots and lots of restaurants do. Follow Rule 1 even while out to dinner. Some processing is going to be fine, but try to keep it to a minimum. Yes, there are lots of restaurants that may - or may not - claim they use 'completely unprocessed foods' but those elite establishment's menu prices far exceed the budgets of most families.

5. Drink mostly water, but some alcohol, coffee and other beverages are fine. Ahhhhh! Dude. Water is good but the rest of that statement is a little simplistic. Alcohol consumption reeks family and societal havoc and strains our health system, coffee's caffeine raises our blood pressure, and what most people consider 'beverages' are so full of sugar that they could rightly be considered 'pre-diabetic potions', which is probably why Mr. Carroll qualified #5 with...

6. Treat all beverages with calories in them as you would alcohol. This includes every drink with calories, including milk. They’re fine in moderation, but keep them to a minimum.

7. Eat with other people, especially people you care about, as often as possible. This has benefits even outside those of nutrition. It will make you more likely to cook. It will most likely make you eat more slowly. It will also make you happy. Now on this point I must agree. 

Shame however about #1 through #5.

You can read the entire New York Times story HERE


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