We all know about nutritional fads and trendy diets. Some of them may be less atrocious than others, but they all have one thing in common: they tell you that you must eat less ingredient Y and more ingredient X (which the diet expert/celebrity in question will happily sell you). Vitamin and mineral supplementation has been around quite a while, and probably is, at the most basic levels, a Good Thing. Goiters and Rickets are exceedingly rare in the US today, where they were epidemic a generation ago. However, today’s frenzied pace of nutritional fads, coupled with the new US Government Dietary Guidelines, make for some seriously worrying food supplementation.
Vitamin C is in everything, vitamin A (Beta Carotene) too. The former in excess quantities can lead to kidney stones, the latter to liver problems and jaundice. The latest thing about to be added to foods are Omega-3-fatty-acids, famous for their protective effects on the heart and vascular system. Now, aside from my general aversion to overly processed and modified foods, there is a serious problem here: omega-3’s only have a positive effect in very limited amounts. I used to work in a biochemistry lab doing research on just this topic: how much of what types of lipids (including omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9 fatty acids) were good for you, and how much of what types were bad. Omega-3’s are very good for your heart, up to moderate doses, but with more than low-moderate doses, they begin to wreak havoc on the liver and kidneys. I can see this trend going so well.
So how do you eat healthy and stay fit and thin? Eat more! That’s right, I said it: “Eat. More.” It’s just a matter of what you eat. Low-calorie-density foods, like soups and fruits and veggies, fill you up their high volume, but still have fewer calories. One apple is more filling than one cookie, but has probably half to a third as many calories. This is a theme of those new dietary guidelines, and the heart of what may be the next dieting trend. Not that I’m promoting any sort of fad diet at all…they tend to have a second feature in common, as well as the one stated above: as soon as you stop being 100% on them, you gain all the weight back. Which is worse for you than never having lost it (true fact – studies have shown that “yo-yo dieting” is extremely rough on your cardiovascular and digestive (read: insulin regulation) systems. So, you best bet is to eat all kinds of foods in healthy balance and moderate amounts.
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28Feb
One Response
Agreed. Processed foods bite.
However, I DO NOT see adding omega 3’s as a BAD thing. Why? Well, I have MS. Under the docs “care” I progressed from 2 to 3 to 8 “exacerbations” (attacks) a year. All the while trying to find my own answers. Finally the “last straw” with me was when the vision in my right eye was completely “taken” by the MS. 4 months later it had SOMEWHAT “returned” from 20/40 (before MS exacerbation) to BLACK (during exacerbation) to 20/1000 (4 months AFTER the exacerbation.) When I asked the doc when I might see some improvement in the vision in the eye, I was told (correctly – “technically” speaking) “Never” and to “adjust” to it. It ticked me off.
So I went on the “program” that my research pointed to as “correct”. I now have 20/40 vision in that eye again. I’ve also only had 1 exaccerbation I didn’t “cause” (by discontinuing the omega 3 suppliments (flax oil)) in the past 4 years. So 8 a year to 1 in 4 years… HMMM… (actually I “caused” 4, even if one COUNTS those… 8 a year verses 5 in 4 years???
So please DO “knock” the processed foods, but don’t knock the omega 3’s. Eh? 😉
Besides, IF the food we ate WASN’T “overly processed” they would CONTAIN “natural omega 3’s in greater quantities. But as heat, light AND oxygen all 3 DESTROY omega 3’s… we get VERY little in our diets. (Canned foods have no omega 3’s because of the heat factor, most processed foods loose all omega 3 content as they are exposed to all 3 “elements”)