Learning and Sharing

4. STAY NATURAL; KEEP FRESH 

Drawn by the flash of packaging, the ease of access, the salt and sweet, crunch and grease of crackers, chips, cookies, ice cream, burgers and fries (often washed down with gallons of soda)---Americans are, at once, the most overweight and undernourished people on earth. Today’s refined, packaged, processed foods---the products that fill fully 50 percent of our grocery shelves---are loaded with fats, sweeteners, artificial flavors and colors, preservatives and calories...but precious little nutrition. Many of our everyday favorites: white bread, white rice, white flour, white potatoes and even iceberg lettuce, are mostly empty calories. Canned soups, vegetables and fruits are swimming in salt or sugar, retaining little of the nutrition their fresh ingredients once boasted.  Cereals are stripped of their nutritious outer layers, baked goods and margarines are loaded with harmful fats, and commercial milk and meat are tainted by hormones and antibiotics.

So, what’s for lunch?

If we care about what happens to our bodies, fewer of these things.  This doesn’t mean we have to give up all the foods that we love.  It doesn’t mean we can never have pizza or cheeseburgers or chocolate cake.  It means that it’s entirely possible, which a huge amount of effort, to diversify our diet, eating more of what’s good and less of what’s bad than many (if not most) of us do. 

Two rules of thumb generally apply when deciding whether a food will help (or hurt) our bodies:

Did it exist 200 years ago?  Can its ingredients be easily pronounced?

(Not too hard to guess---both of the best answers are “yes.”)

Living in a pre-packaged world, so far from our farming roots, most of us have lost a sense for what nature intends us to eat.  The chemistry of our cells hasn’t changed much since humanity’s beginning, nor have our dietary needs.  Cavemen didn’t thrive on Twinkies.  Not surprisingly, neither do we. So what did nature intend that we eat---what foods do our cells and body systems cry out for to stay strong?  Back-to-basics fresh, whole (often raw) seasonal foods---mostly vegetables and fruits, but also whole grains, healthy fats (nuts, seeds, avocados, walnuts, olive oil and fish) and protein (beans, fish and lean meats, especially skinless turkey and chicken, eggs and small amounts of low- or non-fat dairy, especially yogurt).  Cooked gently with few added fats (using water, vegetable broth or lemon juice), flavored with garlic, onions, spices and fresh herbs (cheap, easy to grow and often antioxidant [especially oregano, but also marjoram, rosemary, sweet bay and dill]) this diet is healthy and can be delicious.  Combined with exercise, it can cause weight loss---and protect those we care for from chronic disease. For more on the world’s healthiest foods, see http://www.whfoods.com/whoweare.php 

Keeping Nutrition In  

Eating well means “shopping the market’s peripheries,” emphasizing produce aisles.  Better yet, finding a Farmer’s Market http://www.seasonalchef.com/socallist.htm or www.localharvest.org where “just-picked” has even more meaning, or having produce delivered  to the door (locally, www.sweetnfresh.com).  When buying produce, purchase only what’s likely to be eaten in three to five days, as nutrient value drops off sharply after this time. Frozen produce has nearly as much nutrition as fresh; canned almost always has less. 

It’s wise to consider organic choices for safety, higher nutrient levels and taste (carrots are so much sweeter!), but not to give up important fruits and vegetables that cost too much or can’t be found in organic form.  A few absorb pesticides more readily than others, making organic more important (celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach and strawberries). Organic is also wise for fruits where the peel will be used. While all produce has some contaminants, those least affected by pesticides are asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet corn, kiwi, mangos, onions, papaya, pineapples and sweet peas. For a pocket organic guide, see http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/walletguide.pdf

It’s important to wash produce well, as it receives an average of 10 pesticide applications from seed to storage.  Some poisons are taken up internally into the plant, so not everything can be washed off. Still, quality washing (better yet, a five-minute soak in lukewarm water and vinegar [2 tablespoons vinegar to one gallon water]) makes a difference.

Considering organic forms applies to grains, meat and dairy products as well. Organic-farmed animals are given no antibiotics, growth hormones or feed made from animal byproducts (the fear in mad cow disease). Organic low- or non-fat milk, cottage cheese, yogurt and butter (better for health than margarine; see fats) are good choices, as are eggs. Although higher priced, meat and fish are best purchased at stores like Henry’s and Trader Joe’s, where much of the stock is hormone and antibiotic free, and, in the case of fish, more apt to be wild caught. For more, see:  www.eatwellguide.org,  www.theorganicpages.com. and   http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/health/

Storage:  Just-picked raw vegetables and fruits are nutrient dense, but their vital properties are lost on the way to the market, in the presence of light and heat, and even when well wrapped and properly refrigerated.  Even though that spinach (or even that sturdy carrot!) still looks good to eat, it actually retains little nutritional goodness after the first few days.  Fruit displayed in a bowl is attractive, but its vitamins are being lost. Refrigeration is best---but don’t forget what’s there!    

Cooking: The best way to ensure maximum nutrition is retained is to eat fruits and vegetables raw or lightly steamed. All methods of heating have negative effects, with vitamins destroyed at temperatures over 275 degrees  Grains that are simmered slowly keep more nutrients, as do chicken or fish that are poached, baked or grilled just to the point of doneness.  News on the problems of microwaving has generally been poorly reported (as things that are bad for established businesses often are), but a recent study showed that broccoli lost 97 percent of its disease-fighting flavonoids and 40 percent of its Vitamin C when microwaved.  When boiled, it lost 66 percent of its flavonoids and the same amount of Vitamin C, while when steamed, it lost just 10 percent of all nutrients. More on microwaving vegetables is found at http://www.vegparadise.com/news37.html.   While nutrient loss is serious, even more important issues plague microwaving.