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Good Food/Bad Food

Note: I wrote this post for pasta company Jovial’s “Win a trip to Italy” competition. That was before I realized nearly every submission dealt with gluten intolerance or Celiac Disease. Oops! In my defense, they do sell non gluten-free pasta and flour! Anyways, I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever written and I’m very proud of it.

I want to tell you about a common scenario I encounter every day as a registered dietitian. After introductions, when I ask about their typical diet, many of my clients declare that they’ve recently “given up bread and pasta” in their quest to be healthy and lose weight. They obviously feel virtuous. Apparently bread and pasta are the dietary villains du jour? I can’t keep up anymore with what’s considered “good food” and “bad food” these days.

That’s partly because I don’t believe there are good foods and bad foods. I believe in food neutrality. There is no perfect food; each comes with give and take <- Remember this line! It’s life changing when you really let it sink in.ch~

It’s taken me fifteen years to get to this point. Yes, fifteen. When I first started studying nutrition in 1999, my professor would say, “there are no good foods and bad foods,” and talk about the importance of moderation, blah blah blah. I would roll my eyes and think, “of course there are good foods and bad foods!”

I saw all sorts of bad foods in the world around me: fast food, soda, cakes, French fries, sugary cereal…they’re all definitely bad foods, right?

I got older and I became a registered dietitian and a voracious reader. I read every nutrition best-seller and health blog I could find in my spare time. I seemed to get caught up in every dietary theory. I was vegetarian for a year. I gave up gluten for a year. I went low-carb for a few months. While some of these practices may have given me short-term health gains, in the long-run, simple practices like, ahem, moderation and intuitive eating have served me more.

It’s not that I don’t care about food quality. I do. In fact, I own a farm and produce much of my own food because I believe so strongly that eating mostly whole foods grown close to home will better anyone’s health.

However, it’s the constant media attention on dietary villains that’s gets me riled up. The term food neutrality is sometimes used in eating disorder treatment and that’s what I think we have in the U.S. – disordered eating! People hear differing nutrition messages from the media, bloggers, doctors, and alternative health care providers:

  • “Sugar is a toxin!”
  • “Carbs are what’s fueling the obesity epidemic!”
  • “No one can digest gluten or lactose.”
  • “Humans don’t need animal foods.”
  • “Saturated fat will clog your arteries.”
  • “Kale is a super food!”

These ideas change like the the wind! Remember in the 80’s when cholesterol was the bane of human existence? Now we have a whole generation of people who think Egg Beaters and margarine are healthy, when in reality, butter and whole eggs can be incorporated into a healthy diet. Focusing on one food or nutrient as “THE problem” or “THE solution” has a really poor track record when it comes to actually improving nutrition and health.

Another problem with the good food/bad food dichotomy? Where do you draw the line? You can’t. When is bread or pasta a good food and when is it a bad food? Some people may in fact eat too much bread and pasta or have Celiac disease, a condition that warrants complete elimination. But for my average, busy client, bread and pasta can be incorporated into their diet occasionally, just like any other food. People seem incredulous when I give them meal plans that include these foods. They think that in order to improve their health, they have to give up all their favorite foods.

People often talk about Europeans and their appreciation and enjoyment of food. I doubt most French people sit down to a butter croissant and cafe au lait and worry about the saturated fat and sugar content. But Americans? We obsess. We worry. We don’t enjoy. Sit down with a big group of women at a social event with food and you’re likely to hear worry, guilt, and shame, and obsession over calories, fat, carbs, sugar, or whatever other nutrient is trending at the moment. You probably won’t hear appreciation and enjoyment.

Food should never have morality attached to it. Food is fuel. Food is nourishment. Food is joy. Food is never good or bad.

Another note: please don’t use my previous post against me. People should be able to enjoy fried food occasionally (if they want) and not feel guilty, just like pasta. I’m all about educating people and creating awareness, not fear mongering.

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The Biggest Dietary Change in American History

Okay, take a stab at it. What do you think is the biggest dietary change in American history over the last 100 years?

Increase in refined sweeteners?

Increase in refined flour?

Increase in soft drinks? Fast food? Saturated fat? Carbs? Calories?

I think the biggest, and arguably most significant change in the American diet over the last century has been the development and mass adoption of seed and vegetable oils.

Think about your current diet. How many foods did you eat today that contained some sort of seed or vegetable oil? Corn, soybean, cottonseed, safflower, sunflower, grapeseed, canola oil…If you ate anything in a package or box, it likely contained one of these oils. If you ate at a restaurant, it’s likely your food was cooked in one of these oils. These oils have worked their way into nearly everything we eat, often even so-called health foods.

Before 1900, these oils were scarcely used. People used fats that could easily be extracted from food, like tallow, lard, butter, olive oil, and coconut oil. Seed and vegetable oils were used in paints and as furniture polish, until the development of chemical extraction methods made them cheaper and easier to obtain.

Seed and vegetable oils contain mostly polyunsaturated fats, like linoleic acid, a type of omega-6 fatty acid. I’m sure you’ve heard of omega-3 fatty acids? The balance of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids to anti-inflammatory omega-3’s has changed from about 8:1 to about 20:1 in the past 100 years (1). In those years, saturated fat consumption has remained relatively stable, monounsaturated fat consumption increased by 54 percent, and polyunsaturated fat consumption increased a whopping 300 percent (2)!

And it’s not just from packaged, boxed foods either. These oils, in the form of corn and soy-based feed, are fed to pigs, chickens, and cows to fatten them up quickly. This changes the fatty acid composition of the meat, increasing the omega-6 fatty acids. However, grass-fed and pastured meat has fewer omega-6 fatty acids and more omega-3 than feedlot-raised meat.

As opposed to most other fatty acids, linoleic acid accumulates to a large degree in fat tissue, and over the past 50 years, it’s showing up in increasing quantities, including in breast milk (2,3).

Moreover, seed and vegetable oils are in nearly every store-bought beauty and personal care product you rub into your skin. Some interesting reading on that here.

So what’s the effect of eating all this linoleic acid day in and day out? Inflammation for one. Increased inflammation is associated with just about every disease, from heart disease, to diabetes, to autoimmune disease to cancer. Polyunsaturated fats are not very stable and go rancid (oxidize) easily when exposed to air, light, and warm temperatures. Think of the sticky neck of the vegetable oil bottle that you’ve had in the cupboard for while. Think of that in your body and on your skin.

“These oxidative processes can damage enzymes and other parts of cells, and especially their ability to produce energy. The enzymes which break down proteins are inhibited by unsaturated fats, and these enzymes are needed not only for digestion, but also for production of thyroid hormones, clot removal, immunity, and the general adaptability of cells. The risks of abnormal blood clotting, inflammation, immune deficiency, shock, aging, obesity, and cancer are increased. Thyroid and progesterone are decreased. Since the unsaturated oils block protein digestion in the stomach, we can be malnourished even while “eating well.” ”  – Dr. Ray Peat (4)

Why do some experts recommend eating MORE of these fats? Studies show a substitution of saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats like linoleic acid can reduce cholesterol levels, but, this reduction in cholesterol levels does not translate into reduced mortality rates (5). And many experts are now questioning the widespread public health support for a high linoleic acid intake.

In a review paper on dietary fatty acids and heart disease risk that was published earlier this year that reviewed the the effect of dietary fatty acids on heart disease, the authors concluded:

“the pattern of findings from this analysis did not yield clearly supportive evidence for current cardiovascular guidelines that encourage high consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids and low consumption of saturated fats. Nutritional guidelines on fatty acids and cardiovascular guidelines may require reappraisal to reflect the current evidence.” (6)

So, what to do? You don’t have to move to a farm and become a hermit to reduce omega-6 linoleic acid in your diet. Here are some pretty easy, actionable steps you can take to change your health for the rest of your life:

  • Use olive oil, butter, and coconut oil at home, and quit buying and using vegetable oil, margarine, and shortening.
  • Cook more at home and eat out less. Eat fewer fried foods at restaurants.
  • Eat fewer packaged and boxed foods made with seed and vegetable oils. Be a label reader.
  • Don’t buy mayonnaise or commercial salad dressings – make your own.
  • If you eat meat, eat more grass-fed and pastured meats and vary your types. Many Americans OD on chicken, which can have a lot of linoleic acid, depending on how it was raised.

I believe there is enough evidence to reduce linoleic acid in my diet. If you need more convincing, Israelis’ high heart disease, diabetes, and cancer rates may be regarded as a population-based experiment of the effects of a high omega-6 diet (7).

Some food for thought.

1. http://chriskresser.com/how-too-much-omega-6-and-not-enough-omega-3-is-making-us-sick

2. http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-tedx-talk-american-diet-historical.html

3. http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/08/seed-oils-and-body-fatness-problematic.html

4. http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/unsaturated-oils.shtml

5. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/77/2/521.full

6. http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1846638&atab=7

7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8960090

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The Whole Picture

When I was a health conscious teenager drinking skim milk, I remember I used to look at my grandmother drinking whole milk with a bit of self righteousness.

“Doesn’t she know any better?” I would wonder. “Whole milk is full of saturated fat and cholesterol!”

My, how times have changed! These days, I enjoy full-fat dairy, and I’m much more likely to tell my clients to drink whole milk, rather than skim or 1%. Especially my fertility clients!

Why the 180? Eating full-fat dairy fits into my “eat real food” philosophy. This philosophy has been cultivated year after year, the more I study food and nutrition. And it’s reinforced year after year, as new research emerges that shows the foods my grandmother ate may be healthiest for us after all. Butter and whole eggs have both seen a healthy renaissance recently. Now it looks like whole milk may see a similar revival.

Consider two recent studies that conclude the consumption of whole-fat dairy is associated with reduced body fat. In a study published last year in the Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, middle-aged men who consumed high-fat milk, butter, and cream were significantly less likely to become obese over a period of 12 years compared with men who never or rarely ate high-fat dairy. (1)

In another paper, published last year in the European Journal of Nutrition, researchers reviewed 16 other studies and concluded that the evidence does not show that high-fat dairy foods contribute to obesity or heart disease. In most of the studies, high-fat dairy was actually associated with a lower risk of obesity! (2)

Moreover, full-fat dairy has been a recommendation for women trying to get pregnant since 2007, when research from the Nurses Health Study showed intake of high-fat dairy foods may decrease the risk of anovulatory infertility.

How can this be? Well, the fat in whole milk can curb appetite and slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream, reducing the amount that can be stored as fat. Also, fat-free dairy products can potentially disrupt hormone balance, an important factor in fertility and weight. The process of removing fat from whole milk removes estrogen and progesterone, which are bound to the fat. This leaves behind higher portions of androgens, insulin-like growth factor one (IGF-1), prolactin, and male hormones in the watery layer, therefore causing an imbalance. (3)

So does that mean you can go on an ice cream and cheese-eating bender? Not quite! It means you can stop feeling guilty if you keep whole milk in the house for the kids and you drink it too. It means you can enjoy the 2% Greek yogurt, instead of the 0%. It means cheddar and apples can be a balanced afternoon snack. Incorporate modest amounts, 1-2 servings, of full-fat dairy into your diet, even if you’re trying to lose weight. And let your grandmother tell you, “I told you so!”

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23320900

2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22810464

3. Victoria Maizes, “Be Fruitful.”

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Are You Eating Enough?

In case you didn’t know/don’t remember, I veered off on a newish career path ten months ago when we moved. I went from working in nutrition policy and communications to counseling people on nutrition at an integrative health clinic. Integrative medicine and nutrition (also called functional medicine/nutrition), addresses the underlying causes of disease. It focuses on the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. The doctors I work with are more interested in finding the ‘why’, rather than covering up symptoms with prescriptions.

I have been interested in integrative health since I became an RD in 2007. I even started this blog as an outlet for my musings in 2009, so it seems funny to me that I waited so long to explore this type of nutrition career. I really am loving it. It’s very rewarding and satisfying to talk to people about nutrition and their diet. Most days, I feel like I really make a difference.

I’ve learned so much in the past months, but the most significant, surprising thing I’ve learned is in regards to weight loss. The mainstream approach to overweight and obesity emphasizes energy balance – calories in/calories out. Cutting calories equals weight loss, right? Well, I’m going to tell you that 8 out of 10 of my overweight/obese patients don’t eat enough.

Patients think they’re being so “good” when they tell me that they had yogurt for breakfast, a “healthy” frozen meal for lunch, and a grilled chicken salad with light dressing for dinner. “Why am I always hungry? Why am I not losing weight?” Patients are always flabbergasted when I tell them to eat more.

Not eating enough means the body isn’t getting enough fuel to function properly. Think about this – function properly. Your body needs fuel in the form of calories to do anything – make hormones, fight disease, grow hair, digest food properly, build muscle, etc. The list is endless. The body will do whatever it can to burn fewer calories, including burning muscle for fuel, because muscle requires more calories to maintain than fat. That’s a double whammy for those trying to lose weight.

Most people can realistically consume 2000 calories a day. Sound like a lot? Plug in your info into these calculators:

Track your calories with MyFitnessPal or LoseIt for two weeks and then tell me you don’t feel better all around. Some people can naturally and instinctively consume the number of calories that will support a healthy weight, but most people need a little retraining. That’s why I recommend calorie counting, if only for a short amount of time. People need to see how much food 2000 calories looks like.

Stop eating the puny breakfast. Stop binging at night or eating massive restaurant meals. Eat three squares a day, a healthy snack or two, and fuel your body!

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