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. Paul Cézanne. Still Life with Apples and Oranges. c. 1895-1900. Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France. (Image courtesy of Olga's Gallery).

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Focus on Food

July 23, 2006 by LadyDaVinci.com

The first concern in any discussion is for all parties to synchronise their understanding of the terms being used.  Of course, everyone knows what "food" is, so it hardly seems necessary to bother with that one.  But one never knows what interesting thoughts may be sparked while perusing a dictionary, so we looked it up anyway.  Here's what Webster's Online Dictionary has to say:

Food: Noun

1. Any substance that can be metabolized by an organism to give energy and build tissue.

2. Any solid substance (as opposed to liquid) that is used as a source of nourishment; "food and drink".

3. Anything that provides mental stimulus for thinking.

Obviously that third definition refers to the old catchphrase, "food for thought." Let's take it more literally, however, and give a little thought to the way food—the right kinds of food—can nourish both the brain and the body, making us more fit for the process of personal development.

Nutrition has become a tricky subject.  It shouldn't be—yet as with all other sciences, politics and personal interest intrude in the research, or in the interpretation of the research.  This results in so many different and even opposing ideas about nutrition that we begin to feel like Dr. Doolittle's two-headed llama, the "push-me-pull-you." 

But it's not really all that complicated.  Ideally, a nutritious diet provides all the nutrients essential for the normal functioning of the body.  We know what these nutrients are, and the minimum essential needs of our bodies, so it should be easy to decide what to eat, right?  Except that now we have so many foods available to us that have deviated so far from their roots that there is very little nutrition left in them.  Unfortunately, these are often the foods that are most attractive and appealing to our palates, so we gain weight and become susceptible to diseases, and we look for gurus who will solve these problems for us without requiring us to give up our chosen food vices.  Some of these gurus tell us we can keep eating our favourite "fatty" foods if we give up the carbs.  Others tell us we can continue to enjoy our empty, white carbs if we'll just go low-fat.  Still others invent "fun" theories to interest people in new diet fads like personality diets, blood-type diets, and diets based on the length of the little finger on your left hand.

In fact, unless we have a serious malfunction in our bodily processes, we all need essentially the same building blocks for health and growth.  These fall into the following six basic categories:  Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats, Minerals, Vitamins and Water.  In order to get these six nutrients in the amounts that keep us healthy and trim, we have no alternative but to eat foods that are as nutrient-dense as possible, and as close to their natural state as possible. For example—the closer a carbohydrate gets to its original form, the more complex it is.  That means the body has to work harder to turn it into energy, and produces more beneficial enzymes as it does so. This is true of vegetables as well as grains, of course. The fresher the vegetables and the more "whole" the grains—the more of its vitamins, minerals and fiber will still be viable.  Conversely, the further our foods from their natural state—the larger the servings that are required to get the nutrients we need, and we end up gaining weight from all the empty calories— sometimes even without getting many nutrients at all.

Even though it sounds over-simplistic, good nutrition really is almost that easy to understand.  Despite all we read about enzymes, co-enzymes, antioxidants, lipids, and all the other necessary components of good health, these shouldn't make nutrition any more complicated a topic. If the basic six categories mentioned above are provided to the body in the right balance from good quality sources, the other components will be where they need to be, when they need to be there.

But what is that balance?  We'll concentrate on balancing Proteins, Carbs and Fats, since other nutrients will often follow in the wake if you get these right—at least if you're lucky enough to live in the Western world where culinary variety is almost obscenely abundant compared to other cultures. So, for these three core nutrients, decades of nutritional studies consistently suggest the following guidelines:  About 10-15 % of our total calories should come from protein. Of course, crucial to the math is the fact that a gram of protein is equal to about 4 calories.  Next, consider that 50-60% of our calories should come from complex carbohydrates (a gram of carbohydrate is also equal to about 4 calories).  Please note that the important distinction is that little word, "complex."  There is huge nutritional difference between complex carbohydrates and "empty refined carbs." This is where the language of politics enters the arena to confuse us in the grocery store (or in "low carb" diets). More about that later. On to the touchy one—fats. 

Most people do realise that one cannot remain healthy while entirely eliminating fats.  Besides other, more complicated considerations, some vitamins are only fat-soluble, so if we strove for a completely fat-free diet, we would be doing our health considerable harm. But to balance that statement, too much fat, and the wrong kinds of fat do us equal harm.  It may be surprising to many to learn that we really need only 15 - 20% of our calories to come from fat, although some people's bodies can metabolize up to 35% if they are the right kinds of fats. Anything beyond that, and our bodies will just store it.  Ever wonder what fat is stored as?  Exactly.  Fat.  At least it's comforting to know that excess carbs have to be converted to fat to be stored.  Fat is already, well...fat.  It can be stored pretty much as is. Complicating that 15-35% recommendation for fat intake, is the fact that 1 gram of fat has more calories than any other nutrient.  There is a whopping 9 calories in every gram of fat—more than twice the calories of proteins or carbohydrates. So, let's say you have a single-serving size of a popular brand of tortilla chips, and you propose to eat them as a snack.  The total calories for the little bag of chips is 140.  The total fat is 8 grams.  Eight!!  A tiny little number! "Fabulous," you think, "what a great, low-fat snack!"  Think again.  Take that 8 grams of fat, and multiply it by the 9 calories that are in each gram.  Even with my minimal math skills, I get 72 calories.  What percentage of 140 is 72?  Well, if you double 72, you get 144, so you're really in the 50% fat ballpark, aren't you?  Ironically, both a "low-fat" diet and a "low-carb" diet would (rightly) ban that bag of chips.

Another area that gets us are the little hidden calories that we hardly think about. A nutrition professor I once had said, "It's not so much the food that is bad, it's the company it keeps."  What did she mean?  Well, the example I remember her using was specifically potatoes, but once you get the idea you can apply it to anything.  Are potatoes bad for you?  Absolutely not—not at all.  There are loads of nutrients in potatoes, and not just in the skin.  The skin is a wonderful source of fiber, but the potato itself, white though it is, is a great source of potassium (as much as a banana), vitamin C (almost half the daily recommendation),  with trace amounts of essential minerals. And a whole, good sized potato is only 100 calories.  (More satisfying than the now-popular 100-calorie snack packs of sugary things promoted by fairies on the average public bus. No offense to one of my favourite comedians.)   Okay, so if potatoes are so good for you, what's the problem?  As my professor said, it's the company it keeps.  If you can find healthy toppings to put on your potato, enjoy it guiltlessly.  But how many restaurants have you been in where you are offered the following toppings: butter, sour cream, cheddar cheese, bacon—and in some cases, as much of all of them in combination as you can pile on?

Here are some things to think about in regard to some of these toppings. Not that you can't use them in moderation, of course. One topping, let's say, in restrained amounts on a potato instead of the whole company of them. If you're topping your potato with butter, maybe you won't want to order the deep-fried breaded chicken patty that's smothered in cheese to go alongside it. (And do restaurants really think in this day and age that it's appetizing to use the words "smothered in cheese" as liberally as they do on their menus?) 

At any rate, here are some interesting tidbits (or titbits for my UK readers) that you may find interesting about "the company" our food "keeps."

Butter:  1 "pat" of butter (1 1/4 inches square, 1/3 inch thick) has 25 calories, is entirely fat. (all 25 calories) and has only trace nutrients.  Now a question.  Knowing the size of a "pat" of butter (not much larger or thicker than a 50-cent piece), can any of us truthfully say we have ever put only a "pat" of butter on our baked potato?  Isn't it usually more in the neighborhood of 4 pats...probably 100 calories, all entirely fat? Okay, let's go on.

Cheddar cheese: 1 cubic inch...is 70 calories, out of which 54 calories are fat.

Sour cream: 1 level tablespoon has 25 calories, all of which is fat.  Have you ever put just one level tablespoon of sour cream on your baked potato?  More commonly we put three servings of at least two of the above on our otherwise nutritious potato.  We have now turned a 100-calorie, nutrient-dense food into a 300 calorie or more side dish, the nutrients of which are now diluted down to about 1/3 of the total calories (though we may have added some calcium on the off-chance it's real sour cream and real cheese we've been offered).

With all of these considerations, lets go back now and look at the dictionary definition of "food."

1. Any substance that can be metabolized by an organism to give energy and build tissue. [Our "dressed" potato is now higher in empty calories than in usable substances that can be metabolized to build tissue...though it's giving us more energy than we can use, so we will have to store the excess as fat.]

2. Any solid substance (as opposed to liquid) that is used as a source of nourishment; "food and drink". [Again, the nutritional value has been sorely diluted.]

3. Anything that provides mental stimulus for thinking. [In this area perhaps we're doing all right -- I believe our potato has given us a good bit of food for thought...]

"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."~Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680)

"He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skills of the physician." ~Chinese Proverb

"My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four - - unless there are three other people.” 
~Orson Welles (1915 - 1985)

“How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?”  ~ Julia Child

"The next time you feel like complaining, remember that your garbage disposal probably eats better than 30 percent of the people in the world.” ~Robert Orben

"The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you’re hungry again.” ~George Miller

"Never eat at a place called ‘Moms,’ but if the only other place in town has a sign that says ‘Eats,’ go back to Moms.” ~W. C. Fields

"It is so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.” ~ Julia Child