New Diet Advice

It's January and, as usual, the news is filled with reports about diet and exercise. GMA reports include celebrity diet information and almost every news and talk outlet are pulling out doctors, personal trainers, nutritionist, and the like to create segments all of the folks who are still holding steady to their "getting healthy" New Years resolutions are seeking. All the guilt from feasting in November and December, tends to result in high sales of exercise equipment, tons of new gym memberships, exercise apps, and train-at-home programs, and lots of new work out clothes and athletic shoes.

ABC is launching a new television series "My Diet is Better than Yours" in which competitors each take up a diet program with the help of a nutritionist and exercise pros compete on which diet can get in shape better than the rest. The biggest difference than I can see from other health related reality shows is that the competitors are not moved to a compound or camp, separating them from their normal environments. I will reserve my opinions on this show until I have had the opportunity to view it.

Every few years, the US government issues important new information about our diets. Today we are reviewing the new reporting that was published. It should come as no surprise that the sage advice to increase our intake of fruits and vegetables remain in the report. However, I am somewhat concerned by the blurb that states the proposed guidelines about red meat intake was lessened after the meat producers lobbyist successfully petitioned. What good is the report, or more importantly the research, if the suggested intake amounts of any food be changed due to political influence?

American's are still consume too much sugar and salt. The salt intake overage is not coming from adding salt to your plate but rather from the process foods regularly consumed. Therefore, one can extrapolate that unless you are preparing your meals at home, a consumer has little control over their salt intake. Better food selection is the key to a healthier life. The sugar issue is similar in that a lot of Americans intake too much and items like soda pop and juice with high fructose corn syrup resulting in extra calories consumed. Both of these items can result in disease especially obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.

We are all sewed up in the New Year New You fad type of thinking and jump on the latest hot diet. The Paleo, Atkins, Grapefruit diet, Soup Diet, and Jenny Craig all are selling memberships and books that both shame you and convince you to buy their wares knowing 80% of people that do this will not be making this effort a year, month or even a week from now.

Fad like these are not harmless to your health and longevity. You are not just buying a trendy outfit that would result in social embarrassment when looking back on pictures years later. These fads and type of thinking is mentally and physically dangerous. Most fad diets actually result in rebounding back to your previous weight and then often tacking on additional pounds. Feasting then starvation, up and down, based on social pressures isn't the way to go. Only a healthy view of food daily and viewing food as more medicine than pleasure, seeking a balance year round, will keep your body looking and working properly.

I'm sure I am not the first person to speak on this in your life but perhaps one more conversation will be the shift you need. I am not perfectly healthy and I am SO not shaming anyone.  However, I have a different relationship with food as a chef and as someone who has been many food shifts from vegetarian to eating meat to studying food production to now teaching nutrition and culinary to kids.

No science is perfect because science works to understand things and often what answers we find today can be found to be flawed tomorrow.  It's the exploration and constantly seeking answers that allows us to move forward and to make adjustments.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/01/07/462160303/new-dietary-guidelines-crack-down-on-sugar-but-red-meat-gets-a-pass
http://abc7chicago.com/food/new-dietary-guidelines-cut-added-sugars-lean-meat-ok/1149667/