Americans and Food

If the title of this post did not dredge up ugly thoughts about the media and their awful obsession with Americans and their “bad” eating habits—calories, fats, carbs, and the likes—that all fall under the umbrella of nutrition, then this opener ought to do so, just in case. We all know that over America looms a giant cloud of overweightness, the streams of fat waiting to drop onto us like a torrential downpour—if it hasn’t already. The media sure lets us know about it with special reports almost weekly about the latest research into what’s good and what’s not with items like eggs, coffee or caffeine, and carbohydrates floating from one side to the other in a constant tug-of-war. Although the government has guidelines pertaining to proper nutrition, how can a single label apply to a diverse population? Personally, I have been very disgusted with America’s coverage of nutrition and its affect on people’s habits, and I plan to dispel some of the myths surrounding food here. (Please note that I am not an expert, but rely on my own intuition, logic, and scientific training for my observations and conclusions presented here.)

Calories, Fats, and Carbohydrates

From personal experience, I have seen the health-conscientious types attempt to ward off all things caloric, fatty, or loaded with carbohydrates. Items omitted often include red meat, cheese, 2% milk, sour cream, bread, potatoes, etc. Instead, these “bad” foods are replaced with low-fat chicken breasts, non-fat milk, low-carb you-name-it. As if the last list did not tip you off, Americans have a fetish for low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb everything. How gullible are we to think that these must be the solution to the weight pandemic that has descended upon us? Very, I will answer. I will propose that these are not in fact solutions to the problem but are endemic to it: to believe that fats and calories in general are fully responsible for Americans’ gaining of weight is preposterous! I will explain why.

Calories are a measure of energy, specifically how much energy is required to burn it. The common notion is that more calories is bad because it will take you longer to use up those calories in your daily routines. Personally, I think that calories are an awful measure of the quality of food that you are eating: on a caloric scale, a dinner at In-n-Out Burger may equal a home-cooked pasta dinner. Equivalent? I hardly think so, but people, even after I point out such evidence, often scoff. The problem with measuring by calories arises in the components in food, fats, sugars, carbohydrates, proteins. The human body processes each category in different biochemical pathways that work at different efficiencies. Translation: not all calories are created equal.

The same goes for fat, in that not all fats are created equal or bad. Cream, milk, cheese, and yogurt are all staple foods for French people, but they do not have a weight problem. Still, people do not realize that they have bought into the biggest hoax of all time perpetrated by big food corporations. Fats (or fatty acids) come in many varieties including saturated, unsaturated (mono and poly), trans, and various omega types. Without delving into the specific structural differences between these, I can say that Omega-3 fatty acids (found in some fish), mono- and poly-unsaturated fats are actually good for the body in that they can help decrease LDLs (reducing cholesterol). Trans and saturated fats are generally considered bad. See the difference. To assume that all items containing any amount of fat be cut from the diet to eat healthy is flat-out wrong and unhealthy.

Carbohydrates. What are we going to do about these? According to everyone’s favorite new fab diet, the Atkin’s diet, carbohydrates are bad. In reality though, that depends again on what type—the all important distinction—of carbohydrate to which one is referring. Soda pop and foods that contain huge amounts of sugar (cereal, candy, sweets, ice cream) contain bad carbohydrates because these are simple carbs. These are the same types of carbohydrates found in the classic white/wheat bread found in your grocery store. Everyone knows the type: Wonder Bread, the kind that you could mush together into a tight little ball if one wanted. In fact, major reports quantify this claim. Simple carbohydrates are easily broken down by the body, requiring little effort to transform them into sugar and into glycogen for later use when the body has took much sugar rolling through the bloodstream. Complex ones, though, are much better for exactly the opposite reasons: they are digested more slowly at a pace much better suited to normal daily routines, thus avoiding sugar highs and lows and spikes in insulin levels after eating. If I may quote Carbohydrate-Counter.org :

Many people will try and avoid all types of carbohydrates where possible, particularly when on weight loss diets. This is not a good idea. Carbohydrates in general are not normally a problem. It’s the quality of carbohydrates that should be taken into account. Highly processed foods should be avoided. This is because they normally contain a higher proportion of simple carbohydrates. For example, whole grain bread (complex carbs) should be eaten instead of white bread which uses refined white flour (simple carbs). Complex carbohydrates are often also lower in fat and provide higher amounts of other essential nutrients like dietary fibre. It is for the above reasons that a diet of complex carbohydrates is preferable.

Moral of the story thus far: do not buy into the low-fat, low-calorie, low-carbohydrate crap that special interests are attempting to sell you. They have a vested interest in controlling how you think about food so that you buy their versions. It is a war between ideals, and by believing and being sucked into their sick game, you are allowing yourself to become the cannon fodder. Either way: you lose.

Special Interests and Whose Fault It Really Is

As I alluded earlier, the special interests are the big food corporations the likes of Nabisco, General Mills, and Philip Morris (aka Altria, aka Kraft Foods). The problems with big business getting involved in your diet is simple: the bottom line is profit, requiring the use of cheap materials to make good tasting foods. How do they do it? Preservatives, trans fats, partially-hydrogenated oils, artificial ingredients, artificial flavoring, food coloring. Then they affix a non-fat, low-fat, low-calorie label and they sell it by the millions. Virtually every product in the super market falls under this umbrella. These products keep these companies alive, and they depend on you to buy them. I might come off as conspiratorial here, but if you think about it, the truth will come out: they have a vested interest in keeping you hooked on their foods by making them tastier through artificial and psychological means.

How many people cook any more? Who has the time? Instead, we buy everything. Interestingly, the rest of the world knows it—and this is a primary reason for getting fatter (given the ingredients added above to make our food better given the lack of all fats, calories, and carbohydrates). During my year-long study abroad in France, my host family once commented that they believed that Americans bought everything pre-made. At the time, I argued foolishly that was not true—how wrong I was. It dawned on me upon my return back to the States that we do buy a lot of food ready-made and just add heat. Cooking good, wholesome food is a lost art in America because our lives have been so inundated with activities that eating three square meals just doesn’t fit into the schedule. Many people just eat all day, snacking their hearts out. They lie to themselves with the reassurance that the food they are pigging out on is nutritious because the label lied right back at them. “If it says fat-free, it must be good for you!” Wrong. All those fake sweeteners certainly cannot be good for you: nature did not intend for these bodies to consume so many unnatural foodstuffs.

These days, the Special Interests employ vast numbers of chemists to do their bidding, to make food less caloric and less fatty while maintaining flavor through artificial means. They use insidious mean to entice Americans to buy these products through clever advertising, kiosks, samples, vending machines, you name it. Until the pendulum swings back toward home cooking (not just heating up store-bought crap food), I doubt America’s weight problem will disappear.

It is worse when people become so convinced by the ploys of these Special Interests. for example, it sickens me to hear people say, “I like diet soda” or “I only drink diet.” I want to scream! The body still has to process everything in that soda through the natural biochemical pathways. There are bound to be side products of these reactions and your body has to do something with them. You want to know the solution to soda pop? DON’T DRINK IT! The French do not drink soda, as they drink water or wine. Pure and simple. Soda is the bane of this society. Go into any corporation, and check if there is a soda machine in the break room. I can guarantee you that a minimum of 90% of corporate-type business (offices, for example) contain snack and soda vending machines. Schools have them, teaching our children to become caffeine and sugar reliant just to get through the day. Many are at the beck and call of the very primitive parts of our brains that want more sugar and more caffeine to satisfy their base needs because they are not strong enough to realize they even have them. Ugh…

The first step is to recognize these very apparent signs that people, government, and businesses either do not see or flat-out ignore. Then, we must re-educate ourselves in the art of cooking food with vegetables (you know, those green, orange, red, and yellow things…) and complex carbohydrates. Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. OK, maybe not that last part. We must not be afraid of fats or calories, we must find the complex carbohydrates, and we must pass on the word to our children so that they can pass it onto theirs. Somewhere in the last two generations, a hiccup occurred in the passage of food knowledge either unintentionally or through direct intervention by the Special Interests. Which one, you can decide for your own family.

Can we squarely blame the Special Interests, though, for a fattening America? Of course not! We, as human beings have free will to exercise our use of judgment. Clearly, that does not happen often with regards to eating well these days. We either lie to ourselves about the labels on food, do not exercise, eat too much, do not cook well, eat too often throughout the day, drink soda, or any combination of the above to kid ourselves about our diet. Counting calories is not a solution. Understanding the complexity of food types like those presented briefly in the first part of this essay and applying that knowledge clearly is.

Economics

It is unfortunate that the Special Interests have taken America hostage as they have because now economics often play a role in the argument against eating well. “Wal Mart is cheaper,” I often hear, but I cannot imagine that they sell anything remotely healthy. Wal Mart is all about the bottom line, low prices for consumers, low pricing from their huge Special Interest vendors, and low prices for the fake ingredients. It boils down to finding the sweet spot in how cheap a product can be made while still garnering a nice bunch of buyers. Market forces ensure this is true. Very few companies actually take responsibility for the crap they have been injecting their food with. Although Wal Mart’s business practices in itself are worthy of entire books, it knows what people want above their health and livelihoods: to spend less money or more stuff. They do it well, but the end result is negative for body and person with regards to food and nutrition.

People

People will continue to kid themselves about their diets, concerning low-fat, low-calories, or low-carbohydrate, until education is improved and the Special Interests back off from marketing bad food full of artificial, chemically-created ingredients. Some will become more conscientious about their eating, trying to cook more often with natural, fresh foods, and some will continue to binge all day on snacks and soda without attempting to narrow their eating to but three meals. Some, like me, will find that happy balance and try to spread the word that calories are not bad, that cheese is delicious and good for you, that carbohydrates do not come in one form, etc. Moderation is key. If only this information could come out in a consistent, easy-to-digest manner en masse some progress might be made towards education, but I fear that will not be the case. At least you, dear reader, can keep an open mind and keep the Special Interests’ interests at bay.

One must also take into account vastly different genetic makeup and current health concerns. If you are pregnant, have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other high-risk conditions, there are certain dietary concerns to which you must adhere. Most of what I have said here still applies, but there are exceptions for anyone in those categories. Certainly, consult a physician before making any drastic changes to your diet.

A final word of advice: remain active! Exercise is good for the body and mind. Run, walk, swim, bike, hike, row, lift—do whatever feels good for your body and fitness level. Start slow, stretch, and do not over exert. I should also mention that a report released this week warns of over-hydration during exercise, so pay close attention to body weight before and after your exercise session to ensure you are not over-supplying your body with liquids, whether water or some energy sports drink.

Conclusions

I believe it possible to eat healthy and enjoy food at the same time. There is no reason to stick to non-fat, low-fat, low-calorie foods especially given the artificial ingredients added to supplement the loss in flavor. Eat sensibly from all food groups, dairy, fruits and vegetables, carbohydrates (focus on complex), and protein (meat, fish, eggs). So many people today fail the test of fruits and vegetables, and parents are inevitably not teaching their kids to like them either, which is scary. Remember moderation, eat three meals a day, and avoid snacking and sodas. Drink water or real fruit juice. Also, do not fool yourself in believing that fruit juice is a replacement for the real thing because real fruit has fiber and other nutrients that are essential to your functioning body. Buy natural, fresh food and leave the pre-packaged, pre-cooked items on the store shelf.

And please, for the love of all things human, forget all the media-spoon-fed nutritional tidbits that have been fed to you over your many years on this planet. Return to the art of cooking wholesome foods that are savory, fresh, and full of nutritional ingredients that your body craves.