New Food Pyramid

[Guest guest]

I tried to go to the site on the day they announced it, and the site

was very slow. I hear that they ended up having 48 million hits so

far on the site!

 

" Talk of the Nation " on NPR has had guests on every day this week to

talk about it and proper nutrition in general. But, as the experts

keep saying; this is just a guideline and we can't force people to

follow it.

 

But, maybe, just maybe...with the rise in organic food and product

purchases, the increase in Farmers' Markets, the rise of obesity

illnesses becoming the number one preventable death (about to surpass

smoking) and this new food guide pyramid, our nation might actually

be heading for a change on the food front. I don't know, maybe it's

just a dream. Of course, I struggle with my own weight and when I

don't exercise I put on the pounds. I do believe that weight is

hereditary, but I also believe that we all have control over it. We

may end up being our parents, but we don't have to look like them!

 

Maybe I'll try to get to the site again.

 

Denise

 

, Jen Lott

<celestial726> wrote:

> Has anyone seen the new site for the new Food Pyramid?

> I was checking it out this morning and it's a really

> interesting site. They have a special feature too for

> you to track what you eat.

>

> Check it out at http://www.mypyramid.gov .

>

> Since I have been gradually cutting out meat products

> lately I'm finding that I am feeling so much better.

>

> Jen

>

> Keep close to Nature's heart ... and break clear away, once in

awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your

spirit clean. - John Muir

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

[i've brought this over from another raw foods email group. I suspect

that members of this group will find some errors in the proposition.

It could be a topic for some interesting conversation. Annette]

 

 

 

Right Eating, Lifelong

Dr. John McDougall

 

 

A new food pyramid supporting good health must be developed.

 

1: Greens. This new food pyramid must have greens as its base as the

most important food for health and normal weight. Why green foods, you

ask? The answer is that Earth is the green planet. Imagine a world

without greens. There'd be no air, no water, no animals, no people, no

life. Why? We owe everything to greens. They make our oxygen.

Researchers have calculated that green plants took 2.5 billion years

to fill our atmosphere with the oxygen we need to breathe. Only after

green plants had done this important job could air-breathing creatures

like us begin to live here.

 

Greens absorb water and hold water in the soil. Without them, our

planet would turn into a desert. Green plants absorb light energy from

the sun, store it in bonds between atoms to make food molecules which,

when we eat them, release that energy for us to live on. Greens draw

minerals from the soil, and make them available to us in a form that

our body can use-we can't suck rocks to get our minerals, but

plants do exactly that for us. Greens also manufacture the other

components of health-molecules that we need to build and maintain a

healthy body but cannot make ourselves. Greens make the vitamins,

essential amino acids (proteins), and essential fatty acids (good

fats) that we need. Greens make fiber (important for bowel regularity,

detoxification, and blood sugar stabilization), anti-oxidants (that

slow down the processes that lead to aging), phytonutrients (potent

healing molecules which are the basis of herbal medicine), and fuel

(to burn for energy). Raw, greens also provide enzymes (for digestion

and against viral infection), and probiotics (friendly

microorganisms/flora that protect our digestive tract from being

ravaged by nasty, toxic bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, fungus, and

yeasts like Candida). Cooking destroys enzymes and probiotics.

 

In short, greens provide all of the building blocks that our genetic

program-our built-in program for building a healthy body-needs to

build maintain, repair, and replace cells, tissues, glands, and

organs. In addition, greens inhibit infections and cancer. Greens

provide magnesium, which improves cardiovascular and insulin function

and has anti-cancer benefits. Further, greens are great tonics for our

digestive system. Their alkalinity protects us from diseases due to

acidity. Chlorophyll cleanses and detoxifies. Phytonutrients and

anti-oxidants in greens help us in many ways-some inhibit tumors; some

regulate hormones; some are anti-inflammatory; and some prevent damage

caused by free radicals.

 

Greens and their seeds are so rich in nutrients that we could live for

years on them. Greens are nature's basis of primary health care and

primary medicine. They maintain healthy cardiovascular, immune, and

digestive systems; strong bones; and optimally functioning glands and

organs. Since cows are made from grass, greens even make our steaks!

 

2: Good Fats. In addition to greens, good fats are the second most

important food group. The good fats are essential for health, but the

body cannot make them. They must therefore be provided by foods. Too

little leads to deterioration of the health of every cell, tissue,

gland, and organ, accompanied by many symptoms of degeneration that

resemble the degenerative diseases that we suffer and die from.

Complete absence will kill anyone who avoids fats long enough. Good

fats, made up of n-3 and n-6 essential fats, are the most neglected,

confusing, misrepresented part of the pyramid. Good fats are easily

damaged by the destructive influences of light, air (oxygen), and

heat, and must therefore be made, stored, and used with care. Most

commercial food fats are made with shelf life rather than health in

mind, and the processes used to improve shelf life of good fats

damages them, producing toxic molecules that increase cancer,

cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, inflammation, and other

diseases. Of the good fats, n-3 is inadequately present in the diets

of almost the entire population. Lack of adequate n-3 is the greatest

single nutrient deficiency in modern diet.

 

As a result, n-3 holds the most powerful key to improving health for

the largest part of the population. To do so, however, n-3 must be

made with great care, taken in adequate amounts, taken in the right

ratio with the other (n-6) essential fat, accompanied by adequate

antioxidants and phytosterols, and used as part of a total program for

good health.

 

3: Protein. The third, equally important food group, is protein.

Protein is adequately supplied in the diets of most affluent people.

We are protein-conscious, and too much rather than too little protein

is more prevalent in industrialized nations. Our sources of protein

include red meat (pork, beef, lamb), eggs, fish, white meat (chicken,

turkey), and dairy (milk, cheese). Protein is also present in all

whole foods, including greens, grains, beans, seeds, and nuts. If one

eats whole foods in the form in which God/Nature provides them,

protein malnutrition is inconceivable unless one does not have enough

of them to eat. Protein under-nutrition (kwashiorkor) is a problem

during famines in underdeveloped countries, especially during times of

war. In developed nations, protein deficiency is found only among very

poor, aged, and infirm people incapable of looking after themselves.

 

4: Carbohydrates. Fourth are the carbohydrates. It bears repeating

that carbohydrates do not supply any nutrients that one cannot get

from other foods. Contrary to food pyramid advice, they are therefore

the least important of all the major foods. Whole grains cause fewer

blood sugar and weight problems than polished grains such as white

rice and flour, which in turn are better than white sugar, syrup, and

honey. The difference is the rate of absorption. The faster the

absorption, the quicker blood sugar goes high. The more digestion is

required, the more time it takes to turn starch into glucose. Slower

digestion slows down the absorption of glucose into the body. Slower

absorption makes it less likely for blood sugar to get so high that

insulin spikes and drives the sugar into our cells as self-protection

against the damage that high sugar does to cells, tissues, and organs.

It is vitally important for health that sugar is absorbed no faster

than the rate at which the body burns it for energy.

 

Excess sugar (the amount not needed for the production of energy) from

excess carbohydrate intake causes the following problems:

 

* Leaches minerals from bone

* Cross-links proteins, leading to wrinkles and aging

* Leads to blood sugar fluctuations, which lead to:

* Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar)

* Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)

* Insulin resistance

* Depression

* Food cravings (addiction)

* Tiredness and the inability to stay awake (accidents; poor classroom

behavior in children; violence)

* Promotes weight gain, accompanied by:

* Increased cancer risk

* Increased cardiovascular risk

* Increased risk for diabetes (Type II)

* Increased inflammation

 

Sugar also rots teeth, increases risk of bacterial infections, and

speeds the growth of cancer.