An Introduction to Nutritional Science

1.17
Dr. Joel Fuhrman is somewhat of a revolutionary. I was first introduced to his nutritional perspective by a business friend who got me one of Fuhrman's books, Eat to Live, in 2010. At the time, I had no idea how beneficial Dr. Fuhrman's insights would be in my life and the life of our family.

Dr. Fuhrman has quite a story of his own, from childhood memories of his father's struggle with ailments which were resolved through good nutrition, to his own story of conviction which led him to medical school and becoming a doctor.

So, why nutritional science? I think some of it is because of the simple beauty of nutrition as a broad-based solution. Thousands of years ago, Hippocrates said we should let food be our medicine, and medicine be our food. Simple enough. But here we are in a modern, Western culture bombarded with the latest 4 syllable pharmaceutical promising to alleviate that pain or reduce that swelling in one little pill.

Is nutrition really a fundamental solution to what ails us? I think for the most part, yes. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased to my core that diseases like polio, diphtheria and cholera are controllable by modern vaccinations and medications, but I think we often go too far in attributing our solutions to the conventional medical community.

With that in mind, I want to share a TEDx talk that Dr. Furhman did last year, giving a great introduction to why he loves nutritional science. I would agree that I also love nutritional science. I've benefited immeasurably from simple improvements in my diet. In this talk, Dr. Furhman gives his viewpoint on how nutrient density is really the key to healthy eating and optimal nutrition, and you'll hear brief stories of six patients whose lives have been radically improved by following his 'nutritarian' diet-style.

Dr. Fuhrman at TEDx Charlottesville - 2013

By the Way

There are tremendous resources available on Dr. Furhman's website www.drfuhrman.com. Also, he's been a frequent guest with Dr. Oz, bringing what some would call a radical diet-style (Fuhrman's nutritarian approach) into the mainstream consciousness. His constant theme?: get more nutritional bang for each caloric buck... Great advice, and I'm grateful that it's working for me and my family.

Gathering With Food

1.16
Can you remember a really great time of celebration with friends or family? Did it involve food? I think it's great if it did; I know in some circles it is frowned upon that we socialize and connect too much over food because it programs eating into our routine, feel-good events causing overeating, obesity and heart disease. One of our unfortunate problems in the US is not that we celebrate over food, but what we actually eat as we celebrate... our choices can be less than healthy.

It's not that every family or social interaction we have looks like a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving, but gathering with food should be anticipated and celebrated. There's a rich history of feasting in cultures and societies the world over. The biggest issue for our western / American version of it is simply the choices we put on our tables for our celebrations. And guess what, that all goes back to our pantry...

In the last couple of years, Jennifer and I have gotten much more discerning about what we offer at family and social gatherings. No more sodas or ranch dressings with MSG, but you'd be surprised (we are) at how simplifying and making healthier food choices for celebrations makes for a better gathering. Our choices include more fresh fruits and veggies (lots of them), whole grains in baked goods, seltzer instead of sodas, and fruit juices to mix with the seltzer. Frozen Greek yogurts make an alternative to ice cream. Fresh baked apple crisps instead of store bought birthday cakes. Even some gluten free offerings (corn bread, gravies and more made with gluten-free flour).

The biggest challenge is stepping outside of our comfort zone to try new dishes and new recipes. Sometimes watching food, cooking and travel shows helps - we get ideas of what might be a new dish to try and then go about finding recipes and ingredients to get us there. The key to meaningful and lasting change in what we're serving is perseverance, as it may not turn out great, or be a hit with every guest (always best to try things out on close family first...)

So think about your next big gathering... maybe there are some ways you can make it healthier by design. Serve hummus instead of ranch dressing... Fresh made guacamole (with fresh garlic and cayenne pepper... mmmm) instead of french onion dip. Offer a lighter meat (chicken instead of beef.) Gathering and celebrating over food, even feasting, is a good thing, and the healthier our pantry is, the better our celebrations will be.

By the Way

To help us along in offering healthier foods at a next gathering, maybe a great cookbook is in order. There are so many online offerings, it is mind-boggling. Jen and I read Prevention magazine a lot, and Rodale Press has numerous recipe offerings on line and in print. Dr. Andrew Weil is a renowned MD of integrative medicine who is very savvy about cooking and eating in a healthy way. And Dr. Joel Furhman is another tremendous resource for healthy food choices. A key is to not get overwhelmed and try to make every offering the healthiest, tastiest thing anyone has ever had; just pick a couple or several menus choices at your next gathering and make those from a healthy recipe. Before you know it, you'll be stocking healthier ingredients in your pantry, and trading healthier recipes with your friends and family. And that's good for everyone.

Our Relationship with Food

1.15
In 2012, I significantly improved the way I eat. Not just by having a better pantry of foods, but because I improved how I was eating. This is something that we rarely, if ever, think about, and it is almost guaranteed to not be taught as a life-skill.

What I came across in 2012 was a wellness program developed by Dr. Will Clower. His program is called Mediterranean Wellness, and portions of it focus on eating behavior, not just menu choices. What was revolutionary for me was the instruction on how to eat... literally, how to consume our food at a meal.

When we choose to follow these guidelines, I think it changes how we relate to food. In our western culture we thrive on fast and convenient. Mediterranean cultures, at least at their core, thrive on lingering and interacting over, and because of, food. For them, food is much less a commodity, and more a part of a connective lifestyle. And when we engage our food in this way, it can improve a lot of what is out of whack in our American culture.

Here are basic parameters:

• Plan meal times so you are able to linger over your food, preferably with others and conversation; timing is important
• Plan on seconds; start with a smaller portion intentionally
• Plan on dessert; be mindful of portions and calories to leave room for dessert
• The size of a mouthful matters! It should be about a teaspoonful size (roughly the equivalent of the first joint of your thumb) that's it for a mouthful, no more
• Chew and swallow whatever is in your mouth before putting anything else in; no two spoon- or fork-fulls at once
• (Here is the most helpful guideline!) Put your utensil down between each mouthful; no exceptions... this forces you to slow down, to linger, and to savor what you're eating - it really works! It takes practice, but it's a simple habit that reaps lifelong rewards
  
• For foods you pick up (pizza, subs, etc.) take a mouthful-sized bite and put it down; getting the food out of our hands and slowing down is a vital behavior
• It is helpful to use a smaller plate and smaller utensil; this has been studied at Cornell's food and brand lab extensively by Brian Wansink and others; really interesting stuff
• Last one, don't wash down your food with a drink; again, only one thing in your mouth at a time

To me, this was revolutionary, and it made a huge, positive difference in how I relate to food. I'm fairly accomplished at all of these now, and it really helps me linger, savor and enjoy what I'm eating. I'm more aware of tastes, smells and textures, and I know I eat less because of these guidelines, and yet feel just as satisfied, if not more so. It has definitely improved how I relate to food.

By the Way

These ideas on how we relate to food are really good for losing weight, if you're interested in that. When we slow down our eating it increases how satiated we feel from the food we consume. If we're more satiated, it is easier to push ourselves away from the table and be done with the meal. And the end results are all good: enjoying our food more, better conversation over the meal, losing weight, and slowing down in general. What's not to like about that?

Love is Louder

1.14
You have to love 'Kid President', Robby Novak. Whether you need a pep talk or need suggestions on how to change the world, Kid President has you covered.

I want to share this video from earlier this year...it's a letter to a person (baby) on their first day. To me, Easter is an awesome time of year, about renewal and a way that everyone can get a do-over because of how much God loves us. I think Kid President gets that, too, and he's good at spreading his flavor of love and awesomeness.

Spread some love today, and share this with someone you care about.

By the Way

Robby and his brother-in-law, who make all the zany and inspiring Kid President videos, didn't set out to be famous. Robby actually battles a rare genetic bone defect daily... maybe that's why he's so compelled to make the world a better place. Check out their story here:

So, what will you create that will make the world more awesome?

An Extra 11 Miles

1.13
Eleven miles seems like a long way to walk... and it is. But if there was a simple way to add an extra 11 miles to your year, would you be interested? I've had a habit of parking 'away from' the entrance to stores and malls and offices, including the office where I work. It wasn't until recently that I actually figured out what those additional steps yield.


The parking lot where I work isn't that big, and the walk from the back edge to the front door is about 40 yards. If you multiply that times the number of trips back and forth over a year, you literally end up with eleven miles in a year! (From the car to the office door and back on about 250 working days of the year). I have rerun the numbers over and over because it was hard for me to imagine that it equaled over 11 miles.



When we choose to live a wellness lifestyle, there are practical, simple investments, and small sacrifices which we can make to benefit our lives immensely. The simple act of walking an additional 40 yards, a couple times a day, pays a big dividend in physical activity. And when you're at the mall, it saves a bunch of time: instead of cruising the parking aisles looking for the illusory open spot right next to the main entrance, just park where there's an open space and walk.


Some other movement generators:

• cut the grass with a push mower (or better yet, an old-fashioned reel mower)
• grab your gloves and a bucket and weed the flower beds instead of using weed killers
• the old standard of taking the stairs instead of the elevator / escalator 
• hand saw some boards for a home project (instead of a circular saw, etc.) or chop some wood instead of renting a splitter
• in winter, shovel show instead of using the snow blower
• hand scrub some floors instead of using a mop or swiffer

(why does all this sound a bit Amish...hmmm, they're usually pretty healthy, though...)

You get the idea. It can be quite physically rewarding to invest a bit of each day doing something to move, flex and stretch our bodies instead of using a power tool or shortcut to do it. It really isn't a big deal in the moment, but it sure does add up over time. So what simple activity can you add to your day?

By the Way

Ben (son #1) and I are signed up for our first run of the season: the Sauder Egg Run on 4/19. This will be our 3rd year participating. It is a 5 mile run, and right in Lititz - simple enough. The greatest benefit to me is that it creates a specific goal to train for. Without something like this on the calendar, I would find 10 reasons to not get out and train. With it on the calendar, I stay motivated to eat better and get running. I even get out with 2 or 3 of our kids for training runs (Ben running with me and Joe and Becca biking along with us.) It is a worthwhile investment of time and energy. What training goals do you have on your calendar?

What's Inside

Simple label: for an egg

1.12
We are what we eat. That's a simple fact, and unfortunately one which is often ignored in our western culture. When striving for a nutritious, powerful pantry, we need to know what we're eating, and that starts with reading labels.

I know it might seem geeky to invest precious minutes of our busy day reading food labels, but it is absolutely worth it, especially realizing the bizarre stuff that is in foods we buy. The pantry premise is that if it's there, we'll eat it (or when we're stumped on what to make for dinner Tuesday evening, we're obviously limited to whatever we find in the pantry, so it better be good.)

The 40+ ingredient cake

What are we looking for on labels? We want whole, natural ingredients wherever possible. A rule of thumb is the less ingredients, the better -- simple wins. Here's a label from a cake we got as part of a recent birthday party. I counted over 40 ingredients on the label between the actual cake and the toppings. It looked good to eat, but seeing all that stuff in what should have been a simple pound cake made me lose my appetite.


Another guideline: if you can't pronounce it, or it has more than three syllables, look for a healthier alternative. There are key offenders that can be avoided once you know to watch

A simple bag of potato chips - 3 ingredients

for them: refined grains, enriched grains, all refined white foods (rice, flour, sugar, vinegar, salt) high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated / partially hydrogenated oils, monosodium glutamate, and ingredients that may be problematic to food-sensitive folks in your household (like soy or gluten, etc.)

Here's a worthwhile exercise if you're getting into the habit of label-reading: search Google or Bing images for 'healthy food labels' and 'unhealthy food labels' and review what comes up. You can get quite an education by scanning the materials available on line that explain parts of the label and reinforce what healthy guidelines are for recommended daily allowances (RDAs) and such.

The point is that at some level, we need to root out the unhealthy choices that are lingering in (or dominating) our pantry, and replace them with nutrient dense, healthful alternatives. Here are a few we've found:
Progresso soups (compared to Campbell's - almost all Campbell's soups have MSG)
Neuman's Own dressings (compared to Kraft - almost all Kraft dressings have MSG and many have partially hydrogenated oils).
Nature's Own bread and rolls - 100% whole wheat available, and no hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup.
Almost everything from the produce section is a good choice, because they all basically have singular ingredients (veggies, fruits, greens, etc.).
The lists can go on and on, but you get the idea that there are nutritious healthy alternatives to basically all of the unhealthy ones that can occupy our pantries.

By the Way

My wife, Jen, has acknowledged that her label-reading experience improved over time. She didn't like reading labels at first; it's a time investment, rooting out poor nutritional choices compared to good ones. But it has gotten much more tolerable. Once you know what to look for, it is easier to recognize poor ingredients compared to good, nutritious ones. You'll be well on your way to a power pantry.

Deep and Simple

1.11
When we choose to set up a power pantry our goal is, essentially, simplicity. Whole foods are simple; they aren't refined or engineered, and they don't contain preservatives and ingredients with four syllable names that we can't pronounce.

Simplicity has been winning for centuries... consider William of Ockham from the 1300's. He is credited with saying, "It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer." What he meant was, keep it simple; don't use more than you need. His concept even earned him a namesake in the science world: Ockham's Razor (or more formally, the Law of Parsimony). That Law shows the simplest solution is usually the best / correct solution, and science bears this out. When we keep it simple, we win.

What does this have to do with wellness? We will always do better to keep it simple. Our industrialized food and medical communities always want to engineer and design solutions that complicate what is (or should be) really simple. Like great veggies and fruits -- they're good just as they grow, the way God created them. Processing and refining might create food-like products which last longer or 'taste better' to a wider consumer audience, but at what cost? We've engineered the nutritional benefits right out of much of our western food supply.

So here's to keeping it simple in our pantries. The less processed the better. The less refined the better; the simpler the ingredients the better. Fresh... local... whole foods... it's all good.

By the Way

I appreciate a quote from Fred Rogers on the idea of simplicity:

"I feel so strongly, that deep and simple is far more essential

 than shallow and complex."

Here's to deep and simple, in our lives and in our pantries.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

1.10
If we’re going to set up a power pantry, what can we include? There are a lot of pseudo foods that we eat in western culture, and these now populate many of our pantries and refrigerators. I’m an optimist, so I like to focus on what we can do (or eat) so I thought we could look at a list of what’s good, not-so-good, and death-on-a-stick (just kidding – ugly will suffice). (These lists aren't comprehensive, simply a starting point; as we dig deeper into the nutrients our bodies crave, there are literally endless good foods we can build our diet around, eliminating or at least lessening the food-like products we've become accustomed to).

The Good

(Our nutrition and calories should be coming from these foods)

Beverages

Filtered water; seltzer; 100% fruit juices (especially unfiltered – think tomato juice); teas (black, green, oolong, white, herbal); red wine, sparingly

Sweetners

Stevia; raw honey; agave nectar;

Carbs

Leafy (dark) greens (kale, spinach, romaine, collard greens); fresh whole fruits (with the skins); fresh whole veggies (with the skins), raw and cooked – the more colorful the better; onions; avocados; potatoes (with the skins), baked / broiled; whole grains (especially oats, quinoa, amaranth, millet, brown / wild rice, buckwheat); mushrooms (cooked)

Proteins

Beans, seeds, nuts, legumes, fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines), lean poultry

Seasonings / Oils

Sea salt, herbs, spices (cinnamon, garlic, turmeric, cumin, cayenne pepper); olive oil; canola oil

Treats

Dried fruits (raisins, dates, figs, apricots); frozen berries and fruits; smoothies made with 'good' carbs; some dark chocolates 

The Bad

(These foods are okay, sparingly, but not as a major source of our calories, because they all have poor nutritional density, if they have any nutritional value at all...)

Beverages

Coffee, regular sodas, beer, alcohol in general

Sweeteners

Sugar (cane, brown, beet, raw/Turbinado); corn syrup; processed honey;

Carbs

Refined grains (white flour, white rice, corn) and associated baked goods (crackers, breads from enriched flours, cookies, snacks); prepared potatoes (mashed, fried, French fries); fruits and veggies which have been processed (to remove edible skins, etc.)

Proteins

Red meat, pork, lamb, fatty poultry, peanuts (which are more peas than nuts… they’re a legume, and difficult to digest); dairy (milk, yogurt, cheeses); eggs

Seasonings / Oils

Refined salt; corn oil; safflower oil; soybean oil; peanut oil; palm kernel oil; palm oil; coconut oil; butter

Treats

Ice cream / frozen yogurt, candy, cookies, cakes, most chocolates

The Ugly 

(If we totally skipped these foods for the rest of our lives, it would be a good thing...)

Beverages

Diet drinks / sodas (with artificial sweeteners – see next heading); specialty coffees (caramel macchiato, etc.)

Sweeteners

Aspartame, saccharine, sorbitol, sucralose; high fructose corn syrup; corn sugar

Carbs

Refined grains with preservatives, stabilizers and additives; potato flakes; parboiled rice; store bought veggies in a can (frozen is better than canned)

Proteins

Prepared meats (deli meats, pepperoni, jerky)

Seasonings / Oils

Flavor enhancers (monosodium glutamate); hydrogenated oils; partially hydrogenated oils

Treats

Anything made with 'bad' and 'ugly' carbs / sugars / sweeteners

By the Way

I’ve tried to convey that Jen and I aren't militant about our food choices, so while the ‘ugly’ category seems to condemn some common foods, we eat a few of them occasionally (deli meats, frozen yogurt, a rare slice of birthday cake with good old butter cream icing.) The point is that we overwhelm our nutritional choices with 'good' foods; we know we'll both pay a price in immediate and long-term health reactions to the bad and ugly foods, so why tempt fate? We choose to stick with what's good for us...

Burger Experiment Update

1.9
Two weeks ago I purchased a fast food kids' meal to try an oft repeated aging experiment that shows up on line. Now we're at Day 15, so I thought it would be a good time for an update.

Here was Day 1:

Burger, Fries, Apple Slices and a Side Salad, Day 1 - looks okay.

Salad Day 1 - mmmmm

And Day 2:

Day 2 - Salad showing its age; apples a little bit; burger & fries, not so much

And this is what we have today:

Day15 - the salad and apples will be going to the compost pile; the burger & fries are hanging in there

If you remember our premise from the original post, I had a friend who would say, "if it doesn't sprout or rot, don't eat it..." Well, I think we can guess that the burger and fries will slowly pertrify over time. The apples didn't really rot, and they don't look like normal dried apples... not sure what happened there. The salad sort of withered and dehydrated. The point is that the real food (the salad and apples) reveals itself by how it responds over time. When we fill our diet with burgers and fries (that have a tendency to not rot or go bad) can that really be good for our bodies? Granted, a fast food meal once in a while isn't an issue, as long as we are overwhelming our diet with whole foods that come from a power pantry.

By the Way

We're going to retire the salad and apple slices, but keep the burger and fries for a while longer. Maybe we'll shoot for a month or so. Jen found this site for The Burger Lab, revisiting the 12 year-old burger. They've taken the experiment to the extreme - check it out.