MetaChat - I have been saying this for ten years now (NYT link)

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29 January 2007

I have been saying this for ten years now (NYT link) →[More:]
About ten years or so ago, I worked at a biotech with some pretty high end dieticians. Concerned with my diet at the time, I asked one (a Ph.D.) what her recommendations were for a truly healthy diet, as opposed to the media-driven 'fad-of-the-week' mentality.

Her response? Pretty much what's in that NYT article there. To paraphrase her 3 Big Tips:

1) - throw out any processed / packaged food (meaning all cans, boxes or bags) that's in your fridge or cupboard now.

2) - at the grocery store, shop the perimeter, don't go down the aisles

3) - if you eat meat, do so more as garnish than main course.

Turns out that's pretty much the gist of this whole long, long essay.

Over the course of ten years, by doing this, (well and turning off my TV and parking my car, too), I've lost nearly forty pounds and at 38 years old, was recently mistaken for a teenager.

post by: lonefrontranger at: 11:57 | 50 comments

So wait. I have to throw out food that comes in packages?

How am I supposed to eat?? Pasta comes in boxes! Meat is prepackaged! Eggs too! Could you narrow it down, because I'm obviously thinking far too broadly.

Number two has me confused as well.

posted by CitrusFreak12 29 January | 12:10

Yea, article seems like common sense to me. Never hurts to remind folks, though- some of that frozen processed stuff is GOOD. Mmmmm, cheese bacon pierogies.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 29 January | 12:10

Basically, if jonmc eats it, it's not on the approved list.

posted by bunnyfire 29 January | 12:14

CF, yep, you should avoid pasta (it's nothing but highly processed semolina flour). Eggs can probably count as a meat serving, and, as listed above, should be a side dish. Shopping the perimter of the store means that you'll probably end up in the produce section, rather than in the isles where they have things like poptarts and frozen tater tots.

posted by Specklet 29 January | 12:20

Specklet's right.

CF: it's common sense. The 'cans, boxes, or bags' statement means PRE PROCESSED food.

This then would not include things like milk, produce or eggs which are what the article's authour considers 'food', not 'food-like substances'.

I also use the guideline of anything that has more than three to five ingredients on the label, doesn't go in my shopping basket.

It's very simple, really.

posted by lonefrontranger 29 January | 12:24

Life without pasta isn't worth living.

posted by BoringPostcards 29 January | 12:25

Whole wheat pasta, while not that yummy, is part of my diet.

I have done well lately in avoiding "white" foods, such as sugar, refined grains, etc.

I have actually added some meat lately, in that I have been avoiding it for years but it seems to feel good to eat some now and then.

posted by danf 29 January | 12:30

I didn't mean NO pasta. That would be sad. It's just one of those processed things that's better once a week than every other day...

Besides, if you go by lfr's rule of three-or-less-ingredients, pasta's cool...

posted by Specklet 29 January | 12:42

Shopping the perimter of the store means that you'll probably end up in the produce section, rather than in the isles where they have things like poptarts and frozen tater tots.
Ah, ok. Makes sense. Ew frozen tatertots.

This then would not include things like milk, produce or eggs which are what the article's authour considers 'food', not 'food-like substances'.

Ok, whew. As I said, I was overthinking it. :P

What do you normally buy at the store and eat for meals, lonefrontranger?

posted by CitrusFreak12 29 January | 12:45

You probably can get away with frozen fruits and veggies too. No, not the ones with the cheese sauce.

posted by mischief 29 January | 12:56

But...but...cheese is dairy!!!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 29 January | 13:11

That's a really good article, and I like how he points out how our society has focussed on nutrients rather than nutrition. "Sugar Tits, now with Omega 3!!!". I've thought this way for a long long time, and I don't take daily supplements. My training as a winemaker made me realize that there's no way to synthesize that 1972 Richbourg in the lab because it is just too complex. Food is the same way. How can you test all the interactions between all the micronutrients in a given food to find what it is that makes it healthful? The other side of it is that we are all different, and our ideal diets are all going to be slightly different. There's also a link in that essay to a previous essay about the whole protien/fat versus carb thing and how through politics the governments recommendations had been corrupted, partially creating the obesity issues we have now.

posted by eekacat 29 January | 13:14

That 3-5 ingredient rule is pretty interesting. I bumped into an old school friend last week in one of the local supermarkets and we wandered around together. He was buying ready meals and far-too-cheap-to-be-in-anyway-ethical meat. It struck me that I hadn't bought anything like that in years - not since I started the whole diet/fitness thing. I want to know what I'm eating, I want to try and ensure it's organically produced and I want to try and ensure that it has low food miles. Admittedly it's difficult to get low food miles fruit in the UK, but that's life.

Wine has less that 3-5 ingredients, right? Because that's one of life's essentials.

On preview: there's dairy in milk chocolate as well. Cadbury's put 1.5 glasses of milk in every bar - think of all the calcium goodness in a large bar of chocolate. And nuts have benefits as well. So, a large bar of wholenut chocolate is a healthy person's dream!

posted by TheDonF 29 January | 13:15

I eat a mostly plant-based diet. It just feels good. My kids and husband don't, but they do like veggies. Mostly slathered with butter or cheese, but hey...whatever works.

The biggest change we've made that's made the biggest impact on our diets, our looks, our wallets, etc: stop thinking of meat as the centerpiece of a meal, and start thinking of it as a side dish. The main attraction is always some veggie thing or some salad thing or some pasta thing, and if there's meat, there's only a little. Their plates are probably 50% veg, 30% starchy thing, and 20% meat, a rough approximation. Mine's usually 100% veg or damn near.

When someone used to ask me what we were having for dinner, I would say chicken, or steak, or meatloaf...like it was the really the only part of the meal that mattered. Now I say vegetable primavera or spinach lasagne or caesar salad or grilled veggie kabobs with rice or sushi or whatever. I don't even mention the meat.

So I don't eat meat, or dairy, or flour (which means no bread or pasta or cake or cookies or pizza). You would think there's nothing left to eat, but there's a surprisingly huge amount of goodies to choose from if you're mainly interested in eating produce.

posted by iconomy 29 January | 13:16

Good beer is made of water, malt, hops and yeast.

Sadly, I eat a lot of processed foods. Nevertheless, I find the main idea of the text even somewhat obvious. I can't read it all, because I'm at work and it's 10 pages, but it seems very good. I'm worried I will leave it to read at home and forget.

Oh yeah, and when anyone tells me "food X (as in peanuts, beets, eggs) is unhealthy because it has too much ethylchloroxpunchsupercombo", I usually ask if this week is the "don't eat tomato, it will kill you week" or "eat tomato, it'll keep teh cans0r away week".

posted by qvantamon 29 January | 13:33

Mmmmm... tater tots.

posted by deborah 29 January | 13:36

What do you normally buy at the store and eat for meals, lonefrontranger?

what iconomy said, with the qualification that I don't entirely eliminate *any* foods as 'ZOMG TEH ANTICHRIST'. I just don't eat stuff like meat, bread or pasta as meal centerpieces or even everyday.

I don't eat tons of dairy because I don't like milk. It made me puke when I was little so it turns me off.

Common sense, moderation and not taking anything too seriously or literally has been the key to maintaining this dietary plan as a sensible, lifestyle-changing kind of thing.

to fulfil my weekly quota of inflammatory generalisms I'll say this: Americans as a society have GOT to stop the 'ZOMG XYZ FOODZ ARE TEH ANTICHRIST' media-fuelled diet terrorism crazes. It's confusing and largely misinformed.

Moderation: the vast majority of us sure as hell don't get the meaning of this term.

To cite an example, one cookie or piece of chocolate (mind you must have the discipline NOT to eat the entire damned package... so if you don't, just don't keep it handy!) about once every 2 weeks to a month has seemed to be how I've been rolling for years. Note that I never purchase this stuff. I just have a bit from time to time if I'm out or someone's been nice enough to bake.

posted by lonefrontranger 29 January | 13:40

The metafilter discussion of this article was pretty amusing. Lots of alleged potato-only eating great-grandmothers.

eekacat is a wine maker too? *swoons*

I am a convert to the white bread = candy way of thinking. I eat more lean meat than anything, plus nuts and eggs, then fruits and veggies, and a bit of whole grain. Plus, junk from time to time. Not saying this is the best of all possible diets, but It keeps my appetite down. Eating carbs makes me hungrier quicker.

The article makes sense and is well put. I've been looking for Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dillema" at the library for some time, it's still always checked out.

posted by rainbaby 29 January | 13:43

And too much cheeze. Mmmmm. Cheeeze.

posted by rainbaby 29 January | 13:47

I'd like to think I have a very healthy diet . . . but, le sigh. I know the faux meats (esp. those made by Morningstar Farms and the like, not so much the basic tofu, tempeh, and seitan, which I am trying to eat more of) are probably not real good for me. And by gum, I love catsup/ketchup. I know it's brimming with high fructose corn syrup, but it goes so nicely with practically everything.

Time is a factor. Sure, maybe that's a cop-out, but last night we were starving, I discovered the seitan I was going to stir-fry with veggies had gone bad, and we were down on options. So, Quorn nuggets and Amy's mac and cheese it was.

But surely it has to better than McDonald's chicken nuggets and Kraft mac and cheese, no?

And I love me some Amy's products. Whatever they do, I love it.

posted by tr33hggr 29 January | 13:48

Oh, and my maternal grandmother's favorite food was heated applesauce mixed with Red Hots. So, there you go.

posted by tr33hggr 29 January | 13:52

The flipside to lfr's 'ZOMG XYZ FOODZ ARE TEH ANTICHRIST' is American society has also got to quit saying 'ZOMG XYZ FOOD IS TE SAVIOR' as the article points out. A sensible diet of whole foods... But man, I love cheese.

I'm a former winemaker, rainbaby. Just a blue collar factory grunt now...

posted by eekacat 29 January | 13:59

We are a multiple personality household: I eat much like rainbaby describes. Mr. gaspode eats a pop-tart for breakfast, meat on white bread with mayo for lunch and his healthy meal of the day is what I cook for dinner. For me, dinner is my least healthy meal because it usually has a reasonable amount of meat in it. I have recently gotten him excited about bean-based things, though , so hopefully things will improve in that front.

posted by gaspode 29 January | 14:02

I have recently gotten him excited about bean-based things, though , so hopefully things will improve in that front.

At least in the kitchen.

posted by danf 29 January | 14:07

Eschewing flour and dairy is because of allergies, not any ZOMGs... ;) But those allergies were the best thing that ever happened to me.

Right now I'm eating sliced avo and tomato and romaine on a corn tostado with some steamed savoy cabbage on the side ZOMG! GOOD!

posted by iconomy 29 January | 14:17

Enjoy the avo. . .prices are going way up soon. I just got a bunch.

posted by danf 29 January | 14:19

But...but...cheese is dairy!!!
Mmmmm. Cheeeze.
But man, I love cheese.

Cheese can be a good source of protien and calcium. But there's cheese and then there's cheese.

Are we talking Velveeta? Not cheese. It's classified by the FDA as a processed cheese spread. It's so processed you don't even have to refrigerate it.

Or are we talking a fresh goat cheese like Humboldt Fog? Now, that's cheese.

Cheese should be eaten sparingly, not daily, but sure, it's good for you.

posted by Specklet 29 January | 14:24

I eat cheese pretty much daily. *hides in corner*

posted by tr33hggr 29 January | 14:26

I'm a former winemaker, rainbaby. Just a blue collar factory grunt now...

Somehow, in a way I can't articulate, this is even better.

posted by rainbaby 29 January | 14:27

"Cheese should be eaten sparingly, not daily,"

Hmm we have 5 or 6 kinds of cheese in the fridge at all times.

posted by arse_hat 29 January | 14:27

I'm all for eating healthy or whatever- but you will have to pry cheese out of my COLD DEAD hands.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 29 January | 14:31

heated applesauce mixed with Red Hots
Ha! That's one of my mother-in-law's "specialties."

I always feel like I'm slacking on the healthy eating, but my kid always picks broccoli over fries at restaurants and recently rejected a sandwich on white bread, instead requesting one on "real" (wheat) bread. So I guess we're doing OK.

posted by jrossi4r 29 January | 14:32

And yeah, life without cheese is not worth living.

posted by jrossi4r 29 January | 14:33

FOR REALS- There are plenty of things I can live without. I rarely eat red meat. I rarely drink soda. I do not care much for gooey, rich desserts- brownies, sundaes, cakes, etc. BUT I WILL NOT GIVE UP CHEESE!!! And juice. I ain't giving that up either.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 29 January | 14:36

BUT I WILL NOT GIVE UP CHEESE!!!

It is the one thing that really keeps me from making the jump into veganism. I . . . just . . . can't . . . imagine.

posted by tr33hggr 29 January | 14:39

Nobody said you couldn't have cheese!!!

posted by Specklet 29 January | 14:39

Life's too short to die healthy and bored.

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 29 January | 14:40

STOP TAKING OUR CHEESE, SPECKLET!!!!!!!

posted by jrossi4r 29 January | 14:41

I LIKE CHEESE!!! I WILL NOT TELL YOU NOT TO EAT CHEESE!!! I WILL NOT TAKE YOUR CHEESE!!!

UNLESS IT'S HUMBOLDT FOG AND THEN I WILL STEAL IT AND EAT IT ALL!!!

posted by Specklet 29 January | 14:44

ThePinkSuperhero: You can't have cheese.

posted by mullacc 29 January | 14:46

Hey, who moved my cheese?

/ducks

posted by tr33hggr 29 January | 14:46

*pries cheese from everyone's cold, dead hands*

posted by iconomy 29 January | 14:50

*eats the cheese pried from everyone's cold dead hands*

posted by taz 29 January | 14:53

Bleah!

posted by Specklet 29 January | 14:57

Mmmmmm, cold dead pried cheese . . .

posted by tr33hggr 29 January | 15:04

Hey cheese heads. New post.

posted by arse_hat 29 January | 15:05

What are the big crops? Corn, Potatoes, Wheat, Soy, Rice...?

One thing I find really funny here in the US is how every frozen "meal" has a ""vegetable serving"". Seems to be something that in one point in time became a big selling point, so that every manufacturer added a small compartment with green beans or carrots (I'm yet to see anything else) to their product.

And peoples, congratulations on making me eat from the salad bar today, even though i was hungrying for a double cheddar burger with lots of mayo.

and a piece of very spicy pepper in the tuna salad made me give up on half the plate i had made... way to go "eat sparingly" :)

posted by qvantamon 29 January | 15:42

The person that wrote this is a terrorist and an enemy of America.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 29 January | 15:55

I'm worn out from the MeFi discussion, which was quite good in some ways.

I wish eek's comment about synthesizing wine had been posted there, because one person was rejecting the idea that there might be compounds in food we haven't identified yet.

Anyway, I am very much a whole-foods fan. I think the word 'processed' is a teeny bit vague - we all know he's saying to stay away from boxed and packaged crapola, but on the other hand, much really good whole food is processed. Pasta and bread are processed grain (though, like many of you, I'm all whole-wheat now on those things); cheese is milk processed for longer storage. Beans and crushed tomatoes in cans are processed for preservation. But they aren't bad just because they're processed.

What he is talking about by 'processed' is highly processed to a point very far from the natural state.

So cheese it up! None of us are going to give up the foods we loved that have been processed by humans for milennia through fermentation: wine, beer, cheese, coffee, tea, chocolate. If those foods aren't whole, I don't know what is.

posted by Miko 29 January | 16:23

What Miko said! :)

posted by CitrusFreak12 29 January | 19:49

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