Tag Archive for: vegetables

By Any Means Necessary, Part 2

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About a year ago, I wrote about the reasons we buy food pouches for Riley. He’s six and a half, and we’re still using them, because my thinking is I’m going to get those fruits and veggies into him by any means necessary. And the battle continues.

Some evenings we have a battle royal over eating vegetables. Riley would rather eat pasta and nothing else almost every night. While he will eat pouches with just about any vegetable in it but broccoli, he won’t eat the same vegetables on his plate. The other night it was green beans. He’s eaten them before, but he’s demonstrating a rebellious streak lately. We’re not insisting he clean his plate, just eat a few green beans. Paula will wait him out; she’ll sit at the table and read a book on her Kindle until he’s done eating them.

Me? Not so much. I decided we will enhance the flavor of the green beans. Hot sauce—which I knew wouldn’t make it onto his plate. Cinnamon sugar. Whip cream. Paula thought of a savory flavor and added a sandwich sprinkle blend. The winner? Close between the cinnamon sugar and the whipped cream with ketchup, which doesn’t taste nearly as bad as you might think. Even the sandwich sprinkles got a thumbs up. All the green beans were gone in short order.

I know that’s not a traditional approach to getting kids to eat vegetables. And yet, people who would never touch an onion will eat a deep-fried one with fat imploded into it and a creamy sauce to dip it into; compared to that, I think a dusting of cinnamon sugar is just fine. My philosophy is: by any means necessary. The benefit of the vegetable outweighs the little bit of sugar or whipped cream in my opinion, especially for a kid in the 4th percentile of BMI for his age.

It’s a long holiday weekend so we’ll be back with the Memo in a week. Be safe if you’re traveling. If you’re going to spend the weekend with picnics and such, don’t forgot about eating those vegetables—by any means necessary.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

By Any Means Necessary

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Riley has finished his first week of in-classroom school. He seems to have adapted quite well, which is no surprise—he is the most social child I’ve ever known and makes friends with everyone.

Much like me, he’s not much of a morning eater. Occasionally I’ll eat breakfast but for the most part, it’s not going to happen until I’ve been awake for several hours. A cup of Joe isn’t going to work for Riley, so milk and water suffice. I gave him a fruit and vegetable pouch yesterday, but he wanted to take it for a snack at school. I talked him out of it; he ate about half and saved the rest for after school.

Riley is a choosy eater: he chooses to refuse many foods that most kids eat such as apples, oranges, and bananas. Until recently, he had a strong gag reflex that was triggered by many solid foods, so we’ve continued to use pouches as a nutritional stop-gap; we watch for sales and usually pay about a dollar per pouch.

The reason I hesitated to have him take it for snack was that I wasn’t sure kids who are five still use them, and I didn’t want him to get embarrassed among his new friends. Then my health brain kicked in. He’s gotten used to eating blueberries, raspberries, and grapes in small quantities, but that’s about it. Vegetables? Other than potatoes, carrots, and Grampa’s spaghetti sauce with hidden vegetables, it’s a tough sell. But in those pouches, he eats just about everything. What’s more important: eating the fruits and vegetables in whatever form or worrying about what people think? So if he wants to take pouches to school, he will because getting those fruits and veggies into him is more important by far.

Just as serious: how are you doing with your consumption of vegetables and fruit? If you don’t get your five to ten servings, check out the pouches. They contain one or two servings of pureed vegetables and fruits, organic with no additives, and include very interesting blends; some of Riley’s faves are in the illustration. I’ve tried them and if I didn’t like vegetables and fruits, I’d use them. Cold, they’re refreshing. They’re shelf stable, so you can keep them in your desk or locker or car for convenient, healthy snacks. It sure beats making or buying a smoothie every day, and they’re a better alternative than the doughnuts in the break room or whatever you find in the vending machine.

If you’re concerned about the ecological impact, the New York Times reports, “While the pouches are not recyclable through municipal services, they can be mailed to TerraCycle at a cost of at least $93 per shipment, except for a few brands that have set up free mail-in programs with the recycling company. Pouch caps are collected in some locations by Preserve, which manufactures goods like toothbrushes and razors from recycled plastic.”

If you know you’re never going to eat kale or spinach, try a pouch. As I said, get your fruits and vegetables by any means necessary.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

More Carbs? Better Choices

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Have you decided whether the extra years you may get by eating too many or too few carbohydrates are worth the effort? How about if you don’t have to make that choice at all? What if you could eat more or fewer carbs and not have to worry about it? Here are the other significant results of the study we’ve looked at this week.

When the researchers considered what people would eat to replace carbohydrates if they chose a low-carb diet, they assumed it would be animal protein such as beef, pork, lamb, and cheese as well as chicken with and without the skin. Likewise when they considered the extra carbs if people ate over 60% carbohydrates, they assumed people would choose more refined carbohydrates. They concluded correctly the additional refined carbs would contribute to metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes. They suggested that, based on other studies, if a low-carbohydrate diet used plant-based sources of protein, fats, and oils, there was no increase in mortality on a low-carb diet.

I’ll take it a step further and it’s something you’ve heard before: eat better. It doesn’t matter whether you want to eat a high-carbohydrate or a low-carbohydrate diet. That’s your choice. You just have to eat your vegetables and fruits first, and I’m not talking about just peas, corn, and bananas; there are hundreds of other choices to explore. You can increase the carbs in your diet without hurting your health as long as you make the right choices. Lead with vegetables and you’ll get the fiber and phytonutrients your body needs.

High carb or low carb, it all comes down to eating better. The key to living longer? Eat less. Eat better. Move more.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2468-2667(18)30135-X.

 

Broccoli: Cut It Up

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In preparing my 2018 nutrition seminar, I came across a paper on why we need to supplement our diet with a multivitamin-multimineral (I’ll be giving an overview of that paper in the next Insider Conference Call next week), and it raised a question. Quality supplements have precise amounts of specific nutrients. But what affects the nutrient content of the foods we eat, specifically vegetables? Processing? Freezing? Cooking? I picked one vegetable, broccoli, to see what I could find.

Let’s start with processing. Researchers decided to see how cutting broccoli would affect phytonutrient content. Phytonutrients are chemicals in plants that help protect the plant; when we eat the plant, they seem to help us as well. The scientists cut broccoli florets several ways: in half, into quarters, chopped it up, and kept a floret whole with just a single cut from the stem. They immediately analyzed the phytonutrient content, then stored them, and analyzed them again 24 hours later. No matter the method of cutting the broccoli, the phytonutrient content increased—yes, it increased. However, cutting the floret into quarters seemed to increase the cancer-fighting isothiocyanates and sulforaphanes the most, immediately and after storing for 24 hours.

Why did the phytonutrients increase? Because they’re designed to protect the plant from harm. Cutting means damage, and the plant is protecting itself.

What can it mean to us? Cutting up our vegetables may increase the phytonutrients that are available to us after we eat them; better yet, cut them up early and store them to give them time to marshal their forces.

Would the same thing happen with chewing? Not exactly as the enzymes in our mouth and digestive system may impede the process.

When you see the cut-up vegetables that dominate salad bars and party trays, think about eating those first before you start eating anything else. Thursday, it’s on to the effects of freezing on nutrient content.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: Molecules. 2017 Apr 15;22(4). pii: E636. doi: 10.3390/molecules22040636.

 

The Bottom Line on Veggies and Carbs

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Go ahead and finish your oatmeal and drink your protein-kale smoothie—you do need those veggies. Meanwhile I’ll put the PURE study in perspective.

This is a large study that looks at the economics of food as well as the health benefits. In a separate publication, the analysis of the data focused on the cost of fruit and vegetable intake as a percentage of monthly income. They specifically collected data from low-, middle-, and high-income communities from 18 different countries. Researchers actually went to grocery markets in those countries to collect the cost data. As you might expect, the lower the income, the higher the percentage of monthly revenue spent on vegetables and fruits.

I think that explains part of the reason the second study on vegetable intake and mortality said there was no additional benefit beyond three or four servings per day: if people can’t afford more, it’s wrong to teach them that more is better if it might not be. But that doesn’t justify the headlines because the message that Americans hear is “I don’t have to eat those darn vegetables!”

Yes, you do. Here are the issues with each of the studies.

 

Do Carbs Kill?

In the first study on carbohydrate intake and mortality, researchers used a simple percentage of caloric intake in their analysis. Basically we have a math problem: if someone in a poor country eats 80% of their diet as carbohydrates from root vegetables but they only get 1,000 calories per day that’s a completely different situation from a person who eats 3,000 calories per day but 50% of their calories are from refined carbohydrates and sugars.

As I’ve said many times, while we should eat fewer refined carbohydrates, carbohydrates are not inherently bad; it is the overconsumption that’s the problem. If researchers didn’t analyze the total caloric intake from carbohydrates, protein, and fats, we don’t have the complete answer. The PURE study used a food frequency questionnaire. I’ll leave it at that because I rant too much about the FFQs.

Finally, the researchers simply jumped the gun by recommending that health education should now focus on increasing fat intake while reducing carbohydrates. All types of vegetables and fruits are carbohydrates. Because researchers did not parse out different sources of carbohydrates in their analysis, their recommendations are meaningless.

 

Don’t Bother with More Veggies?

PURE is an observational study; it cannot determine cause and effect. Also it can tell you a lot about a large group of people but nothing about an individual.

The lead researcher actually provided the perspective on vegetables and fruit during an interview: if the research shows that the benefit of eating more plant-based food is a 20% reduction in mortality, and the mortality rate of the population is just 1%, that means the reduction goes from 10 out of 1,000 to 8 out of 1,000. It’s virtually meaningless to an individual.

The researchers hesitated to tell people with very low incomes to spend more on additional servings of plant-based food if there was not a meaningful benefit. But for most of you, the cost of fruit and vegetables is not a hardship, so buy ’em and eat ’em.

 

The Bottom Line

These will not be the last headlines we hear from the PURE study because the data continues to be analyzed. One issue for me is that there’s no data from the U.S. included so the ability to generalize to the U.S. population is very limited. We lead the world in obesity and overweight and our food consumption patterns are different even from other Westernized countries.

One thing remains clear to me: we should all eat more vegetables and fruit and reduce refined carbohydrates. The recommendation never changes: eat less, eat better, move more.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

Reminder to Insiders: The next Insider Conference Call will be Tuesday at 9 p.m. Not an Insider? Join now to participate in this call and get your questions answered.

 

References:
1. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32252-3.
2. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(17)30283-8.

 

PURE Headline 2: Don’t Bother with More Veggies?

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Using the same data base of subjects in the PURE Study, researchers examined the vegetable, fruit, and legume intake on total mortality, mortality, and major cardiac events such as heart attacks.

The most important finding was that higher vegetable, fruit, and legume intake was associated with a reduced risk of mortality and morbidity. Simply put, the more plant-based the diet, the better off you are from an overall health perspective.

But that’s not what the headline messages said. They focused on the part of the study that said there appeared to be no additional benefits if subjects ate more than a few servings of vegetables, fruits, and legumes. That seems to fly in the face of the “more is better” results that previous research has shown.

Have all the prior studies been wrong? Have you been eating kale for no good reason? No, and I’ll explain why the headlines are wrong on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32253-5.

 

Green Leafy Veggies and Glaucoma

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Vegetables and fruits led the health news last week. You know my mantra: Eat less. Eat better. Move more. Research reported this past week provides some insight into the benefits of eating better. Let’s start with vegetables.

Researchers analyzed data from the Nurses Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. They were interested in the relationship between dietary nitrates and glaucoma; as the nitrate intake increased, the risk of glaucoma decreased when compared to the lowest intake. This is a longitudinal study and used Food Frequency Questionnaires as the source of the food intake. I’ve ranted about . . .

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Feeding Kids to Support Their Immune System

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You can probably guess what kids should eat every day to keep their immune systems healthy: foods high in antioxidants, and that’s mainly fruits and vegetables. The research on the benefits to children’s immune system is beyond contestation (one of my favorite words).

Apples, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, and on and on and on. How you present them is up to you. I would avoid fruits juices even if you juice foods at home; you want every vitamin, mineral, and phytonutrient antioxidant you can give them, and the fiber helps feed the good bacteria that are important to the . . .

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Fruits, Vegetables, Weight Loss, and Independence Day

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This is a very long holiday weekend so I decided on a very long title for this week’s only message—three topics in one message. Let’s get to it.

Research Review: Fruits, Vegetables, and Weight Loss

The headlines have read “Eating Your Veggies Worthless for Weight Loss” and “Fruits and Veggies Won’t Lead to Weight Loss” this past week. They’ll certainly get your attention, but what’s it all about? Nothing. Really—nothing. Here’s why.

Researchers culled all the published studies looking for studies where subjects were told to add fruits and vegetables to their diet (1). The studies they included could not include any diets or attempts to lose weight—only additional vegetables and fruits. What they found is exactly what was reported: simply adding vegetables and fruit to your diet won’t cause you to lose weight.

Really? You mean an apple a day added to my highly-refined, deep-fat fried, and vegetable-free diet won’t help me lose weight? Not even adding a salad with half a bottle of blue cheese dressing?

I don’t know what they’re putting in the water at the University of Birmingham in Alabama research labs, but someone should check on it. This is the second study in two weeks that attempts to question what they believe is conventional thinking regarding weight loss. The other is that eating breakfast is worthless (2). In both cases, neither the headlines nor the researchers’ press comments represent in any way what the research actually examined.

Let me be clear, because they’re not: if you intentionally replace some of the highly-refined and high-fat foods with fruits and vegetables, you will lose weight. Period. And you can start this 4th of July by eating red, white, and blue.

Fruits, Vegetables, and the 4th of July

Red. White. Blue. As you celebrate this week with the rest of America, make sure that whatever you eat this week, it contains some foods with the colors of our flag, and challenge your kids to do the same. Those colors of the flag represent our independence. You can start your journey to physical independence from disease by starting this week to get at least seven servings of vegetables and fruit in your everyday diet.

Do desserts count? Sure, why not, as long as there’s at least a half cup of fruit in your serving.

Here are some examples:

Red: tomatoes, ketchup, strawberries, watermelon, raspberries, cherries and every variety of red-skin apples. Even barbecue rubs that contain paprika, chili powder, and other red spices have great nutrients that are good for us.

White: onions, garlic, potatoes, turnips, parsnips, and every type of apples. Yes, because of the excellent nutrients and fiber in apples, they can fall into two categories.

Blue: blueberries, blackberries, blue cheese dressing—because if you’re smoking wings, you have to dip them in something! Remember, it’s always about the quantity.

That’s a good beginning that you can carry over into your everyday life. Add the green and yellow and you’re on your way! Set your path for health independence by eating your vegetables and fruit this 4th of July and every day from now on.

Happy Independence Day

Paula and I wish you the best this 4th of July and every day. If you’re driving, be safe in your travels.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet