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WHOLESOME NUTRITION My new book, Dan’s Story, will be published in September! Excerpts from the book were featured in my column last year, but the text has been re-written extensively, so it is not the same book now. For the next few weeks, I am summarizing the main themes of the book so that you will have an advance preview of it. The first major theme is nutrition. Good nutritious food lays the foundation for good health. As with any building, if the foundation is not sound, the rest of the structure is at risk. It only makes good sense to build health on the solid footing of good nutrition. The basics of good nutrition are to keep food as simple, natural, and wholesome as possible. Veggies and fruit top the list of wholesome foods. Delivering hundreds of nutrients and vitamins, these nutritional powerhouses are the real secret of vibrant health. Many nutritionists advise eating five to nine servings of veggies and fruit daily. Five servings a day is better than the national average of less than three servings a day, but nine a day is even better. Dr. Walter Willett, one of the top nutritional authorities in the world, agrees. He advises eating at least nine servings daily. Foods like oatmeal, whole wheat, flax seed, and other whole grains are also naturally wholesome. In addition to conveying many great nutrients, they are a good source of fiber. Other excellent high fiber foods include lentils, beans, and brown rice. Including such foods in your meals on a daily basis is great for health. At the other end of the scale are foods that are not at all good for health. The worst of these foods are sugar and white flour. Including them in your diet is like using mud for the mortar to build your house. They have been stripped of their nutrients, have no enduring value and sabotage your health badly. Avoid foods like most soft drinks, white breads, and pastries like the plague if you truly want to build good health. In between the good wholesome foods and the terrible foods listed above is a wide range of foods that fall somewhere between good and bad. Some of them are needed for good health, but have cautions associated with them. Others have slight nutritional value but should be seriously limited because there are so many problems associated with them. Protein is clearly essential for good health, but some protein comes associated with less desirable ingredients. Dr. Willett suggests looking at the total protein package. Most red meat carries lots of saturated fat mixed in with it that is not great for health. Because of this, he advises choosing healthy protein packages in preference to less healthy ones. This means choosing nuts, beans, chicken, and fish in preference to red meat in one’s diet. Foods like bacon, sausage, and cold cuts should be seriously limited by anyone interested in their long-term health. They are very high in saturated fat and pose significant cancer risks. Most highly processed, prepackaged foods should be limited as much as possible because of their relatively low nutritional value. Read Dan’s Story for more information! |