There is so much conflicting information on diet and nutrition I wonder if anybody else out there, like me, is wishing medical science would just come up with a pill that could provide complete nutrition and eliminate any sensation of hunger. Oh, that's right, they've tried haven't they?
Wait a minute. I like to eat. I like the smell, taste and texture of good food. I even like to prepare food and cook meals from simple to elegant. A magic pill would take away all the fun.
So what's a women to do? First, lets look at the word “diet”. The dictionary primarily defines diet as what a person or animal usually eats and drinks. The root of the word lies in the Greek, diaita, which translates as way of life. Further definitions include a special or limited selection of food chosen or prescribed to promote health, or a gain or loss of weight. This falls in the arena of medically purposed diets prescribed by physician or nutritionists.
It wasn't until our obsession with achieving perfectly slim, Barbie doll proportions, that we pigeon-holed the word diet to describe a restrictive intake of food meant to reduce weight. The problem with these weight loss diets is that most of them often restrict certain food groups while encouraging gluttonous consumption of others. In the person of average health with no underlying medical conditions**, such as diabetes, heart disease, lactose intolerance, or food allergies, there is no sound reason to eliminate any food group.
Protein
Carbohydrates
Fats
That's all there is. Every natural food substance on earth falls into one of these three categories. The human body is designed to process and utilize food in its natural state. Think of primitive man, oops – I mean woman, hunting and foraging for food. What do you suppose was most abundant? Plant food. If it grows – it's a carbohydrate. The hunter/gathers had greens, they had, fruits, they had berries, nuts, seeds and grains. All unprocessed, naturally abundant food.
They had protien too. If it has a face – it's protein; meat, fish, poultry. Protien was not abundantly available. Okay, it was there, but it had to be hunted trapped or caught. This wasn't always a successful endeavor, so our primitive ancestors ate far more plants life than animal protein. Their fat usually came by the way of animals, or in certain nuts, seeds, and grains. There was no butter or cheese for our ancestors. Which brings me to eggs and dairy. All dairy products are processed from milk which comes from a cow, which has a face. Eggs come from chickens (at least most of the eggs we eat do) and chickens have faces. Eggs and dairy products are most closely recognized as protein by our bodies, but they have a high fat content as well.
So, if we take nutrition back to our earliest ancestors they partook of protein occasionally, more complex carbohydrates by way of plants and whole grains, and fat and sugar only as it occurred naturally in their other foods. Like a 2-cycle engine needs exactly the right ratio of oil to gasoline for optimum performance, so our bodies require the proper ratios of nutrients for optimum health and wellness, and that ratio was naturally occurring for our early ancestors.
Fast forward a couple million years and it is estimated that the typical American now consumes an average of betweem 25 and 60 pounds of sugar (or like sweeteners) in a year! Not to mention fats in oil and butter, and sodium added to processed foods and sprinkled profusely at the table. A simple rule of thumb; the more processed and packaged a food is, the more calories, sweeteners, sodium and preservatives (chemicals) it brings into your body.
Keep your choices as close to nature as you can – fresh, whole foods – and you won't have to think about “dieting”. But what about portions? Remember those plastic picnic plates that were divided into three sections? One section was ½ the plate and the other half was again divided into two sections. The big section is for meat, right? WRONG! In the proper ratio, the big section should hold your complex carbohydrate – most vegetables other than corn, potatoes and carrots.
One of the two smaller sections is for your protein – meat, fish, poultry, eggs or dairy other than butter and cheese. Butter and cheese aren't off limits, just don't eat more than a tablespoon of butter/fat (salad dressing, oils etc), or 3 oz. of cheese in a serving.
The last smaller section is for simple carbohydrates, fruit, potatoes, rice corn, carrots, bread and any sugary foods. And when it comes to sugary food, watch out for the one-two punch of sugar and flour. Too many sweets like bakery goods pack a wallop of fat and calories that will pack extra pounds on you.
Using the imagery of your three section plate as a guide, you can structure each meal in just the right combination. Whether the plate is small or large, the percentage of proportions comes out right. You can have seconds in either of the smaller sections of your plate, as long as you also have seconds of the large section – complex carbs like salad and dark green veggies. Chances are you can't eat that much.
Following this common sense eating plan, along with moderate activity, should help you maintain your desired weight. If your goal is to lose weight, food choices from each group should be low in fat and sugar. There are good “diets” out there. Armed with the right information about nutrition, you can find one that works for you.
**Many medical conditions and/or diseases require carefully monitored diets as prescribed by your health care provider or nutrtionist. Those listed represent only a few such conditions. Always check with your physician before changing your diet or exercise plan.
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