Skim Milk and Weight Loss--or Not

I thought this article was pretty interesting (and not really surprising) about the relationship between non- or low-fat foods and weight loss. Check it out! And thanks to my cousin, who posted this on Facebook last week.

The "New" Truth About Fats

Like so many other whole foods, fats are proving themselves not to be the evil villain the last couple generations were led to believe. (Honestly, if you read the literature, it was brainwashing, if you ask me.) Although, much of our medical and health education community still haven't picked up on this yet.

I've talked about this before (here and here and here), and I'm sure this won't be the last time, but it's on my mind again because I read another excellent article about the topic on Word of Wisdom Living. In it, the author, like Michael Pollan, advises: "Eat what your great-grandmother ate. Butter, olive oil, and lard." That's what we've been eating in my little family for a while now, with the only recent addition of lard (though I don't have a lot of experience cooking with it yet). If you're wondering why--or how these fats aren't considered "bad" anymore--read the above links. Of course, this isn't to say we should slather our food with these fats either. Remember, moderation is a good watch word for everything.

My favorite quote from this article is, I think, very wise: "Allow a century of use before assuming a new man-made food is healthy." Why it takes so much research to prove that these natural, no- or low-processed types of fats are actually better for us than all those chemically processed and modified fats is beyond me. Sense and logic tell us that the closer foods are to their natural state, the easier and better they are on the body, and the healthier they make us. So it shouldn't surprise us that they taste better too!

Healthier Alternatives

Tomorrow night I will be giving a short presentation at my church on nutrition. My topic is healthier alternatives--which is much of what this whole blog is about. It was a bit difficult to condense everything I thought of to discuss, but I managed to fit onto one page what I felt were the most important things to cover (it doesn't fit quite the same here). I include it below for those who are new to my blog or those who may appreciate a refresher, complete with links to places where I talked about them (or found the information) in more detail.

COOKING WITH HEALTHIER (AND USUALLY CHEAPER) ALTERNATIVES

• Try to do most of your shopping around the perimeter of the store (or better yet, produce as much of your own food as you can). (See Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food.)
• Cook from scratch - Get as close to possible to the natural source. Ex: Kroger’s All Natural sour cream has only cream, milk, and enzymes. Use butter instead of margarine. Even make your own spice mixes and cook desserts from scratch too.
• When you do buy prepackaged/prepared foods, check ingredients: The fewer the ingredients the better--and if you don’t know what some of them are, it’s probably better to opt for something else. (Again, see Michael Pollan.)
• Avoid MSG (monosodium glutamate). It’s added to many bottled sauces, salad dressings, canned soups, premade spice mixes, bullion, prepackaged foods, and even some sausages (not to mention many restaurant foods).
• Eat more vegetables. Try planning some dinners more around vegetable (and bean) dishes than meat dishes. This can also be cheaper.
• Limit or cut out white flour and refined grains. Bake with whole wheat flour and whole grains, including whole grain pastas and brown rice. Whole wheat flour is best ground fresh, since wheat begins losing its nutritional value (particularly its protein content) 72 hours after it is milled. You can also save a lot of money by grinding your own.
• Add more beans to your diet (preferably cooked from scratch). Ex: Substitute hummus for your vegetable or chip dip. If you do use canned beans, be sure to rinse off the sodium. Beans are super nutritious and very inexpensive. (Tips on how to get rid of much of the gas when cooking dried beans.)
• Refined sugar: Cut it down or out! Examples:

- Use healthier substitutes like honey, fruit juices, or raw sugar.

- Drink 100% juice instead of punch or soda.

- Replace fruit snacks with dried fruit.

- Instead of pancake syrup, use honey. Buy items such as peanut butter and

applesauce without sugar.

- Conscientiously check for corn syrup on labels and limit intake (there’s even some

new ketchup without it!)

The Oiling of America

A few years ago a friend of my mom's introduced her to an online article, which completely changed her view of fats. That was something quite remarkable, since my ever-health-conscious mother had always done everything low fat she possibly could, and up to that point had raised us all with margarine and very little animal fats. She urged me to read the article as well, which I did, and it amazed me. (I mentioned it briefly here.) It took all the "facts" we had been fed by health experts and turned them on their heads, and forced me to really think about the whole concept.

Since then, that obscure article has grown into a non-profit charity called The Weston A. Price Foundation with a multitude of topics ranging from the importance of natural animal products, to how dietary guidelines should be, to the truth behind heart disease. I have quoted from it several times before and will continue to use it as an important resource because I keep finding how much sense it makes! If you have any interest in these topics at all, I urge you to take a look too.

Butter vs. Margarine

When I read this article a few years ago I started seriously considering eliminating margarine from our diet, but not until we moved a couple years ago did I make that fresh start. Now I would never go back. (By the way, the above article is not light reading and is very long, but it is very interesting and informative.) Of course, this information has its refuters--not surprisingly, many of them connected to the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers--but I've decided that like so many other practical things, it just makes sense to get back to the natural food source, to products with fewer ingredients. And Michael Pollan agrees with me. After all, for how many hundreds of years have people been making and eating butter? And margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

Many of us have received an infamous email about margarine vs. butter--at least once. Go here to find out the truth behind that email.

Isn't the switch expensive? some will ask.

It can be. But if you do it like I do and stock up during the sales that come pretty often (and then store it in the freezer), it's not too much more expensive than margarine. And it tastes so much better, as do the items you cook and bake with it!

It's just another of those little things I can do to help my family eat healthier.