Salt, or the chemical term sodium chloride, has been so highly prized in our history that it has been used as currency and as a strategy to wage war. Salt rations that were given to Roman soldiers were known as salarium, an early term that became the word salary that we use today. Why did something as simple as salt come to have such power?
Water is an essential nutrient with absolutely no calories, one that is required for our very existence. We can survive only minutes without air and only days without water. Of our total body weight, anywhere from 45% – 75% is made up of water, depending on the amount of body fat we have. Water not only makes up the largest component of our body; it is used continuously by every cell for the following necessary functions to:
We lose over 2 liters of water each day just by being alive through our breath, urine and bowel movements. Since our bodies cannot store water, we need to replace this water loss with water intake. It is recommended that adults consume 64 ounces (2 liters ~ 64 ounces) of water each day or eight 8 ounce glasses of water or other fluids…
Which do you think is better for you, butter or margarine?
Ever since studies came out demonstrating that trans fat is more harmful than saturated fat in terms of heart health, there has been a movement to reinstate butter over margarine as the healthier solid fat. Personally, I think it’s being used as an excuse to eat butter. I mean who doesn’t like butter? When my oldest daughter was preschool age and we went out to a restaurant, she would take a pat of butter and just eat it plain while we were waiting for our food to arrive. I can still see that satisfied look on her face.
Butter is made by mechanically processing (churning) cream or milk turning it into a solid (or saturated fat) at room temperature. Margarine is made by chemically processing oil turning it into a solid fat. This chemical process is known as hydrogenation and the partially hydrogenated oils found in shortening and hard margarines contain the types of trans fats that lower the “good” fats in our bloodstream, high density lipoproteins or HDL.
In terms of heart health, anything that lowers HDL is a no-no. We want to raise HDL levels in our bloodstream – since HDL carry cholesterol to be eliminated by the liver, thus lowering the risk of atherosclerosis or heart disease. Both dietary fats, saturated and trans, raise the “bad” fats in our bloodstream known as low density lipoprotein or LDL. It is obvious that we want to limit saturated and trans fats in our diet, so when we do use a solid fat, which is healthier, margarine or butter?
Protein is hailed as the king, the star that takes center stage at meals. For much of our history and even today, it seems as if a meal is not complete without meat, fish, or poultry – that slab of animal flesh. This is obvious when I watch the reality show Top Chef – as the chefs are off and running to compete in the next challenge, they are often seen grabbing the “protein” first and then the rest of the ingredients are chosen to highlight that.
Why have meat, fish, and poultry (MFP) been elevated to star status? We seem to enjoy eating it as much as we enjoy watching it being cooked since the typical American diet provides twice as much protein as we require. Out of the three macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein and fat) protein is needed in the smallest quantity per calories, only 20% of our daily calories. Remember that protein is found in more than just MFP. The other animal sources of protein include milk, dairy foods and eggs and the plant sources of protein are vegetables, grains, dried beans and peas (legumes), and nuts and seeds.
There are a couple of reasons why MFP foods have taken center stage for so long. One is that MFP as well as milk, dairy foods and eggs are considered high biological value protein foods. What this means is that they are ‘complete’ proteins, providing all the ‘essential’ amino acids needed by our bodies to perform a variety of important functions. There are a total of twenty amino acids which are the building blocks of all protein molecules. Of those twenty, nine are considered essential – they must be provided by our diet since our bodies cannot make them. The other eleven amino acids are equally important yet they can be metabolized from other foods in the diet…
Carbohydrates include sugars, starches and fiber. Sugars are simple carbohydrates and starches and fiber are complex carbohydrates. In general, you should consume more complex carbohydrates and eat fewer simple carbohydrates. Um, so how does this translate into which foods are best?
In my last blog, I mentioned the more nutritious foods that have simple carbohydrates that are important to include in a healthy diet: fruits, and low-fat and fat-free milk and dairy foods.
Where this gets complex is that many starchy foods have been stripped of their nutrients either during processing or during food preparation and cooking. We’ve become a nation that abhors the texture and flavor of whole grains and whole foods, in favor of processed or ‘refined’ foods where the hull, bran, germ, skins, seeds, etc. have been removed.
For example, let’s take wheat bread. Many people are surprised to find that white bread is actually made from wheat…
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