Nutrition Basics: Foods
02.10.10
HOME-COOKED MEALS VS CONVENIENCE FOODS
With the arrival of convenience foods in the 1950s and fast food in the 1960s, Americans were offered a cheap and convenient alternative to home cooking. It also began the American love affair with high-fat, salt-laden meals accompanied by soft drinks. Today more than 90 percent of Americans get less than two daily servings of fruits and vegetables.
REDUCED ACTIVITY
Another contributor to America’s obesity problem is the decrease in activity. With all of our modern conveniences and an abundance of desk jobs one can get through the day with little physical effort. Dietary changes along with sedentary lifestyles contribute to our declining health. Without a doubt, obesity and diabetes are fast becoming our number-one health problem.
FOODS WITHOUT NUTRITIOUS VALUE
Soft drinks, candy and sugar-free gelatin – just to name a few – are non-nutritive foods. They are have no nutritious value as they are devoid of complex carbohydrates, proteins, fat , vitamins, minerals and sometimes even calories.
In today’s America it is entirely possible to be overweight and yet be
starving to death! Most Americans rely on white bread and other refined breads and cereal products. But white flour, when processed, loses almost all of its nutrients (Iron, Vitamins B1, B2, and B3). The 1942 Enrichment Act required for these nutrients to be added back into white flour again, which is now our ‘enriched’ bread. However, compared with whole-grain bread, enriched bread is still deficient in nutrients:
- 15% less Iron
- 75% less Magnesium
- 60% less Zinc
- 80% less Vitamin B6
- 35% less Folate
- 75% less fiber
SUBCLINICAL NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES
A new area of concern has emerged: subclinical nutritional deficiencies. These are nutritional insufficiencies that are slowly and subtly eroding the state of your health. A subclinical deficiency can take years to show up as a symptom. The situation becomes even more difficult for people who are taking medications that are depleting nutrients form their bodies -e.g. Statin (cholesterol lowering) drugs’ depletion of CoQ10. Other individuals may have specific diseases or conditions that may demand more nutrients. And finally, nutrient needs also increase with the demand placed on all out our bodies from the toxic environment we live in.
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