Why americans are getting fatter and less healthier ?
This is the question that Alan L. Watson on his book: "Cereal Killer: an Unintended consequences of the Low Fat Diet" is trying to answer: After being challenged by his supplement company to identify what the healthiest diet is.
And his findings are no less than interesting.
Like a lot of books are coming out, this is like a movie script: from the darkness of the congress, which are the one responsible to determine the american diet, come rich ( and with money comes power) companies which are grain related and as well the pharmaceutical drug industries, both put pressure to those that are making the health and nutritional policy decisions which if you think about it; kinda makes sense, eat something that with the time is gonna make you sick, but don't worry because we can sell you the cure for your illness as well.
A little bit like the American Diabetes Association that actually allows people with diabetes to consume sugar based products ( poison yourself because we got you life juice, your antidote: insulin) well a lot of reports show that a high protein -high fat -low carb diet, actually helps people to loose wight and for those who suffer diabetes, these diet helps and in some cases CURE diabetes type 2 ( Diabetes type 1 has a genetic origin, but as well patients benefit with this diet) the pharmacy market has a potential 11,500,000,000 dlls/year, only in insulin treatment.
The trick is High protein, high fat, low carb diet, and the results are being reported: these type of diet works and make you loose weight and make you healthier like the Atkins Diet, among others.
But well, talking about the Guidelines for american diet, in 1992 the congress came out with the Food Pyramid Scheme,
This scheme has a Pyramid shape, divided in four levels, and each on them has how many portions a day you should eat, with the promise of loose weight and be healthy in no time: Level 1. Bread, cereal, rice and pasta groups (6 -11 portions a day), Level 2: vegetable and fruit group ( 5 to 9 portions a day), Level 3: dairy products, eggs, dry beans, nuts meat and fish groups ( 4 to 6 portions a day) and the one at the top; Level 4 should be used "Sparingly": fat, oils and sweets.
This scheme for now is outdated, now we know that there are different types of fats, mono-insaturated ( the best ones), poly-insaturated (with a moderate benefits) and the saturated ( that can clog arteries and produce cardiovascular disease the trans-fat are in this group); but this scheme does not make this differentiation between good and bad fats.
As well this way to make the one on the bottom more needed ( bread, cereal, rice and pasta level) has an economic reason: the producers of these food get millions of dollars by the USA government for create the Schools Food and tax exceptions too, and put millions of dollars in special fees when a country tries to export to the States these same products that can be cheaper than obtain them here in America.
Now Cereal Killer comes into perspective, the 2010 Dietary Guidelines For All Americans is set to be released this year. No secret that the heavy influence of lobbyists representing the the sugar, grain and vegetable oil industries is always present, that's why no mayor changes are gonna be show in this new guidelines. Status quo remains: does not matter that the health of the americans are getting worst and the change of this way of eating can improve a great proportion our overall health.
Is america the only land with overweight? !
The answer is no, thank God, we share our fatness with other countries too, but we are number one thou.
How fat we are ?
With South Korea and Japan having the 28 place means that only 3.2% of population are overweighed. ( not shown in chart) but you can check it out here
This chart says that if you have 100 american friends, most likely 36 of them are fat ( you most be a extremely popular guy if you have 100 friends to start with) then Mexico has the second place ( 24% of the population is overweighed) and the bottom ( people with less overweight) are South Korea and Japan, both have and incredible 3.2 %. Again, if a japanese guy has 100 friends, only 3 are are chunky.
So, most likely, their food chart most be way different that ours, some kinda of special diet from the future, Japanese style or something so radical that can defy our understanding of diets........
Well, I am not sure, but looks like the same food chart that we use.
With some exceptions ( milk and dairy products with fruits) are at the bottom of this Food Pyramid, which resembles an Spinning top, but as well, the main block ( the most important one ) stills the Bread, cereal and rice group.
So, what's going on ?
Godzilla is coming !!!! Godzilla is coming !!!! and is skinny !!!!!!!! how did he lost so much weight?!
Yeah, Godzilla as well can be used as a metaphor for the japanese culture that can destroy the american way of life ( a monster from the far east comes and destroys everything on it's way) but I am a child of the "Anime, Video Games and Internet Generation" and I just can say that Japanese culture rocks in a lot of ways; but besides of the incredible arrays of the japanese achievement ( Technological, economical and cultural Super-Power) they are a healthy nation, they expectation of live is 79 to 86 years ( americans are 75 to 80) and the first 75 years of life are basically healthy and disability free. A lot of people thinks that is a genetic thing, but looks like when some japanese adopt a Western-Style diet, well, they tend to chunk up too.
This is what Naomi Moriyama, co-author of the book: "Japanese woman don't get Old and Fat: secrets of my mother Tokyo Kitchen" said in a interview with webmd.com. The secret : " Just eat more fish, vegetables and fruit, serve smaller portions and mindfully and slowly; and add some healthy options like tofu and rice"
Hmm... something fishy is around here...
And this could be possible, Japanese people are CRAZY FOR FISH, they are only the 2% of the total population of the earth, but they consume the 10% of the total fishery production in the whole world. ( hmm sushi !) This consumption has a great advantage because fish have not saturated fat as meat does, rich in mono-insaturated fats like salmon ( mono-insaturated fats are been probe to increase the good fats and avoid strokes and heart attacks and for sure japanese love salmon) and high in protein.
RIce is good.
The japanese consume huge amounts of rice ( six times more than an average person in the states, and they are not fat as us!) and even eat rice in breakfast, this food is rich in complex carbs ( they are not as easy to transform in fatty tissue) and no fat when cooked in the japanese way: just water.
Small sizes for eating are good...
The University of Illinois made research to understand how people determinate the food size, 45% of the test subjects ate more when they were served a bigger portion and 70% said that the optimal portion is the one which is served in the plate ( that's why All You Can Eat restaurants are so successful), the way to tackle this: "serve the food in smaller plates, make them look nicer" Moriyama Says "You don't have to make all your portions smaller, just the high calories ones".
"All Vegetables are good, specially mushrooms" - Mario.
Japanese know this very well " Japan is kind of a vegetable-crazed nation" Moriyama says, when japanese woman were asked which home-cooked meals they most loved to prepare for their families"mixed vegetables simmered in seasoned broth" . Red bell peppers, green beans, zucchini, eggplant, onions, burdock, tomatoes, green peppers, lettuce, carrots, spinach, bamboo shoots, beets, lotus root, turnips, dakon ( giant white radish), shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes and seaweed are the favorite ones in the Japanese diets.
which is the best diet for me ?
There are so many diets over there, so many options that we can try to review each of them that would be a never ending task, but the first thing that you can do is go to your doctor before start a diet, in plain english " Use common sense" .... if you are looking forward to loose weight, maybe you gotta stop eating that $1 bacon-cheese burger at Macdonald's every single day, try to get more salads and exercise ( that's why you should see you medical provider before you start any diet and physical activity, maybe you got a condition that must be review) no sodas, more plain and/or sparkling water and tea.
Use you imagination to create a nice food plate with fruit and cheese, nuts and some bread, go to your library and find a nutritional book, google some options, find a help group that can give you ideas and support you when you have a double-chocolate-sundae-warm-peanut butter and macadamia brownie craving at 2 am, use common sense and please do not blame the government for whatever you put in your mouth and swallow it, unless someone was threatening you with a gun and said " if you don't eat these 100 Honey Buns am gonna kill you!" ....... if so, well..........you got a great excuse for have the shape of your body that you don't want.
Recent Comments