Practical Nutrition+ Vol 01 No 02
Practical Nutrition+ (tm)
Vol 1, No. 2
March, 1995
Copyright 1995 by Dennis Denlinger
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
"Practical Nutrition+" is a monthly electronic newsletter about care of the human body. Over the past 20 years the Editor, Dennis Denlinger, has been researching how to care for his own body with much success. During this time many theories and methods have been investigated and tried. Some have worked and some haven't. Some which have worked have been replaced with others which have worked better. Even more subjects have been researched than have been tried.
Suggestions, gripes, questions and other feedback, addressed to Editor, "Practical Nutrition+" at denlingr@ix.netcom.com are welcome. Also, experts and people with practical experience with various areas of health are welcome to contribute guest articles. Contributors will be acknowledged by listing their Name, Firm Name, Street Address, Phone Number and E-mail address.
The content of "Practical Nutrition+" is determined by the Editor, with due weight being given to your input. It will include from time to time articles by Dennis Denlinger or other lay persons who have had practical experience in day-to-day nutrition, articles by health care professionals, book reviews, answers to your questions and perhaps some surprises.
>>>"Practical Nutrition+" does NOT give advice, but is only intended to inform, to entertain and to be a place where ideas regarding health can be exchanged. If you have a specific health problem, consult an appropriate licensed health care practitioner.<<<
"Practical Nutrition+" will be available at various locations around the Internet. To subscribe to the electronic version of "Practical Nutrition+" send both your e-mail and paper mail addresses to denlingr@ix.netcom.com or to Dennis Denlinger, P.O. Box 60431, Sacramento, CA 95860-0431, USA. Your address will Not be distributed to others, but we may send you other pertinent information from time to time.
Accentuate the Positive
Many years ago Bing Crosby recorded a song which went "Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative...." That is a good philosophy to follow when deciding how to feed a human body. Accentuate the nutrients the body needs and eliminate the toxins and fillers which the body doesn't need. Yes, fillers. The fillers usually don't stand out and grab our attention, but they are important, too.
Think of the digestive system like a water pipe. There is only so much water that can be pushed through the pipe. The capacity of the pipe is limited to a certain amount. Similarly, if you push things which do not contain much in the way of nutrition through the body's digestive system, there won't be enough capacity to carry the things which the body really does need.
For instance, you can peel potatoes, boil them in water, throw away the water, then put the potatoes in a can and several months later open the can and eat the potatoes. Many nutrients have been lost by the processing. The potato skins contain many vitamins and minerals. Many of the remaining nutrients get absorbed by the cooking water. The heat of cooking destroys other nutrients. The canning process destroys even more. By the time you eat the canned potatoes there is very little nutrition left. Yet they use some of the valuable flow-through capacity of the digestive system. The body only gets calories from those potatoes. To utilize those calories the body needs vitamins, minerals and other nutrients which it robs from its nutrient store house. After a while the store house is depleted and the body can no longer function so well. Those canned potatoes could be thought of as fillers. They contain a lot of mass and calories, but otherwise comparatively few nutrients.
A better solution would be to cook the potatoes with skins on over low heat with just a small amount of water in a covered glass container. Then eat the potatoes And drink the water. That way you would get most of the nutrients from the potatoes. (Note that I don't recommend steamers because they are made of stainless steel which can leach harmful metals into the food. Also, pesticides concentrate in the potato skins along with the minerals and vitamins. Moral: buy organic potatoes).
This is one way to accentuate the positive.
By Dennis Denlinger
Do It YOUR Way
Frank Sinatra recorded a another very popular song telling how he did it his way. Well, in getting your body healthy, you have to do it Your way. Otherwise, it may not work. Learn the basics about good health from "Practical Nutrition+" and other sources. Then look at your life and decide for yourself what improvements you can make right now and not let drop out. If my own experience is any guide, it will not be easy.
The switch from the standard modern diet to a nutritious diet can be very strenuous. Our society is rigged with many barriers standing in the way to good nutrition and good health. The medical establishment seems to take the viewpoint that if you are not sick, you are healthy. Those who have done it know that "Not being sick" is certainly a long way from being truly healthy. If true health is your goal, you are out in the wilderness as far as the establishment is concerned. That is one barrier to good health. You have to decide on your way of overcoming it.
There are other barriers to good health. Sometimes you may not be able to do more than one thing at a time. Sometimes your body will "kick back" when you are attempting to improve your diet. If so, you will have to work out your way of getting the best of it. Sometimes your family, friends and business associates will "kick back" against your new eating pattern. Sometimes You may not agree with all the steps someone says are required for good health and want to omit parts of a particular program. Once again, look at your own situation, learn the basic data, decide how you want to go about improving your health and do it Your way.
It >is< very okay to do only one thing at a time. Then do something else. In fact, it often is better to get one thing right and keep it right from then on, than to do several things right only to have them fall out after several days, weeks or months.
Let's take a look at some of the things which can happen in real life. Right now there is a big argument going on regarding the value, or lack of value, or even [my gosh :-)] harm of sugar. The big companies which sell sugar and put it in their products are putting up the money to promote the value and "goodness" of sugar. It is us small folks interested in our health who are the opposition. In a later issue the pros and cons will be looked at, but for now let's assume you have decided to eliminate sugar from your diet.
The first thing you might discover, when you stop eating sugar cold turkey, is that your body develops cravings for the stuff. If you are a big sugar eater, just try that experiment for yourself. Dare yourself to stop eating sugar for one week and see of you can beat back the craving. Bet you can't. I couldn't back when I was a sugar junky. The >are< ways to beat the habit.
Your body protesting the cut off of its sugar ration with cravings is a major barrier to better nutrition.
Then, just try buying any packaged food without sugar. Look on the label and notice the words ending in -ose. Don't forget corn syrup, or other syrups. Even Karo corn syrup has sugar listed on the label. Did you know that sorbitol is a laboratory-produced sugar? I have seen candy advertised as being "sugar-free," but with sorbitol listed on the label. Technically it *is* sugar- free, however I wonder how the fellow who came up with the idea can sleep at night. And then there is honey, which is very much like sugar chemically, but still has some good points. Having fun?
Then go into any restaurant and try ordering a meal without sugar. A naked salad without dressing would certainly not have any sugar, but who wants to eat that? It's dull. Try ordering deep fried shrimp. Are you sure there is no sugar in the batter? How about sugar added to the hamburger? After all, people who crave sugar will want to eat more food if it contains sugar. What good, if slightly unethical, marketer would miss out on the opportunity to sell more of his product? Catsup contains sugar. A friend told me that a neighbor gave her young son potato chips which had sugar listed on the label. Even the salt has sugar coating on the grains so they will pour when it rains. Avoiding sugar in our society can be a major undertaking.
What about those jokes your best friend makes when the two of you go out to lunch together? Your pro-health actions might make him/her feel guilty and threatened. His own craving for sugar might be overpowering. It might be that he or she gets embarrassed when you quiz the waitress about the ingredients in each dish. Even when not done crassly, it is a good way to lose friends. That just might be the last lunch you share with that friend.
Getting closer to home, would your spouse be willing to make a major change in eating habits for you? Keep in mind that the change would be good for him/her as well.
Would he/she be willing to drop coffee, soda pop and milk in favor of water or herb teas? The withdrawal from caffeine itself would be a major undertaking for many people. Just consider all the advertisements, peer pressure and widely published data against smoking and then look at how many people still light up. Would your spouse, or future spouse, make such a change for you or your children? My experience has been that having a spouse who is also in favor of a healthy diet is the best ally you can have.
If you run into many barriers to good nutrition, it might be simpler to make a smaller, less drastic change at first. Take a look at the results, make it stable and only then start in on another change. You are much more likely to make lasting change that way.
Let's look at an example from real life. Right now my family eats a very healthy diet: no sugar (only sweet is fresh fruit or fruit juice), no preservatives (i.e. sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite), no refined foods (ie. white bread, white rice - whole foods only), organic food only (fruits, vegetables and grains are grown per the California "organic" specification). There are number of adjustments we have to make. For instance, when Ryan (age 5) goes to a birthday party, I make a special apple-juice sweetened cake for him to take along and eat when the other kids eat the sugary stuff. Sometimes I get requests to make the cake for everybody because other parents also know how bad sugar is.
However, this life style did not blossom full bloom - Not At All! It took many years to grow and develop. Growing up I was an ice cream, candy and fast food addict. My first experiments in nutrition were over 20 years ago, when I started taking vitamin C. At first, I took so much that I was getting diarrhea without knowing that that was the phenomenon of taking too much vitamin C. One of the books I read was by Adelle Davis, "Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit." That is still a good book with a lot of good data. Then I started adding more vitamins over the years. In about 1980 I did the Melvin Page Body Chemistry Balancing program. It is good and very expensive. Keeping to it was very difficult, mainly due to social and peer pressures. For instance, when I was working as a consultant running factory rebuilding projects, staying out of smoke-filled rooms was a real problem. Tough construction contractors and foremen smoke cigarettes and eat donuts - unless they have lung cancer or diabetes and the doctor orders them to lay off, then it is socially okay. My friends kidded me on not eating at just any restaurant. I insisted on patronizing restaurants which served brown rice. Eventually I dropped out trying to keep healthy away from home - but boy, the hamburgers, donuts and ice cream really did taste good!
Don't get the idea that it all dropped out. I still made relatively good choices when buying food to cook at home. Often I made lunches to take to the job. I still continued taking vitamins. So, it wasn't a complete disaster.
Conceiving and rearing children is a very strong incentive for putting discipline back in. That is what got the nutrition in rock solid for me. A line was drawn in the sand and it is not stepped over. My wife and I set certain guidelines and stuck to them no matter what.
The other day a friend, who used to babysit Ryan (my oldest) when he was really young, told me that she used to feel sorry for him. She thought there was something wrong that he had to have a special diet. Back then she didn't understand that it was just the way we normally eat. Now she is learning the basic principles and getting her family on a similar program. For her it makes sense. She and her husband grew up on farms in Greece and they eat healthily over there - it is the way of life. Modern food hasn't caught up with them yet. Her husband is in agreement and their child is only 4 years old - an age at which food habits are easily changed.
There is another woman who is very interested in switching over, but her husband likes to buy sweets and pizza for their children. Also, their children are older. The eldest at 9 and another at 7 years of age are already set in their ways of eating and refuse to change. Probably peer pressure has something to do with it. Only their youngest, 4 years old, is quite happy eating the more healthy food. She is finding it more difficult to make the change in her family.
You need to look at your present life situation. Look at the possibilities. Get information on good nutrition by reading "Practical Nutrition+" and other publications as well. Read some of the books I review. Start hanging out and socializing with people who are also interested in good nutrition. Pick one thing you can do now and add it to your life style. Once that is stable, add something else. Do not let anything drop out. Do it step by step. And above all, DO IT YOUR WAY.
by Dennis Denlinger
News Flash
In 1990 the U.S. Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act. It is expected that by 1996 standards authorized by the act will be in place. This means that when you purchase something labeled "organic," it will meet certain Federal specifications for freedom from pesticides and other additives.
Currently 11 states and 33 private certifiers have a conglomeration of specifications. This will mean that there will be one specification which can be relied on. More importantly, no one will be allowed to use the word "organic" unless the federal specification is complied with. This is a major protection for us consumers.
Answers to Your Questions
Where can I get organic, whole grain, sugarless bread?
There are two bakeries whose products I have been very happy with for a couple years now. I can buy their products in a local store, but both also sell by mail. They are both friendly and happy to serve you.
Pacific Bakery
P.O. Box 950
Oceanside, CA 92049
(619) 757-6020
Ponce Bakery
116 West 12th Street
Chico, CA 95926
(916) 891-8354
Good eating!
Book Recommendation
Since organic products account for only about 1% of the crops grown in the US, you may not have a source of organic foods readily available. Do not give up hope. There is a way around your dilemma. David Steinman has written a book entitled "Diet for a Poisoned Planet" (Copyright 1990, Pub. by Harmony Books, Div. of Crown Publishers, New York, N.Y.) in which he has analyzed a large variety of foods for pesticide and other toxin content such as industrial pollutants.
Steinman's main source of data comes from the Total Diet Study by the Food and Drug Administration. This on going study analyses food down to minute levels, five to ten times more sensitive than the methods used in laboratories that simply test for regulatory enforcement. Using this data he then separates foods into green light, yellow light and red light categories.
For example, you can learn that peanuts and apples are among the most pesticide laden foods on your grocer's shelves and should be avoided unless you can get the organic specification. However, rice is likely to be low in pesticide saturation and should be safe to eat.
One thing I found very useful is a table of which plants to mix to obtain complete proteins. Many plants have some types of protein. However, for the body to be able to absorb the protein, certain essential proteins must be eaten at the same meal. This table (p. 17-18) gives a large variety of plants which can be combined at a given meal to give you complete proteins. It is interesting to note that he repeats what is becoming well known: plant protein is more valuable than animal protein.
He has many other interesting sections in the Table of Contents such as: Irradiation, The Nontoxic Home, Pregnancy and Toxic Chemicals, Detoxification, and Safe Eating in the Real World.
In my opinion, this book cannot be too highly rated considering the toxicity of our current environment.
by Dennis Denlinger
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"Practical Nutrition+" is produced and edited by Dennis Denlinger. From time to time I have data on my favorite subjects, publications (I operate a publishing house) or products which I can send you. Some goes best by e-mail and some goes best by snail mail. I will have a summary of my current "nutrition hat," covering basic concepts and how I am presently applying them, available soon via e-mail. Eventually it all will appear in "Practical Nutrition+." For specific requests or potluck, send your e-mail and snail mail addresses to denlingr@ix.netcom.com. or snail mail to Dennis Denlinger, P.O. Box 60431, Sacramento, CA 95860-0431, USA, or telephone (916) 485-5119. I may ask for postage on some snail mail requests.
