Priests of the New Nutritionism: An American Tragedy
Since when do we need these self appointed guardians of packaged food to supervise our eating?
My Lunch today
chicken kebab. salad. hummus. Pita. Mango Juice. English Tea with milk and Sugar
Dinner: Stewed peas and dumplings Jamaican Style. Fried sweet plantains. Nan. One glass of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from NZ.
I am not concerned about the carbohydrate content, nor the fat content, I couldnt care less about Protein percentage.
Even though I grew up in Australia and have lived in Cuba, USA and now in Paris, the food I had today is what my ancestors have eaten for centuries. I dont need a historically naive new age maven with a degree in Nutrition or something similar to tell me about saturated fats or calories.
In fact, Calorie counting should be considered an Eating Disorder according to an article published in England..
There is a new word for these , obsessives quantitative people: orthorexics, like anorexics... these are the people with UNHEALTHY obsession with Healthy eating..
For those of you, who want some numbers, i monitored my blood sugar all through the day..
Tea with Milk and Sugar. Mango Juice
2 hrs later RBS 91 mg/dl (divide by 18 to get mmoles/l)
Who could resist a Cortadito made hot and strong by a Palestinian, now exiled to Miami from his native Venezuela? about one hour later the blood sugar was 110 mg/dl
Lunch as described aove . Began eating at 14 25 and finished eating at 14 50 with an English Tea with milk and sugar. finished lunch at 15 10.
soon after I felt the post prandial sleepiness, the RBS was 156 mg/dl. at 15 30. By 16 10, one hour after my lunch my blood sugar had returned to 91 mg/dl. at 16 25 it was 105 mg/dl and at 1920 just before eating dinner, it was 102 mg/dl. Dinner as described above and I enjoyed the Sauvignon Blanc from NZ very much.. One hour post dinner the blood sugar was 101 mg/dl.
The best nutritionist I have worked with in my years with the American Indians, is a self taught Indian from the Winnebago Tribe, who teaches them How to eat rather than What to eat, who does not talk about Carbohydrates/protein/fat ratios but tells them little tricks how to make their restricted monies last longer and give them a good feeling of satiety and feel that they have done something good to their bodies. May Others learn from her...
Dr Sudah's Principles for Good Eating
1. Eat only when you are hungry
2. Eat Just Enough
3. Eat with Friends
Calorie Counting without paying much attention to the ingredients is foolish. Why are you eating Faricated Food you cant even pronounce. If i were to give you a big white tablet, will you just swallow it without asking me to explain what it is? it is metformin 1000 mg and within one hour your sugar will hit rock bottom and you will have all sorts of symptoms, once you know that you are not going to take the tablet are you?
So eat only that which you can understand. If the new priests of this food religion, cannot explain to you what is Maltodextrin and its effects on the heart and the insulin; if they cannot explain to you where the substances that are in a twinkie comes from, really you are really a fool to listen to their advice!
These Calorie counting Consultants do not tell you, perhaps out of their ignorance, that not all calories are created EQUAL...
you are not going to believe me, if I were to tell you that a 175 lb Burmese General has the same Moral Ethics as that of a 175 lb Buddhist Monk? After all they both weigh 175 lbs!
Eat Food whenever possible, not food substitute, not imitation food..The imitation label was removed when the manufacturers argued that since the NUTRIENTS in artificial food is the same as REAL food, then they are not imitation! It reminds me of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Industry which argued in front of the world regulatory agencies that since their fake medications contain the same amount of ingredients as the proprietary medications, then their medications cannot be fake, they are real... Dont tell that to the parents of children who died of Malaria in West Africa because the fake medications from China for Malarial treatment just turned out to be fake...
Despite the increasing number of Nutritionists, Endocrinologists, Diabetologists, Certified Diabetes Educators, the number of people becoming Obese continue to rise, the number of people becoming Diabetic continued to rise. Is there a connection ?
While having Lunch and laughing and having a conversation with my friends, one of them asked me to look at a Book called Eat this and Not that.. It listed 61 Fast Food or Chain Restaurants in America and some of which are in other countries as well. I have been, from the point of view of Food, extremely fortunate to have lived outside USA most of my life, eventhough did do post graduate studies at Washington University School of Medicine and University of Miami School of Medicine, in addition to my studies in London, Melbourne and Brisbane. Going through the list, i realize that reading that book would be a waste of time for me, of the 61 named entities, the only one i have walked into, would be the Starbucks at La Defense in Paris, but never for a muffin or a frappucino but for a simple Cafe Americano.. espresso with hot water and milk...
There is no role for fast food restaurants such as those mentioned in that book in a discussion about Nutrition with Real Food. There are absolute No Nos: Potato Chips, French Fries, Regular and Diet Soft Drinks...
Food is more than about Health, satiety and curbing hunger...it includes these and more.. No real australian, however far removed from his homeland, would shun VEGEMITE.. it is a cultural icon.. dont talk bad about roti canai in Malaysia, I am not interested in the caloric components of Awadhi cuisine nor the nutrient comosition of Mohinga Noodles of Myanmar or the Bun Bo Hue in Vietnam...
I have a bit of advice to my friends in the Far East who think that to understand western civilization they have to eat western food as well. Leave Western Diet behind without leaving western civilization.. Read Descartes and not People Magazine...if you wish to understand the western philosophy...East Indian migrants (India, Paquistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) eating French Fries to simulate their newly found immigrant status, die the youngest with the heart disease rate unheard of among westerners.. in fact the highest rate of heart disease in the world are found among their immigrants to the USA... they are dying for the wrong reasons...
This fundamenally highlights a serious flaw in the health care delivery in the western model, placing importance on the Quantity rather than trying to understand Quality. The providers and counsellors are Quantitative whereas the patients are interested in Quality ...
What we can do against this tyranny of numbers and restrictions? EAT FOOD for a change..
