Sunday Support Group: What Are We Having?

Michael Greger from How Not to Die:

How SAD Is the Standard American Diet?
As cynical as I've become about diet and nutrition in this country, I was still surprised by a 2010 report from the National Cancer Institute on the status of the American diet. For example, three out of four Americans don't eat a single piece of fruit in a given day, and nearly nine out of ten don't reach the minimum recommended daily intake of vegetables. On a weekly basis, 96% of Americans don't reach the minimum for orange vegetables (two servings a week), and 99% don't reach the minimum for whole grains (about three to four ounces a day).

Then there was the junk food. The federal guidelines were so lax that that up to 25 percent of your diet could be made up of 'discretionary calories,' meaning junk. A quarter of your calories could come from cotton candy washed down with Mountain Dew, and you'd still be within the guidelines. Yet we failed. Astoundingly, 95 percent of Americans exceeded their discretionary calorie allowance. Only one in a thousand American children between the ages of two and eight made the cutoff, consuming less than the equivalent of about a dozen spoonfuls of sugar a day.

And we wonder why there is an obesity epidemic?

'In conclusion,' the researchers wrote, 'nearly the entire U.S. population consumes a diet that is not on par with recommendations. These findings add another piece to the rather disturbing picture that is emerging of a nation's diet in crisis.'

—Michael Greger, How Not to Die, (Flatiron Books, 2015), pp. 261–262

How much do doctors actually know about nutrition?

A little inspiration refreshment for you this week. Always helps me.

This is the best time of year to live in the Finger Lakes. Fresh produce can be had from farmstands on almost any country road, you can buy a head of broccoli the size of a regulation basketball that was most likely alive and growing earlier in the day for less than $4, and the white peaches are in. I honestly don't think I had ever eaten a single peach in my whole life prior to moving here...if you've never tasted a peach that was a.) picked at the optimal time and b.) is optimally ripe, you really don't know peaches. I never did, anyway. Fresh white peaches are an amazing delicacy! Mmmm.

Don't forget that today is Street Photography Day! Here's a link about it that Kenneth Dixon sent me, from Orgeon Artswatch. Go harvest your pick (pic?) before midnight....

[posted by] Mike

Book o' the Week

There and Back: Photographs from the Edge by Jimmy Chin (available for preorder). "Filmmaker, photographer, and world-class mountaineer Jimmy Chin goes where few can follow to capture stunning images in death-defying situations. There and Back draws from his breathtaking portfolio of photographs, captured over twenty years during cutting-edge expeditions on all seven continents—from skiing Mount Everest, to an unsupported traverse of Tibet's Chang Tang Plateau on foot, to first ascents in Chad’s Ennedi Desert and Antarctica’s Queen Maud Land."

The above is a link to Amazon from TOP. Here's There and Back at The Book Depository. The following logo is also a link:

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Comments

[Thomas Walsh]

I wish I were astonished by the eating habits of too many Americans, but when millions reject science and refuse to get vaccinated or wear masks, it is not at all remarkable.

[Richard Parkin]

What we need to improve our diet is another World War. It’s long been claimed the health of people in the U.K. benefited from the privations and rationing in WW2 and it seems to be correct:

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2001/jan/14/life1.lifemagazine5

[Robert Roaldi]

Thank god we have all those "diet" drinks.

[Dan Khong]

Mike

When you stand on your (I heard it's a high end one) weighing machine, you get your daily feedback on how to plan your eating for the day.

The diet of developed countries - teeming with processed foods - generally makes people obese.

Count yourself fortunate to stay in the outbacks where you can still find food in it's natural, unprocessed and unmodified form.

Now you can have a KitKat as a reward.

Dan K.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Peaches, and many other fruit, really benefit amazingly from being left on the tree until ripe. I once had an apricot off a tree in California; itwas actually worth eating, and no other fresh apricot I had ever had had been.

Even store apples are a bit iffy, and apples are more durable than most fruits.

(Tomatoes, technically a fruit though not one that grows on a tree, also benefit amazingly from being left on the vine until ripe.)

[John Camp]

As to diet...well, maybe?

"The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet it is their strength labor and sorrow: for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." (Psalm 90.)

So Moses -- okay, I know what you're thinking -- thought people should live to 70, and if they were strong, to 80. How much better are we doing eating grass instead of bacon and eggs, that's what I want to know. That three score and ten was fairly widely accepted for centuries, if you made it out of childhood. Of course, people died earlier than that, but they still do. So, I'm a veggie, but if I wasn't, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about it. Time for a cookie. Mmmm.

[Gerard Geradts]

Well Mike,
It is this blog where I heard of the plant based diet. I just finished reading "How not to diet".
Ik stopped eating meat. Try to lessen my butter and cheese consumption. Nearly no alcohol.
Instead lots of ingredients mentioned in the book. I am happy to live in a country, where healthy food is available for moderate prices and always obtainable within walking, or at least cycling distance for everyone.
I reached my all time high last February: 129 kg. Now I am down to 116 kg. This new eating habit strengthen my hopes that I can reach below 100 kg, maybe even less.
I know it will take a very slow course, which can be frustrating at times, just like I know there will be plateaus. I already had one. When my weight stayed around 119 kg for weeks without any change.
But I read somewhere (here?) that this was to be expected and nothing to worry about.

Well Mike: Thank you for that.
And please, please continue writing about non-photo-related stuff. It is so helpfull for some readers, I am sure. Anyway, for me it is!

[Luke]

Let me pick you a fresh peach.

I'll hurry.

[s.wolters]

It’s not only the quality but also the quantity. I remember ordering an omelet once somewhere in Nevada. I got three fried eggs!
Only one wasn’t on the menu.
Whenever we are in New York we always have excellent fresh meals for a, compared to European standards, very low price. Even the coffee is acceptable nowadays at places like Starbucks and some others. But my wife and I always order only one cup that we share. Tall, that's the smallest. The other ones are Grande, Venti and Trenta. Large, larger, largest. Don’t forget to add one of those Naturally Flavored Syrups that contain enough calories to keep a coal miner going all day.

[JoeB]

Do you mean to say a breakfast of potato chips and a coke is not healthy?

OK how about a couple of pop tarts and coffee?

It is sad- I have seen people do this to themselves when so many healthy options are available.

Jb

[Rick in CO]

It's not just sad, but tragic. Those unhealthy diets contribute to a population that is overweight and susceptible to heart disease and many other chronic health conditions. The Covid epidemic is an example of how a virus can selectively afflict those with heart and lung conditions directly attributable to obesity.
Off my high horse, have you tried a Western Slope Colorado peach? Hurry, season is almost over!

[darlene]

One of the advantages I gained from my low income childhood was no soda, chips or junk food. Mom cooked all our meals because it was how she could afford to feed her children on her income. As an adult, I have never desired soda or junk food. I did however have to wean myself off of her fantastic baking, which I eventually did, but only after I spent years telling others my favorite meal consisted only of pie and salad.

When my son was growing up, I taught part time in the school he attended. Sadly, I learned some of the students felt they were addicted to a certain soda. It all started when a student asked me if I knew how he could stop craving it. He said it started at breakfast and continued throughout the day, and he wanted to stop craving it, but felt he could not do it on his own. Other students chimed in and added similar experiences. I never forgot that, and was always grateful my mother never brought it into our home. The greed of capitalism overruns the common sense of what is good for us.

I always enjoy your food and nutrition posts, but I am an ex-ad agency worker and understand who the "food pyramid" was actually designed for; the food industry!

[Greg Boiarsky]

If more Americans were diagnosed with type II diabetes or as pre-diabetic (and actually paid attention), we'd see a lot of good changes. I thought I was doing fine until my A1C went up. I ditched almost all added sugars, white pasta, and breads in favor of whole grains and fresh fruit/vegetables. It took all of four months for a complete turnaround. It's amazing; I can't even stand the thought of sugar at this point.

The other change to make is to get rid of the food deserts in this country. When you can only afford food that's bad for you, a terrible cycle begins. Your food makes your entire body susceptible to injury and illness. You get sick. You pay for medical care. Then, you can't afford good food even if it's available.

Everything in life starts with what you put in your stomach.

[Kefyn Moss]

Although the US leads the way SAD could be the Standard Australian Diet too.
So how much do doctors know about nutrition? Absolutely nothing, as I've known for almost forty years. Having been 100% "plant based" and 80-100% whole foods for that time, at just shy of sixty I have yet to go to a doctor. Meanwhile I get to see a parade of illnesses in most people that are at least 90% preventable that proliferate as they get older. The "SAD" thing is that many are under the belief that they eat well and very few are willing to change even if you could convince them otherwise.