Introduction

Along with exercise and genetics, nutrition is one of the most important contributors to healthy living. Of the 3, nutrition is much more of an interesting topic, since exercise is usually non-controversial, and there's not much anyone can do about genetics.

The Problem:

If you do an Amazon search for books on "nutrition," you will find over 11,000 results. Similarly, you will find over 30,000 results on "diet."

Some of those books will agree on a nutritional and dietary philosophy, and some won't. You'll be able to find dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of differing opinions as to what you should eat, and what you shouldn't, and how important food really is or isn't.

What is anyone supposed to do? Nobody has time to read 30,000 books.

The Solution:

When analyzed from an educated, rational, and evolutionary perspective, it becomes clear that many diet and nutrition ideas are illogical and even dangerous to your health.

Much of studying nutrition is simply filtering out insane proposals. Whether it is an "all 'something' diet" or other traumatic short-term fad, it's easy to see that those ideas have no place in a long-term healthy living plan.

After filtering out most of the crazy concepts, there are really very few acceptable philosophies. And the good news is that those few philosophies have been tested. The results are in -- all you have to do is look at them.

Is there really a difference between diet and nutrition? In the minds of many people there is. But there really shouldn't be.

A "diet" is commonly thought of as a temporary change in eating style to lose weight. The bad thing about that type of diet is that:

1. The weight loss is usually water,
2. The weight loss is usually temporary,
3. The weight usually comes back faster and to a greater extent than before,
4. The weight becomes harder to lose next time,
5. You have increased your risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease by eating a poorly balanced diet in an attempt to lose weight.
6. You feel unsatisfied and hungry all the time,
7. You have not found a stable, long-term, healthy-living plan.

What if, instead of going on temporary diets to try to lose weight, you discovered a diet that you could maintain forever? One that made scientific sense. One that has been tested and proven.

What if this diet wasn't a "diet," but rather a nutritional plan that you could develop into an every-day, every-meal eating style? What if this nutritional plan:

The Good

1. Let you maintain your desired, healthy weight,
2. Made you feel satisfied,
3. Made you feel alert, awake, energetic, sharp, happy, and healthy,
4. Eliminated harmful cravings like the all-familiar sweet tooth,
5. Minimized the risk for diabetes,
6. Minimized the risk for heart problems and strokes,
7. Minimized the risk for all other systemic diseases including cancers,
8. Increased overall health for your lifetime,
9. Boosted your immune system to maximum functioning levels,
10. Minimized colds, and flu's,
11. Decreased the duration and severity of colds and flu's if you do get them.

Would you believe it? Would you be interested? Can what you eat really be that powerful?

Enter the Zone, by Dr. Barry Sears
The China Study, by Dr. Campbell

To understand nutrition, one must understand the true power of food. Every time you eat, you are taking one of the strongest known medicines. That medicine (food) affects your hormonal balances by initiating a hormonal cascade. And hormones are hundreds of times stronger than any drug.

(If this is the first time you are hearing about a relationship between food and hormones, you're not alone. Consider reading Enter the Zone for a great explanation of what really happens when you eat.)

Every time you eat, the resulting hormonal cascade can either have good, bad, or indifferent effects on your body for several hours. The challenges are first, to gain an understanding of how powerful the effects of hormones are on health, and second, to understand how to control them with the foods you eat.

Insulin is a very powerful and important hormone for everyone (not just diabetics). It is your body's defense against "excess." Your body uses insulin to try to reduce the levels of sugar in your bloodstream after a meal.

Based on what you eat, your blood sugar may rise quickly, slowly, or hardly at all. The faster your blood sugar rises, the more insulin your body releases to combat the sugar.

The problem is that insulin has many undesirable short and long-term side-effects. Having too much insulin can cause you to:

The Bad

1. Gain weight,
2. Convert carbohydrates (sugars) into fat for storage,
3. Be unable to release any stored fats or sugars for energy,
4. Be unable to lose weight,
5. Feel weak, sleepy, and dim,
6. Feel hungry even though you recently ate,
7. Crave carbohydrates,
8. Have a suppressed immune system,
9. Get sick more often,
10. Become diabetic and insulin resistant,
11. Develop cardiovascular problems.

It should be clear that controlling insulin is an important key to healthy living.

Food is made of three main components called macronutrients.

• Carbohydrate
  wheat, bread, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables, juices, grains, cereals, legumes, desserts, sugar, dairy products
• Protein
  meats, egg whites, nuts, soy, dairy products (cheese, milk, yoghurt)
• Fat
  butter, margarine, egg yolks, oils, nuts, animal fat, artificial fats (partially hydrogenated oils), dairy products, shortening

Depending on the amounts and types of each macronutrient in a meal, your blood sugar will rise either quickly, slowly, or hardly at all. In response, your body will release either a lot, a little, or hardly any insulin at all. And based on the insulin response your meal creates, you will either be taken closer to the Good list or the Bad list of effects. The goal of every meal should be to minimize your rise in blood sugar and insulin.

For a long time, carbohydrates were thought of as an innocent macronutrient. Then all that changed, and carbohydrates were often regarded as a detrimental macronutrient. The two books (Enter the Zone, and The China Study) are actually quite contradictory in this regard. Of course this can easily add to the confusion. The research in Enter the Zone shows that carbohydrates are the primary contributor to the Bad list by causing an insulin response when consumed out of balance. In The China Study, it's very clear that whole, plant-based carbohydrates are the key to health and disease prevention.

Different carbohydrates enter the blood stream at different rates. The faster the rate, the more insulin is needed to combat the blood sugar rise. Your goal should always be to choose carbohydrates with the slowest rate of entry into the blood stream. As you'll see, this usually means fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Avoid artificially processed carbohydrates as these have usually been stripped of important fiber and nutrients.

The rate of sugar entry into the bloodstream is measured by the glycemic index. See www.glycemicindex.com for more details.

High glycemic index = more insulin released = Bad.

Low glycemic index = less insulin released = Good.

There are three main types of simple carbohydrates found in common foods:

1. Glucose - wheat, grain, and table sugar.
2. Lactose - milk sugar.
3. Fructose - fruit sugar.

In general, glucose has the highest glycemic index, and fructose has the lowest. The rate of entry of sugar into the bloodstream is heavily influenced by balancing the type and amount of carbohydrates in a meal with protein, fat, and fiber. That is the Zone theory.

Protein has very little effect on insulin directly. What protein does is help reduce the amount and rate of carbohydrate entry, therefore indirectly reducing your insulin response. According to the Zone, every meal should have protein to counteract the detrimental effects of carbohydrates. However, more recent science (The China Study) shows why this consideration is unnecessary.

Fat also has very little effect on insulin directly unless it is consumed in excess. Proper fat intake helps reduce the speed of carbohydrate absorption, effectively lowering their glycemic index and helping to minimize the insulin response.

Excess fat however leads to excess calories which will affect insulin release and weight gain.

There are several different types of fats with very important differences. The main four are listed below:

• Poly-unsaturated fat

• Healthy fat
• Liquid at room temperature
• Does not increase cholesterol, and may reduce it
• Found in peanut oils, soybean oils, and other vegetable sources.

• Mono-unsaturated fat

• Healthy fat
• Liquid at room temperature
• Does not increase cholesterol, and may reduce it
• Olive oil, avocado, nuts, and other sources

• Saturated fat

• Unhealthy fat
• Solid at room temperature
• Increases cholesterol, although possibly by raising both the good and bad cholesterol (so in effect it's not so bad)
• Animal meats, animal products, dairy products, cheese, yoghurt, sour cream, cream cheese, etc

• Trans fats

• VERY unhealthy fat, avoid at all costs, know what you're eating by reading labels and asking restaurant managers
• Solid at room temperature, unless blended with liquid oils
• Vegetable shortening, partially hydrogenated oil
• Increases cholesterol and arterial plaque build-up
• May cause metabolic problems
• Hidden fat, often not listed on labels as fat, not legally considered a fat, although it is much worse than any natural fat.
• Artificially created and widely used as a processed fat with long shelf life, pleasing texture, good taste, and non-greasy feel.
• Found in:

• pastries
• desserts
• most candy bars
• many granola bars
• big-name brand peanut butters
• some microwavable popcorn
• many boxed foods like crackers and cookies
• donuts
• some whip-creams
• margarines and most butter substitutes
• most chips
• some breads including pizza dough
• muffins, cupcakes, pancake mixes
• fried foods, in almost all restaurants and fast foods
• grilled foods in most restaurants, even "high-class" restaurants
• and many more

Choose your foods carefully. You only have to read a label once to know and remember a bad brand. Look for partially hydrogenated oil or shortening in the list of ingredients. If you find it, put it back on the shelf and plead with the manager to replace that brand with a health-conscious brand.

Be careful not to fall for the "zero trans fat" trick. Even if you find 0 trans fats in the nutrition table, there may still be trans fat in the food. Be sure to check the ingredients list.

Ask your restaurant manager what they use to grill and fry food. (Also be sure to ask about the type of oil used in pizza dough if you're ordering pizza.) Very often the restaurant manager will tell you "vegetable oil" because it sounds healthy and isn't really a lie. But sadly that's another trick. Most restaurants use a factory-made blend of oils which are high in trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils), but still liquid. You have to specifically ask them if the oil contains trans fats or hydrogenated oils. Tell them you will find a restaurant that uses pure oils instead. Plead with them to change if you really like the restaurant.

Healthy oils are more expensive, harder to cook with, and don't last as long. That's why you will find trans fats used in restaurants and in boxed foods that need a long shelf life. In 2005, I discovered even grilled chicken at "high-end" restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory are brushed with trans fats before grilling, not to mention that everything there is fried in trans fats. However, in 2006, they made a transition to using non-trans-fat oils. I'm not sure if this is still the case. It might be wise to simply ask their kitchen manager for more information. The bread Togo's uses for their sandwiches is made from shortening too. These are just a few examples of a widespread problem.

Some grocery stores, like Whole Foods, make every effort to keep partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats) out of all their products. Some restaurants like Ruby's Diner have made efforts to provide trans-fat free French Fries, called Fit Fries, and use non-trans-fat oils in all their cooking and frying. Some of their products still have trans fats in them, like their fried zucchini and Ruby Rolls because they purchase these pre-made. But once you learn what has and doesn't have trans fats, eating out becomes a lot easier and safer. In restaurants that use trans fats for grilling, you can request that your food be grilled dry or "grate-grilled."

Do your heart and arteries a great favor. Make every effort to discover and avoid trans fats in all the foods you, your family, and your friends will ever eat. Please see www.bantransfats.com for more information.

The key to healthy living and eating is a combination of all the science above and all the psychology of will power and learning to enjoy and appreciate health. Healthful eating is easiest when it is integrated into your way of life and becomes routine.

As explained above, the Zone theory to healthful eating is insulin control. Proper balance of every meal will help keep insulin in check. Understanding your necessary calorie intake will help eliminate excess. And learning to balance meals by eye is an important skill.

With a little practice, balancing meals becomes a thoughtless habit, not a chore. Appreciating the results is the reward that motivates you to change.

In general, the Zone way to balance a meal or a snack is as follows:

• 40% calories from carbohydrates
• 30% calories from protein
• 30% calories from fat

But The China Study explains that 30% protein and 30% fat are too high for health and will lead to diabetes, heart disease, and cancers. The ideal diet should be mostly plant-based carbohydrates with 20% protein or less, and less than 30% fat.

Remember that:

• carbohydrates are about 4 Calories per gram
• proteins are about 4 Calories per gram
• fats are about 9 Calories per gram

For example,

• 12g of carbs = 48 Calories.
• 6g of protein = 24 Calories.
• 3g of fat = 27 Calories.

which is roughly 50:25:25 based on calories.

If you do the math a few times, you'll eventually be able to visualize the balance without having to study your meals or make calculations each time you eat. Eventually it becomes second nature. Just give it a chance.

For a complete explanation please see the recommended reading materials above in this article.

I hope I've been able to inspire you to want to live healthy and given you some of the basic tools and knowledge to be able to do so. There's so much information available that one can easily be overwhelmed. Understanding nutrition takes years of thought and study. With time your knowledge will advance as your thoughts mature. Eventually you will develop your own keen philosophies based on your feelings about nature and science and they way you apply logic yourself. (This is what happened to me.) This summary of the basics should be a great start for anyone wanting to enjoy and share the benefits that health brings to life.