Just Another Cliche

You know what really irritates me to no end? When people say, “Everything in moderation.” The conversation usually goes something like, “Carolyn, would you like a doughnut?”

“No thanks,” I reply with a smile on my face.

They look at me, half way roll their eyes, and say, “Well, you know, everything in moderation,” and stuff a doughnut in their mouth.

I smile again and continue doing whatever it is I’m doing and think to myself, Huh; I wonder what they think moderation is... and if they are aware of their BMI...

First of all, I do not like their attitude! It’s like they think I’m the bad guy for refusing a doughnut. And more often than not, I’d say the reason they say ‘everything in moderation’ is because they want to sooth their own guilt for not refusing junk food. It could also be because they know it angers me and want to be a smart ass.

Guilt is not a feeling you should have from eating. If you are feeling guilty about eating something, just don’t eat it. If you choose what you eat wisely, you will feel better about yourself in the end. Discipline is something Americans have a hard time with. Refusing something we want is not a part of our culture.

Now that’s how I feel about the context of ‘everything in moderation,’ but I also don’t like the content of the message. I honestly don’t even believe in this everything in moderation mumbo jumbo First off, who decides what moderation is? And secondly…EVERYTHING?!? REALLY?!

I’m not here to tell you what it means to be moderate, because I think it’s something you definitely need to think about on your own. An alcoholic may think 1 glass of wine or 1 beer a night is incredibly moderate, whereas I consider an alcoholic beverage a few times a year to be moderate. My point is moderation seems to be a matter of opinion.

For example, today you may have a bag of M&Ms but you NEVER have M&Ms! Yesterday you had a grilled cheese and French fries, but you rarely ever have fast food. Tomorrow is your friend’s birthday party so you’ll probably have some cake and ice cream, but your friend only has a birthday once a year! (Just like all your other friends.)Then it’s the weekend, you ALWAYS go out to eat on the weekend, that’s what weekends are for!

“Everything in moderation!”

Hopefully you see what I’m saying, but in case you don’t: Eating different kinds of junk food everyday is not moderation. Eating 100 extra calories a day will lead to gaining 10 pounds in 1 year. If America understood moderation, I highly doubt we would have the array of health problems we have today. Remember, heart disease is the number one killer in America, second is cancer, and type II diabetes is also running rampant. I read that obesity is soon to surpass smoking as the number one cause of cancer. It sure looks like our ‘everything in moderation’ routine isn’t working out too well.

Now to the ‘EVERYTHING.’ Are you kidding me? A few things you should never have (in my humble opinion of course) bottom feeders, pork, partially hydrogenated oil, and quite possibly battery acid.

Bottom feeders, such as crab and lobster, eat feces and whatever else there is on the bottom of the ocean. Do you want to eat something that eats feces?! Pork is filthy too. It doesn’t have sweat glands so its waste just stays in its body, marinating its edible parts. Partially hydrogenated oil is a form of trans fat. It raises your bad cholesterol and lowers your good cholesterol. Have I mentioned heart disease is the number one killer in the United States? As for battery acid, who knows, maybe that one can be included in everything in moderation.

Okay, sure, eating these things a couple times a year will not kill you (except for the battery acid. That may kill you, don’t eat it), but it also will not provide you with optimal health. So, if you can define moderation in a healthy way, you may not develop these illnesses as quickly, or maybe not even at all. But if you eliminate at least some unhealthy things from your diet, you increase your chances of having a happier, healthier life.

So maybe a proper saying would be, “Some things in moderation… if you know what moderation is”

Steps to a Healthier You.

I recently came to the realization that I do not live in the real world. I live in a house with 3 other ‘mostly’ vegans. We rarely have animal products in the house and our refrigerator is always stocked with lots of fruits and vegetables. We make granola and whole wheat cookies for fun.

Living in this environment, sometimes makes me forget that there are people who have no clue about healthy eating. The other week, my roommates and I threw a kabob party. It was a success. We had four types of marinated tofu and a variety of vegetables to grill.

Sounds like a good time, right? Well apparently, not everyone thought so.

I ran into one of my friends before the party and asked him if he was going to make it.

“Oh yeah, I was thinking about going, but then I saw that there were going to be vegetables, and I don’t like vegetables.”

I laughed. He doesn’t like vegetables, I thought to myself, that’s a good one.

“Yeah, I’m just more of a meat person. I’m actually having a barbeque tonight with some friends. I just bought a ton of meat. I just don’t like vegetables.”

“Wait, what? You’re serious?” At this point, I was trying to grasp the concept of not liking vegetables. How can someone omit an entire food group? Surely there are some vegetables he likes.

“I will eat carrots, uncooked, those little ones.”

If he’s not eating vegetables what is he eating?! I had a sinking feeling in my chest. This nice young man is going to die an early death because he has a terrible diet.

The conversation ended with me convincing him to come to my house for dinner sometime and I would cook a delicious healthy meal with lots of vegetables. If I convince one person in this world to eat more vegetables and less meat, my life will be well lived.

The health implications of a diet high in meat are astronomical, especially from red meat. Meat consumption is associated with heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke. These are four of the leading causes of death in the United States and for the most part, they are preventable with diet.

Here’s the problem with meat, it is usually high in saturated fat and cholesterol. People that have high amounts of meat in their diet, usually have low amounts of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, fiber, and antioxidants. So not only are they ingesting unhealthy fat and cholesterol, but they are not eating foods that are suggested to prevent diseases.

Although studies are not 100% conclusive, a number of studies have shown the correlation between meat and increased risk of mortality. One study in particular showed a correlation of increased mortality due to heart disease and cancer specifically with red meat versus white meat. Red meat consumption included all types of beef and pork and white meat included fish, turkey, and chicken.

A study conducted on women showed that an average intake of about 2 ounces of red meat a day increased the risk of metabolic syndrome and inflammation.

A potential mechanism for increase incidence of cancer could be the formation of carcinogens in meat during high temperature cooking. Iron found in meat (heme iron) may increase oxidative damage and increase N-nitroso compound (a proposed carcinogen). (Click here to read up on N-nitroso compounds http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/files/nnitrosofaq.pdf )

Other than transfat, saturated fat is the main dietary culprit for raising LDL levels (bad cholesterol). It starts with bad cholesterol, and then suddenly you have plaque build-up, hypertension, atherosclerosis, a blood clot and BAM... heart attack. Okay, so I may be exaggerating. It doesn’t happen that quickly… the heart attack won’t come until after you’ve established a job and have a wife and 3 kids.

So next you’re going to tell me, but I only eat lean meats, so there’s less fat. And yes, that is better than the alternative, but still not the best J But understand, it is not only the meat that is unhealthy, it is the lack of vegetables, beans, legumes, and whole grains that is also hurting you. If you want optimal health, you will incorporate beans, legumes and whole grains as protein sources.

The American Heart Association recommends the following:

• Choose poultry without the skin, and trimmed lean meats
• Choose fish baked or grilled fish, especially oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, albacore tuna and salmon.
• No more than 6 ounces of meat per day. (Which is still a lot in my humble opinion.)
• Select meat substitutes such as dried beans, peas, lentils or tofu. (This is my personal favorite)

Be careful:

• Choose low-sodium, low-fat seasonings such as spices, herbs and other flavorings in cooking and at the table.
• Shrimp and crayfish are higher in cholesterol than most types of fish.
• Some types of fish may contain high levels of mercury, PCBs, dioxins and other environmental contaminants; ex: Shark, swordfish, tilefish (golden bass or golden snapper) and king mackerel.
• Check the amount of sodium in processed sandwich meats; some have 25% or more of the daily value.
• Ham and Canadian bacon are higher in sodium (salt) than other meats.

Types of lean red meats (if you insist):

• Lean beef (round, sirloin, chuck, loin). Buy "choice" or "select" grades of beef rather than "prime."
• Lean or extra lean ground beef (no more than 15% fat).
• Lean lamb (leg, arm, loin).
• Lean cuts of buffalo are very low in total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium.

So today’s post is about taking small steps toward a healthier life. Maybe now you'll choose chicken instead of beef or salmon instead of pork. I’m not asking that anyone become a vegetarian today, although that would be amazing; I’m recommending that you limit your meat consumption, especially red meat. If you don’t eat meat, inform others of the health concerns linked to a high meat diet.