Nutrition Class Week II

[howeird]

Another mostly wasted session. Heavy on the psychology and the need for support. I have nothing in common with these people. They all have families, all but one are women, none are diabetic.

The fattest woman in the class says she has to hide the sweets from her diabetic husband by keeping them in her car. Her kids don't like that because the chocolate melts. She doesn't get it that she should be hiding the sweets from herself.

Another woman, who could not be more than 15 lbs overweight, says her husband has ice cream three times a day, and doesn't gain weight. She says the fact that the ice cream is in the house is why she eats it. He won't eat the low-fat, low-calorie type. I suggested she buy her own, and they have his and her ice cream. "You don't wear his clothes," I said, "you don't have to eat his ice cream". She got the point, but it sounds like she'll just put his ice cream in the outdoor freezer.

The assignment for this week was to keep a 2-day diary of what we ate, when, with whom, and what mood we were in when we ate it. I didn't do it, because I'm on a food plan, I know that I'm eating correctly, I almost always eat alone, and mood has nothihg to do with food for me. I eat when it's time to eat, not because I'm having a "bad hair day" (or in my case a "no hair day"). If I'm angry about something or depressed or bored, I'll take it out on my piano.

I do have to set aside time to exercise, but we didn't cover that today.

She did say two things which make me wonder. First is she thinks butter is better than margerine in a diet food plan. The second is that aspartame is a chemical, so it's not as good for you as raw sugar (she used molases as an example). I'll have to do some research, but both of these statements sound very wrong to me.

And I guess she broke my heart by telling us not only does she have a boyfriend, he has a wine cellar with more than 800 bottles. Who can compete with that? Imagine what Spin The Bottle would be like at his place...

Comments

[skydancer.livejournal.com]

I'm not at all surprised by her statements about butter and sugar, though I do question the way she phrased the one about aspartame.

The food industry has made much ado about animal fats vs. vegetable oils. I think they, and many doctors and other researchers, were swayed by the intuitive thought that if you eat fat, you'll have more fat (cholesterol) in your blood.

But fat is simply an efficient energy-storage form for our bodies. When fat is metabolized, it is turned into glucose. If the body has use for that energy, it will use it. If not, it will work to store it--thus fat.

On the radio the other week the talk-show host was doing a segment on cholesterol-lowering medications. During it he happened to mention being on the Atkins diet for a time--high protien and fat, low carbs--and his (high) cholesterol dropped significantly during that time.

What other research has shown is that all the cholesterol in the blood is created by the liver. Furthermore, the most important measure in determining healthy levels is the ratio of HDL to LDL. The former is often known today as "good" cholesterol, and the latter is the "bad" that adheres to the blood vessels. Asside from a few medications and fewer foods, the only thing that has been shown to change that ratio is excercise.

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Aspartame aka Nutrisweet is, for most people, a non-issue it seems. However, there are a significant percentage of people that have adverse reactions to it. Furthermore, it cannot be cooked with, as cooking breaks it down (and I believe, though could be mistaken, that the resultant chemicals aren't nice for the body (and don't taste good either)).

Want to sweeten a cup of coffee with a teaspoon of sugar? That's only 10 calories. Of course, with diabetes (IIRC your are dealing with this, yes?) you have to plan appropriately for any food that has a high glycemic index. (Did you know that ice cream has a GI of something 50-60? compared to the 72 for watermelon and 103 for dates?)

I first read about a lot of these counter-intuitive results in Life Extension by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw. They've had their detractors through the years, but a lot of their findings have stood scrutiny.

Do research it! Don't take anyone's word for it without a lot of confirmation. But also be aware that there have been a lot of myths told about diet through the very public control-structure of the government and private medical establishment. Just look at how many times they've revised the "food pyramid". The overweighting of that pyramid with breads and cereals probably accounts for a lot of the overweighting of our population as well.

[scendan.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that margarine is a Bad Thing because it has the bad sort of fats, and butter--while more caloric--at least is less likely to cause your arteries to plug up.

Which makes me sad, because I was raised on margarine and actually prefer the flavor. Strange, perhaps, but true.

[howeird]

Funny you should mention this, because one of the women in the class said her biggest challenge was trying to use less butter. She was raised on a farm, they had cows, so to her the taste of any subsitute is Wrong. I told her I was the opposite - we never had butter in the house, and it always tasted bland to me.

Looking at my notes, the nutritionist was complaining about hydroginated oils and trans-fatty acids. The margerine I use has the former but not the latter.

[scendan.livejournal.com]

Sorry...yes, hydrogenated oils is what I meant to say, but lost track of what the "bad stuff" was in margarine.

I miss my margarine.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I've heard butter has more nutrients than margarine. IMHO it depends upon which kind of margarine you use. I keep both in my kitchen and use them for different things.

Re: Aspartame, some folks have a problem with it. It has no nutritional value, but hey, it's got flavor, so who cares, right? If it doesn't bother you, don't worry about using it.