Recently in Health Category

Ever since I've started being more careful of what I eat to lower my cholesterol, I've thought that egg salad must be evil. It contains egg and mayonnaise, after all. Well, I guess it pays to read the labels and know the facts. A very simple egg salad recipe I use is just 3 hard boiled eggs and 2 tablespoons of (real, full-fat) mayo, and it makes 2 servings. One serving contains:

207 calories
18 g total fat
4 g saturated fat
323 mg cholesterol
9 g protein

Couple that with a couple slices of some nice whole grain bread, and you end up with the following for the whole sandwich:

367 calories
21 g total fat
4 g saturated fat
323 mg cholesterol
8 g fiber
17 g protein

That's not what I would call unhealthy, and neither would the government. The government's own dietary guidelines call for no more than 22 g of saturated fat per day and between 44 g and 78 g of total fat per day for a 2,000 calorie diet. The amount of cholesterol is a little high, as the guidelines call for 300 mg/day. But if you had a couple egg salad sandwiches per week, I doubt it would be an issue (assuming you kept your cholesterol intake relatively low the rest of the week). Plus, you get lots of fiber (assuming you choose the bread wisely) and protein. So egg salad sandwiches goes back on my list of food I may eat regularly. Now if only I could get grilled cheese sandwiches on that list...

Ok, I've heard and read a lot about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) lately. Claims range from the source of America's obesity epidemic to a substance of pure evil. What I just learned is that HFCS is not 100% fructose. It's either 42% fructose, 58% glucose (HFCS-42) or 55% fructose, 45% glucose (HFCS-55). And as that article describes, ordinary table sugar (sucrose) is 50% fructose, 50% glucose. So, please, someone explain to me how HFCS is more dangerous or more fattening the table sugar because I'm not seeing the problem. Many of the alleged problems of HFCS seem to revolve around studies measuring the effects of fructose on people. These studies unfortunately look at fructose in isolation, not paired with glucose, which makes them rather useless, in my opinion. If fructose is that bad for ya, then so is normal table sugar and most fruits. Bottom line is HFCS is just a sweetener folks! And it's not much different (chemically) than table sugar. It's certainly closer to table sugar than Equal, Sweet-n-Low, Splenda, or whatever your favorite "sugar substitute" is. It's just used over sugar because it's cheap, even if it is "processed".

This has gotten a lot of press in the last few days, but in case you missed it Medicare is going to cover obesity as a disease. What this means, I think, is that certain procedures, like the gastric bypass, may be covered. Now I'm all for the government trying to do something about the obesity "epidemic", but this seems a little ridiculous. I guess this is one thing I agree with Republicans on, but I don't see how obesity is a disease... there's no "cure" in a medical sense. Just stop eating so damn much and get some exercise. What I would rather see my tax money go to is more government research on diet and social issues. Take carbohydrates, for example. It seems that many people think carbs are as evil as Saddam Hussein and his WMDs. Is this really true? Not surprisingly, research from the Atkin's and South Beach camp say so. I'd like to see some more independent research on this, and have the government take an official stance on the issue. While I don't think the gov't should be diet nannies or diet cops, they should disseminate truthful and helpful information to allow people to make their own choice.

They could also look into more issues like why do people think they have no time to exercise? Can we reduce commuting times and/or work hours to make exercising part of the day? It's hard to find time to exercise when you have to commute over an hour and work 60 hour weeks. Can we teach kids good exercise and diet habits rather than cut gym and feed them fast food? Commuting is an interesting topic because it is largely a personal choice. No one forces you to work an hour or two away from where you live. But long commutes are at least partially influenced by city planning and suburban sprawl. Since city planning, zoning, and public transportation are government issues, it would be wise to see if future decisions can be made to reduce commuting times.

Patients are complaining about government certified pot. As one put it:

"It's not good," said Ontario resident Marco Renda. "I took two puffs and I put it out."

I've been reading Nancy Clark's Sport's Nutrition Guidebook for the past few weeks, and it's a great book. Since I am now at my target weight, I wanted to learn the right way to continue to eat healthy. While the audience is mainly active people, I think much of the advice given applies to "normal" people, too. For the most part, atheletes just tend to need more calories, rather than huge changes in diet. Nancy Clark is a registered dietitian specializing in sports nutrition, which means her credentials are solid, as compared to most diet book authors. The book contains a lot of factual information, but there's also many stories about her clients, too. Invariably, she was describing a client that had a similar problem or issue as I did, so I found these stories very interesting.

Part I is "Eating Strategies for High Energy" and describes the basic principles to a healthy diet. The main advice is a diet of 55% to 65% carbohydrates, 20% to 30% fat, and 10% to 15% protein. You'll notice that carbs are the foundation of the diet, not something "evil" to be avoided. Active people do need more carbs than non-active, though, since muscles easily convert carbs to energy. There is a whole chapter on carbhoydrates, going over why the body needs them and dispelling many of the carb myths. There are chapters on breakfasts and snacks, and why you should incorporate both into your diet. The chapter on protein is interesting. You always see these power athletes, especially weight lifters, consuming protein supplements, and I was wondering if this was something I should consider. I learned that protein needs, even for body builders, is not that high, and that supplements are very rarely needed. Most non-vegetarian people easily consume enough protein just by eating a balanced diet. And if you need to boost your protein, usually an extra glass of milk or yogurt takes care of the defecit. So I get to cross off yet another myth from my list, which is good because those GNC supplements didn't look very appealing, anyhow.

Part II is "Balancing Weight and Activity". My favorite chapter is the weight loss chapter. It describes how to setup a diet plan by first calculating your daily caloric needs. This part is actually very useful, even if you do not plan on losing weight. For example, if you are targetting 60% of your calories from carbohydrates, you need to know how many calories you need first. One fact I found really interesting is that craving of high sugar foods often indicates that you are not eating enough. Lately, I've been finding I have huge cravings for snacks. I've also started to bike a lot more, and I think my cravings have to do with this extra activity. Plus, I don't think I can lose much more weight, so my 1,800 calorie diet just isn't cutting it anymore. I calculated how many calories my body needs, and it comes out to about 2,600 calories. By taking 20% off for dietting, I should be consuming 2,000 calories to lose weight, not 1,800. And let's also assume that even 2,000 is not enough, since I don't really need to be on my diet anymore. Now, I'm really eating much too little. Instead of my 530 calorie meals, plus one 200 calorie snack, I could theoretically eat four 650 calorie meals a day, and still not gain weight. That's a lot more than what I was eating, and perhaps that's why I'm feeling so hungry lately. In any case, I'm going to try eating more for my meals. Not only will this be healthier than eating snacks, I tend to overeat the snacks, which means I probably consume too many calories, blowing past 2,600 on the way.

Part III is recipies. So far, I've only made the oatmeal blueberry muffins, and those were tasty! There are a few others I'd like to try as well, but I can't comment on most of them.

In conclusion, if you want to learn how and why to eat healthy, with a spin on active people, this book is great! I've learned a ton by reading it, and recommend it to any athlete. And I think that even non-active would learn a lot of practical information, too.

The American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and the American Heart Association have joined forces to help prevent diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke by raising awareness and empowering individuals. They've launched a new campaign, called Everyday Choices For A Healthier Life with the message of "Protect Yourself From Yourself" by doing the following:

• Eat Right.
• Get Active.
• Don't Smoke.
• See Your Doctor.
• And Live.

This stuff is getting a lot of attention recently!