VEGETARIAN DIETS AND NATURAL FOODS

VEGETARIAN DIETS 

There are three types. The strictest excludes all animal products as well  animal flesh and organs. The second allows use of such animal produce milk, cheese, and eggs. The mildest allows fish and shellfish in.

Some people adhere to them and may be lean, but there is no scientifically discernible special virtue in vegetarian diets. There are vegetarians who attribute their long life and healthy old age to their diet, but there are equally healthy old people who credit daily meat eating. One possible hazard in vegetarian diets, particularly the strictest, may be lack of sufficient protein. We learned recently of a 78-year-old physician-patient who developed a huge enlargement of the liver, estimated to weigh 15 pounds instead of the usual 3. Biopsy showed cirrhosis.

 He had never used alcohol but from the age of 10 had never eaten meat and had reduced other sources of the complete proteins (see page 49). Specialists in liver disease who were called in finally concluded that the many years of a diet inadequate in rich, complete proteins had caused damage to the liver. The prescription: beefsteaks, filet mignonette, roast beef. The patient is having the time of his life at meals.

NATURAL FOODS 

Many health food and natural food stores in the country offer a wide range of "unprocessed" or "organic" foods. The foods, for the most part, are good and nutritious. They often cost more than foods available at regular food stores and supermarkets. Claims made in their behalf are that they are grown in soil that has not been impoverished and they are not spoiled by processing. As arguing against the idea, that generally available foods are grown in poor soil. nutritionists’ note that commercial agriculture in this country treats soil as a precious commodity and keeps it rich through crop rotation and fertilization.

Even if soils were widely impoverished, they add, this would not necessarily mean that foods grown in them would be nutritionally inferior. Infertile soil may lead to reduced yield per acre but no inferiority in the makeup of the plant grown. Many nutritionists also observe that the nutritive value of a given crop, such as corn or wheat, is influenced more by the kind of seed planted than by the fertility of the soil. 

Thus, corn can be bred to contain more niacin or more starch, tomatoes to contain more vitamin A or vitamin C, through development of new strains and seeds. As for food processing, leading nutritionists argue that commercially canned and frozen foods-in terms of practical nutrition if not of taste -are not inferior to fresh. 

How Vitamins act and their influence in our body care?

VITAMINS

 About $1.5 billion is spent yearly for vitamins, much of it by healthy people convinced by high-powered advertising that they need extra vitamins. While essential, vitamins are required only in minute amounts, and a fully adequate supply is provided by a balanced, varied diet. To be sure, some people, relatively few, may need vitamin supplementation because they do not absorb certain vitamins properly when they are on vigorous reducing diets. In such cases, medical advice is required. 

Vitamins in excess cannot restore the vigor of youth or perform other assorted health miracles. If diet is poor, vitamin-deficiency diseases may result: scurvy, with its gum bleeding, muscle aching, general weakness caused by deficiency of vitamin C; rickets with its bone deformities from deficiency of vitamin D; pellagra with its mental deterioration from deficiency of one of the B vitamins (niacin).

Correction of a deficiency when it exists may produce near-miraculous changes. But unless there is an actual deficiency, increasing vitamin intake with supplements-adding more to what is already adequate---can be useless, needlessly expensive, and in the case of some vitamins such as A and D can be harmful, since these two vitamins can accumulate in the body to poisonous levels. Some interesting, though not definitive, reports on the possible value of large doses of vitamin C taken early during a common cold have appeared recently.

The following table lists excellent sources of principal vitamins: Vitamin E Vegetable greens: beets, kale, chard, mustard, spinach, turnips Yellow vegetables: carrots, yellow squash, sweet potatoes Beef liver Cod-liver oil, halibut-liver oil  Vitamin B (several vitamins, including niacin and thiamine, make up the B family) Liver, pork, beef, salmon Whole-wheat bread, enriched bread, oatmeal and other cereals Peanuts, peanut butter Vitamin C Citrus fruits: oranges, lemons, grapefruits, limes Tomato juice (fresh or canned) Strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants Vitamin D Halibut-liver oil and other refined fish-oil preparations Vitamin D milk Exposure of the skin to sunlight 

SENSIBLE CHOLESTEROL RECOMMENDATIONS

 SENSIBLE CHOLESTEROL RECOMMENDATIONS 

An unequivocal answer to whether lowering cholesterol levels will reduce heart attacks will require long-term studies involving large numbers of people. But there is enough evidence at hand to make it seem wise, many authorities agree, to encourage changes in the typical American diet, which tends to include excessive amounts of cholesterol and fats. Desirable changes have been recommended by the American Heart Association.

Where the average daily diet in the United States contains about 600 milligrams of cholesterol, the Heart Association recommends that this be cut to less than 300, also called for: a decrease in intake of saturated fats and an increase in intake of polyunsaturated.

 This, the Association is convinced, will lower abnormal concentrations of cholesterol in most people. The ideal quantity of fat needed in the diet is not known, but an intake of less than 40 percent of calories from fat is considered desirable. And of this total, polyunsaturated fats probably should make up twice the quantity of saturated fats. To follow these recommendations, you may have to change some eating habits but you will not have to give up all your favorite dishes.

 To control cholesterol intake, you will need to eat no more than three egg yolks a week, including eggs used in cooking. You will also need to limit your use of shellfish and organ meats. To control the amounts and types of fats:

1. Use fish, chicken, turkey, and veal in most meals for the week. Limit beef, lamb, pork, and ham to five moderate-sized portions a week.

2. Choose lean cuts of meat; trim any visible fat; and discard any fat that cooks out of meat.

3. Avoid deep-fat frying. Instead, use cooking methods that help to remove fats: baking, broiling, boiling, roasting, and stewing.

4. Restrict use of fatty "luncheon" and "variety" meats such as sausages and salami. 

5. Instead of butter and other cooking fats that are solid or completely hydrogenated, use liquid vegetable oils and margarine that are rich in polyunsaturated fats.

 6. Instead of whole milk and cheeses made from whole milk and cream, use skimmed milk and skimmed milk cheeses.