Outsmarting the Food Mercenaries -- Part 2

I’m excited to report on the progress of our nutrition program with the 12 moms from Woodbridge Elementary School in Roseville, CA. During the lecture sessions on May 9 and May 22 we discussed seven key components of good nutrition: • High quality protein – minimize meat and reduce high-fat dairy; add beans, whole grains, raw nuts, and seeds along with protein-rich vegetables and fruits. • High quality fats – olive oil, canola, and grape seed oil, minimal saturated fat, and absolutely no Trans fat. Even if the product label states no Trans fat, read the ingredient list and if hydrogenated is mentions, put it back. • Complex carbohydrates – maximize complex, minimize simple, and no refined carbohydrates. • Dietary fiber – avoid all foods with less than with less than 3g of fiber per 125 calories. The objective is to slowly increase the amount of dietary fiber to 40g daily. • Reduce sodium – the need to be highly diligent about processed and packaged foods, most are loaded with sodium. For every 100 calories, there should be less than 100mg of sodium. • Minimize sugar – the American Heart Association recommends a daily maximum of 3 teaspoons for children, 6 teaspoons for women, and 9 teaspoons for men. On the average, Americans eat 155 pound of sugar each year, which is 6.8 ounces daily (or 52+ teaspoons). Children (4 to 8 years old) eat about 21 teaspoons daily. Hello Type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, and some forms of cancer. We are collectively putting our children’s health in great jeopardy. • Chemicals – all of the processed and packed food (including many organic labeled products) are loaded with health harming chemicals. Here is a short list: aspartame, BPA, BHA, BHT, carrageenan, color dyes, cultured celery Juice, HFCS, TBHQ, Dimethylpolysiloxene (form of butane), diacetyl (has caused “popcorn” lung), nitrate, nitrite… to name a few. Sadly, FDA allows them all. Today, I accompanied two of the moms to our local WINO and we read through the ingredient list of dozens of products they typically buy. After reading the labels, they put many of the packages back as they were all ‘muy mal,’ very bad. We purchased for them ingredients for two highly nutritious, tasty, and easy to prepare dishes: GrandHotCereal and NuttyQuinoaPilaf, part of the BagOfLife program. Here is the list: Almond meal, bell pepper, brown sugar, carrots, cinnamon powder, flax seed, Italian seasoning, oat bran, onions, paprika, pearl barley, quinoa, rolled oats, sunflower seed, tomatoes, TVP (textured vegetable protein), and wheat bran. An important point here – every item is from bulk bins, no factory processed packages or containers. They are going to prepare these meals four times during the coming month, keep good notes about their family’s reactions and we will discuss their experience during the next session The objective of the program is to help people change their buying, cooking, and eating habits towards more nutritious and least processed meals. I believe we are on the road to good nutrition. Deep thanks to my Rotary Club of Roseville for its financial support of the program.