Book Review
Arthur Agatston MD's
The South Beach Diet
Dr. Agatston hits the nail on the head when he identifies "bad carbs" such as baked goods for
their devastating role on blood chemistry and overall health. His diet limits these carbs, but
does not go far enough in a number of ways. Dr. Agatston preserves the popular tradition of a
light dinner followed by dessert. "Saving room for dessert" is probably the most self-destructive
thing a person can do. It is a habit that must be broken if we are to achieve a satisfactory weight,
heart health and longevity. Quite the opposite, we should eat a complete dinner and have no dessert
available in the house at all in order to step off the extreme swings of the sugar-insulin cycle. Of
course, eating the main course till you burst is not recommendable either. The famously long-lived
Okinawans have a rule of thumb to eat until one is 80% full. This is a reasonable portion to create
a satisfied, finished feeling, yet not enough to promote weight gain.
Another problem with the South Beach Diet is that Dr. Agatston perpetuates the decades-long confusion
over good fats and bad fats. He seems to ignore the fact that the food industry promotes
polyunsaturated oils over saturated fats (meat and dairy) because of their long shelf life (which
leads to increased profitability), not because any study ever found them to be superior. Of course,
the food industry points to the "Seven Countries Study" which allegedly showed better health outcomes
on the polyunsaturated fats, but that was originally a twenty-two country study, in which the data
from fifteen of the countries were discarded by the researchers because it inconveniently showed
the opposite: that people fare better on a saturated fat diet than one with polyunsaturated and
hydrogenated oils. This should come as no surprise. Our ancestors, if they managed to survive the
hazards of childhood, generally lived to be as old as we, while staying slender and fit enough to
manage a life without temperature control, motorized transport and indoor plumbing. And almost all
of their fats were saturated. In fact, in 1920 Americans consumed an average of 18 lbs of butter per
person per year. Now it is only 4 lbs per person per year. Yet we are quite a bit heavier compared
to our great-grandparents. Dr. Agatston would do well to consider that the human species was not
languishing in malaise until the big-chain grocers brought us bottles of corn oil and canola oil.
Rather, now that we have been eating these unhealthy oils for so long, our species is starting to
show the signs of poor nutrition.
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Book Review
Dr. Joseph Mercola's
Total Health Cookbook and Program
Dr. Joseph Mercola
Author of the Total Health Cookbook
and Founder of
Mercola.com
Dr. Mercola takes a vastly more intelligent approach to nutrition in his
book Total Health Cookbook and Program.
He begins by looking at what our ancestors ate and if they seemed to do okay or not on their diets. Since
the sum total of human ancestors' interactions with the only foods available to them far exceeds the
empirical data of any experimental study, Dr. Mercola has started off on an excellent question: What
did they eat, and how did it affect them?
What he found might be quite surprising to contemporary Americans. For one, the "Food Pyramid" was
always completely upside-down from where it is now. Whereas now there are 6-11 servings of breads,
pasta, cereals and rice per day, such foods were almost never eaten by many ancient people and seldom
eaten by others. Foods that were far more plentiful in general were a very wide variety of plants,
meats, fish and dairy. Dr. Mercola points out that agriculture only began 6,000 years ago, which, comparitively speaking, is very recent in human evolutionary history. And it was only then that we
began ingesting huge quantities of sugars and starches. To make matters worse, over 90% of grains
are now highly processed, which makes their health consequences even worse.
Starting with such a sound premise as learning from our ancestors, Dr. Mercola then acknowledges the
studies of metabolic typing,
which illustrate differences among individuals regarding optimal proportions of nutrients. Some of us
do better with more fat and protein, and fewer vegetables and fruits. Others seem to do better with
more vegetables and fruits, fewer proteins and fats. Then there are those who seem to be balanced in
the middle. Dr. Mercola's book offers many recipes with varying proportions of these basic food groups.
He also has the best and longest list of healthy snack ideas that I have ever seen.
Regardless of one's metabolic type, good quality fats, proteins and carbohydrates are the same for
everyone. And what should come as no surprise, in the case of all three food groups, they are the
same as those consumed for hundreds of thousands of years by our ancestors: the bottom line is clean,
whole, unprocessed food if you want to enjoy good health.
More information from Dr. Mercola is available at
http://www.mercola.com/
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Long life, from your shins...
In traditional Chinese Medicine, qi (pronounced "chee") is the source of your energy and vitality.
Qi may often appear to be lacking especially in adults. One traditional Chinese recommendation for
long life is to press the acupuncture point known as "Stomach 36" every day, making a habit of it.
Stomach 36 may be found by first locating the dimple on the outside of your bent knee. You will find
it surrounded by three bones (your femur, tibia and patella). Now measure one of your own hand widths
(must be your own hand width) down the shin. Press on the point one hand width down from the dimple.
You should be pressing in the top of the groove between the shafts of the tibia and fibula. As the
saying goes... a
picture is worth a thousand words.
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Write and let us know what you think
ch@naturopathyworks.com
Visit us on the web at
www.naturopathyworks.com
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Have you ever sought a physician who learned the following in medical school:
- Nutrition
- Herbal Medicine
- Acupuncture
- And the many other natural therapies
Look no further: the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians
www.naturopathic.org
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