Celebrating Nutrition
It's time to celebrate nutrition. To exult in the privilege of having good, healthy, wonderful-tasting food to eat and having the knowledge of what that is! For too long health fanatics have taken away our favorite foods. Consider the pop fads of our day. The high protein gurus have taken our carbohydrates, the hygienists and raw-food eaters have deprived us of our favorite cooked dishes, even beans. The antidairy purists have attributed several major diseases to the use of dairy foods and eggs. Pritikin and the no-oilers have moved all fats into the no-fat zone. The health food faddists have not allowed even a bit of the big white five: white sugar, white flour, white salt, white milk, and white meat.
The only items left in the food chain are fruits and vegetables, and now environmentalists and organic idealists suspect them because of pesticides and genetic engineering.
As we try to comprehend the message of the doomsday nutritional soothsayers, we realize these fanatics, collectively speaking, are against all foods! Something is wrong with this approach. If we want to be healthy we must eat good food. Our meals should be enjoyable-even exciting. We should look forward to each one with gusto and celebrate each bite.
Enjoying Good Food
History records ancient cultures celebrating their harvest. Even today many religious devotees offer foods to their gods. Why can't Christians relish their foods and give glory to God, who provides this great cornucopia of gourmet pleasures?
Modern Generation X manages to celebrate Thanksgiving and other holidays, but why not make = each meal a celebratory occasion? Even f the six to eight glasses of pure water deserve a toast!
It's time for a search-and-destroy mission, not of our favorite foods, but of the negative words we hear discussed such as: forbid, abstain, avoid, resist, and refuse. It's time for a figurative book burning or a boycott of our favorite book chains or cooking shows.
Let's begin to notice all the negative titles of books and recipes such as: sugar free, sodium free, dairy free, cholesterol free, and fat free. When nutritionists calculate the dietary intake of nutrients it's not the sugar on the strawberries or the oil in the bread that matters most, it is whether a person is consuming adequate catalytic converting vitamins and essential minerals. And whether they are enjoying the best biochemically rich fruits and vegetables, taking in at least 1,200 milligrams of calcium to build and maintain strong bones.
Good nutritionists are far more interested in essential fatty acids and a good source of proteins or total calories than the many different forms of sodium and sugar derivatives found in our foods.
A New Emphasis: Variety, Color, and Adequacy
The new millennial emphasis among national and international nutrition organizations is on variety, color, and adequacy. They are devoting much more space in their recommendations to whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, lowfat dairy, and fish, than they are to salt, cholesterol, sugar, and trans-fatty acids. The "health enthusiasts," on the other hand, spend so much time on the food that should be avoided that they have little time to focus on the wholesome foods of choice.
Note the following guidelines from some national and international organizations:
The American Institute of Cancer (July 1998): Choose predominantly plant-based diets rich in a variety of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and minimally processed starch foods.