The expression “you are what you eat” was coined in the late 1800s and implied that one’s state of mind was influenced by their diet . An advertisement in 1923 upped the ante when it suggested that “"ninety percent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs.”
Last year a more rigorous scientific approach published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2608221) concluded that fully half of the 700,000 annual deaths from heart disease, stroke (which along with cancer are 2 of the 3 leading causes of death), and diabetes are a direct result of poor dietary habits.
The analysis found that a deficiency of healthy foods contributed as much to a poor health outcome as did an excess of unhealthy foods. Let’s take a look at the 10 diet changes they suggest would have the biggest impact.
Salt was at the top of the list of things to avoid. If you are looking for one single dietary change to improve your health, take the salt shaker off the dinner table along with cutting recipe recommendations for salt in half. It will take a couple weeks to adapt to this change, but you will soon realize how much unneeded salt is added to restaurant meals and those processed foods you are buying at the grocery store.
Sugar, especially in sodas, was number two. Along with salt, sugar is the one additive that takes a 2 week commitment to break what is a real taste addiction for many.
Processed meats, which are high in both salt and fat, were high on the “to be avoided” list.
And finally, as you might have suspected, red meat rounded out the 4 items to be avoided.
Now let’s switch to the foods that are often in short supply in our diets and, if increased, would have a positive impact on our health.
Fish, with its omega-3 fatty acids provides a great alternative to red meat. A win-win diet change, decreasing red meat while adding the omega-3s.
Also expected we tend to scrimp on our daily intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. When you cut down on red meat, these offer great alternatives to assure you don’t leave the table hungry.
Fats, of course, made the list. A separate study published last month, re-emphasized the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks of “trans” as well as saturated fats. The study quoted from prior papers indicating that merely replacing dietary saturated fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oil reduced CVD by 30%.
Nuts, loaded with unsaturated (good) fats, were the final “must add” with a strong association with good outcomes. When you get that urge for a few chips and doritos between meals, a hand-full of nuts is a healthy alternative to get you to your next meal.
Another study indicated that adding just five tablespoons of olive oil or 30 g (a handful) of unsalted nuts to a conventional Mediterranean diet provided a 30% reduction in the risk of CVD mortality compared with simply lowering saturated fat intake alone.
So that rounds out ten changes to consider in your daily diet.
If you have been reading my columns the past year, this study confirms the major themes of prior articles.
- Less sugar. More and more the evidence indicates it is more harmful to your health than either salt or fats.
- Less red meat. And replace it with an increase in whole grain and vegetable side dishes. Both changes support a healthier microbiome with all its benefits.
- Less saturated and more poly-unsaturated fats. Cook with unsaturated vegetable oil (or olive oil). Get a jar of unsalted nuts for snacks. They are the answer to killing that urge to snack.
- And finally, the more you can do cook a meal yourself, avoiding restaurant and processed foods from the store, the more successful you will be in limiting your weekly intake of salt, sugar, and harmful saturated fats.
https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/39/17/1503/4987029
Eggs TMAO and cancer/heart disease: https://nutritionfacts.org/2020/08/13/what-explains-the-egg-cancer-connection/
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