> A given person, in 2006, eating the same amount of calories, taking in the same quantities of macronutrients like protein and fat, and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher. I think the recent obsession with macronutrients is a big part of the problem. I'm not sure if the macronutrient ratio I eat has changed much from when I was growing…
I agree, the macros look sort of the same, but the source of those calories is much different. Just the types of cooking oil we use has changed a lot. Look at what goes into cookies now. It used to be butter, now I've seen recipes with canola oil. (if anyone tells you to use canola oil in your baked goods, ignore them and use butter!) There is evidence that gut bacteria is passed down from generation to generation, w…
I don't think that most things in particular are necessarily bad for you, but it might be worth taking a few steps back and switch to less processed foods... I don't think organic makes much of a difference for most foods (aside from berries)... But using oils that have to be heavily refined, perfumed and dyed to make them palatable doesn't make so much sense.
There's also recent studies on the affects of artificial sweeteners on digestion, trans fats and a bunch of other stuff. I think the push towards vegetarianism, low-fat, low-carb, etc as fads combined with industrialization of food has done a lot of harm to the public.
If you're young and relatively healthy, avoid processed/refined foods as much as possible, eat a variety of things and don't consume too many calories on a weekly average, and you should be okay. I'm 40, diabetic, insulin resistant, and wish I'd received that advice when I was younger.
I just think it sucks how much it really costs to actually cook for yourself... over the weekend I made 3 different pots of soup to have this week. I had some chuck roast that I braised in beef broth (store bought), used the roast in a menudo inspired soup (I don't like tripe), the braising liquid was combined with mushrooms and onions for another soup... I used the left over carcase from a roasted chicken to make another broth that I then used to make vichyssoise (sub some potato with cauliflower and parsnips). All told it cost about $160 for everything with about a gallon each of three soups... breakdown to 2-cup servings comes out to just under $7 a serving for a low-gl diet with a variety of veggies... That doesn't count adding other protein in my diet too.
Now make it a family of 4-5 and that budget is too high for families making under 40-60K/year. It's no wonder that boxed mac & cheese, hamburger helper and the like rule the roost at home along with the dollar menu at fast food places. With all the heavily refined, packaged, canned, frozen and just plain overly processed food that we all consume too much of, is it any wonder why we as a society are experiencing the problems we are?
I don't know how well supported it would be, but would really love to see food/nutrition/cooking as a core material in elementary schools... Actually bringing cooking into school lunches with a required prep rotation for all students would go a long way. It would cost more than those programs do today, but is using subsidy trades to turn chickens into chicken nuggets for school lunches really a good thing?