Saturday, April 5, 2014

HIGH OR LOW, FAT OR CARBS?



Here we go again! According to some recent research, giving up high-fat foods and increasing high-carbohydrate foods to lose weight was all wrong—dieters simply ate more sugars and starches to feel satisfied, and so they failed to lose weight. Duh! Isn’t this rather obvious?

Of course lipids (fats and related materials) in small amounts are important for good nutrition. The myelin coats around many nerve cells are made of cholesterol, a lipid that is also essential for making hormones. Fats are the most concentrated form of energy found in food, and they carry the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Omega-3 fatty acids appear to protect us from heart disease. We need lipids for all those reasons. The problem comes when we eat too much fat—or, for that matter, too much carbohydrate or protein. Instead of being entirely used as needed for energy and for building needed compounds, part of the food is stored as fat deposits around the heart and other muscles.

When did Americans start eating too much fat? Perhaps it began, or at least was intensified, just after World War II. I can still remember eating white oleomargarine (or dyeing it yellow with little dye capsules) during the war. The stuff was unappealing at best, and when butter rationing ended with the war’s end, real butter tasted wonderful. Cooks could again use it, and everyone could slather butter on pancakes, waffles, and toast. Corn-fed beef became more available, too. We started eating “high on the hog.” 

Back in the fifties, it was hard to find nonfattening foods. In the Midwest where I grew up, there were wonderful fruits and vegetables to eat in summertime, but in winter we were mostly limited to canned vegetables and sugar-sweetened fruit. Soft drinks, too, contained a lot of sugar. Adding to the problem, we were also riding around in cars much of the time; walking and bicycling were not yet popular.

As a child and teenager, I struggled continually with overweight. Besides eating too much, I was a bookish girl who avoided exercise. Diets then were rather Draconian: Dieters were advised to eat very small amounts of food, or to eat only one kind of food. There was a cottage cheese diet, for instance; after a few days of that, I couldn’t face cottage cheese for years. Until my mid-twenties, I found that I could lose weight only by severely limiting my Calories. Though I never became anorexic or bulimic, my dieting was certainly unhealthful. I had muscle cramps and felt tired in spite of getting enough sleep.

Becoming one of the early members of Weight Watchers in the 1960s may have saved my life, or at least kept me well. For the first time, I learned to lose weight without being hungry by eating large amounts of chicken and fish, drinking skim milk, and making fruits and vegetables a large part of my diet. At that time, cookies, candy, and ice cream were all “illegal” foods for Weight Watchers members, which automatically lowered the amounts of carbs and fat we ate. Many no-sugar foods appeared on the market at that time, too. (Since then I have been able to eat sensibly without the strict rules of Weight Watchers, and have never returned to extreme dieting. My weight has fluctuated a few times during times of stress, but now I weigh 118 pounds, 40 pounds less than when I was in high school.)

In the late fifties, a few years after President Eisenhower’s frightening heart attack, scientists were beginning to find a possible link between cholesterol and heart disease. When they found eggs had a high cholesterol content, many people gave up eating eggs. Not a good idea. Today we know that eggs, with their high protein content and low number of Calories, are important for good nutrition.

More and more studies found that eating fats could contribute to heart disease. For 20 years or so, we were counseled to protect our hearts by eating less fat and exercising more. Exercise does use Calories, and it has many other important effects on the body. Except for dancers and  athletes, though, most people don’t exercise enough to lose weight.

Our eating habits became more sophisticated in the sixties. Many of us watched chef Julia Child on television, bought her cookbook, and tried to prepare dishes like boeuf bourguignon and trout meuniere. Though Julia sometimes used a lot of butter and sugar, she recommended keeping portions small.  Americans tend to go overboard on everything, unfortunately. During the sixties even our dishes and glasses grew larger, the better to hold large servings of food and wine. Hamburgers grew from the small patties we had eaten in the fifties to the gigantic monstrosities, laden with cheese and bacon, that are common today.

There have been many diets and weight-loss programs over the years. We have seen the Atkins diet, the Pritikin diet, Jenny Craig, TOPS, the popcorn diet, and so forth. One diet promoted eating grapefruit, which was supposed to contain a magic enzyme that broke down fat.  One of the strangest diets that came along in the seventies was the “drinking man’s diet.” The general idea was to limit carbohydrates severely, while satisfying ourselves with fat, protein, and alcohol. I remember several coworkers coming back from lunch with silly smiles on their faces, feeling they were dieting. That diet didn’t last long—in some people the high level of protein led to ketosis, a potentially dangerous condition.

Perhaps that kind of diet was partly what led to the anti-fat reaction in the nineties. Suddenly, carbs were in and fat was out. We were told to eat more grains—and so some interpreted that as permission to eat huge portions of pasta laden with sauces. Advice to eat legumes became permission to eat baked beans with molasses. We were told that fruit was good for us—and many of us ate too much of it, or consumed it as pie. People ate huge muffins. And then they wondered why they gained weight instead of losing it.

Some hopeful treatments are on the horizon, at least for the severely overweight. A just-released study shows that bariatric (obese) surgery leads to long-term weight loss. It may also be possible to alter the DNA of persons with a genetic predisposition to obesity. Various physiological studies are underway.

For those with less serious problems, though, the standard advice is what it has been since antiquity—eat less in general, fill up on fruits and vegetables, get more exercise. We all know that’s the secret, but we get bored with sensible eating and exercising, devote too little time to them, or eat for emotional reasons. The “Mediterranean diet” has been popular in recent years, and is surely the best diet to come along. High in the delicious grains, fish, fruits and vegetables, nuts, and olive oil that contribute to good nutrition and weight loss, it even includes a little wine—a major plus for most of us. (Alas! I can no longer drink alcohol, as it interacts with some of my prescribed medicines.) I fear that if the pendulum swings toward eating less rice and more bacon, dieters will lose the benefits of Mediterranean foods. And, in ten years or so, nutritionists will discover again that we need to eat more carbs and less fat.




Sunday, March 30, 2014

LIFE IN THE FOREST

Our view from the front porch

Seven years ago I sold my home in the San Francisco Bay area and moved to California’s Gold Rush country. And not just to a city or small town (though later on I would buy a house in Placerville), but to my partner’s home in the forest, bordering the El Dorado National Forest. It seemed very romantic and exciting at  the time. We would be surrounded by the pines and oaks, out of sight of neighbors and far from traffic noise. Our block-long graveled driveway would be free of other cars. When we needed firewood, we would cut down an expendable tree. On winter evenings we would gaze into the fire while reading and listening to music. We could forget about caring for a lawn, because the surrounding forest is carpeted with attractive bear grass. (Should I have wondered why it is also called “mountain misery”?) Every spring we would look for native wildflowers, and never plant invasive plants from a nursery. Black-tailed deer would be our companions. It would be the ideal lifestyle for us environmentalists.
My first warning came when a 100’ tall tree had to be cut down because it was in the path of a garage we needed for our motorhome. My partner felled it himself, and sawed the branches and trunk into large sections, which was an impressive feat. He explained that before he could split it for firewood, we needed to use a rope and pivot system to lower the log rounds down a hillside.  Then we could hand-roll them up the long driveway to the carport. (Who, me? I hadn’t rolled anything larger than a rolling pin in years. We did manage it, though, and I felt quite proud of that accomplishment.) After leaving the rounds to spend the hot summer drying out, he could split them with a steel wedge and sledgehammer. He explained that he was multitasking, getting both firewood and exercise.
Bringing up a log round
The spring wildflowers—some of which are quite rare—are indeed a treat. For two or three months I happily climb up the hill to enjoy them. Then summer arrives, and this area becomes beastly hot at times. Our home is partly solar-powered, and has huge south-facing windows; the house gets very uncomfortable on hot summer afternoons. At sundown the lack of surrounding roads and pavement lets the evening breezes cool off the house quickly. Being environmentalists, of course we have no air conditioning. During extreme heat waves, when we run out of ice cream and become sufficiently miserable, we take the motorhome far up the mountain to a campground near a lake. For a few days we enjoy life there, but it can’t last. We need to take care of things at home, so we drive back to our part of the forest.
More exercise!
One of the things we need to do is to cut the beautiful but highly flammable manzanita bushes that grow quickly all over the property. I have spent many hours cutting them with loppers, making sure that every leaf is removed to prevent any photosynthesis from restoring them, but new bushes seem to spring up immediately. Though the manzanitas are numerous, at least they can be removed while they are small. Established pines and oaks are much larger and harder to deal with. Though it’s tempting to let them grow, we are required to maintain a 50’ bare area around the house because of the danger of wildfires here. (The house is on a steep hillside; if a wildfire ever comes up from the canyon below, even that barrier may not save us.)
The long gravel driveway is a continual problem. In autumn It has to be raked often, to remove the leaves and acorn shells that can rapidly turn to humus. In the winter any strong rain can wash out sections that must be shoveled back into place. Shoveling gravel is not fun.
Life here has been much harder than I expected, and at times I retreat to the Placerville house, where I have a gas furnace, air conditioning, a road that is maintained by someone else, and an easier life in general. I still love the forest and spend a great deal of time there, but I am now seven years older than when I left the city. How much longer can I keep this up? If we leave the forest, where will we go? 
 Any one considering moving to a similar area should think carefully before doing anything irrevocable. Life in the forest is rewarding, but it also involves much drudgery. It can also be lonely. For a woman, especially, the lack of nearby  neighbors and friends is difficult. Like old age, this life “ain’t for sissies.”