To Eat Or Not To Eat
We all know that what we eat is a huge determinant of our health level. What we may not be aware of is how the field of nutrition is changing.
I remember the old pyramid in health classes, only modifying slightly over the years. Meat and eggs got high billing. Fruits and vegetables featured as valuable. Bread and cereal were important. I don’t recall all the details, but the options were plentiful, and one could easily eat and be considered healthy according to the pyramids.
Fast forward decades. In the last few years, it seems that each specialist I see has ideas on nutritional changes. For example, after a recent gastroenterology visit, the doctor’s parting words were, “Eat less meat.” He didn’t say, “Eat less red meat,” which we had started hearing a while back. Meat included the historically blessed chicken. I played with this latest information for weeks while I tried to reduce meat and convince my spouse that we were helping ourselves.
Beans are terrific, and quite satisfying. I became creative (lazy?) and added other vegetables like carrots, celery and parsley to boost the nutrition and reduce chef time adding other vegetables to meals. But I found my husband cheating occasionally and stopping for a hamburger after he went to the post office.
Fish was a great option. I especially liked that I could buy sardines and tuna in bulk. Tuna salads were great to have on hand for snacking, and for me spending less time at the stove. Then came mercury warnings limiting weekly consumption of tuna, which had been found to have trace amounts of mercury in it. Large fish that eat small fish risk having the same problem. Now I had to think about which fish was safe to eat.
I had a run with the frequent problem of acid reflux. I bought two books addressing “the acid reflux diet.” Several favorite foods had to be drastically reduced, if not eliminated. Chocolate, coffee and spicy food were suspect. I loved all of them! I finally found a routine which let me eat most of my favorite foods, but in much smaller quantities. I felt the pleasures falling away. Oh, to sit and eat a bowlful of chocolate truffles. No more.
I saw a special on CNN recently about an Alzheimer’s study. One element was diet, and meat and fried foods of any kind were not allowed on the prevention diet, which had been proven to have amazing results. There went French fries and fried chips.
The knockout punch came when I developed hives after a vaccine. I was told that some dietary changes could reduce the hive reaction. I did online research and was horrified to see fermented foods like yogurt (such a healthy food!) could worsen hives for some people. Shellfish, like my favorite softshell crabs, were on the list. I kept reading. Fruits, like tomatoes, and citrus were featured. Spinach showed up and I threw up my hands. I learned by exposure to the verboten foods whether I’d react. I limited new foods carefully.
The internet sleuthing suggested that if people adhered to this diet for too long, they could become deficient in required nutrition and a dietician might need to be consulted. Thankfully, the hives ended before that was needed. I’m still cautious though, because I was told that certain foods might trigger the hives to return for a short period of time (perish that thought!)
I was seated at a birthday dinner party, pushing certain foods to the side, when the guest next to me informed me that she was a pescatarian. At the time, I still had hives and explained my dietary restrictions to her. She asked me what I was eating. In jest, I picked up my water glass pointedly, toasted towards her, and said, “Here’s to your health!”
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