704 Healthy Eating (Archive)

I enjoy your discussion nearly every week. I particularly enjoyed this week's guest, Christopher Gardner, and his comments regarding the contradicting messages and our nutrient intake.
Our society is bombarded with fear. That fear-based advertising has made many people very rich. We fear our "iron-poor blood" (Geritol). We fear our high cholesterol, our weight, our eyesight, the list goes on.
Mr. Gardner's story on processed flour getting fortified with folic acid nearly touched on my point.

Folic acid, which we need. Yet we are told to cut our simple carbohydrates, the bread that contains folic acid. The diet crazes we've seen all seem to have down effects. Yet, our society gets bombarded by fear-based advertising in the name of better eating, or better health.

Your comment on a vegan with heartburn nearly touched the point as well. Fear of not getting something can bring on stress. Which in turn, brings out the heartburn. The person takes Zantac and a negative nutrient result.

It began with a fear. A fear of harming an animal maybe. I used to fear my being overweight. I bought a scale and measured my weight almost daily. I began to ride my bike to work. I know I was getting fitter, but my weight didn't drop.

I gave up on a bunch of other fears in my life and moved. I threw out my bathroom scale. I noticed after about a month that I could wear an old pair of pants. I lost the weight by losing the fear of not looking thinner.

So now I live on mostly fresh, some local, not necessarily 3 times a day meals. I don't fear a feeling of being filled. I follow what I call the Mark Twain diet. He said: "eat what you like and let it fight it out inside". If you don't like it, don't eat it. Stop fearing what might, or might not happen. Live happy and you'll likely live healthy.
Great show.

I wondered how the CSA programs got left out? I subscribe to a farm program here near Charleston SC and have done so for 9 months. We love it, feel we same money, eat better, more veggies than ever, and, best of all, it is great fun to unload our produce every week and see what we have. Like Christmas!

While I listened to Dr. Gardener I was eating Thanksgiving leftovers- Joe's dreaded Brussel's sprouts(try them sauteed with pecans browned in a little butter) and butternut squash roasted with with olive oil and cinnamon. Arugula salad with pomegranate and pecans. So, the show was a perfect accompaniment to my dinner. His comments were very helpful and practical. His comparisons of different foods that contain the same nutrients (salmon and flax seed for example) were more helpful than someone comparing IU or mgs of a vitamin. I would like to add some information to his pronouncement of organic being a passing fad, yet folks are looking for sustainable, which is harder to define. Truly sustainable production (or any business) will recognize a triple bottom line: economic profitability, social justice and environmental responsibility. While the USDA label for organic does not mandate anything more than an environmentally sound production practice, many farmers are taking that triple bottom line into consideration.

So while it is true that the organic label means food while cost more to the consumer- it is often representing the true cost of producing that food; and the value that respecting sound environmental production practices have for the environment (and ultimately the consumer living in that environment). The organic label is a step towards educating consumers about where their food comes from and why production practices matter. It is also a way to help the farmer earn a fair wage for their product. For too long, US consumers have been told that food should be cheap and abundant, we are now paying the price, in the many poor diet related health issues cited by Dr. Gardner and in the inability of the American farmer to earn a living on par with other health professionals.

When Dr. Gardener urged folks to buy food from the local farmer's market (as he was chided to do by his wife) he was making the lower carbon footprint connection. The local food connection- "food with a face", is a more sustainable choice- but- in order for the farm to be sustainable they are most likely using organic methods, although they may not be certified, because many local farms do not have the need for third party certification since their customers know them personally.

So I totally agree with letting Chileans eat their own organic blueberries while in season (therefore protecting farm workers from hazardous pesticides) and eating the local strawberries instead; I also say don't throw the organic baby out with the bathwater; the viability of farms, farmers and farmworkers is at stake.

Loved hearing the show. I feel very strongly and am totally committed to a plant-based diet for my family and the families I cook for.. I'm presently working on improving the "standard" lunch program at the public school my children attend. I've also developed a business model where a small school could have a healthy, delicious, vegetarian lunch for students and staff for a very reasonable price.

It does not cost much more to cook from scratch - it just takes more time, dedication and knowledge of food. I have seen first hand that when children are presented with only healthy choices they will eventually pick up their forks and eat their greens!!!

I greatly enjoyed the show with Dr. Gardner. The nutrition v. food conversation was very interesting. I especially though-provoking the question about organic food as well as Dr. Gardner's answer. I work in the environmental policy field and agree that while the "organic" label may be fading out, sustainable capitalizing on local, is here to say; "Recession-proof" I like to call it.

On an interesting and related topic, I would love to hear a conversation about the little known topic of human antibiotics overuse in industrial animal farming and how this contributes to the rising public health threat of antibiotic resistance. I hear that up to 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States go to farm animals that aren't sick to offset crowding and poor sanitation, and that this practice promotes the development of deadly strains of drug-resistant bacteria that can spread to humans.
I don't know of a more knowledgeable or interesting venue than your radio show.
Thank you for all your great work!

I believe I never once heard in the entire Gardner interview, the words NATURAL MIXED TOCOPHEROLS including the TOCOTRIENOLS. I am nearly 72 and living proof of the value of Vitamin E. But since he never mentioned it, I think all the Vitamin E research Dr Gardner spoke about, was done using synthetic forms labeled "dl" (for example, dl-alpha-tocopherol).

The word ACETATE next to vitamin E on a bottle always refers to the synthetic.

I first read Herbert Bailey's book on Vitamin E 50 years ago. He updated it a few years ago. He describes the incredible research the Shute brothers in London, Ontario. I think their clinic still operates. In any case, the records of cardio health restored by Vitamin E are legion.

Also, I have noticed that my creeping Raynaud's Disease returns if I miss my natural mixed tocopherols, especially in cold weather.

This Graedon show was interesting, but the whole truth was not included.