Diet healthy changes

Diet - Healthy Changes
The present article will try to condense into one article some material retrieved from The Johns Hopkins web site (johnshopkinshealthalerts), The Mayo Clinic and Yale’s Dr. David L Katz writings.

We are all aware that obesity, type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease rates have reached unprecedented levels. Our recently acquired bad dietary habits seem to have a lot to do with this. Institutions such Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic both recommend to reduce the intake of fat. This especially applies to the intake of saturated fat and trans fats (see their dietary guidelines). They also recommend to boost the intake of dietary fiber. This can be accomplished by replacing products made with refined grains or flour with products that are made with whole grains or cereals. Furthermore, increasing the amount of non-starchy vegetables in the diet will help increase its fiber content. Portion control is also advocated..

A little while ago, Yale’s DR. David L Katz wrote an article in which he came up with a recommendation that accomplishes all of this. He simply wrote: “Make half of every meal fruits and vegetables”. By complying to this recommendation, one will actually:

1- Reduce calorie intake, 2- Reduce fat intake (provided one does not use fatty vinaigrettes or toppings), 3- Boost the fiber intake, 4- Increase the intake of phytonutrient-rich and antioxidant-rich vegetables and fruits.

One of the virtues of that recommendation is its simplicity. All one has to do is to look at the plate and make sure that half of it is veggies and fruits.

Using the above principles, the heartMonitron Journals have modified a popular recipe: the old’ Macaroni and cheese or the macaroni casserole. Fat-free cheese was used and only a very small amount of canola oil was used instead of the butter in the roux. Protein are from legumes or Albacore (white) tuna, whole grain macaroni was used and a large amount of vegetables was added. See: http://heartmonitron.com/hm_meddigest_journals_on_nutrition-_heart_and_diabetes-_cholesterol_and_healthy_weight_048.htm

The net result was a macaroni dish that provided only 8% of calories derived from fat as opposed to around 51% from the traditional recipe. The caloric value (per volume) was also greatly reduced. The fiber intake was well above average. “Make half of every meal fruits and vegetables” seems to be a very wise recommendation. - NGBeditor.