From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Sun Apr 13 2003 - 16:03:09 MDT
Brian Atkins wrote,
> Unfortunately I don't have time currently to do much more
> than skim this list, but I would like to chime in here
> and give my opinion that based on some reading I've been
> doing lately I am beginning to believe that, along with
> the "food pyramid", the "lipid hypothesis" is also going to
> end up being absolutely wrong.
I find most food grouping systems to be horribly flawed. First, some foods
are mixtures. We can't classify meat as "good" or "bad". It is a mixture
of good protein with bad fats. Second, we can't lump "all fats" together or
"all carbohydrates". There are some good fats we want to maximize, and
other bad fats that we want to minimize. Therefore, both "high fat" and
"low fat" diets miss the mark. Therefore, I set out to create my own food
groups based on my own nutritional understanding. This is how I classify
foods into groups:
Proteins:
Maximize: veggie proteins, incomplete proteins
Neutral: fish, very lean meat, complete proteins
Minimize: non very lean meat, charred or heat-damaged proteins
Lipids:
Maximize: Monounsaturated fats, olive oil, fish oil, omega fatty acids
Neutral: Polyunsaturated fats, canola, soybean, plant oils (except coconut,
palm)
Minimize: Saturated fat, animal fats, coconut oil, palm oil, heat-damaged
lipids, oxidized lipids
Carbohydrates:
Maximize: whole grains, vegetables
Neutral: fructose, fruit sugars, complex carbohydrates, unrefined flour
Minimize: glucose, refined sugars, simple carbohydrates, refined flour,
white flour products, heat-damaged carbs?, oxidized carbs?
Fiber:
Maximize: soluble fiber, oat bran
Neutral: insoluble fiber
Minimize: inedible fiber, bean pods, artichoke fiber, woody fiber, paper
fiber
Water:
Maximize: pure water
Neutral: hard water?, caffeinated drinks (diuretic effect), good tap water
Minimize: sugary or salty water, contaminated water, poor tap water
Air:
Maximize: clean fresh air, filtered
Neutral: indoor air, recycled air
Minimize: polluted air, dusty air, moldy air, pollen-filled air, radon gas
Notes:
I am not really sure if simple proteins are better than complex proteins.
The body has to break down complete proteins into aminos, but this may not
be bad. I consider meat a neutral protein instead of good because it is
always mixed with bad lipids. If there were pure lipid-free meats, I could
classify them as good. I am iffy on counting any carbohydrates as good,
maybe they are merely neutral. I did put some foods on the matrix to give
some examples, but I think a more accurate matrix would just contain
macronutrients, and foods would be nutrient-calculated to see where they go
on the chart.
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, IAM, GSEC <www.HarveyNewstrom.com>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun Apr 13 2003 - 16:11:44 MDT