Confusion

I am confused. The Department of Agriculture has changed the food pyramid to a plate. I think they should stop changing it and work on explaining what they really mean we should eat. If you go look at the new 'plate', we are supposed to have protein, grains, vegetables, fruit and dairy. I don't eat that much in any one meal. My breakfast this morning will be egg beaters with spinach and some melon. Okay, so I am getting protein, vegetables, and fruit. The only dairy would be from the skim milk in my coffee or I could add some cheese. I don't have any grains... Should I add toast to my meal?

I don't know what I am eating for lunch today because we will get take out at work. It will probably be a salad with some protein on it. No fruit. No dairy unless it includes cheese. No grain unless it eat bread too.

Dinner tonight we are going out as well - more eating out than usual - and we are going to a seafood restaurant. I will have a salad first because I always do, then some kind of fish with vegetables on the side. Not sure about dairy, grains, or fruit.

The whole point of these recommendations is for Americans to eat right and not to eat too much. So why do I need to add to my meal to make sure I get everything I need? More food means more calories.

You will note there is no dessert section or chocolate section. Clearly they must be overlooked. But if you are confused just like me, be sure to look at the history of the dietary recommendations on the CNN article. Or if you want to see how the government clarifies this, go to the official plate website at choosemyplate.gov. I am sure they will do a governmental job of explaining...

Veggies or Fries?

We all secretly prefer fries but say we like vegetables and even claim we eat them. But apparently we lie and don't eat our vegetables. We should. French fries are probably the worst vegetable to eat. The potato isn't bad itself but anything deep fried (especially twinkies) lose all nutritional value inside a casing of grease, fat, and salt.

I personally would love to eat french fries several times a week. Last week I had four - four individual french fries because the local sandwich shop at work has returned to the original way they make them (and they are extra delicious). Someone got an order and offered them (actually the person who went and picked up the food offered me some of another co-workers fries). But I digress. I only ate four french fries. I think I stole a couple off my husband's plate a month or so ago. I do not each french fries regularly. Just say 'one gram of fat per fry' and if you ate a whole order that would probably be around 50+ fries and most people shouldn't eat 50 grams of fat in a whole day, never mind in a side dish.

I have been accused (by my husband) of sticking vegetables into everything. I see nothing wrong with it. He claims he eats too much 'green stuff'. I put spinach on pizza and think nothing of it. He tells me it doesn't belong on pizza and pizza always must be topped with 'dead animal'. But I make him eat a salad first.

Sometimes I restrain myself and skip the extra snuck-in vegetables but not always. But where did all this vegetable eating get me? Fighting the battle of the bulge and cancer twice. I do admit there was a time in my life where I smoked and lived on Diet Coke (or Tab) which I now consider a 'chemical food' but I have always been happy with a salad for lunch. I grew up in a house where dinner always included a giant salad (eaten after the main course - I never thought that was weird until I went to college).

Vegetables are full of vitamins, fiber, and all sorts of other good stuff. Skip the fries and have a salad.

And the doctor says 'eat your veggies'

Lots of Americans don't eat their vegetables and there is a growing obesity problem in the US. Now some doctors are prescribing vegetables to their patients. I think this is a great idea. Some people just need a little prompting to try new things and actually follow the advice of their doctors (now there are a lot of people who don't follow their advice but I am sure that's a different blog post).

I think people have a tendency to eat things that are:

- familiar to them - the food they grew up with.
- easy to make or obtain - prepackaged or fast food
- taste good - think chocolate, sweet, french fries

But back up to the healthy criteria. Hopefully the vegetables and fruits and vitamins and minerals are in there somewhere.

You don't have to be a cook to eat healthy in this country - the land of prepackaged everything. Of course, its probably best to organically grow your vegetables and buy everything at the local farmer's markets and make everything from scratch. But because of the convenience of America's food culture, you can go to the grocery store and get a bag of lettuce and some pre cut carrots and celery and then get hamburgers and rolls and there you go - a relatively nutritionally meal. Then go for a walk and you are off to a healthier life.

Rocket scientist vs. darwinist

Yesterday afternoon I drove by two teenagers in my neighborhood who were either rocket scientists or darwinists. One was walking his bike up a steep hill on the wrong side of the road, while talking on his cell phone and smoking a cigarette (Actually I found his multitasking abilities amusing as he had his phone held to his ear with his shoulder so he could smoke and push his bike at the same time). The other was walking in the middle of the road (which was a quiet little road), while listening to his iPod. Which has the longer life expectancy? The answer is C: they are teenagers so they are immortal.

Back when we were all young (well we were all young once but that may be many, many years ago), we were immortal. Cancer and all sorts of medical adventures were for old people. Those were the people who were really old - I mean at least 50 or something. Then as we age, we start getting ailments... But still, those nasty things were for the old people, at least 70 or something. Then when you get diagnosed with bad things, you decided we are all too young for this crap and if you are going to get bad things, you should at least be 90. Instead of being in your forties and feeling like you have the medical chart of a centenarian. (That's a big word for so early in the day - sometimes I even impress myself.) The answer to the question of when do you cease to be too old to lose the crap shoot of the medical diagnoses is approximately twice your current age or a minimum of 20 years older than your current age.

All of us lucky people with numerous ailments ask ourselves, what did I do to deserve this crappy roll of the dice of life? Why me? Did I play in toxic waste as a child? Not that I remember. Did I eat too much processed food? I think I ate less than the average American as my mother was always making us eat weird natural stuff. (I hate groats.) There are all sorts of theories on how to reduce your risk of bad things and increase your life expectancy. Eat your veggies, cut down or skip meat, drink no alcohol, well maybe a little, no tobacco use (especially while riding your bike), and don't walk down the street listening to your iPod. We all do what we can.