Food for Thought

One of the blog carnival topics this time around is to write about March as National Nutrition Month. Now, I'll admit I didn't know that March is designated to nutrition, it just hasn't come up in conversation in my circles.

When I first thought of writing about nutrition, my mind immediately went to the four basic food groups we learned about in school. Back then, good nutrition was a simple matter of getting all of the four food groups into your diet. My mother's encouraged her brand of nutrition by baking her own bread (always with white flour), making many things from scratch and encouraging a night time snack such a fresh orange. We weren't allowed to enjoy Wonder Bread and I envied my friends' wonder bread sandwiches. She also allowed us to have a special treat of vanilla ice cream topped with maple syrup and nuts or one of her many homemade desserts. A really special treat was something she called "Bavarian Cream" made with whipping cream, gelatin, and white sugar as the primary ingredients. It's definitely the case that some (perhaps many) of the foods we loved (Wonder bread, for example) and which we thought were good for us would no longer make the cut nutritionally. The four food groups have been replaced by the Food Pyramid. We all know We know that whole grains, fruits, and vegetables are not in our modern diets as much as they should be and that prepared and refined foods are loaded with preservatives, additives, saturated fats, and other things that we should avoid. But is the typical American diet that much healthier than it was when we were eating white bread in the 1950's? I think not.

Speaking of nutrition, I've often wondered why every Nutritionist/Dietician I've met in my life (with the exception of one) is overweight. My aunt had a long a career as Head Dietician in a hopsital. Her typical breakfast is oatmeal (which she calls porridge) with half and half or cream (no sugar please). She often skips lunch but is happy to have a sweet like a piece of cheesecake instead. Don't the folks in these professionals realize they are role models?

I found this little humor about nutrition on The Happy Nutritionist's Nuggets website and though you might get a kick out of it like I did:

After an exhaustive review of the research literature, here's the final word on nutrition and health:

1. Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

2. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than us.

3. Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks
than us.

4. Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart
attacks than us.

5. Germans drink beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer
heart attacks than us.

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

-Anon