Processed Food and Low-Fat
Diets
By Jane Sheppard
With all the conflicting information out
there about nutrition, no wonder most of us
are confused as to what to feed our children.
I was a vegetarian for years and advocated
a vegetarian diet as one of the most important
ways to increase health. I ate no meat or
dairy throughout my entire pregnancy, and
had an exceptionally healthy baby. It's important
to note, though, that I ate plenty of organic
eggs and supplemented my diet with flaxseed
oil and natural vitamins and minerals.
I am no longer a strict vegetarian like I
used to be. The more I research food and nutrition,
the more I'm finding that a small amount of
naturally produced animal fat and protein
can be a healthy part of a whole foods diet.
Yes, I did say animal, but the crucial thing
here is to stay away from commercial meat
and dairy - the kind you find everywhere in
all the grocery stores and restaurants. The
meat and dairy I'm talking about comes from
grass-fed animals raised humanely on family
farms without hormones and antibiotics. The
dairy is not pasteurized nor homogenized.
It is organic, raw, whole milk from grass-fed
cows. The nutritional value of these foods
is far different than the commercial factory-farmed
meat and dairy that you find in a regular
grocery store. In this age of factory farming
and high-tech food processing, finding high-quality
food is increasingly vital to your family's
health.
Children Need Fats
Children must have fat in their diets, since
fats are needed for growth and provide the
building blocks for cell membranes and hormones.
Fats act as carriers for the fat-soluble vitamins
A, D, E and K. Without dietary fats, carotenes
do not convert to vitamin A and minerals are
not absorbed properly. Both cholesterol and
saturated fat are essential for growth in
babies and children, especially in the development
of the brain. In fact, mother's milk contains
over 50% of its calories as fat, much of it
saturated.
Moderate amounts of healthy fats in the diet
do not cause obesity. The real culprits in
obesity and a host of chronic diseases are
refined sugar, white flour products, and trans-fatty
acids in the form of heated refined vegetable
oils or hydrogenated oils such as margarine
and vegetable shortening.
The Work of Weston Price
One simply cannot advocate a certain way
to eat without considering the work of Dr.
Weston Price. Dr. Price was a dentist in the
early 1900s around the time when processed
food was first introduced. He was concerned
about the increased, widespread dental disease
and poor health of his patients. He noticed
they were suffering from more and more chronic
degenerative diseases and the children had
a greater number of cavities and more crooked
teeth than ever before. He had heard of native
people in other countries, untouched by civilization
and processed food, with perfect teeth and
exceptional health. Dr. Price traveled around
the world, visiting and studying these people
and their diets. He visited with and examined
14 groups of native people and found on average
less than 1% of tooth decay and perfectly
straight teeth in all the people he visited.
The amazing thing was that not one of these
people had ever used a toothbrush. He found
no incidence of any of the degenerative diseases
that are so widespread in our culture.
The important factor in the traditional diets
was that all the foods were natural and unprocessed.
There were no preservatives, additives, or
colorings, no added sugar (except moderate
amounts of natural sweets like honey and maple
syrup), and no white flour or canned foods.
The milk products were not pasteurized, homogenized,
or low fat. The plant foods consumed were
grown in mineral-rich, pesticide-free soil
and the animals were raised on their natural
pasture and not given growth hormones or antibiotics.
On his journeys, Dr Price never once found
a totally vegetarian culture. They all ate
some form of animal fat and protein.
Some of the groups Dr. Price studied lived
close to racially similar groups that had
abandoned their traditional diets since they
had come in contact with traders or missionaries.
They began to eat the food available in the
newly established stores - sugar, refined
grains, canned foods, pasteurized milk and
devitalized fats and oils. In these people,
he found rampant tooth decay, infectious disease
and degenerative conditions. Price concluded
that race had nothing to do with these changes.
He noted that physical degeneration occurred
in children of native parents who had adopted
the processed diet; while mixed race children
whose parents had consumed traditional foods
were healthy and born with wide handsome faces
and straight teeth.
Processed Food
The modern convenience foods of today - sugar
and white flour products with hydrogenated
or rancid vegetable oils and factory-farmed
meat and dairy - are key factors in the alarming
rate of chronic degenerative diseases, learning
disabilities, and dental disease. These denatured,
processed foods do not provide sufficient
nutrients to allow a child's body to reach
its full potential of health, nor the proper
functioning of the immune, nervous, skeletal,
digestive, and reproductive systems. We need
to get back to natural, wholesome foods that
are prepared and preserved in a way that promotes
health, not disease.
We are constantly challenged in a society
that allows the food industry to bombard our
children with advertising of fake foods in
appealing, colorful packages. It's difficult
to protect our children when lifeless convenience
foods, candy, soda, and fruit juice drinks
loaded with sugar and corn syrup are common
snacks and lunches of their peers. I struggle
with it constantly; allowing my daughter to
occasionally have some of these devitalized
foods. But I've taught her that these things
are only occasional treats and that our everyday
diet is natural, organic, whole foods. She
knows that these are the foods her mind and
body need to grow and thrive.
Nourishing Traditions
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that
Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and
the Diet Dictocrats, by Sally Fallon with
Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. (NewTrends Publishing,
Inc., 1999) derives essential wisdom from
the traditional diets of the past and combines
this wisdom with the latest independent and
accurate scientific research. Sally Fallon
discredits the U.S. nutritional guidelines
that favor the highly profitable and powerful
grain cartels, vegetable oil producers and
food processing industry, and she shows that
the big trend toward low-fat diets is based
on research that is misrepresented or incorrect.
Much more than a cookbook, Nourishing Traditions
provides a bounty of solid information about
natural, whole foods with a full discussion
about healthy fats, carbohydrates, proteins,
vitamins and minerals. Most importantly, this
book teaches food preparation and preservation
techniques that will not devitalize foods
like commercial food processing does, but
instead enhances the quality and nutritional
value of the food. Included is an excellent
chapter on feeding babies. The recipes are
surprisingly easy, but will definitely take
time in the kitchen. Feeding your family a
healthy diet is not quick and convenient,
but the results you'll see in shining, vibrant
children will make it well worth the time
and effort.
According to Sally Fallon in Nourishing
Traditions, "butter added to vegetables
and spread on bread, and cream added to soups
and sauces, ensure proper assimilation of
the minerals and water-soluble vitamins in
vegetables, grains and meat." Dr. Price
considered butter to be the ultimate health
food. In addition to saturated fat and cholesterol,
butter contains fat-soluble vitamins in the
most absorbable form, factors that help the
body absorb and utilize minerals, and a small
amount of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty
acids in the proper balance. The omega 3 and
6 essential fatty acids (EFAs) are essential
for health, and without adequate amounts and
proper balance of these fats, chronic health
problems are inevitable.
"In summary", says Sally Fallon,
"our choice of fats and oils is one of
extreme importance. Most people, especially
infants and growing children, benefit from
more fat in the diet rather than less. But
the fats we eat must be chosen with care.
Avoid all processed foods containing newfangled
hydrogenated fats and polyunsaturated oils.
Instead, use traditional vegetable oils like
extra virgin olive oil and small amounts of
unrefined flax seed oil. Acquaint yourself
with the merits of coconut oil for baking
and with animal fats for occasional frying.
Eat egg yolks and other animal fats with the
proteins to which they are attached. And,
finally, use as much good quality butter as
you like, with the happy assurance that it
is a wholesome - indeed, an essential - food
for you and your whole family."
More information
about healthy fats for children.
Healthy Child Recommends Quality
Kids Nutritional Supplements at the Lowest
Prices
Sources:
The Weston A. Price Foundation www.westonaprice.org
Politically Incorrect: The Neglected Nutritional
Research of Dr. Weston Price, DDS, by By Dr.
Stephen Byrnes
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that
Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and
the Diet Dictocrats, by Sally Fallon with
Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. (NewTrends Publishing,
Inc., 1999)
|
|
Use the information provided on this site as an educational resource for determining your options and making your own informed choices. It is not intended as medical advice or to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any specific illness.