Food and culture: Ethnicity at its best

As cultures tend to mingle and assimilate throughout the world they blend with the so called American diet (cheeseburgers) and bring with them their ethnic uniqueness, for example, about 25% of all restaurants in the U.S. have an ethnic theme. To study these inflences, we need to be aware of the nature of their traditional diiets as well as how they have changed within the cultures due to migration to the new way of eating,

Native American Influences

“Studies have lshown that the diseases that affected these societies differed signifantly from the diseases in North American societies today. For example, Alaskan natives who sill eat the traditional diet have cardiovascular diisease rates lower than those in the general North American population. Younger generations of Alaskan natives, however, who usually do not eat the traditional diet have developed cardiovascular diseases at rates similar to North American in general. This diet is often also called the “Western Diet”. It is also true of the Pima Indian tribe in Arizona compared to their counterparts in living in Mexico.” You can search Pima Indians on this blog from Food, Facts, and Fads.

Hispanic Influences

“Mexican cuisine today shows regional variety. In Southern Mexico, savory sauces and stews and corn tortillas reflect the native heritage. Yucatan cuisine follows Mayan tradition, with fresh produce adding color, flavor and nutrition to authenic Mexican dining. Traditional Mexican is healthful in that is high in complex carbs, beans, fruits and vegetables, particularly rich in vitamins A and C.”

Today true Mexican cooking bears little resemblance to the dishes usually found in “Mexican restaurants in North America. Usually it is based primarily on rice and beans. Restaurant Mexican foods tend to use large portions of meat as well as added portions of high-fat sour cream, guacamole, and Cheese to many dishes.”

Northern European Influences

Immigrants from Western Europe are responsible for the “meat-and-potatoes traditional manner of home cooking. This group contained large groups from The English, French, and Germans. A sizable portion of meat arranged with vegetables and potatoes that could be a dinner plate of boiled, mashed vegetables, sauerkraut, boiled or mashed still is the favorite of many Northern European diners.

The traditional pattern provides abundant protein, starch, and dairy nutrients. However, the protein contains insufficient amounts of whole grains, vegetables and fruits or whole grains. Many people from these cultures eat less than healthy dishes combined with high-fat versions that contribute to the high rates of heart disease and obesity and cancers.

African Influences

The “soul food” of African Americans is the basis of the regional cuisines of the southern U.S. African American women. The combination of these foodways with Native America, Spanish and French traditions produced Cajun and Creole cuisines enjoyed today in Louisiana and through out the nation. Pork and corn products were the basis of soul food. Today we all enjoy it as barbecued meat since many enjoy the foods brought from Africa as well as yams, African sweet potatoes, okra, and peanuts. Corn was ground for cornbread, greens like collards, mustard, and turnip and kale. were usually cooked with a small portion of smoked pork as well as black-eyed peas. This diet is obviously high in unhealthy components as well as increased heart disease and cancer. For example, the South east states of the typical American or “Western’ diet” is often called “The Stroke Belt? indicating diets high in calories and/or sodium.

Asian Influences
More than 200 different vegetables are used in the Chinese cuisine, bok choy and other forms of Chinese cabbage are perhaps the most widely eaten vegetable in the world. Rice is the core of the diet in southern China, home to the Cantonese culture whereas in Northern China wheat is used to make noodles. China is the original home of pasta, bread, and dumplings. Stir fried includes hot pot stews containing many vegetable mixtures and protein sources like legumes, nuts and seeds.

Chinese migration to North America began with the California gold rush in the middle of the 19th century. Chinese workers brought with them food preparation that tended [o to contain nutrients, as well as a variety of sauces and seasoning, used today in Chinese cookery.
North American restaurant versions of Chinese dishes are generally not authentic. Such food is often prepared with far more fat than true Chinese cooking which tends to use flavorful but fat free sauces and seasonings. The restaurant versions of Chinese dishes also contain much larger portions of protein.

Ethnic food shows us how our attitudes, practices and rituals around food reflect our most basic beliefs about our world and ourselves. The meaning of food sheds light on who we are as Americans. “We do not sit at a table only to eat, but to eat together. — Plutarch

What’s Cooking?

Canola Oil

Is canola oil a healthy fat? Rightfully so since it had a bad reputation for awhile due to its association with a toxic acid called eurucic acid. More currently due to newer breeding processes reulted in its removal of this acid, making canola on the list of what is now called “healthy fats.” It is primarily an unsaturated fat and very low in omega-6 (fat and contain the same type of oil found in olive oil. However, Americans are awash in omega-6 fats and should be attempting to increase their intake of omega-3 fats instead.

But to its credit, it has a very mild flavor (unlike olive oil) and has been called a “neutral” oil so its very versatile for cooking and stands up fairly well to heat.
Bittman, Mark and Katz, David L., M.D. How to Eat” All your Food and Diet Questioned Answered.

Roasting Vegetables

Roasting has become a cooking favorite lately, but questions do arise due to the higher temperatures (400 degrees) needed for best results. Many people wonder if this type of cooking can destroy some nutrients, especially in some originally healthy vegetables? This may help.

All forms of cooking can destroy some nutrients. It’s impossible to avoid. However, there is some good news since cooking actually helps by releasing the nutrients from plant cell walls. These include lycopene (iin tomatoes), red peppers and beta-carotene in carrots, spinach, and kale. Therefore, eating cooked tomaotes as a sauce or juice should be the preferred way for optimum health. Mushrooms, asparagus, and cabbage all supply more antioxidants when cooked.

Vitamin B6 and folate in broccoli and the polyphenols in onions that help protect against cancer and heart disease are better eaten as raw vegetables.
Sharon Palmer, RDN, author of Plant-Powered for Life, Duate, California. SharonPalmer.com

What’s the Best Diet?

The Most Successful Diets (Based on Nutrition Experts).

For the last 13 years U.S. News and World Report has selected a panel of health and nutriiton experts to determine which works well for individuals with diabetes, those interested in weight loss, and people with a family history or other risk factor for heart disease and more.

After examining 24 diets, the ones that scored the highest and were selected as eating plans that more people might find success with checked most of these boxes:
Tasty
Flexible
Convenient
Filling
Feature nutrient-rich foods and all food groups
Adaptable to the whole family or household

Diets that fell near the bottom checked the following:
Require rigid eating schedules or menus
Call for bland food
Tend to emphsize unfamilar ingredients or specialty products
Involve challenging restrictions
Elminate entire food groups or severely restrict calories.

The Top Five:
Flexitarian Diet
Mediterranean Diet
Mayo Clinic
Volumetrics
MIND

The Bottom Five
Optavia
Raw Food
Keto (sorry-very restrictive)
Jenny Craig

Slim Fast

The Bottom Line
The diets that were rated as easist to follow offered a lot of variety, were convenient and encouraged foods that reduce risk for disease, support balanced energy levels and are simply fun to eat.

The best diet strategy of all is one that adds to your quality of life, rather than subtracts from it.

Source: By Karla Walsh – Published: January 6, 2023
Reviewed by Jessica Ball, M.S. RD
Eating Well Magazine
The Blue Zones Solution; Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People. Dan Buettner

Try the Mediterranean Way

“The Mediterranean Diet is often referred to as “the best diet in the world.” The Mediterranean diet is not a diet in the fad sense, but a traditional way of living — the same can be said for the “diets” practiced by the countries that make up the “Blue Zones” that work for health and often longevity. (Mark Bittman and David L. Katz, MD. How to Eat: All your Food and Diet Questions answered.)

History gives us clues about the development of the cuisines of the Mediterranean. European explorers would bring back spices and foods from their travels to Asia in the East and the New World, introducing them into their native countries. Conquering armies from Rome, France, Spain and Britain brought their own foods and cooking techniques with them, leaving marks on the cuisines of their Mediterranean neighbors. Today, although you will find McDonalds’s in Mediterranean countries, native cuisines are still apparent as you walk through the markets still selling local spices, produce, meats, cheeses, and seafood. For many, it becomes necessary for some people to shop daily for ingredients due to lack of refrigeration and is a way of life for them.

This is the way people work the land and feed themselves with seasonal ingredients grown in their small plots outside the kitchen. Again, this is the back to basic cuisine and the basis of many of the “diets” of the countries of the Blue Zone and Mediterranean regions. It is more than a diet, and is shown to be worthy of saying “it is a way of life”. The best advice for Americans is to buy a basic Mediterranean cookbook and try its many foods that emulate this way of living and hopefully – Skip the fast food!!!!

Try this very simple recipe.

Tomatoes with Olive Oil
As with the all foods found as part of the Mediterranean diet, a tomato is no exception. These bright and juicy fruits are often categorized as a vegetable. The science is back and forth of these gems but the fact remains is that they are a healthy addition to the Mediterranean diet. For extra health, make a basic salad dressing with a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil with a little garlic to your tastes.

A serving (1 cup of raw, cut up tomatoes) provides us with 2 grams of fiber and relatively little calories. In addition to that, they are a great source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Just by eating a single serving, you’ll be getting –25% of your daily Vitamin C. Vitamin C is needed to form blood vessels, muscles, and collagen in bones; It helps the body absorb iron, and is involved in the healing process.

10 % of potassium – a mineral and electrolyte that helps kidneys remove excess sodium, helps muscles contract and your heartbeat regularly.

In addition, tomatoes are chock full of powerful antioxidants like lycopene, beta carotene, and lutein.

These antioxidants may protect your arteries from atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases, decreases blood pressure and reduces the risk of prostate cancer in men. What a nutrition bargain!!

Animal Welfare: Prop 12?

PROPOSITION 12

In 2018, Californians overwhelmingly voted Prop 12 into law.

Proposition 12 would impose new minimum requirements on farmers to provide more space for egg‐laying hens, breeding pigs, and calves raised for veal. It would ban the sale of meat and eggs from animals confined in ways that do not meet those requirements.

On October, 4, Mercy for Animals released a groundbreaking undercover investigation exposing the heart breaking conditions pregnant pigs suffer at factory farms, and how the meat industry is seeking to silence those voters by challenging the law before the Supreme Court of the United States.

“ Footage from the investigation showed:
Days-old piglets who survived the acts of cruelty had their testicles and tails cut off without pain relief; their mothers helpless to do anything but watch. Some babies were stolen from their mothers just a few weeks after birth and the mama pigs immediately forced back into restrictive crates to continue the cycle of cruelty.

The footage also showed baby pigs violently smashed against the ground and were brutally struck, stabbed with sharp objects and thrown bloody and wounded and left to suffer. One day, more than 100 piglets were discovered dead.”

Please visit AnimalsUnderAttack.com to take action.
Source:
Compassionate Living, Winter 2023

“The love for all creatures is the most noble attribute of man.” Charles Darwin.

Crime and Nourishment?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-09-crime-nourishment-link-food-behaviour.html

“Poor nutrition can impact on concentration and learning and may result in episodes of violent or aggressive behavior. In prisons, a bad diet also contribute to increased rates of poor mental and physical health compared with the general population.”

A hypothesis: Could violence and crime be caused in some measure by nutritional deficiencies in general (a.k.a. The Standard American Diet – SAD? )

C. Bernard Gesch, Sean M.Hammond, Sarah E. Hampson, Anita Eves and Martin J. Crowder. Influence of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the antisocial behavior of young adult prisoners: A Randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Very interesting paper discussing the link between increased crime and diet. Click the above citation.

The Obesity Pandemic: A ReBlog

The Obesity/Diabesity Pandemic

Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus, so much so that the epidemic is often called diabesity. It has been described as one of the most important crises that has invaded our public health system.

Global Statistics, Source: Lancet

Since 1980, the number of adults with diabetes worldwide has quadrupled from 108 million to 422 million in 2014.
Diabetes is fast becoming a major problem in low and middle-income countries.
From 1980 to 2014, the prevalence of diabetes more than doubles for men in India and China.
Half of adults worldwide with diabetes in 2014 lived in five countries: China, India, USA, Brazil and Indonesia.

So what are some solutions?

The standard American diet is in much need of an overhaul and our national food systems need to change if we wish to reverse or at least slow down this trend. Many say that it would take the same determination as the campaigns to change behaviors that were utilized during the campaigns against smoking. .

Prevention awareness should be first on the front lines of treating the people with prediabetes that can often be reversible using lifestyle modifications. There are already some prevention models in the community; however, these should be expanded so that they become more easily accessible to more people. The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) uses intensive behavioral therapy to help people lose a little bit of weight (typically 5-10%). When this program is followed, the number of people progressing to have diabetes comes down by more than half. In people over 60, the reduction was 70%.

Nutrition education should be incorporated into the school system in the early years to help young children understand the importance of knowing where our food comes from and why nutritious foods are the best choice. They can be taught about balanced eating, calories, reading labels and grocery shopping. Nutrition education can also be offered at the middle and high schools levels by returning to a revamped and modernized home economics course in the curriculum.

A lingering problem has existed for many primary care physicians for many years in that they say they were never adequately prepared in nutrition principles in medical schools. In a survey of family physicians (2009), two thirds said that dealing with extremely obese patients is “frustrating “and one-half said treatments are often ineffective. This is reflected by a lack off obesity training.

Shockingly, another survey in 2010 of 140 doctors revealed that nearly one-third were not even familiar with the American Diabetes Association (ADA) prediabetes guidelines. Only 6 percent were able to identify all 11 risk factors and on average, the doctors could only identify just eight of the warning signs. Only 17 percent knew the correct laboratory values for blood glucose and only 11 percent said they would refer a patient to a behavioral weight loss program..

There should be an increased access to professional treatments. Medical professionals not trained in obesity management should refer their patients to outside providers such as dietitians, exercise trainers, behavior therapists, psychologists, or a new concept of health coaches. These providers should be trained, certified, and credentialed to protect the public from unscrupulous treatments and to provide quality care. Reimbursement of qualified health professionals needs to be enhanced to keep. Otherwise patient volume high and they lessen out-of-pocket expenses.

We have become a nation of non-cooks and prefer to have our meals prepared by someone else. Encourage home cooking and home kit meals to help to counter using fast foods and packaged highly processed meals loaded with calories, fat, sugar and salt.

Educate the public on food labeling including ingredient lists. Beware of food companies that promote products with a “health halo” meaning exaggerated claims are made that appear to make unhealthy foods seem healthy because of an added nutrient or ingredient. Corporations also mislead consumers with their labeling so they include four different types of sugar to keep sugar from being listed as the first ingredient. This is misleading to the consumer when attempting to make wise food choices.

Stop corporate-government partnerships and diminish lobbying.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) is funded by myriad food companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Kellogg’s. The dairy industry has a long history of influencing the food pyramid and Dietary Guidelines. A good example is the placing of a glass of milk on the MyPlate Logo.

Another health organization guilty of taking in millions from food companies is the American Heart Association. They offer a “Heart – Check logo for a price: $5, 490 to $7,500 that is renewable for another fee annually. The product has to be low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol to gain this “honor.” However, some products such as Boar’s Head processed meats have the logo and still may still contain high levels of sodium. If the AHA were sincere in their efforts to help consumers choose healthier foods to rein in obesity/diabetes, they would realize that research has shown that a 1.8 oz. daily serving of processed meat raised the risk of diabetes by 19 percent and heart disease by 42 percent. Most current dietary recommendations emphasize a reduction in processed meats (my emphasis).

There is bad news on rising obesity rates – read about them HERE.

It will take a concerted effort from government, politics, industry, communities, and consumers and the perpetrators of our obesigenic culture to begin to change this trend.

Hail to the Caesar Salad

Hail to the Caesar Salad!! Adapted from Jeffrey C. Pommerville Alcamo’s Fundamentals of Microbiology, Eighth Edition.

For history buffs, the first Caesar salad is reported to have evolved on July 4, 1924, in the mind of Caesar Cardini, the proprietor of a restaurant (Caesar’s Restaurant) in Tijuana, Mexico. Cardini was desparate for a fill-in during a paraticular busy day, so he threw together some Romaine lettuce, Parmesan cheese, lemon, garlic oil and raw eggs. ‘’

“Over the years the reputations of the salad and its inventor grew. The highlight of the preparation of the salad was at table side. However, a problem had existed for years – the raw eggs. They are used for adding creaminess to the dressing. Raw eggs had contributed to many sauces, e.g. Hollandaise Sauce without a problem and eating raw eggs had been considered to contribute protein to muscle bound young men. However, the problem became serious when eggs were omitted from the recipes due to reports of Salmonella infections that were traced to them and nothing else contributed to that wonderful quality of creaminess.”

The problem became a debate among Caesar salad connoisseurs – many felt that a Caesar salad is not really truly up to par unless the raw egg was present.

Now we have the choice of using pasteurized raw eggs that involves heating eggs in hot water or a microwave oven, then maintaining them at 134 degrees F in a hot air oven for one hour. This procedure has been shown to disable the Salmonella. Better yet is to use commercially produced pasteurized eggs, however, they are often hard to find and should be found in those eggs that meet the standards for egg pasteurization by the FDA. Until then you cannot find it safe to test the cookie dough, have eggs over easy or enjoy Caesar Salad the way it was meant to be.”

Is the Impossible impossible?

Illustration of a burger patty on a flat top grill with grill marks in the shape of the Western hemisphere

Restricted eating and gene expression

The authors of a study found that 70 percent of mouse genes respond to time-restricted eating.

Satchidananda Panda, PhD – Salk Institute for Biological Studies

“By changing the timing of food, we were able to change the gene expression not just in the gut or in the liver, but also in thousands of genes in the brain,” the authors say.

Nearly 40 percent of genes in the adrenal gland, hypothalamus, and pancreas were affected by time-restricted eating. These organs are important for hormonal regulation. Hormones coordinate functions in different parts of the body and brain, and hormonal imbalance is implicated in many diseases from diabetes to stress disorders. The results offer guidance to how time-restricted eating may help manage these diseases.

Interestingly, not all sections of the digestive tract were affected equally. While genes involved in the upper two portions of the small intestine — the duodenum and jejunum — were activated by time-restricted eating, the ileum, at the lower end of the small intestine, was not. This finding could open a new line of research to study how jobs with shiftwork, which disrupts our 24-hour biological clock (called the circadian rhythm) impact digestive diseases and cancers. Previous research by Panda’s team showed that time-restricted eating improved the health of firefighters, who are typically shift workers.

The researchers also found that time-restricted eating aligned the circadian rhythms of multiple organs of the body.

“Circadian rhythms are everywhere in every cell,” says Panda. “We found that time-restricted eating synchronized the circadian rhythms to have two major waves: one during fasting, and another just after eating. We suspect this allows the body to coordinate different processes.”

Next, Panda’s team will take a closer look at the effects of time-restricted eating on specific conditions or systems implicated in the study, such as atherosclerosis, which is a hardening of the arteries that is often a precursor to heart disease and stroke, as well as chronic kidney disease.

Other authors include Shaunak Deota, Terry Lin, April Williams, Hiep Le, Hugo Calligaro, Ramesh Ramasamy, and Ling Huang of Salk; and Amandine Chaix of the University of Utah.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants CA258221, DK115214, CA014195, and AG065993) and the Wu-Tsai Human Performance Alliance.