Parsing the Food Quagmire

"The more we learn about nutrition, the more it seems we should eat the way people did a hundred years ago. Recent research appears to be pointing us in the direction of eating mostly 'whole foods' – that is, foods that are as close to their natural form as possible."

This could mean eating:

• Whole grains instead of refined grains whenever possible.
• Fruits, vegetables, and beans instead of supplements to provide the fiber and vitamins they contain.
• A skinless chicken breast cooked with healthful ingredients instead of chicken nuggets processed with added fats, flavorings, and preservatives.
• A baked potato with chopped green onions and light sour cream instead of a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips.
• Fresh berries with breakfast instead of raspberry toaster pastries or breakfast bars.
• A blueberry smoothie made with blueberries, yogurt, and a frozen banana instead of a blue-colored slushy or ices.

Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, WebMD 

When you have a smoothie made with spinach and berries what could go wrong? Spinach and berries; super food, right? Um, except that smoothies often add sugar in extra calories from juice used as a drink base. University of Bristol behaviour scientists found in 2018 that fruit smoothies and other similar drinks happened to be less satiating than whole foods; in other words, preferably eating the fruits and vegetables whole. That drink may represent 300 to 700 calories, yet it will fail to give us that satisfying full feeling in comparison to fruit slices served with nut better, as an example.

And then there are grains, known to be in the top category of good, whole food. Other than the fact that white rice, white bread, white pasta and all-purpose flour happen to lack fibre and key nutrients, (lost through their refining process) of their counterparts known as whole grains because they've been refined. These are, in very fact, firmly in the constellation of high glycemie foods causing hunger to spike in the short term, but invariably leading to weight gain in the long term. Careful, with those choices....

Mounting evidence was demonstrated in the 2014 documentary Fed Up, that large quantities of sugar used in processed foods may just represent the root of the global obesity condition where generations of children have morphed into weightier specimens than their parents, facing what have always been viewed as traditionally adult diseases like heart disease and diabetes. Researchers from University of Tennessee discovered current obesity adult rates to be linked to the long-lasting high-sugar diet effect during childhood in the 1970s and 80s, when processed foods flooded the marketplace.

The MIND Diet encourages vegetables every  day. Rawpixel / Getty Images

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health found recently that heavily processed foods end up causing overeating and its inevitable partner, weight gain. Published in the journal Cell Metabolism in July, researchers studied 20 healthy adult volunteers at the NIH Clinical Center for a one-month period where the volunteers were given ultra-processed meals like frozen dinners or alternately, unprocessed foods like roast chicken with rice and peas for two weeks. 

Both types of meal had like calories, sugars, fibre, fat and carbohydrates, and rules were that study participants could eat freely; as much as appealed to them; less if they preferred.The conclusion was that people on the ultra-processed diet ate about 500 more calories'-worth daily; ate faster and gained weight, while those who were on the unprocessed diet, by comparison, tended to lose weight.

Harvard University scientists have declared potato chips, the most popular of snack foods, represent the mos serious culprit in a pound-a-year weight creep. Loaded with sodium and fried in oil, they appeal to peoples' taste buds. The scientists analyzed data collected over two decades taken from over 120,000 men and women in the U.S.; not obese, free of chronic diseases. The study enabled them to identify a group of specific foods linked to weight gain, and potato chips came out the number one offender. A one-ounce serving daily (about 15 chips equalling 160 calories) was responsible for a 1.69-pound increase over four years.

Eating a handful of nuts on a regular basis may help prevent excessive weight gain and lower the risk of obesity, according to a new study published in the online journal BMJ Nutrition. Most nut fat is comprised of monounsaturated fat, along with omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fat. The fat, protein and fibre in nuts, according to the researchers, keep us feeling full longer, takes longer to digest than foods with just carbohydrates and protein. A consistent half-ounce of nuts daily was found to be associated with a 23 percent lower risk of putting on ten or more pounds over a four-year period. So which is it? Potato chips, or nuts?

A balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates is ideal; consuming protein at every meal because protein keeps hunger away for a longer period. This sounds like a fine bit of advice and it comes from Alexandra Johnstone, specialist in obesity and metabolic health, Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health at the University of Aberdeen. Proteins such as beans and lentils in particular represent good choices, since they are plant-derived and the proven benefits of a plant-based diet, should be our reliable guide in choices.

And then there are foods such as kombucha, kefir, kimchee and sauerkraut, preserved with the use of a traditional process boosting food shelf life and nutritional value. Researchers have linked the loss of healthy bacteria and microorganisms to the onset of all manner of health conditions, including obesity. Naturally fermented food may help to strengthen gut microbiome. They provide a dose of healthy probiotics, the microorganisms linked to healthy digestion.