Many people have asked me about how to loose weight or what
foods to avoid and I have never had a complete answer for them. From intuition
, I would say, “just do everything in moderation!” and the people would go like
“Huh!, what does that mean?” Well, I don’t know what it means but I do know now
that I was partly right and partly wrong. “Together
with smoking and physical activity, dietary habits form the foundation for the
causation, prevention, and treatment of most cardiovascular and metabolic
diseases, including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and type 2 diabetes
mellitus (DM), as well as sudden cardiac death, atrial fibrillation, heart
failure, and cognitive decline.( Braunwald’s text book of Cardiology).”
Did you get that, dietary habits form the….. FOUNDATION FOR
THE CAUSATION….. as in, you really are what you eat.
In developing countries, the
burgeoning epidemics of obesity, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular disease (CVD)
result directly from rapid social and environmental changes transmitted
primarily through changes in diet and other lifestyle behaviors.[2]
Familiarity with the beneficial and harmful effects of various nutritional
factors is essential to mitigate and eventually reverse the substantial disease
burdens caused by suboptimal dietary habits in individuals and in populations.(Braunwald’s
text book of Cardiology)
Translation….. “My people perish for lack of knowledge”
which could be viewed in two ways, either people do not know or they act as if
they do not know.
So, in view of the above, I will attempt to give a breakdown
of what is considered a healthy diet. Most of it is common knowledge to most
people but some may be new.
Foods are usually divided into carbohydrates, fats, proteins
and fibres. In primary school, I was taught that carbohydrates are the energy
giving foods. I still remember the teacher saying it and us, the pupils
chorusing it back. I also had the distinct impression that carbohydrates are
white in colour while proteins are brown foods. This skewed my thinking so much
that I did not consider sugar sweetened beverages to be a form of carbohydrate
until recently, neither do most people.
Did you know that 600mls of coke has the same number of calories as 2 chapatis
or a good serving of ugali. So, after lunch, when you take a sugar sweetened
beverage, it is like you are taking lunch all over again. By the way, alcohol
is also quite high in calories and 2 bottles of beer can be equated to a meal
of ugali. So, next time you are out on the rave and you want to maintain your
weight, just take the beer, a few pieces of meat and an apple and that will be
your supper right there, complete in all ways. By the way, when it comes to
weight gain, it is not what you eat that matters, it is how much you eat. It is
not where the calories are coming from, it I s how much of the calories you are
taking in. Think of it this way, if you were a mule and were asked to carry a
load from point A to point B, it is not what is in the load that would matter,
it is how much the load weighs.
However, when it comes to cardiovascular health, it is the
quality of what you eat that is most important. I wonder if there is such a
thing as a “healthy fat guy?” What would happen if I eat too much of all the
healthy stuff? Hmmh… food for thought!
When it comes to carbs, one should target those that have a low
Glycemic index and low glycemic load. These will usually turn out to be foods
that have complex carbs, not refined and contain lots of fibre (we all know
that, don’t we?)
Whole grain contains bran, endosperm and germ from the
natural cereal, while the refined grains have the bran and germ removed. Which
reminds me, those who have been on a farm will attest to this, farmers
regurlary buy “maize germ” and “maize bran” to add to the cow and pig feed.
They buy this from the same millers who make our maize flour and wheat flour…………….
Talk about throwing pearls to the pigs.
Bran contains fiber, B vitamins,
minerals, flavonoids, and tocopherols; germ contains numerous antioxidants and
phytochemicals. Intake of whole grains associates consistently with lower risk
of CHD, DM, and possibly stroke. Whole-grain intake has been found to improve
glucose-insulin homeostasis, endothelial function, and possibly weight loss and
inflammation. Whole-grain oats reduce LDL-C.[77] As with fruits and
vegetables, it is not clear that any single micronutrient accounts for these
benefits; the benefits may result from the synergistic effects of multiple
constituents. (Braunwalds)
FATS
When it comes to fat intake, the science is not so straight
forward. We had been made to believe that solid fats (hydrogenated vegetable
oils) are bad and that the liquid ones are good. The hydrogenated vegetable oil
companies therefore came up with a campaign stating that their products are
“0.00% cholesterol free”. I remember seeing a bill board like that and I
thought to myself, “ how can it be 0.00% cholesterol free? What does that even mean?” I am yet to get an
English teacher to explain that statement to me. In my mind, it is either “100%
cholesterol free” or “contains 0.00% cholesterol”. Anyway, I believe the idea
was to make us think that cholesterol is ingested in the diet ….well it is not.
Dietary cholesterol is so little and of largely no consequence to your health.
What matters is what the liver does with the fats that you feed it. The liver is
actually the major source of body cholesterol and it generates this cholesterol
from the food we eat.
Fats are divided into saturated fats, unsaturated fats and
trans fats. Saturated fats play a
leading part in raising blood cholesterol and factors such as Diabetes, Hypertension,
Smoking and Physical inactivity act only on coronary vessels rendered susceptible
by elevated cholesterol. Main source of saturated fats is animal fats and some
dietary oils. Dietary fat (not dietary cholesterol) is the main contributor to
blood cholesterol levels.
Oils to avoid
Coconut oil and Palm oil – contain large amounts of
saturated fatty acids with least amounts of unsaturated fatty acids.
Hydrogentaed vegetable oils – contain a lot of trans fatty
acids. These are the worst in terms of causing cardiovascular disease.
Good oils
Olive oil, Mustard oil , sunflower oil, canola oil,
safflower oil – have large amounts of unsaturated fatty acids.
Oils
|
Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids
|
Mono Unsaturated Fatty Acids
|
Saturated Fatty Acids
|
LDL cholesterol Response (mg/dl) (bad chlosterol)
|
Coconut oil
|
2
|
6
|
92
|
+36
|
Palm Oil
|
10
|
40
|
50
|
+12
|
Olive Oil
|
11
|
72
|
17
|
-15
|
Peanut Oil
|
32
|
50
|
14
|
NA
|
Soyabean Oil
|
61
|
24
|
15
|
-24
|
Sunflower Oil
|
69
|
19
|
12
|
-30
|
Safflower Oil
|
78
|
13
|
9
|
-30
|
From the table above, good oils are in red and they
will help reduce our bad cholesterol.
PUFA –
polyunsaturated FA, MUFA –
monounsaturated FA, SAFA – Saturated FA
The greater the level
of PUFA and MUFA, the better the oil is for your heart.
Fish oil is also an important part of dietary cardiovascular
disease prevention. It has been shown to lower cholesterol as it provides omega
3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in good quantities.
Fruits and vegetables
It is recommended that we take in at least 5 servings of
fruits and vegetables per day. Not only do these provide essential vitamins and
anti-0xidants, they are also a great way to aid in digestion due to the
presence of fibre. Higher fruit and vegetable intake is related with lower CHD
incidence. Fruit intake is also
associated with lower stroke risk and dietary fiber from fruits with lower
onset of Diabetes. Hey, we all know that fruits and vegetables are vital for
good health, so I will not belabor the point.
Bottom line, we need to watch how many calories we take in
if we want to affect our weight. We should also ensure that the calories are
coming from healthy sources so as to maintain good cardiovascular health.