To Eat nor not to Eat

Xmas 2008 chez moi

To eat or not to eat, that is question or rather I should say what to eat and what not to eat that is the question. For the past few months I have been trying to find an answer to this question that may so some seem futile. Not quite as I am now truly convince of the fact that food can make or break us. As Hippocrates said: Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food, and he was spot on. I have by now read a plethora of books on the subject of nutrition - The China Study, Forks over Knives - and more recently an interesting book by Michael Pollan called In Defense of Food making you wonder why food needs to be defended.

This whole saga began with Ranjan's cancer. Being a child of parents who both lost the battle to cancer and thus being, according to modern medicine, a high risk person I had over the years tried to find out ways to beat the beast unconventionally and met many years back a survivor who was vegan and told me about the rainbow diet. This was way before Internet Times and my research, if one can call it so, was limited to articles and books on the subject. And also one must admit as the danger was not real, the research was that of a dilettante. When the beast struck again and mercilessly, the gloves were out and I was ready for battle.

Much of this battle I have shared with all of you in this blog. From my research I have worked out a diet cum alternative medicine cum supplements regimen for Ranjan based mostly on common sense and intuition as that seems to have worked over the years. The diet is quite rigid and almost vegan and has really taken off the diner table many of her 'fav' foods! As Ranjan is getting better the question I hear far too often and chose not to answer is: when can I eat cheese/foie gras/ etc.

On the other hand my research has been an eye opener. It has revealed that a change of diet is necessary not only for Ranjan but for anyone who wants to love a healthy life till curtain time. Most of what I have read has propounded the importance of vegetables and fruits, grains in some instances but all have condemned milk and dairy products and animal proteins with some acceptance for grass fed cattle! Of course one and all ask you to eat organically. Ouch! That pinches the pocket.

So how do you find your way in all this. In his  In Defense of Food, Pollan states the following: Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Does this make sense? Not quite as we all eat food don't we? Not quite.

Pollan gives you some rules to follow which I found quite fascinating. In the last chapter he elucidates what food means and gives you some rules to follow. I would like to share some here.

• Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food -  Imagine your great grandmother in a super market today in front of cartons, tubes, and cans! In India we are lucky as we still eat much of what our ancestors did. Dal, roti and a vegetable curry still look familiar.

• Avoid food products containing ingredients that are:  a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup - This is something we do not do when we buy a pack of chips or a bottle of cola! The example he gives is shocking. There is a bread called Sara Lee’s Soft and Smooth Whole Grain White Bread - though how can it be whole grain and white beats me. Normally bread has 4 ingredients: flour, water, yeast and salt ( our chapatis have just 2 flour and water). Now hold your breath here is the list of ingredients in this bread: Enriched Bleached Flour [Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid], Water, Whole Grain [Whole Wheat Flour, Brown Rice Flour (Rice Flour, Rice Bran)], Wheat Gluten, Skim Milk, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Yeast, Butter (Cream, Salt), Contains 2% or Less of Each of the Following: Calcium Sulfate, Salt, Dough Conditioners (May Contain One or More of the Following: Mono- and Diglycerides, Ethoxylated Mono- and Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Peroxide, Datem, Ascorbic Acid, Azodicarbonamide, Enzymes), Guar Gum, Calcium Propionate (Preservative), Distilled Vinegar, Yeast Nutrients (Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulfate, Ammonium Sulfate and /or Calcium Carbonate), Corn Starch, Vitamin D3, Soy Lecithin, Soy Flour. Get the picture. And never, never buy anything that has corn syrup. It is a killer.

• Avoid food products that make health claims. These are always processed foods and thus not good for us.

So I guess what we need to do is eat regular food cooked at home. In India it is still possible and that is a true blessing. It is sad that the 'western' diet of packaged and enriched cereals and fast food has insidiously made its way into our lives, or at least that of our young ones. A fresh lime drink is so much better than a Coke but who can explain that to our kids. I guess one would be on the hit list of many.