Food for Life: How the New Four Food Groups Can Save Your Life (43 page)

Heinz Vegetarian Beans

Casbah Couscous Pilaf

Lettuce, tomato, avocado, cucumber

Oil-free salad dressing

Heat beans on stove or in microwave. Prepare pilaf according to package instructions. Assemble and dress salad.

Ramen soup

Bread or muffins

Broccoli

Westbrae Natural Ramen (many flavors available)

Whole wheat bread, rolls, or muffins

Broccoli

Prepare ramen according to package instructions. Steam broccoli or cook in microwave. Warm bread if desired.

Lemon broil tempeh

Rozdali lentils and rice

Green salad

White Wave Lemon Broil Tempeh (deli case)

Rozdali

Lettuce, tomato, avocado, cucumber

Oil-free salad dressing

Prepare Rozdali according to package instructions. Heat tempeh in oven or microwave. Assemble and dress salad.

You are beginning a whole new way of eating, and you deserve congratulations. You have in your hands a powerful program that can help keep you feeling good and looking good. And you will find that changing your diet is not a one-time event. You will keep learning new things about foods and health, and will find many more wonderful foods to try.

I hope you will have opportunities to share information with others. Unfortunately, not everyone yet has access to the vital information you now know. Federal nutrition guidelines still aggressively promote unhealthful foods, even as the evidence against them mounts higher.

Shortly after the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine unveiled the New Four Food Groups in 1991, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued its own new plan, a pyramid that pictured grains, vegetables, and fruits at its broad base, indicating that these foods should be the main portion of the diet. Meat and dairy products were pictured at the upper, smaller portion of the pyramid, just under the most shunned foods: fats, oils, and sweets. The outraged meat and dairy industries forced the Department of Agriculture to reconsider the graphic, which delayed the release of the food guide for nearly a year.

The pyramid was a big improvement over the old depictions of the four food groups, which put meat and dairy on a par with grains, vegetables, and fruits. But even the new pyramid promotes two to three servings of meat and two to three servings of dairy products
every day
, which is more than most of us can take over the long run. The predictable result is obesity, high cholesterol levels and heart attacks, and ever-climbing cancer rates.

A pair of scissors provides you a solution. Simply cut along the line indicated in the diagram. Throw away the top portion, and save the bottom, which you can now call the Food Guide Trapezoid. You can then, in good conscience, tape this to your refrigerator and mail copies to your friends.

Imagine what would happen if everyone were to follow the type of program you have read about in this book. As a group, we would manage to eliminate the majority of our heart disease risk, at least half of our risk of high blood pressure, and most of our cancer risk.

As America grapples with how to pay for its health-care costs, a big part of the solution is to reduce our need for medical care. If we avoid tobacco, our collective lung cancer bill, so to speak, will be cut dramatically. And those of us who are also sticking to a low-fat vegetarian menu will keep the need for doctors, drugs, and hospitalization to a minimum. Vegetarians use less medication; have fewer hospital stays, fewer operations, and X-rays; and spend far less of their time in doctors’ offices.

One day insurance companies will offer lower premiums for vegetarians, as they now do for nonsmokers and safe drivers. As it stands, businesses pay enormous costs for medical insurance and pass them along to consumers. For instance, health-related costs add hundreds of dollars to the price of every new car sold in America. When a company sells a computer, or a long-distance service links up to a home, or a college enrolls students, the companies involved have to charge enough to cover all their costs. Those costs include health insurance for their employees and their employees’ spouses and children, the costs of replacing workers who die or become disabled, and the costs of absenteeism owing to illness. Costs that should be small have become so great as to affect the competitiveness of U.S. products and services.

But the real issue is not economics. People on low-fat vegetarian diets are able to feel better, live longer, and enjoy life more. They have more power to keep serious illnesses at arm’s length. And they are able to pass on a healthy life-style to the next generation.

If you would like to keep up to date on nutrition, I encourage you to join the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. PCRM is a nonprofit organization that supplies information on nutrition, research, and other medical issues of interest to physicians and nonphysicians alike through a fascinating quarterly magazine called
Good Medicine
. Other PCRM programs include the Gold Plan, an innovative nutrition-education program for businesses, hospitals, and schools, and the New Four Food Groups curriculum for junior high students. PCRM also has lecturers and speakers for broadcast programs. The tax-deductible membership fee is $20. For information, write PCRM, Box 6322, Washington, D.C. 20015.

Let me also invite you to help spread the word by sending information
to friends and family members, writing letters to the editors of newspapers and magazines, and suggesting topics for radio and television talk shows.

When I began my work in medicine, my goal was to help people stay healthy, both physically and mentally. Happily, I hear from a great many people, who tell me how much these dietary improvements have helped them. I hope you will let me know how this program works for you, and I wish you the very best of success!

Physical activity is great for your heart, your waistline, and your sense of well-being. Unfortunately, many people associate exercise with misery: jogging down a smoggy roadway at 6:00 A.M. or peddling on a stationary bike for as long as boredom will allow. Let’s face it. These forms of exercise are not natural. Jogging is the physical equivalent of an instant diet shake—an unnatural compensation for an unhealthful life-style. People jog because they have forgotten more enjoyable ways of getting their bodies moving. Of course, some people do enjoy jogging, running, weight-lifting, or structured aerobics. If that includes you, then there is nothing wrong with those exercises, so long as you stay within the limits of safety. But my recommendation for most people is different.

Our bodies are designed for physical activity: walking, dancing, biking, games, and playing with children. These activities can get your heart moving and can burn a lot of calories. But we do them for fun, not to burn calories. Honeymooning couples do not, in the midst of afterglow, check their pulses and calculate calorie expenditure. The key is to remember what it was like to move your body—to enjoy a walk in the woods, a game of volleyball or touch football, a night on the dance floor.

For starters, I recommend something very simple. Just walk a half-hour per day, or 1 hour three times per week. This is easy, and it gives you plenty of exercise. And by all means smell the roses along the way. Pick a place to walk that is enjoyable for you, with interesting sights, sounds, and smells.

If you prefer, pick any other activity. To give you an idea of
how quickly your body can part with calories, here are some activities people enjoy and the number of calories they burn per hour for a 150-pound adult:

Fun is the key. And bring a friend along.

A word of caution: Do not push yourself too hard. If you are over forty or have any history of illness, medication use, or joint problems, talk over your plans with your doctor before you begin.

Reducing stress helps cut your risk of heart problems, strengthens your immune system, and reduces anxiety so you are more likely to stick to a healthful life-style and less likely to depend on sedatives or the daily Martini that many people use to deal with stress.

First, get plenty of sleep. You know the amount of sleep you need to feel well. And if you can spare the time, a short nap before dinner is a great stress reducer. At work, take a break every now and then to move around, take a deep breath, stretch, and have a big yawn.

Here are three simple exercises that melt away stress. These techniques work by turning off external stimuli and relaxing your muscles. When your body is relaxed, your mind tends to let go of tension, too. Twice a day, try any one of these for several minutes. They also help if you are having trouble falling asleep.

For each exercise, sit in a comfortable chair or lie on your back in a quiet room. Unplug the phone and use a DO NOT DISTURB sign. If you should happen to doze off, don’t worry. That is a sign that your body wants more rest.