Make smart decisions about food

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March 28, 2009

By Crystal Dupré / publisher The Meridian Star Sat Mar 28, 2009, 11:10 PM CDT

You may have heard about the latest study released this past week which links the consumption of red meat with a modest increase in cancer mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality rates in people over 50 years old. This study, reported to be one of the largest on this subject, included over 500,000 men and women and was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine’s March 23 issue.

Dr. Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute stated, “High intakes of red or processed meat may increase the risk of mortality.” Frankly, I’m not surprised. I’m sure that if a study was done on the consumption of Key Lime Pie, higher intakes would be found to increase several health problems. Higher intakes of most all food or drink will result in some type of health issue. Even drinking too much water in a short time can cause water intoxication, which can be fatal. It always amazes me how we spend massive amounts of money on medical research to come to the conclusion that eating too much of something is harmful.

Many people believe we are an overweight nation because we eat foods high in fats. However, the French have a long history of eating a diet full of rich, fatty foods, yet most French people remain relatively slim and have much lower rates of heart disease compared to the U.S. France also has an astonishingly low obesity rate of only seven percent -- our Mississippi obesity rate is a shocking 31.7 percent!

This phenomenon of eating rich foods but enjoying low rates of heart disease and obesity has become known as the “French Paradox.” Nutritionists studying this paradox have found the French eat their largest meals early in the day, they tend to eat slowly, and they eat much smaller portions than those traditionally served in the United States.

According to a report found on the Web site Psychologytoday.com, a cooperative study of researchers from both sides of the Atlantic showed that the average American serving size in a variety of restaurants was 25% larger than that of restaurants in France. Even more striking were the comparisons of Chinese restaurants: in America, portions were found to be 72% larger than in Chinese restaurants in France.

I lived in Laurel for several years before moving to Meridian. One of my friends there hosted a French exchange student for a year. My friend told a story of the French student’s first encounter with McDonald’s. The student was absolutely astonished at the portions of a super-sized Big Mac meal. She commented that she had never seen so much food for just one person and was dumbfounded that so many people could actually eat that much food in one sitting.

This is not a McDonald’s problem. This is a cultural problem. The United States has forgotten that we should eat to live, not live to eat. Too often, our mentality is such that when we go to a buffet, we think we should eat as much as we can in order to get our money’s worth. We look at the menu board at every fast food restaurant and see that it only costs a few cents more to supersize our order….regardless of whether we are truly that hungry.

We can blame an array of people for our eating problems. It’s my mom’s fault because when growing up she made me clean my plate. The restaurants are at fault because their portions are too big. We can blame marketers for showing us those enticing advertisements that make us want to run out and buy the bigger meal. Or, we can accept responsibility for our own actions and make smarter eating decisions.

The moral of all this is that it is not so much what one eats as it is how much one eats. Red meat is not poison, so enjoy that steak guilt-free…just eat it slowly and in reasonable quantities.

Crystal Dupré is publisher of The Meridian Star. E-mail her at cdupre@themeridianstar.com.

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