In a recent paper published in the British Medical Journal, it was found that obesity rate was 35% in the US and 12% in France. Yet, the average Americans knows much better than his French counterpart the percentage of fat there in his food. As an example, only 4% of Americans do not know how much fat there is in whole milk (3,25%) yet 55% of the French have no clue and couldn't care less.
Authors were seemingly quite puzzled by this finding and came to the conclusion that to give detailed nutritional info on food labels may not be the best solution to have people adopt healthy eating habits and that more info should rather be given on what is a healthy meal.
Preconceived ideas are tough to kill. Oftentimes, we see a paradox simply because we want to interpret the facts we are observing to make them fit our preconceived ideas. The "low-fat" craze has paralleled an explosion of obesity in the States. One of the healthiest diets - that keeps people slim - is the Mediterranean diet, a high- fat diet.
Since fat has been demonized, especially saturated fats, the food industry has come up with every possible low fat version of any food. But food without fat is bland. So fat has been replaced by carbs to bring back some taste. Since carbs stimulate fat storage, we get fatter eating this type of food (more posts will follow on this very subject). Let me simply indicate here that the higher the glycemic index - the higher a food can raise blood sugar, the quicker it will stimulate insulin. This hormone will push all that energy into cells, and will stock any energy that is remaining into fat cells. And you'll gain weight! The sad thing is that this fact was known since 1954! You can actually gain weight on a low caloric diet made of 90% carbs!
The problem is not fat. It is carbs. And the type of fat. You can have a very healthy high-fat diet and stay slim: fat gives a feeling of satiety (you feel full) and people eat less. Carbs do not and people eat more.
What fats are healthy and what fats are bad? Well, artificial trans fats are bad. Always. You'll recognize them when you see the words trans or hydrogenated fat on the label. An excess of omega-6 fats is very bad - but attention here: an excess is bad - like the one seen in the Standard American Diet. In itself, omega-6 fats are important fats that we must eat. The secret is in the proportion: you need omega-6 in a proportion of 2 or 3 omega-6 for each omega-3. The Standard American Diet ratio is presently 16 to 25 omega-6 for each omega-3. Which brings a chronic state of inflammation.
Where do you get friendly omega-3? In wild fish (farm raised fish are very frequently fed corn, which is high in omega-6 - A farm raised trout is a corn cob with fins). You also get a good vegetable source in flax (milled) and canola. Walnuts are also a good source. Where do you get bad excess omega-6? In all other oils (sunflower, soy, safflower and all others). In all other nuts. And in peanuts.
Saturated fats have been labeled "bad" since Ancel Key's study more than thirty years ago. His study was flawed (more on that subject later). Saturated fats are healthy and have no relationship with heart disease or cancer. Populations with the highest content of saturated fat in their diet, the Eskimos in the North, the Masai in Africa and the Tokelau near New Zealand have an extremely low incidence (essentially non existent) of heart disease.
What is healthy eating? Easy! Take a plate and cut it mentally in four quarters. Two of these quarters should be vegetables (you may have some salad dressing but please, no low fat salad dressing, and not a ton of salad dressing - you want flavour, not drowned leaves). One quarter of the plate should be grains (rice for example, ideally brown) and one quarter should be a good source of protein - wild fish, poultry, red meats or legumes. Because most cattle is now fed grains rather than forage, that meat is high in omega-6. You can increase the ratio in favour of omega-3 by rubbing or marinating that meat with canola oil before you cook it, or rubbing it with flax oil after you have cooked it (flax oil should never be cooked).
The paleo way of doing things is also very healthy: essentially, do as above but replace the grains with another portion of vegetables. If you want to decrease inflammation and cut calories and quick absorption glucose, this is the way to go.
And to make it even simpler (and still healthy) use the half plate healthy method: fill half your plate with vegetables and fruits and put whatever you wish on the other half. It might not be quite as good as the other methods, but it will be a massive improvement over the SAD (Standard American Diet).
More articles will be published on this subject to give you the most up to date knowledge on nutrition, health and fitness. Pending this, if you want to see more, including some recipes, please visit my blog at http://www.blog.fitnessmissionpossible.com or my site at http://www.fitnessmissionpossible.com. And don't forget to "like"!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Josee_Bolduc
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