Let us now honor the Luddites

Remember the Luddites?  The very name almost makes us laugh.  In the early 1800s they raged across the countryside of northern England, destroying the textile machines that were taking their jobs.  They’re remembered for their crusade against the advance of the Industrial Revolution—for the naïve believe that progress could be resisted.  The Luddite movement was put down harshly by the powers that were, but there was something to their protest that caught the public fancy.  On the 200^th anniversary of their first protests, we still remember their name.

A new, nobler, image of the Luddites was presented in the March issue of the Smithsonian.  The Luddites were not actually opposed to the textile machines—most of them worked in the industry.  Instead, they fought against predatory practices, like putting the young to work at poverty wages without proper training as apprentices.  The rising issue was how to balance the conflicting needs of man and machine.   Business was looking after the machines quite well, thank you, but someone needed to look after the people.  Their movement was a first step in the long march to better treatment of workers.

This brings us to the 20^th century march of the Industrial Revolution through our food supply.  We are in a new century now, and the health consequences of the industrialization of food are ever before us.  The first task of the 21^st century should be to reinvent—to reform—our dietary with the passion of a Luddite, but with the wisdom history can provide.  We shouldn’t oppose machines that mill flour more efficiently.  But we should oppose the removal of vital nutrients to improve shelf life or appeal to our innate desire for sweetness. 

The roller mill making refined and bleached white flour is bad; a mill suitable for home use is good for those who can afford; but a mill in the grocery store that allowed the purchase of freshly ground whole flour by all would be better.  Industry should serve man, not vice versa.  So we are engaged in a process of reformation that is both wise and creative.  We seek a new paradigm for how to live and be well in the modern time.  And this brings us to gateway recipes. 

Gateway Recipes

In the beginning we thought our readers would be most interested in scientific food studies so we placed less emphasis on recipes.  Instead we have seen a growing interest in what we’ve termed gateway recipes.  Gateway recipes are more than directions for a meal—they open the door to a better way of cooking and eating.  The recipes for the Breakfast Compote and Katie’s Granola are revolutionary because they eliminate the need for unhealthy store-bought cereals.  The recipe for Basic Bread had a similar effect—it showed that bread could be healthier, tastier, and cheaper if made at home.   Dropping French fries from our dietary sounded easier after we tried the Oven-Roasted Fries recipe.  Gateway recipes enable the food reformation and they also send a sharp message to the corporate chieftains that they must reform or become the new dinosaurs.

Cruciferous Vegetables

Named for their cross-shaped flower, cruciferous vegetables are this week’s subject.  The family includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower (all shown above), plus kale, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, and radishes, all potent sources of antioxidants, soluble fiber, vitamins, and minerals.  This is reason enough to include them in your diet but studies also suggest they are protective of cancer.  You can read more about Dr. Joel Fuhrman's take here. 

It is impossibly difficult to prove the role of any substance in promoting or preventing cancer.  But there is growing evidence the cruciferous vegetables are protective of colorectal, breast, prostate, lung, and other cancers though further research is needed.  Cruciferous vegetables have no official intake recommended but epidemiological studies suggest at least five weekly servings.

Returning to the idea of gateway recipes, you readers have recommended these cruciferous dishes:

•  For a hold-the-mayo vinegar coleslaw with oregano, go here.

•  For a Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe look here.

•  If you miss German food, here’s the recipe for a red cabbage dish.

•  And for Pasta with Hashed Brown Sprouts and Pine nuts, go here.

Please comment:  Be a Luddite by sharing recipes that enable healthier living, or suggesting topics for gateway recipe research.

Protecting Your Guy

The quick answer: Remember how good the big hunk looked on your wedding day?  To keep your guy around as long as possible, replace the sugar and most of the meat in his diet with cruciferous vegetables and a few Brazil nuts.  Wives who cook control three of the five factors linked to prostate cancer in men. 

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Could I tell a story?  Early in the last century an engineer turned doctor developed a safe process for making intravenous solutions (IVs) and founded a company called Don Baxter Laboratories.  Don Baxter is forgotten now but his IVs became central to medical treatment—it’s rare to see a hospitalized person today who is not hooked up to a number of IVs.  I worked for Don Baxter’s company (later known as McGaw Laboratories) for many years and our products included solutions used in a surgical procedure called TURP.  TURP stands for transurethral resection of the prostate, the standard treatment for men with urination and other problems due to an enlarged prostate. 

The urologists we met were interesting: they were regular guys and if their standing in the pecking order of doctors was humble, they were good at home repairs and tended to have a workshop in the garage.  In 1988 the status of urologists began to rise—a test for detection of prostate cancer (the PSA test) was introduced and a great hope arose that earlier treatment would reduce mortality of the #2 men’s cancer (after lung cancer).  So urologists rose from mere plumbers for men to healers of cancer, or so we thought.

There was a basis for our faith in the early detection of prostate cancer.  In 1943 Dr. George Papanicolaou published a paper of historical importance, “Diagnosis of Uterine Cancer by the Vaginal Smear”.  Basically, he invented the Pap smear screening test, which detected pre-cancerous cells of the cervix and allowed early preventative treatment.  If you look at the graph in our recent post on cancer, you can see the dramatic decline in uterine cancer since WWII, thanks to this good doctor.

So when the PSA test was introduced in 1988, it was presumed a similar triumph over prostate cancer would be achieved.  Men who tested positive were given the standard cancer treatments—slash, poison, burn (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation).  The side effects were dreadful but the benefit women received from the Pap test was not matched for men with the PSA test.  (Two recent studies, ERSPC done in Europe and PLCO done in the US, showed no detectable benefit, or a benefit small enough to not offset the risk, for treatment indicated by PSA testing.  The use of this test remains a topic of debate.)  So prostate cancer seems much like breast cancer (discussed here): the best protection is prevention through lifestyle reform. 

The chart above shows 75 years of cancer incidence for men.  Prostate cancer (PC) is second only to lung cancer, and it’s interesting they have declined in tandem (a delayed benefit of the decline in smoking).  The exact cause of any cancer is unproven but studies have linked these risk factors to prostate cancer:

1. Tobacco:  The more you smoke the greater the risk; overall smokers have 40% greater risk and the risk is doubled for those with >40 pack-years.   (A pack-year is one pack a day, done for one year, etc.)

2. Sugar:  Sugar drives insulin and higher insulin levels are linked to PC risk as well as overweight.  Overweight is a separate risk factor for PC.  A 2008 study showed a 300% greater PC death risk for men with both high insulin (measured by C-peptide) and overweight.  Avoid sugary drinks, refined carbs, and eat a low G.I. diet. 

3. Meat:  Eat meat sparingly; men who eat 5 or more servings weekly have 150% greater risk than those consuming 1 serving.  Conversely, dairy products, especially from pastured cows, contain vitamin K2, which is protective of PC.

4. Vegetables:  Veggies—particularly cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage—are protective against the most deadly PCs.  Include them in your diet most days.  Vegetables, whole grains, and especially Brazil nuts also provide selenium, which is protective of PC.  Eat a few Brazil nuts weekly.

5. Exercise, in the sun:  Men who got three or more hours of vigorous exercise weekly had a 61% lower risk of dying from prostate cancer.  Vitamin D also reduces risk, so consider running on the sunny side of the street.

Budget Wisdom:  Compare the cost of cruciferous vegetables to meat and you’ll find a real savings.  These veggies are also protective of women’s cancers.  An interesting fact:  A generation ago Americans spent about 15% of their income on food and 10% on medical care.  Today the numbers are reversed but you can save by spending wisely on food now and less on medical care, down the road.

Please Comment:  Share your best ideas and recipes for including cruciferous vegetables in the family diet.  In the next post we’ll feature a recipe for coleslaw. 

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.

Chart found here

Katie's Granola

The Quick Answer:  For a healthy weight, eat more whole foods and fewer refined foods.   And start your day with a good breakfast, like Katie’s Granola (below).

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I promised a granola recipe, but first let me comment on a Harvard study just out.  The study analyzed dietary patterns for over 200K people, taken over 8-20 years, and found that over the years, some foods add weight while others are linked to weight loss.  No surprise, I suppose, but which foods do which? 

Weight loss foods—are unprocessed (and low in sugars and starch) and include yogurt (a surprise finding), nuts, fruits, whole grains, and extra helpings of vegetables.  The benefit of yogurt is unclear; it may be the probiotics or just the fact that people who eat yogurt do a lot of other healthy things.  Exercise and adequate sleep are also important habits.

Weight gain foods—are generally processed and include sugary drinks (most impact, because people drink so much), potatoes (French fries, potato chips and plain old baked potatoes), refined grains, red meats, and processed meats.  The farmers in Idaho will defend the baked potato and I’m with them—but I will avoid things deep-fried and try to limit chips to national holidays.  Also, smoking cessation, alcohol consumption, too little/too much sleep, and TV watching are all linked to overweight.

We intuitively knew this, but it’s nice of Harvard to confirm.  Without saying it outright, the study challenges the common practice of calorie counting.  We discussed this in a post, titled The Skinny on Overweight, which stated that eating a variety of whole foods moved us from eating calorie-dense food to eating nutrient-dense foods that had a low glycemic index (G.I.).  You don’t need to go hungry to lose weight; nutrient-dense foods are filling, you won’t eat too much.  Further, a low G.I. diet of whole foods would lower our insulin level and the propensity of insulin to convert excess glucose into cellular fat.  Bottom line:  don’t count calories; buy whole foods.

All this follows the longevity survey discussed in a recent post (Last Person Standing).  A county-by-county survey of the US found a few counties where longevity was improving even more than the leading nations.  (Nations with best longevity include Japan, Sweden and Switzerland.)  But it also found that 85% of our counties were falling further behind.  It was disturbing that in the greatest democracy, we are not all progressing together. 

The Healthy Change of this week is to regularly eat a healthy breakfast.  This is important—people who do so have more vigor and are less tempted by sugary snacks.  Remember the Breakfast Compote, our effort to make a perfect meal?  Two other healthy breakfasts you can make yourself include the Swiss tradition, muesli, and the American invention, granola.  They’re both oat-based with nuts, seeds, and dried fruits.  The main difference is granola is baked and has oil/fat added to bind it together.  Both will keep for a week or two so can be made in advance to save time.

Granola Recipe:  The beautiful wife and I have three daughters.  When they went off to college, our main requirement (I was going to say “only”, but there were a few other parental dictates) was they work to help pay their way, avoid debt, and pick a major that would lead to a paying job.  Reflecting their uniqueness, one is a firefighter, another is a designer, and the last is a photographer.  They all share an interest in healthy eating and the picture above comes from Brooke’s blog, Inchmark, which links to the recipe at Katie Did. 

I call it Katie’s Granola and it is unique because it’s baked in a cool oven (250 F) but for a longer time (2 hours).  Most granola recipes bake at 350F for 15-30 minutes, depending on moisture level.  (Brooke adds more nuts, as shown below.  You might want to add a little salt.)

Katie’s Granola

10 c old-fashioned rolled oats
2c whole-wheat flour
2c wheat germ
2c coconut, shredded or flaked
2 to 3c total of chopped pecans and sliced almonds
Mix above ingredients in large bowl

4T vanilla
1/2c water
2c honey
1c (or less) healthy oil (try coconut oil)

Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl, then stir into the dry ingredients.  Spread in shallow baking pans and bake about 2 hours at 250 F., stirring gently every 15 minutes.  Cook until golden brown and nearly dry.  Cool and store in airtight containers; refrigerate. 

Budget Wisdom:  You can save money by making your own granola, and you’ll have the confidence that you know what’s in it.  Katie’s recipe is for the frugal—it has fourfold more grains than nuts/seeds/dried fruit.  Other recipes balance the grain quantity with the more expensive nuts/seeds/fruit.  Another savings: because many love it but don't make it, granola makes a great gift and is simpler than wandering the store aisles looking for something people often don't even need.

Please comment:  We’re all moving away from factory-made stuff, towards home-cooked foods that are both healthier and less expensive.  You're inventing a new economy: blending healthful food traditions with new, time-saving methods.  Examples: home-made granola can last a week or two with the refrigerator, and wheat can be fresh-ground with a home grinder.  Please share your creative ideas for healthier living.

The War We Lost

The Quick Answer:  Despite the billions spent in search of a cure for cancer, history keeps reminding that prevention through a healthy lifestyle is the wiser approach. 

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Cancer: The War We Lost

The picture of President Kennedy is a little faded—I took it in 1963 when he visited Costa Rica.  (He seemed so polished and elegant, bigger than life itself.)  Kennedy had launched our race to the moon just two years before, and Apollo 11’s successful landing in 1969 was a national confidence builder.  For years after when difficult projects were discussed, you would hear the phrase, “Well, we got to the moon didn’t we?” 

So you can’t blame President Nixon, in a moment of hubris, for declaring war on cancer in 1971, with the goal to find a cure by 1976.  A five-year cure seemed reasonable; after all we had discovered penicillin and other miracle drugs that could cure the killer diseases of the prior century, hadn’t we?  (It was also a moment of historical forgetfulness, for a single agent has NEVER cured a major disease.  Public health improvements—piped water, sewer systems, safer food—had brought the infectious diseases into decline before the arrival of penicillin.)  Never the less, an army of scientists was gathered and truckloads of money duly delivered.  What have we learned after 40 years and a few hundred billions of dollars?  That cancer is far more complex that anyone imagined, that there may not even be a cure for most cancers, and that a better goal would have been the prevention of cancer.  Considering the lives needlessly lost and the resources wasted, it was a terribly expensive lesson.

Last week we introduced the subject of chronic disease and the early phases—chronic inflammation, and metabolic syndrome.  Evidence suggests the chronic diseases have common causes, shared risk factors, which derive from the modern way of eating and living.  We’ll next look at the diseases: cancer in this post, then prostate cancer (breast cancer was discussed here), heart disease, diabetes, and so on.  Rather than repeat what you’ve already heard, we’ll look at these diseases in a new way, and from the viewpoint of prevention rather than treatment.  (Prevention is surely a unique view; of the billions spent on cancer research, less than half of one percent is spent on the benefits of nutrition.) 

Cancer is an ancient disease, perhaps the oldest.  Yet, though once rare, it has become terribly common.  The incidence rose steadily in the last century until it became the #2 killer in 1926.  Now, half of men and one-third of women will get cancer in their lifetime.  Some think of cancer as a modern disease because it’s growth is aggressive, self-absorbed, out-of-control, and ultimately self-destructive.  What could be more modern?

Here is a fascinating graph.  It shows 75 years of cancer incidence among women.  The graph for men is similar (just replace breast/ovarian cancers with prostate cancer) with the exception of lung cancer.  Men smoked more and earlier so had over twice the rate of lung cancer.  On the other hand they begin stopping sooner so are first to show reduction.  The most interesting curve is the steady decline of stomach cancer.  At the start of the last century it was the #1 cancer but safer foods (thanks to the FDA) plus the arrival of refrigeration (thus safer and less preserved foods) drove it down.  The decline in breast cancer in the last decade is due to stopping hormone replacement therapy—a practice not adequately tested before widespread advocacy by doctors.

If you study this chart in light of the failed war on cancer you might arrive at three conclusions:

1.     Despite a mammoth effort, cancer has not been cured.  (Though several minor cancers like childhood leukemia are now treatable, overall mortality has been reduced by only 5%.)

2.     Lifestyle changes, not curative drugs, have reduced a few common cancers. Changes included safer foods/refrigeration (stomach cancer), stopping smoking (lung and related cancers), and HRT cessation (breast cancer).

3.     Our best chance of avoiding the remaining cancers would be to stop hoping for a cure and seriously strive for a healthier lifestyle.

What to do?

We should first acknowledge how living the prohibitions of the Word of Wisdom has protected Mormons.  Tobacco has been associated with 400K deaths annually in the US and alcohol has been linked with 90K deaths.  People—regardless of faith—who neither smoked nor drank alcohol were spared.  We should note that the prohibited hot drinks (coffee and tea) have no deaths associated with them but their popularity drove increased consumption of sugar, which is linked to the rise of cancer.  (It was the availability of affordable sugar that popularized these otherwise bitter drinks.)

The next step is to follow the prescriptions of the Word of Wisdom and return to a natural diet of whole foods, with a little meat if desired.  Note the 10 steps in the prior post on breast cancer, based on work by the American Institute for Cancer Research.  In previous posts we:

•   Recommended cereal products be made of whole grains and contain more grams of natural fiber than sugar (see here),

•   Shared the recipe for our breakfast compote (here), and

•   Visited the cereal aisle of the local grocery and recommended healthier packaged cereals (here).

Recently I interviewed a group of teens before an early morning class, asking what they had eaten for breakfast.  These were good kids but they were not starting their day with a healthy breakfast.  Mostly they were grabbing whatever was available as they rushed through the kitchen on the way out the door.  So we need more attention on, and a little more time for, breakfast:

Budget Wisdom:  In the next post we’ll share a recipe for homemade granola that is less costly and tastier than the purchased products.  A reminder—if you buy oranges and squeeze your own juice, it’s about 1/3 cheaper and way more tastier than the store-bought stuff. 

Please comment on the healthy breakfasts that work for your family. 

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.

Chart found here.

Last Person Standing

Graph from The Los Angeles Times

The Quick Answer:  Chronic inflammation is a big risk factor for chronic disease, but is hard to measure.  Metabolic syndrome—often the next step—is easier to measure.  The goal of wordofwisdomliving.com: help you reform your lifestyle, avoid these conditions, and live to a healthy old age. 

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Learning to Live Longer

A deep thought:  People will argue about what diet is best but due to the near-infinite complexity of nutrition, the correct answer will remain unknowable.  There is however one indisputable fact—who lives the longest.  For nutrition and lifestyle, longevity is the proof of the pudding.  Unfortunately for the last guy standing, your detractors won’t be around to see you do your victory lap.

So I was interested in a recent report (see it here) that reveals two contrasting longevity trends in America.  The report looked at 3000 counties in the US to compare longevity progress since 1987 and 2000 (vs. 2007).  The report also estimated how many years each county lags behind (or leads) the standard set by the ten best nations.  (No, America is not a leader in longevity, we rank #34 despite the fact we spend lots more on health care, 16.2% of our GNP.)  

In some counties of America longevity is nicely improving (the green zones in the chart above), while in others it is actually in decline (red zones), especially for women.  Because life expectancy around the world has steadily increased over the last century, it’s distressing to see areas—about ¼ of our counties—moving in the wrong direction.  It's even more disturbing to see that women bear the brunt of this decline.  Children born here will have a lower life expectancy than their parents—a disturbing trend that is rare among the modern nations. 

The red zones are mainly in Appalachia, the Deep South, and to the west in Oklahoma and Texas.  In these areas smoking, untreated high blood pressure, and overweight are common but they reflect a deeper failing—a culture turning self-destructive. 

The green zones where longevity is making the best improvement are located along the coasts, and in progressive areas like Marin County, California, the ski country of Colorado, and Seattle, Washington.  So why does Yuma, Arizona and Los Angeles come up green?  It’s the immigrants; the people who come from afar are healthy and vigorous and actually improve our longevity metrics.

The bottom line:  Although longevity has steadily increased in the US for a century, there are now two opposing trends: some counties are improving while others are regressing.  These contrasting movements—one showing progress, the other decline—are disturbing and should not happen in the greatest democracy the world has seen.  The solution?  I believe it lies in the power of the Internet to connect, inform, and influence.  Blogs like Word of Wisdom Living can save the world, meal by meal.  Please spread the word.

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Chronic Inflammation

The prior post introduced the subject of chronic inflammation, the chemical fire that burns within us.  Inflammation is the body’s healing response to injury, infection, and other threats, even stress.  If you live a healthy lifestyle, inflammation is occasional; if you live an unhealthy lifestyle it is chronic and eventually leads to chronic disease.  Like the frog cooked in the open pot when the temperature is slowly raised, we tend to be unaware of our inflammatory status.

Habits that drive inflammation:  Smoking, long-term infection (gingivitis, etc.), protracted stress and anxiety, the standard American diet (high in sugar and other stimulants, processed foods, fast food, hydrogenated vegetable oils, and meat), overweight, lack of sleep, social isolation, anger, a disorderly life of rushing about, frustration and loss of control. 

Habits that reduce inflammation:  A healthy diet (rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, and whole grains, with a little meat), regular exercise, sunshine (but not sunburns), good friends, loving and being loved, achievement, service, the ability to solve problems, rest, meditation and church-going.

Chronic inflammation is not likely due to one thing though nutrition is critical—it’s the sum total of a lifestyle.  The important thing is we can change our lifestyle.

Metabolic Syndrome

The path from chronic inflammation to chronic disease typically passes through another condition—metabolic syndrome (MS).  While we may be unaware of chronic inflammation (unless a test like hsCRP is done), MS is easier to measure.  If you have three of these five easily tested conditions, you have MS:

1.     Abdominal obesity (waist >40” for men, >35” for women).

2.     High blood triglycerides (>150 mg/mL).

3.     Low HDL cholesterol (under 40 mg/dL for men, 50 mg/dL for women).  Note:  HDL cholesterol is sometimes called “good” cholesterol, though all forms are needed.

4.     High blood pressure (>130/85 mm Hg).

5.     High blood sugar (fasting glucose >110 mg/dL).

A physical exam with your doctor (an important health practice) can determine MS (metabolic syndrome, not multiple sclerosis) but I once tested myself by measuring my waist, getting a blood test at the local health food store, and buying a blood pressure tester. Different factors contribute to MS—because you need just 3 of the 5 factors, two people can have MS but only have one factor in common.  Consequently, MS is a syndrome without established clinical use, but it is an early warning to either improve your life style or prepare a will. 

High blood pressure (one indicator of MS) is a serious but silent health problem.  Keep an eye on your blood pressure by using the testers available at some pharmacies, or buying a tester of your own.  I added a new exercise, stretching, as a Healthy Change this week, but learning your blood pressure would be a good change also. 

 Warning:  While the diagnosis of MS requires 3 of 5 possible conditions, any of these conditions is a health concern and a clue to consult your doctor.  Hopefully, he’ll talk about lifestyle improvement and not just reach for the prescription pad.

An important finding from longevity studies is that it is a community affair.  The conditons that reduce the risk of chronic inflammation and metabolic syndrome and optimize life have a strong social content.  We do what our friends do.  To make a difference we must bond with others who actively seek a healthier and longer life.  Encourage your family and friends by inviting them to this blog.

Please share one thing or influence that helped you adopt a healthier lifestyle.

The Chemical Fire Within

Short Answer: There is a chemical fire that burns within us all, managed by our immune system.  If our lifestyle forces it to burn without rest, chronic disease will eventually result.  You have been warned!
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Saturday morning I worked on this post, seeking a simple explanation for a complex and dangerous healthy problem common to the modern lifestyle—chronic inflammation.  Inflammation is the chemical firestorm driven by our immune system to respond to various threats and to heal injury.  When we mistreat our body the immune system must work without rest, and the resulting chronic inflammation sets the stage for the chronic diseases that will surely follow: metabolic syndrome (more on this in the next post), autoimmune diseases (a special risk for women of childbearing age), diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  By the end of the morning I had made little progress on the post, which I had started the day before.

After lunch I went down to the beach to greet some guests, a pediatrician and his family.  There was a benefit at the beach for a big group of kids with type 1 diabetes.   As the kids walked by, our guest pointed out the patches and catheters for their insulin pumps.  I wanted to applaud the kids—T1D is a tragic autoimmune disease that strikes without warning, but from what I could see the kids were handling it well.  After they passed our conversation turned to nutrition and the protection of health.  I soaked up some rays—vitamin D protects against inflammation.  The 124 steps to get down to the beach are part of my exercise regime, another protection from inflammation.

In the evening we were guests of dear friends at a concert.  Orange County has a beautiful concert hall with superb acoustics, and an excellent symphonic orchestra.  The program included Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and a Rachmaninoff symphony.  It was very soothing; I held my beautiful wife’s hand and was grateful for the friendship of our hosts.  I’m no expert on classical music, but the excellence demonstrated by the orchestra planted the idea that I should reach higher in writing this blog.  It’s a worthy and meaningful goal.

Before the concert we dined at a new restaurant called the True Food Kitchen.  The menu—based on Dr. Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet—offers “simple, fresh, pure ingredients”, including vegetables, whole grains, and protein.  Anti-inflammatory diet?  I had struggled to write about it yet here it was in front of me and it tasted great.  I had the chicken chop salad.  The waitress did give me a copy of Weil’s Anti-inflammatory Food Pyramid; you can see it here.

People are becoming aware of inflammation and how it rages within us for years before the symptoms of chronic disease present.  How can you tell if chronic inflammation is a problem?  There are several tests; one increasingly used is the high sensitivity C Reactive Protein (hsCRP) test.  I had it done in a physical exam a couple of years ago and had an average score; not bad but not super good either. 

How do we reduce chronic inflammation?  Unwittingly, while struggling to write this post, the most important steps had found their way into my Saturday activities.  Healthy Changes have also taught them, with more to come.  In fact, the Healthy Changes constitute a handbook for avoiding chronic inflammation and protecting your health.  Here is a list of ten steps to reduce chronic inflammation (with links to those already presented):

1.     Reduce your sugar to below the AHA recommendation by cutting  back on sugary sodas,  avoiding sugary breakfasts, and slashing sugary snacks.

2.     Replace trans fats  and vegetable oils with traditional fats.

3.     Eat whole grains, especially fresh-ground.

4.     Eat anti-oxidant and nutrient rich fruits and vegetables.

5.     Be sparing in meat, eating more plant than animal protein. 

6.     Enjoy midday sunshine for vitamin D (but don’t get pink).

7.     Get regular exercise.

8.     Stress has a purpose, but don’t let the stress of life and work overwhelm you.  Organize your days enough to provide order, reduce chaos, and complete the tasks that make life meaningful.  The best guide to stress reduction?  The answer to this modern problem is in the Bible—take a fresh look at the Sermon On The Mount.

9.     Get adequate sleep, eight to nine hours daily, in the dark.

10.    Seek activities that build bonds with friends and loved ones, including dining together.

Budget wisdom:  The non-inflammatory lifestyle is the most affordable.  The person of modest means, who lives a simple but orderly life, enjoys friends and family, finds purpose within their faith, and takes their food as nature provided, has more chance of avoiding chronic inflammation than any billionaire surrounded by his possessions and served by his retinue.

Please comment on the lifestyle and diet choices that help you find harmony and health in daily living.

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.

What About Processed Meats?

The Quick Answer:  Preserved meats must contain nitrites to protect against pathogens like botulism.  Minimize your intake to reduce your health risk; avoid them if you’re pregnant, diabetic, hypertensive, or have a familial cancer risk.

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At a certain age, you begin to think about writing your life story, or at least a memoir to preserve a few treasured memories.  My favorite moments revolve around the beautiful wife and our slightly above average kids, but backpacking trips into the Sierras would also be included.  I have wonderful memories of being high in the mountains with friends, living very simply off what we could carry on our backs. The picture above was painted by my backpacking buddy, Doug Phelps, as good a man as you could hope to know.  I post it as a memorial to his untimely death from cancer.

This morning I remembered camping by an alpine lake so pretty words couldn’t do it justice.  We had used a pack animal so had the luxury of foods not normally carried, like the cured ham we had for dinner.  The next morning we didn’t want to leave this Garden of Eden, but there was more to see so we set out, climbing a ridge with many switchbacks.  I was unusually short of breath on the ascent, panting, almost asthmatic, and began to wonder what might be wrong.  Years later, I may have learned the reason, thanks to a question asked by Greg, a reader of this blog.

Greg asked about processed meats, wanting to know what makes them even unhealthier than regular meat.  This led to a study of how meat is cured, a practice with ancient origins.  Though salt, sugar, and smoking all play a part in the preservation of meats there is one essential ingredient: nitrite.  Whether added as nitrate (which becomes nitrite) or more directly, nitrite performs an essential service—it stops the growth of pathogens like C. botulinum, Staph. aureus, and the listeria species.  Without nitrite, we would be limited to the short shelf life of refrigerated meats and miss the smell of bacon cooking on Saturday mornings. 

Nitrite is a toxin, a few grams taken directly can be fatal.  In the ‘70s it was theorized that nitrites caused cancer when the body converted them to nitrosamines.   The role of nitrites in cancer has not been proven—this is typical of carcinogens, the actual process is complex and remains unproved—but there is strong evidence nitrites are a risk factor.  A recent post noted studies linking processed meats to a higher risk of certain cancers, heart disease, and type-2 diabetes.  Other studies add stomach cancer, childhood leukemia, brain cancer, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma.  Add to that a role in hypertension, and diabetes. 

I learned that nitrite also has short-term effects: it destroys red blood cells, and can cause headaches, and asthma-like breathing difficulties (though sensitivity varies among people).  When I read about the latter, I remembered my prior trouble breathing when backpacking.  Climbing high in the Sierras with a heavy backpack is a critical challenge of respiratory capacity and what seemed like asthma had followed a big ham dinner the night before.  Backpackers take note:  hold the preserved meats before difficult climbs.

Naturally Cured Meats

Because nitrite in preserved meats is a concern, some meat products are advertised as nitrate free, or “naturally preserved”, a condition for “organic” labeling.  Do organic meats actually have less nitrites?  Probably not, the nitrites are just added by different means.  Nitrates and nitrites are common to all plants—this is logical, as the air we breathe is 78% nitrogen and nitrogen is involved in biological processes.  So you can cure meat by using nitrates found in plants like celery; it’s trickery, but this form of nitrite is slipped into the ingredient list as celery powder, or simple hidden under natural flavors.

A 2009 study out of Texas A & M compared meat around the country, both conventionally and naturally (or organically) cured.  The curing method made little difference—for all types of processed meats the levels of nitrates and nitrites averaged 37.1 and 4.5 ppm (parts per million) respectively, well below the FDA maximum of 200 ppm.  If meat has a lower nitrite level, it likely has a higher sodium level (salt helps inhibit pathogens too) so you trade one problem for another. 

Here are a few other additives commonly found in preserved meats:

•   Sodium polyphosphates improve slicing and reduce spattering. 

•   Sodium lactate is a wide-spectrum antimicrobial. 

•   Sodium diacetate controls mold and buffers pH.

A Good Story

I like the way tradition has been helped by science here.  Meat had been cured forever using salt.  Ancient salts, less refined, included nitrates/nitrites.  How?  Plants receive nitrogen from the air; when plants decompose the nitrogen is transformed to nitrates (saltpeter, one of many forms, is potassium nitrate); bacterial action converts nitrates to nitrites, and all these find their way into streams and rivers and eventually the seas.  So ancient sea salts used to preserve meat contained nitrates and nitrites. 

As food was industrialized, and the role of nitrite understood, manufactured nitrates/nitrites were added without adequate limits.  The FDA resolved this in 1926 by setting the 200 ppm limit.  In the 1970s the role of nitrosamines in cancer was discovered.  Separately, it was discovered that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) enhanced the effectiveness of nitrites in killing pathogens.  So in 1973 the bacon limit for nitrite was reduced if a form of ascorbic acid was included.  Overall, the level of nitrites in processed meats has steadily decreased since 1926. 

So history and science have given us better preserved meats.  This is a good story.  Problem is the meat industry has defended whatever they were doing, even as nitrite levels were reduced.  This defensiveness, combined with their political clout, has slowed the rate of progress.  There is likely a better method for curing meat waiting to be discovered; the meat industry should improve their image by proactively contributing to the search.

The Bottom Line

If you enjoy the traditional preserved meats, those available now contain minimal preservatives.  Our favorites include ham, bacon, and a few lunchmeats, but we eat very little.  We’re going to make it a rule to eat less than one serving weekly. Budget wisdom:  Because of their higher cost, minimizing processed meats improves your chance of staying within the family food budget.

Pregnant women are advised to avoid processed meats completely.  If I had a family history of cancer I would avoid processed meats, per the American Institute for Cancer Research’s guidance; likewise for a risk of diabetes. 

Please comment on how you reduce your exposure to preservatives like nitrite.

Fast Food Taste Tour

The Short Answer:  The fast food companies won’t get serious about healthy food unless they believe they’re going the way of the dinosaurs.  Only buy healthy fast food.

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Kicking the Fast Food Companies

There’s no sport in kicking the fast food companies around—that’s been done in works like Fast Food Nation, and Supersize Me.  The ways that fast food can harm health seem unlimited—did you see the recent scare about perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) used to make fast food wrappings grease resistant?  Turns out the PFCs—a possible cause of infertility, thyroid disease, and cancer—are getting into the food.  Ouch! 

We should pause to honor an English woman little known in the US—Helen Steel.  In the ‘80s, as part of an activist group in London, Helen was handing out leaflets that accused McDonald’s of sins including 1) the exploitation of children, 2) inhumane treatment of animals, and 3) endangerment of workers and customer’s health.  McDonald’s decided to make an example by first infiltrating the group and then threatening the members with a libel lawsuit if they didn’t apologize and desist.  Intimidated by the overwhelming power of McDonald’s, most apologized and shut up.  But Helen dug in her heels:

 “It really stuck in my throat to apologize for something that didn’t deserve an apology, and I just thought, ‘Well, I’m going to fight this case come what may...” 

Helen had no resources and just one ally in the beginning, but serving as her own attorney she learned enough law to fight a ten-year court battle that became a public relations nightmare for McDonald’s, produced a book (McLibel: Burger Culture on Trial) plus a documentary, and gave new meaning to the term, “asymmetric warfare”.  Incidentally, the judge found in favor of Helen on the three sins listed above.  (Note to McDonald’s:  Resist the urge to use your corporate muscle to bully poor, single women with names like “Steel”.)

The Darkness of the World

The premise of this blog is that we can discover the best possible diet by using our common sense to integrate three venerable oracles: science, (food) tradition and scripture.  Because the media is unaware or at least unfamiliar with scripture—in contrast to most Americans—it seemed important the wisdom found therein be included.  Though our audience includes people of varied persuasions—some churchgoers, others not—none have protested our use of scripture. 

So perhaps you will allow me to share a thought that came while sitting in church.  I had been thinking about fast food, wanting to bring deeper insight to a food reviled by most, but consumed by many.  At the close of the service we sang a lovely song, Abide With Me; ’Tis Eventide, written by a Presbyterian minister in the 1800s.  The closing verse invokes a feeling we all have in our search for enlightenment:

“The darkness of the world I fear, would in my home abide . . .”

So what was my great thought?  It was to not add to the mountain of criticism already flung at the fast food companies, rather to shine a little light.  Because of their size, these companies have the power to do good also.  McDonald’s became the world’s biggest buyer of apples when they added fresh fruit to their menu.  My beautiful wife suggested that we go taste the healthful foods offered by these companies.  It was the last thought I might have had, but I was intrigued and we set out on a tasting tour.  There were a few requirements: we wanted food that was low in calorie density (one calorie per gram was our goal); more fresh produce than meat; not deep fat fried or even fried; and breads must be whole grain, with more fiber than sugar. 

Fast Food Tasting Tour

We started at the chain with the most outlets: Subway.  The guys running Subway must be smart because they beat the rest of the industry to the health movement with Jared, the guy who lost hundreds of pounds eating Subway sandwiches and exercising, the focus on food with less than six grams of fat, and the addition of whole-grain breads.  Is their food really healthier?  Maybe not; their meats are mostly processed and they have a wall-to-wall display of Frito-Lay chips.  But there is the tuna sub, which we ordered on whole-wheat bread with cucumbers, green peppers, onions, spinach, tomatoes, banana peppers, and vinaigrette dressing.  It was pretty healthy and tasted good.  My only complaint was the amount of mayonnaise mixed with the tuna (a 50:50 mix per the attendant).  Subway offers salads also, but they didn’t look appealing.  The shop was clean and well managed.

Our next stop was Taco Bell, the outlet with the cheapest prices.  You can buy your food fresco style now, which replaces cheese with fresh tomato salsa.  We had the Chicken Fiesta Taco Salad, fresco style.  It didn’t look that good, the tortilla shell was tasteless, and the greens were just iceberg lettuce.  I’ve eaten plenty of their tacos in the past, but I fear Taco Bell is falling behind.

I’ve never been a fan of Wendy’s square hamburger patty but we got a surprise:  Wendy’s does salad better than anyone else.  We had the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad, and it was an attractive, tasty dish.  The greens were mixed, the Pomegranate Vinaigrette dressing and toasted pecans were delicious.  The restaurant was clean and attractive; I’d come just for the salads.

Carl’s Jr. has changed; I thought it was a hamburger outlet (remember the Famous Star, or the Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger?) but the menu we saw was mainly Mexican food:  burritos, enchiladas, taco salad, etc.  Carl’s hasn’t gotten serious about healthier foods.  We ordered the Cranberry, Apple, Walnut Grilled Chicken Salad, I think, it was okay, but the cranberries and walnuts were missing.  Did I get the order wrong, or were they cutting costs?  I don’t know but it wasn’t in the class of Wendy’s salads.  On the other hand, the YouTube Charbroiled Turkey Burger advertisement featuring Miss Turkey shows they understand their audience. 

Our last stop was McDonald’s, the favorite fast food of kids, thanks to Ronald.  McDonald’s has a line of salads plus the Fruit and Walnut Salad, a snack.  We were full of salad so tried the Chipotle BBQ Snack Wrap.  It was good but of marginal healthiness (white flour tortilla, too much chicken, too few greens).  On further thought, it was like all their food:  too many calories, not enough wholesome stuff.  We tried a new drink, a strawberry-lemonade freeze.  It was beautiful to see, but sickly sweet with synthetic flavors that left a chemical aftertaste.  Mark Bittman reported a similar outcome earlier this year when they added oatmeal, titled the “bowl full of wholesome”, to their menu.  McDonald’s has the resources to really make a difference in the world but lacks the will to promote anything not sickly sweet.

We skipped KFC because I couldn’t find anything on their website that looked good.  I have enjoyed their cole slaw and baked beans in the past but both have too much added sugar, 17 or 18 grams, about 4-1/2 tsp per serving. 

A word about the people that work in the fast food outlets:  they’re good kids, they work hard for very little money and most smile when they talk to you.  Their life is hard but they don’t complain—I came away with a greater respect for them.

I had planned to make the Healthy Change for fast food similar to sugary drinks—to limit it to once a week or less.  Unfortunately, I doubt the fast food companies will make serious changes unless they sense a real chance they’re headed the way of the dinosaurs.   Here's one way to make the darkness of the world go away:

Please comment and share experience finding healthy food away from home. 

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.

Meat: Eat Less, But Better

The Short Answer:  How much meat to eat?  Between the choices of none, a little, or lots, we find ourselves in the middle.  Eat a little, but don’t feel bad if others disagree.  This is one subject that will always be contentious.

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Where We Stand

Our last post advocated eating meat “sparingly.”  It also discussed the movie Forks Over Knives, which argued for a vegan (no meat or animal products) lifestyle, though described as “whole foods, plant-based.”  Terms like vegan or vegetarian invoke an unfavorable image, it seems, and were avoided in the movie.

Not wanting to slight the pro-meat group, this week I read about two opposing documentaries.  The first is called Fat Head (available as a DVD), the other, a more serious effort not yet released, is In Search of the Perfect Human Diet.  You’ll recall that the Atkin’s Diet advocated a meat-based, low-carb diet, but that was yesterday; today it’s called the Paleo diet and seems to be favored by young men who like to argue. 

Does it seem to you that women are more often vegetarians, while men are most likely to be carnivores (though they prefer the term omnivores)?  I spend a couple of hours reading blog comments as the two sides battled with each other, often guy against girl, and found that they do agree on one thing: The standard American diet (known as SAD) is the main cause of our current poor health.

So there’s this triangle.  In their respective corners are the plant-eaters, the meat-eaters, and the factory food-eaters (SAD).  Where are we?  In the middle, writing menus based on vegetables, grains, fruits, nuts and a little meat, all minimally processed and home-cooked.  It’s a good place.

Does Meat Cause Cancer?

You hear this accusation so I checked the science.  Chronic diseases like cancer are multi-factorial; you can’t blame them on one thing.  So the better question is do meats add to your cancer risk?  Studies have taken issue with two meat groups: red meat, and processed meats (which is mainly red meat unless you like turkey sausage).  The NIH-AARP study—a long-term, prospective study mainly focused on whites over fifty—is the largest recent study.  It’s conclusion:  “. . . a diet high in red or processed meat was associated with an elevated risk of both colorectal and lung cancer; in addition, red meat was associated with an elevated risk of esophageal and liver cancer. A decrease in the consumption of red and processed meat could reduce the incidence of cancer at multiple sites.”  The range of increased risk was roughly 20-60%, which says that to avoid cancer, you need to do more than just reduce your meat intake.  (Incidentally, a surprise finding showed meat protective of ovarian cancer.)

Meat-eaters may dispute these findings, arguing that pastured meat is less risky than feedlot meat, which makes sense; or that processed or charbroiled meats are more carcinogenic than stewed meat, which also makes sense.  There are other intervening variables: Those who eat the most red meat were less educated, less physically active, ate fewer fruits and vegetables, more overweight, and were more likely to have smoked.  It’s not just about the meat—there seems to be a meat-eating lifestyle.

Heart disease? 

A Harvard meta-study linked heart disease and diabetes to processed meat intake.  Unprocessed red meat was NOT shown to increase risk.  (A meta-study looks at all the related, qualified studies and uses statistics to find broad conclusions.  In this case 1600 studies were reviewed, and 20 were qualified for inclusion.)  The Harvard finding:  Each 50-gram daily intake of processed meats adds 42% to your heart disease risk, and 19% to your type-2 diabetes risk.  Eating one serving a week had a relatively small risk, so you don’t have to completely cut out pastrami sandwiches. (Note: 50 grams is almost two ounces, about the amount of meat in a sandwich.)

Other Meat Issues

The Western societies made some serious mistakes with the industrialization of our food supply which we are now trying to remedy.  This blog is not anti-meat, as you well know—our motto might be:  Less meat, but better.  Here is some more fallout from industrialized meat:

•  “E. Coli Outbreak in Europe Should Be Warning for Americans.”  That’s the title of a well-written Fox News report by Dr. M. Alvarez about the current outbreak in Germany of a new and unusually virulent E. Coli outbreak (over 1600 cases, 499 kidney failures, and 18 deaths, many among women, thus far).  Cucumbers from Spain were first suspected as the source, perhaps wrongly.  But E. Coli is actually a feedlot problem—cattle fattened on grains have an unnaturally acidic stomach compared to grass-fed cows and the E. Coli mutations thrive in the acid environment.

•  There are other disease issues with industrialized meat production:  Mad cow disease (in humans new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD) has dropped off the radar but is this due to closed eyes or disappearance?  Antibiotic-resistant Staph. aureus. is another problem.  One group, Translational Genomics Research Institute, found that ¼ of the meat and poultry in stores to be contaminated with antibiotic resistant S. aureus. 

•  The inhumane treatment of animals disturbs caring people also.  Animal cruelty can happen anywhere, but the larger animal confinement operations, as portrayed in the media, are especially troubling.

•  Environmental issues with CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) have also been in the news.  Here’s one expert’s view: “the best thing you can do for the environment is to eat less meat.”

Our Fifteen Minutes

Some of you alert readers have noticed our family in the June issue of Martha Stewart Living, which has been out a couple of weeks.  The lead story is about family reunions and was filmed at the century-old home in tiny Midway, Utah where my wife’s father grew up.  The picture above is me in story-telling mode; if it's not about nutrition, then it must be family history stories.  The message of the article (10 pages, mind you) is about the importance of family reunions.  They're part of what makes families strong.  And strong families are more capable of finding the diet that is most healthy for them.  If you hold reunions, good; if not, think about adding them to your family traditions.

Please comment:  We're looking for more ideas on what you need to improve your family's nutrition and health.

Photos by Francesco Lagnese for Martha Stewart Living

Forks Over Knives?

The Quick Answer:  Americans enjoy their meat—to excess.  To live longer and suffer less disease: 1) eat meat sparingly,  2) buy healthier meats,  3) cook meat at lower temperatures, and 4) combine it with more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

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The picture above is for a new food documentary you should see: Forks Over Knives.   If you study the image, you’ll see the knife isn’t for cutting your steak—it’s a surgeon’s scalpel designed to cut you!  There are 500,000 heart bypass operations annually in the U.S.  It’s a terribly invasive procedure that leaves one scarred.  The best way to reduce your risk of bypass surgery—and premature death—is to eat better, including less meat.

The fork and scalpel are symbols of an important message:  what you eat will protect your life better than surgery, or other medical interventions.  The movie is not anti-doctor, in fact it portrays doctors in their most noble role—teaching people how to live and be well.  Take Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a cardiologist in his late ‘70s with boyish good looks, and author of How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.  Esselstyn practiced at a prestigious hospital, the Cleveland Clinic, but challenged conventional treatment by starting an experiment of treating heart patients with nutrition and exercise rather than surgery.  This happened over twenty years ago and Esselstyn’s lifestyle intervention was so successful many of his patients, once at death’s door, are still alive.  Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, was also featured.  These men espouse a vegan lifestyle though they prefer ot call it a "whole food, plant-based" diet.

Yesterday was Memorial Day.  I spent the morning trying to write this post, making little progress.  After lunch I went down to the beach to visit with friends and soak up some rays.  There was a big crowd and everyone seemed healthy and happy.  Later the beautiful wife and I went to see Forks Over Knives.  The movie was a reminder of the terrible toll the standard American diet (SAD) takes on our health and it made me wonder if I’m being too calm and rational in writing these posts.  Is more passion needed?  The movie was shown at the theatre by the UC Irvine campus and afterwards we had dinner at a vegetarian café.  I had chili and the kale salad; my wife’s salad had a tropical fruit relish.  At the next table were two coeds who, it turned out, were on the board of directors of the Real Food club, a sustainable food movement on campus.  We visited; after the movie, the vegetarian cafe seemed a safe place.  One problem: I like meat.

Driving home I thought about my favorite meats: salmon, meat loaf with baked potato, the traditional Sunday roast, Thanksgiving turkey, pork chops with homemade applesauce, the occasional BLT sandwich.  It was wonderful.  This morning when I awoke, I knew what points to make in this post.

Point #1:  I admire the doctors who spoke in the movie, but I doubt the vegetarian lifestyle will ever become mainstream in America.  It’s just not happening.  Moreover, because it’s so hard to prove anything with certainty in nutrition, science will never have hard proof of just how much meat to eat.  So accepting that less meat is better than more, we should use our common sense to integrate our other two sources of guidance: food tradition and scripture.

Point #2:  History reveals a long tradition of meat eating, but more to flavor food than as the main dish.  The societies around the world with the longest-lived people were studied in a book called The Blue Zones.  One habit common to all the longest lived was very modest meat consumption, just a few servings weekly. 

Point #3:  The scriptures have cautioned about meat eating.  In Genesis we are counseled to make herbs and fruits our meat; in Moses’ time Israel was restricted in what meats they could eat, and how animals should be killed; Daniel with his three friends benefited from eating plant foods (pulses) instead of the king’s meat; and the Apostle Paul warns darkly of carnal living.  The canonized LDS scripture known as the Word of Wisdom counsels eating meat “sparingly”—perhaps the best and most succinct guidance found anywhere.

Point #4:  In the post Protein 101, we concluded that Americans get plenty of protein in their diet, but would benefit from getting more from plant sources and less from meat.  This is a matter of personal choice, we are all different, but a pound of meat a week seems plenty for us.  (Americans average four pounds weekly.)

Point #5:  The type of meat is important:  wild fish is better than farmed; pastured beef is better than meat from feedlots; poultry (white meat) is said to be better than red meat; and fresh meats are way better than processed meats (ham, bacon, jerky, hot dogs, etc.).  A good rule: eat less meat, but of better quality.

Point #6:  The form of cooking is critical as higher heats create carcinogens and mutagens.  Charred meat from the BBQ grill can be toxic.  Stewing is better than baking, and baking is better than frying.  Studies (AJCN, March 2010; discussed online here) show the tradition of stewing meat with herbs and spices reduces harmful oxidized fats.   

Point #7:  Want to reduce your exposure to pollutants?  Eat less meat, and favor pastured meat.  Government sources say meat is our #1 source of pollutant exposure. 

Budget Wisdom: Eating less meat is a big cost savings for families:  If the four pounds Americans eat each week cost $6/lb., and the price of eating just one pound (see point #4) of healthier meat was $10/lb., a family of four would eat better and save $56 a week through reduced meat intake.  Some of your savings could be spent on a lower-cost but healthier replacement, like vegetables including legumes, nuts, fruits, and whole grains.  The rest could be put in a jar for a family reunion in southern France, or wherever your dreams take you.

Comment:  Please share ideas on good sources for meat and meat products.

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.