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Copyright: Nancy Clark, MS, RD March 2005

Dietary Guidelines: The Link to Longevity

You've heard it before. The US government wants you to pay attention to 
your food choices. The recently released 2005 Dietary Guidelines 
encourage you to:
" eat more fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole-grains
" choose less saturated and trans fats, and
" exercise 60 minutes per day.
Putting these Dietary Guidelines in context of our genetics and the 
evolution of man, youll notice we are ver far removed from living and 
eating according to Natures original plan.

The Changing Landscape
Our food options have changed through the centuries. About 72% of the 
calories consumed by people in the US are from foods that never existed 
in Paleolithic diets: refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, white 
flour, 
high fructose corn syrup, shortening (trans fats). Questions arise: Are 
humans designed to thrive on Krispy-Kreme donuts, Cocoa Crispies, 
Pringles, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Big Macs, ketchup? Or is that one 
reason 
why we are now confronting the "diseases of civilization"? Almost 40% 
of 
all deaths are due to heart disease; 25% are due to cancer (of which, 
one-third are related to nutrition).
Our activity patterns have also changed; our daily lifestyle lacks 
physical activity. We no longer need muscles to roll down the car 
window, open the garage door, or change the TV station. We can just 
push 
a button...and too easily be too sedentary for our own good. This 
includes children who sit in front of the TV.

Aging Healthfully
Every one of us gets older every day. If your goal is to have the body 
and health of a 39 year old when you are in your 80s, you need to 
consciously make that happen. Although, as high school and college 
athletes, you likely considered yourself bullet proof, by the time you 
reach mid-life, you may be starting to feel more vulnerable. You watch 
your parents die of heart attacks, your classmates succumb to cancer. 
You feel your joints ache.
Not even the healthiest marathoner or the strongest triathlete among us 
is bullet proof. Hence, the time to make dietary changes is nowbefore 
you have the heart attack, hear the words you have cancer, or break a 
bone due to osteoporosis. The purpose of this article is to encourage 
you to stay active and fuel your body by eating closer to the earth, 
closer to the food choices of our long-ago ancestors, closer to the 
Dietary Guidelines, farther away from refined sugar, trans fats and 
sodium-filled processed foods.

Refined sugar
Pop-tarts, Capn Crunch, Pepsi, Gatorade and gels are just a few 
examples of refined sugar. In the year 2000, the average American 
consumed 152 pounds of sugar; that's about 400 calories of sugar per 
day! In contrast, early man consumed no refined sugar. Some athletes 
drink sports drinks non-stop200 sugar-calories per quart. Suggestions:
" Keep a bottle of plain water on your desk so it's ready and waiting.
" Limit your intake of sports drinks to during exercise that lasts 
longer than one hour. (No one needs Gatorade for lunch.)
" Recover from workouts with water and the natural sugars from 
watermelon, orange juice, strawberries, watery fruits.
" Prevent sugar cravings by eating bigger breakfasts and lunches. (You 
won't get fat from eating more at these meals; you'll simply curb your 
afternoon urge for sugary snacks like cookies and candy.)

Trans fats
Industrialization is responsible for the creation of trans fatsthe 
processed, partially hydrogenated fats that are in commercially baked 
and fried foods. Trans fats offer a pleasing texture to baked goods and 
prolong their freshness. But trans fats rarely, if ever, are found in 
natural foods and our bodies dont like them. Trans fats create an 
inflammatory response that contributes to heart disease and cancer. 
They 
are health-eroding. Suggestions:
"Trade in store-bought muffins and donuts for whole-grain breads and 
bagels.
" Eat heartier lunches (salad AND sandwich, not salad OR sandwich) so 
you'll be content to have an apple for dessert, instead of apple pie 
(trans-fat filled crust) or crunchy (trans-fatty) chocolate chips 
cookies.
" Snack on nuts, dried apricots, yogurt.
" Skip the fried chicken, french fries, and other fast but fatty foods 
that clog your arteries.

Salt
The typical American diet offers 1.5 teaspoons of salt per day; that's 
about 3,750 mg sodium (and more than the recommended 2,300 mg). This 
includes the salt in processed foods, cooking and what's added at the 
table. Most of our sodium intake comes from processed foods: 
Spaghettios 
(1,980 mg/can), ramen noodles (1,700 mg/packet), American cheese (360 
mg/slice), commercial salad dressing (300 mg/ 2 tablespoons). Only 10% 
of our salt intake comes from the sodium in natural foods (65 mg per 
egg; 125 mg per 8 ounces of milk).
In the Stone Age (2.6 million years ago), hunter-gathers survived with 
little or no salt added to their food. Questions arise: Were our bodies 
designed for today's high salt intake? Or is this a reason why we are 
plagued with hypertension, strokes and cancer?
For athletes who exercise for more than four hours straight (as one 
might during a triathlon), sodium is deemed necessary to replace that 
lost in sweat. Athletes who experience muscle cramps are told to 
increase their sodium intake to alleviate the problem. But if these 
athletes never consumed lots of salt in the first place, would they be 
better off? Some health professionals believe so.

Costs and Benefits of Dietary Changes
The typical American diet is tasty, convenient and comforting amidst 
the stresses and stains of our too-busy lives. But the costs are 
mounting: Escalating health insurance premiums. Obese people who crowd 
the hospitals. Children who never get to meet their grandparents.
Today is the time to start making a few dietary changes that bring you 
closer to the earth. For example, drink more orange juice, less orange 
soda. (Better yet, eat more oranges.) Each day, you can make a few 
choices that reduce your intake of refined sugar, trans fats and 
sodium-laden processed food. Youll enhance your likelihood for better 
health when you are 80. Even fit athletes can succumb to the diseases 
of 
civilization...

Much of the information in this article is from Cordain L.: "Origins 
and 
evolution of the Western Diet: health implications for the 21st 
century. Am J Clin Nutr 81:341-54. Feb 2005


Sports Nutritionist Nancy Clark, MS RD counsels both casual exercisers 
and competitive athletes at her private practice in Healthworks 
(617-383-6100), the premier fitness center in Chestnut Hill, MA. She 
teaches them how to manage food for sports. Her new Cyclist's Food 
Guide 
($20), as well as her Sports Nutrition Guidebook ($23) and Food Guide 
for Marathoners are available via www.nancyclarkrd.com.