Last New Year’s eve we were with friends. A potluck sort of thing, we had copious quantities of food and drink and ate like people who would be reined in by restrictive resolutions momentarily. Not to worry, with the second cup of post-feast coffee, the hostess passed around the walnuts. "Have one," she suggested to us all. "The omega 3 fatty acids will neutralize all the bad fats we had for dinner."
Of course, such a gesture is harmless enough. Walnuts are a perfectly good food. But, despite a fervent wish that is was true, the chance of the humble walnut “neutralizing” our earlier indulgence is perhaps a bit off the scale.
It occurred to me, as I reached for a second walnut, that this suggestion on the part of our hostess illuminates two of the major nutritional misunderstandings in our “world of plenty" era.
One – that nutrition has within it a property of magic. Something small like a walnut, or a pill, or a “special combination of foods”, can make up for nutritional irresponsibility and/or bring health about effortlessly.
Two – that problems resulting from over consumption, can be rectified by - wait for it - consuming more.
It is a tribute to the talent and determination of the food industry advertising efforts that in a country that suffers from dramatic overconsumption, most of us still harbor a belief, or at least a hope, that the solution to our problems lies in increasing our consumption.
I like the idea of magic the same as anyone. We all want to believe. We all buy, looking for a little magic in new shoes, a bigger house, or a cutting edge piece of technology that will enhance our lives. And, at least temporarily, all of these things seem to produce as promised. A pill, a lotion, a different kind of cereal will cure what ails me. Even if it doesn’t work out, even if we realize at some point that we’ve been duped, well, maybe there is something else that will fill the bill. Hope springs eternal.
To be sure there have been times in history when nutrition would appear to perform miracles. To a sailor on a British ship who had not seen fresh fruits or vegetables for months and was near death from disastrous effects of scurvy – the restoration of health from a little citrus juice would seem nothing short of miraculous.
Children in the 18th century, who were kept out of the sun and developed rickets, could be cured by a few spoonfuls of a rather disgusting fatty material taken from the livers of cods. Amazing!
But these people were cured of deficiencies that even in their day, were relatively rare. Today, in the western world it is fairly safe to suggest that such serious deficiencies and their dramatic cures are not the sort of nutritional problems from which we commonly suffer.
Despite the constant barrage of “studies” that find their way into the popular press about amazing nutritional facts and promise new effortless ways to health, the fact is that we understand human nutrition pretty well and there have been few, if any, dramatic changes in our understanding for quite sometime. And, to be honest, omega three fatty acids and essential vs. non-essential amino acids, notwithstanding, good nutrition its relatively simple and easily fulfilled. Frankly, if it was complicated, or unavailable without the help of pill manufactures or calculators, we, as a species, would have died out long ago.
Frankly, I don't like the word nutrition. It sounds so clinical, so chemicalish. One visualizes walls of bottles of pills usually in a comfy brown color and screaming "natural," like there is anything natural about a pill. It conjures up ideas like special combinations of hard to pronouces substances that will solve all our problems, combined with fear and trepidation if we get it "wrong".
By all rights I should like the word. I spent a lot of time learning about it. I majored in nutrition and biochemistry as an undergraduate at the University of California, Davis, and have a Master's degree in public Health Nutrition from UCLA. But I'm tired of it, the fads, the hysteria, the swooning, the hopes for magic, the confusion and the guilt.
When we say "nutrition" we are talking about food parts. The implication is that the food does not matter - only the parts. This idea couldn't be less true for a number of reasons. Food is much more than the sum of its parts.
Its time to calm down. Lets talk about food, just food and take a good look at just what food is, what it does for us and, just as important, what it doesn't do. Let's discuss the wonderful diversity of ways to eat and enjoy food.
As the recently deceased Joan Rivers would put it, let's talk.
Why Eat?
Really, what's the point? Yes, as a rule, food tastes good, and we get hungry. But why does it taste good, why do we get hungry? Why is our body programed to "get hungry" and to like eating?
We are aware that if we don't eat we will die - although that remains largely an abstract concept for most people in the west. At least for awhile.
What exactly would we die from? Simple. When anything starves, it dies from a lack of energy.
To understand food requires an understanding of energy, which happens to be the main reason we eat. All living things from the humblest bacteria, to the blue whale, or to the tallest redwood tree need a constant uninterrupted supply of energy. Every cell calls out for the stuff. Much of life consists of the quest of energy. The availability, or lack thereof, has determined the survival of life forms throughout time. We live in odd times right now in that we have death and disease also resulting from consuming too much of the stuff. In any case, the importance of energy can scarcely be overemphasized.
Lets back up a minute, however. The word energy, like the word “love,” has many definitions which leads to misunderstandings and confusion. We need to get specific.
So let’s begin first with what we don’t mean when we refer to energy in our food.
Sometimes we use the word “energy” when we are referring more to being “energetic”, as in - feeling good, awake, alive, “king of the world” type thing. This doesn’t really have much to do with food. Someone shouting “fire” or “there’s a group of naked people running down the street” can often bring on a burst of this sort of "energy" to the most exhausted of people.
Then there is the drug thing. Certain substances can make you feel like swinging from the chandeliers, tap dancing, or partying more enthusiastically than decorum would dictate. We would marvel at the “energy” such a person has. Likewise, other substances can seem to sap one’s “energy” causing lethargy.
Other times it is more of a spiritual thing. Energy may be lined up according to “chakra’s" in some traditions. One can feel the “life energy”. Or sense the “energy" in a room. A friend of mine was seeing someone concerning pain in her back and was given certain exercises that would cause “the negative energy to flow from her back, to her arms and out her finger tips.” Again, not what we are talking about with food.
These are probably all defensible uses of the word energy and, in each case, I would be hard pressed to find a substitute. But these are not related to the type of energy we consume in food or that run our body processes. Our lack of clarity about what we mean by nutritional energy results products being touted as “high energy” and having “no energy” at the same time. The “high energy” generally comes from a drug, something like caffeine, which gives a bit of a buzz, but does not fulfill a nutritional need.
Energy that we receive in food does not necessarily make us “feel” anything – except perhaps less hungry. It is a measureable physical substance. It is defined in science as the “ability to do work”. “Work” is further defined as moving something against a resistance.
Bottom line – energy is the ability to move things. And yes, all of us, even when we sleep are moving, all the time. A reasonable definition of death would be “not moving." Your heart, lungs, circulation, eyelids, and the intercellular activities of several trillion cells are in motion however subtlety, and require a constant source of energy.
Your body will cajole you finding and maintaining sources of energy. Try going hungry for awhile, you’ll be amazed at what you are willing to eat, and the lengths you will eventually go to satisfy you needs for energy. The pursuit of energy is basic for all life because without it, life ends.
When I taught nutrition I would sometimes ask students if they felt there was a “most important” nutrient. I got a variety of answers, but protein was usually the popular favorite. Not to discount the importance of protein, but, in fact, if energy needs are not met, the body will quickly use any availble protein for energy purposes. If one is in a state of starvation, the body is breaking down protein from muscle and other proteins in the body and using it for energy. Death comes, usually, due to organ failure, often the heart, because it has been quarried to the point that it can no longer perform its function.
So, truth is, and despite its bad name in the popular press, energy is the most essential ingredient in our food - by a long shot. Throughout history, the deficiency that has caused the most death and illness has been, hands down, the deficiency of energy. All of our other nutrients pretty much come along for the ride.
It is important to note that, like all food substances, energy can be taken in excess and that too, will result in morbidity and mortality. In our “food, food everywhere type culture” this has become predominant nutritional disease in western cultures and we will deal with this in due course.
For the time being, let’s look at the basics.
