THE BASICS OF THE NEW NUTRITION

Three principles guide the new approach to eating.

Variety. Variety in the diet is essential if you want to obtain the proper balance of needed nutrients and to avoid possible excesses of toxic substances. Besides, a varied diet is more interesting than an unvaried one. Despite our affluence and ready access to foods of diverse ethnic derivations, the standard American diet concentrates on relatively few types of foods. There are many highly nutritious foods— various fruits, grains, beans, and other vegetables—that few Americans currently ingest. And there are dozens of tasty new ways to combine familiar ingredients that you may never have thought of before. Scores Of cookbooks have been published in recent years to guide you in preparing unfamiliar foods, and magazines and newspapers these days are continually publishing recipes that cater to more healthful dining, even for the most discriminating gourmet. You can also adapt your own favorite dishes to incorporate the goals of the new nutrition without any significant sacrifice in taste or texture. You'll find tips to more healthful ways of preparing the old standbys throughout Part I, "What to Eat."

Moderation. The new nutrition is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon, but a matter of putting more emphasis on some foods and less on others. Unless you have a health problem that requires you to steer clear of certain foods, there's no reason why you need to give up any food you especially adore. A salami sandwich every day for lunch would be ill advised (too much fat and salt). A salami sandwich once I month won't hurt you. A dish of ice cream for dessert every night is not healthy (too much fat and sugar and too many calories). But there's nothing wrong with ice cream once a week. It's a question of tradeoffs if you eat a high-fat food for breakfast, choose those low in fat for the rest of your meals that day.

Moderation also means portion control. If you eat V2 pound of steak at a sitting, you'll be taking in too much fat and cholesterol, and too many calories to meet the Dietary Goals. But if your serving is 2 or 3 ounces, you can stay within the new guidelines. Note the portion sizes recommended for adults following the Basic Four scheme, and commit them to memory (see Table 1.2). You need a lot less food for good health than you may think.

Evolutionary change. Whatever you do, don't read this book and go tearing through your kitchen and recipe file tossing out this and that because you now deem it to be "unhealthy." Eventually, you may want to completely overhaul your diet. But if you make the changes too abruptly, you're likely to resent them and you'll probably build up cravings for various beloved foods you've banished from your menu.

While some people can make large, abrupt changes in their lives, most find evolutionary—rather than revolutionary—change easier to adapt to and more likely to last. For example, rather than feeding all your whole milk to the cat, start mixing it half and half with skim, gradually increasing the proportion of nonfat milk as you get accustomed to the taste. The same with butter: mash a bar in a bowl with a bar of margarine. Then reshape them into two sticks that are half and half. Gradually increase the proportion of margarine until butter is left out completely. Likewise, with salt. If you suddenly stop cooking with salt and refrain from adding it at the table, you're likely to find your foods unpalatable. But if you gradually cut back on the amount of salt you use, you'll hardly notice the difference.

Start thinking about how to make sensible selections within the framework of the Basic Four. Of the various possibilities in each category, choose those foods that are lower in fat, especially in saturated fats, lower in cholesterol, lower in added sweeteners, and lower in salt. In making such choices, you will necessarily increase the amount of fiber and complex carbohydrates in your diet. You will probably also reduce the number of calories without even trying! If you are careful, you can choose ordinary, delicious foods for each of the four categories, and, sticking to the prescribed portion sizes, you can consume most of the essential nutrients in recommended amounts and wind up with a 1,200 to 1,600-calorie-a-day diet. Many people would lose a fair bit of weight on such a scheme. If you're not interested in losing weight, you can eat larger portions, eat more servings in each category (especially of grains, fruits, and vegetables), and/or flesh out your remaining calorie needs with "treats" in the fifth category—fats, sweets, and alcohol (pastries, jams, salad dressings, wine, and other empty-calorie extras).

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has devised a modification of the Basic Four scheme that places more emphasis on the foods that are lower in fat, cholesterol, salt, and added sugars and higher in fiber, natural vitamins and minerals, and starches. CSPI's program, as described in Table 1.3, shows how you can have your cake and eat it too, as long as it's not too often! For each food category, the organization has listed examples of foods that can be consumed regularly without compromising the objectives of the Dietary Goals, those that should be consumed in moderation, and those that should be eaten only now and again.

Less than 30 percent of the calories in "anytime" foods come from fat, and these foods are usually low in salt and sugar. The "now and then" foods mostly contain at least 50 percent fat calories, including a large amount of saturated fat. A few foods in this category are very high in salt or sugar. Those under the "in moderation" heading either have medium amounts of fat with low to moderate amounts of saturated fats, or they have larger amounts of mostly unsaturated fat. The numbers next to many of the items (especially those in the "in moderation" and "now and then" columns) are your clue to the real or potential nutritional shortcomings of the food. Check the key at the bottom of the chart.

After reading this book you may want to construct your own Basic Four eating guide, based on your personal needs and tastes. But be sure to leave yourself plenty of room in the "anytime" column for new and exciting foods you're likely to discover as you gradually change the way you eat and expand your dietary horizons.

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