Anti-Aging Strategies

We've all been bombarded by information, hype, and outright fluff regarding nutrition. Everybody's an expert, and everybody has a theory.

We are told these days that everything we've ever been taught about what we eat is wrong. We are told, for example, that the average American diet of 40 percent carbohydrate, 40 percent fat, and 20 percent protein is at the heart, if you'll excuse the pun, of the matter. Robert Haas, who wrote Eat to Win and Eat for Success, advises we eat 60 percent carbohydrate, 25 percent fat, and 15 percent protein. Dean Ornish, the doctor who wrote Reversing Heart Disease, advocates even stricter limitations on fat intake. Dr. William Manahan, former president of the American Holistic Medical Association and author of Eat for Health, says diet depends upon body type. For certain individuals, a diet high in complex carbohydrates is great; for others, it causes problems. Some people just need (and can tolerate) higher levels of fat and protein.

So who's right? Hard to say. All we know is that the experts all suggest, to one degree or another, that we totally change the way we eat.

This is all very difficult because what we eat is so much a function of our culture and sense of self. We are constantly bombarded by advertisements for the latest fast-food (some folks say "fat food") hamburger combination. We are told to drink plenty of milk. We are taught that the ultimate dinner out is steak and lobster. We are tempted by slick television commercials to buy prepared foods often high in salt and low in fiber.

On the other hand, there are those who would accuse low- or zero-fat advocates of designing food so dry and tasteless it could be mistaken for dog kibbles. Why? Because we have become so accustomed to fat, sugar, and salt as the major taste components of our food.

There are thousands of food-related issues that concern all of us, from taste to calories. However, two consequences of diet stand out: health and weight (not necessarily in that order). These are interrelated, though perhaps not as directly as it might seem. I will deal with them separately.