Eat what you like...What do the Nutritionist Experts really know, about People?
“That was so good I can’t eat another bite.” “Come on, one more bite.” “No. I’m’ full.” “Wasn’t it good?” “Yes, it was but I think I have had enough.” “How do you know?" "I read it somewhere?" Are you going to believe them, or me?" “Of course, you!”
We have passed the age of moderation, or reduce intake, or of that’s’ too many King Crab Legs for one plate. At this stage of life why can’t we just remove all the barriers, especially as it pertains to food. More specifically, the consumption of food, good food. Of all the cravings that we have endured and fought against, food is relentless and good food is glorious craving. Dam near spiritual. Ask any owner of a buffet style restaurant, who are his number one patrons? The answer, people over 60. However, contrary to popular belief, not all of us are overweight and unhealthy. That is a stereotype created for the purpose of product steering. Most, or at least the people I see and associate with, are marvels of health with equal appetites. If "60 is The New 40", the one thing that absolutely determines health, good health, is what we consume and the frequency.
Frankly, for many of us, we eat well, because we can often afford to buy a better quality of food. We can shop at chosen supermarkets and eat at non-chain restaurants. On the other end of the spectrum for 35 years of working and surviving are good genes. As I lived in the extreme Northeast close to Canadian border, the far West close to the Mexican border, and the deep South close to the Gulf of Mexico; diets, even questionable ones, are not always the perfect indicator of bad health. In New Orleans, La. the word “fried” is prominently displayed everywhere. As with Texas, you can get anything fried. From hostess twinkles to alligators. The question never asked is, what type of oil was it fried in or how old is that oil? From catfish, to shrimp, to chicken, to pickles, yes pickles, to okara; it’s all fried. In the homes of many of my relatives and a few of my grandparents, there was always a Big Blue can that sat on the stove. With no lid, it was the color of vanilla ice cream and it read Crisco. In reality, it was the residual oil from everything cooked days, weeks and months before; all repurposed and poured back into the can from where it all began. Oh, my goodness.
In New Mexico during the scorching heat of late July and into August and September, there is a smell that permeates the air. When I first arrived there, I thought it was wood being burned or the government was disposing of excess Weed. What did I know? I Later learned that the air in fact was enveloped in the rich smell of roasting Chili and not the kind that comes in a can or is placed on a hot dog. Every food, even ice cream, is available in New Mexico with Chili (shout out to Hatch N.M.) as a part of, or is a major portion of the ingredients. So too are flautas and tortillas, bread and the cooking of bread regardless of whether or not it is made from corn or flour; bread is an absolute essential for traditional meals in the Southwest. This is the diet; representative of what and how we eat in New Mexico. As a resident at one time of both New Mexico and Arizona, in my opinion, they are in tie for the best Tamales anywhere in America. If you disagree please email me. Sixtyisthenew4orty@gmail.com
Interesting enough, many years ago I attended a state fair in Texas. While there I found an out of body indulgence that only Texans could create, fired Ice Cream. Yes, breaded deep fried Ice Cream, so good that "it will make you want to slap ya mama". How they fry Ice Cream in hot oil is still astonishing and it comes on a stick. The fried dill pickles are an epicurean delight too, creative and delicious. However, none of this should be recommended for anyone suffering with HBP or so you would think, but having been there and seen it all with my own eyes, you would be wrong! Food is in abundance. Finally, licking your finger's at the Texas State Fair, is a prerequisite. BTW there are NO warning labels on anything at the State Fair.
In New York, it was cold cuts, I remember Oscar Meyers and the most famous commercial ever as if it were being advertised on television today. "My boloney has a first name it's spelled Oscar, because Oscar Meyer has a way of making b-o-l-o-g-n-a." They really did make good “Bologna”. This is just a matter of opinion I, myself, preferred BoarsHead. As a child growing up in NY in the 60's 70' and 80's we ate a lot of bologna, sliced turkey, corn beef (Shoutout to Wolfe's Delicatessen), sliced chicken breast, thinly sliced ham and of course the best pastrami ever. What was a school lunch in New York in the 60’s and 70’s if not for a sandwich containing a cold cut on white bread, with mayonnaise or mustard? It was a right of passage for school lunch at any grade. The perfect food to go with a growing child’s body, right? All the essentials there, vitamins, sugar, fat and salt neatly pressed; ready to serve anywhere hot or cold. Add some cold chocolate milk and you have me really reminiscing. I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of my favorites from the food carts along Central Park, a Potato Knish lathered in yellow mustard, or a Cooney Island Nathans Frankfurter with onions. As a kid we ate and played all day. We, also ran all day and into the night; I can't remember anyone suffering from any kind of food ingredient ailment. Ever. Even better, everyone passed their school physicals. I can still hear Dr. Pone in my ears now, "turn and cough." He with the perfectly quaffed Afro and that look of chagrin on his face if you hadn't worn your best and cleanest boxers.
As I, we, look back. I am mystified by the stark contrast and difference between the foods that I ate then and those foods now. Almost everything I read on a label and eat now tells me how healthy or unhealthy those very same foods are. However, considering how much I, we, have consumed during our youth, how is it that we are still here? If you read the labels and listen to experts on nutrition speak, we really all should have expired long ago. However, we didn't and we still eat what we like. I ask, what’s wrong with a good bologna sandwich every now and then, or a hot pastrami on marble rye, or a thinly sliced corn beef sandwich piled high with sauerkraut? Or a street Gyro bathed in tahini sauce? How about some deep well seasoned fried chicken with plenty of hot sauce, or a fried shrimp “Po-boy” sandwich on 12 inches of French Bread fully dressed, or a Chicken Parmesan Sandwich covered in cheese. Don’t forget the French Fries. Or re-fried beans and beef tacos with green chili and freshly rolled enchiladas with fried tortilla chips and guacamole dip. I don't know about you, but I am suddenly hungry and imagining seeing all of these delicious foods in front of me right now.
If you combine all the aforementioned foods and ate them all in one week, within moderation, I don't see it as a problem. Especially if you exercise. The point I’m trying to make is we can still eat all of this. These foods alone, are not the attributing factors that have allowed high cholesterol, HBP, and Diabetes to become the enormous health risks they are now. After all, we consumed all of that within one generation while still remaining vibrant and healthy; all very commendable. However, do we have a proliferation of gyms on every corner; and the internet is littered with videos of training techniques and regiments that all, but guarantee weight loss. We have protein, vegetable and fruit smoothies, and seemingly all clothing is made of some type of stretch fabric. This might explain why we are living longer, because we are counteracting our love of food with a healthy lifestyle. With all that we have eaten in our lives, how did mentioning a bologna sandwich now become equatable to yelling for steak in a vegan restaurant? When did bologna become Sacrilegious? We are The New Millennials, the generation that is prominently still here, still surviving, still producing and still creating; were raised and taught to eat everything. Why was that wrong? Why are many of these foods now considered not healthy? Is it science and nutrition, or is it about money?
It was 1989, standing 5-11 inches, I weighed about 189 lbs and somehow that was considered too heavy, too big. As a family of 6, some of our favorite restaurants to eat at were Great American Hamburger and Pudges Chicken, which didn't fry, but grilled the chicken. These places became routine within our weekly food carousel. However, they never supplanted home cooked meals which always came with a generous serving of vegetables. Yet after a routine doctors visit I remember clearly being told that my cholesterol was a little high and my lactate dehydrogenase or LDH was high. What? I worked every day, I went to the gym often, I was active in scouting which included hiking everywhere, and I coached basketball. How could I have a high LDH? Then he said it, "what are you eating?" What is in your diet? Prior to that, I never asked myself that question. On Sunday's my mom or my mother-in-law Ann Lavergne would make these huge meals after church. The table would be covered in dishes, from beans and rice to pasteli's, to roast pork and fried chicken, and green bean and of course collard greens. That table was not complete if it didn't include the beloved, the late Mrs. Almeda King and her homemade sweet potato pies. My mother would include in her Sunday dinner either Pot Roast with brown gravy and assorted vegetables, or a Rib Roast with macaroni and cheese, red beans and rice, and of course cornbread. High cholesterol? Who cared? We ate good, we ate until we were full, we ate and then we fellowshipped. But suddenly now I was being told that this was not healthy?
During that same time there was a particular diet being advertised as the rage at the time, being broadcasted noticeably, into nearly home through daytime TV Shows such as Phil Donahue and Opra. The Atkins Diet was a low-carbohydrate, high-protein and high-fat diet, that allegedly allowed you to eat fish and eggs as you liked. I liked fish, I liked any kind of steak and I liked eggs. How could this be a diet? But you could consume grains such as rice and I really liked rice as it was a stable mate at every meal; pasta was essential. There were no Wednesday dinners without pasta. The very strict low-carb induction phase was designed to induce ketosis. It worked and I lost nearly 20 pounds, dropping down to 179 or less pounds. Then I got sick, really sick. Seems as if my immune system was not as strong as my vanity. I now never subject myself to anything with the word Die as a prefix.
The key to eating what you like is avoiding overindulgence. I have had the opportunity to be on several different cruise ships and it is an experience. I have been on Cruise ships where children turned the experience into a Gymboree, to ones where the party got way out of control. Nothing worse than someone vomiting and missing the ocean, but finding your cabin deck. I would suggest that if you do decide to take a cruise, spend a little extra time finding the best environment for your taste and likes. Anyway, I was on a cruise once and they offered food in abundance. I mean breakfast, lunch and dinner; there was no shortage of a cornucopia of overindulgences. Every country was well represented. Especially the country called Desert. After about three days, I found myself sitting and eating what and when at any time of the day and night; most distressing was eating at times in which I never sat and ate. We both, my then wife, and I began to believe that we were literally being held hostage by our palates. I was a prisoner of my own lack of self-control. By day four, this is a true story, the ships’ plumbing system had taken, pardon the pun, a pounding. The toilets stopped working for about three or four hours. I don’t even like re-visiting the memory.
Eating what you like is part of this incredible experience of being "60 is The New 40", because we can still eat what we liked in our childhood, furthermore we can now get a better quality of these childhood foods, if available, such as Stella-Dora Breadsticks. We are limited as we can’t have them all and eat them all in one day. The determination of what is healthy vs what is unhealthy food; I believe is subjective. From country-to-country diets are very different, the foods and the spices used as seasoning are very different. Some foods and the regions they come from have higher levels of sodium present, but the people don’t seem to be suffering from ailments as a result of the increased sodium. See the Philippians and Samoa. Sodium and pork are the basics of their diets, but HBP is not. Could it be that they eat a balance diet, and high concentrations of sodium are a part of it? Maybe. I know for sure, when I was young and traveling with my parents, we would visit relatives in the Mississippi Delta area. When I saw what they were eating I became paralyzed with fear. I had no idea what chitterlings, hog maws and okra were. I quickly found out, then I immediately asked if I could go home, even if it meant riding on a bus alone; I simply wanted out. To make matters worse, everything was cooked in what I called a frying pan, but they referred to it as “the skillet”. I mean it when I say they "my relatives from The Country" cooked everything in “the skillet”. However, to my disbelief, my cousins were healthier, stronger and could run faster than anyone I had met or known to that point. They never seem to get tired. By this time, I was beginning to pride myself as an athlete. I played endless basketball in the sun on the blacktops of Roosevelt and Hempstead Parks. Yet, I watched as my cousins ran circles around me. Furthermore, all of my aunts were large, but very attractive women with beautiful hair and beautiful smiles. My uncles were all built like they could lift a truck. How could that be, eating this food, high in fat, cholesterol and sodium? What do Nutritionist really Know...about People?
I think it's worth mentioning that nearly everything eaten by my "relatives from The Country" came from the ground they lived on, especially the vegetables. From snap beans, to peas, to cabbage, to collard greens and of course tomatoes and okra. It all came fresh from the earth. I now realize that was and is the key to a diversified diet. Although they ate some things I still won’t try today, they balanced it all with moderation and diversification in their diets. By the way, why is it that all the foods we love are on the eat in moderation list. Who made this list? If I, you, want fried chicken we should be able to have it, spicy Tai and Vietnamese dishes, yes. Full rich thick lasagna with extra ricotta chesses, yes. But balance with grains, dates, and green leafy vegetables.
I, you, we are still here well after 60 years of age, because we can eat what we dam well like, but we have now learned to eat less of the things that are unhealthy for us. Bologna and Ham-off -the-bone may not be the healthiest of meats to consume, but a sandwich every now and then is not a deal breaker. The word caution must be exercised. Key word in that sentence is exercise. Just moving and getting around, every day is enough to enjoy eating. Dam it, we deserve it. Too much is often made of what is and what isn’t the right diet for everyone. I have traveled the world I don’t see a reason to believe that there is such a thing as the perfect diet for everyone. However, I have learned from just common sense, that too much of anything, especially food, may not be good for your health. The great thing about being "60 is The New 40", is that if we ate it when we were young, then we can still eat it today, because were smarter when it comes to our palates and our health. Although Labels can be confusing, cooking good foods, and eating good foods shouldn't be confusing. Eat, just eat less of what is not healthy. Our very lives are marked by the foods that we love, and giving them up shouldn't a requirement of getting older and staying healthy.
Food is life, and good food, better food that we love is essential for a good life. We should enjoy eating as much as we enjoy living.
If you have or know anyone who has any stories discussing “Eat what you like…What do the Nutritionist Expert know, about People?" Please feel free to share your thoughts and or comments at Sixtyisthenew4orty@Gmail.com Thank you, and Please Subscribe