The Catskill Chronicle

By Mort Malkin

In the last B & B column, the complexity of the human body and its needs were outlined: the many organs and tissues, the even more body chemicals, and the interactions of most with most. The nutrient needs of the body were also noted as an array of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, numbering over 5,000 in all.

The column concluded that there is no magic food (or supplement) to bring us good health. Rather, the best way to obtain all the nutrients that keep us in good order is through a large variety of foods provided by Mother Nature’s laboratory. The proper proportions of the different food groups brings us into the realm of the nitty gritty. The rule of thumb is to have something from each of the eight food groups, but the concentrations should be on the veggies.  Heaviest should be the greens & yellows, next the salad veggies, third the grains, fourth fruits, fifth starchy vegetables, sixth beans (legumes), less of dairy products such as yogurt and kefir, and least the animal proteins.

Everything is OK — even chocolate, but only as a special treat. Actually, the chocolate itself is beneficial; but sugar, which is used generously to mask the chocolate’s natural bitterness, is the problem. Similarly, simple sugars in packaged foods, drinks, and recipes for your own kitchen, all should be kept to a minimum. That includes regular table sugar, brown sugar, and hi-fructose corn syrup. The reasons are as varied as the bottom lines of diabetes 2, obesity, and accelerated aging. As to other “special treat” foods — ice cream, Snickers bars, and eggs foo yoong — the only one to zero out is deep fried anything.

The next thought is eating locally. We’re not talking about local diners and pizzerias, but local farms. It has become an environmental issue and a social-political issue. But, localvores have a dilemma.  Different soils around the world have differing amounts of the various nutrients. At best, you should have variety from a multitude of foods grown in many different soils. There are some soils that may be deficient in, say, selenium. Many soils are deficient in Iodine, and so on.  From an ideal standpoint, we should have olives grown in Spain, pomegranates from China, plantains from Central America, wild salmon from Alaska, and Shiraz wine from Australia. Well, you get the idea. Yet, we should support our local family farms and have foods grown to full ripeness. Moreover, transporting foods from afar is oil-costly as well as days-costly. I suppose the solution would be to eat those foods grown locally and bring in what is not. I’ve never seen a tamarind tree in New England.

The diversity of soils and the minerals they contain brings us to the subjects of monocrop farming versus polycrop rotational planting and the whole issue of organic farming. In fields planted year after year with the same crop — corn or wheat or potatoes … — the soil becomes depleted of the nutrients that the vegetable or grain contains. Yes, the soil is refertilized, but the fertilizer commonly used is NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) which does not include any of the many other minerals our bodies need. A farm would do better to rotate different crops among several fields, allowing each field a cover crop such as alfalfa or soy every few years. Fertilizing with manure, leaf mulch, and compost in addition to plowing under the cover crop more than takes the place of NPK. Rotating crops is also a good way to control pests without using toxic chemicals, toxic to insects but also toxic to earthworms and to us. Imagine a corn borer expecting a field of corn and finding broccoli instead. The corn borer would likely become terminally depressed. Organic farms, in addition to not using artificial chemicals, are required to have a schedule of rotation to meet organic standards.

As to the raising of animals for food: cows normally eat grasses, chickens normally peck at bugs and worms, and fish normally eat smaller fish and other wee sea creatures. None will eat corn and soy of their own volition, nor do they run clinics to inject themselves with bovine growth hormone (BGH) as ranchers do to 90% of the beef raised in the US. BGH is not “natural,” no matter what Monsanto says. Beef and chicken should be raised open-range  and be hormone-free. You can be sure that the fast food places are part of the 90%.  Organic eggs are a special case. Caged chickens may be fed with organic grains, but they are not free range and neither are their eggs unless the box says so. Nowadays, you have to check everything.

So much for this brief discourse on food and nutrition. The next B & B column will discuss diversity in terms of activity and exercise. There are five main categories of exercise, and you should partake of them all. We will separate myth from truth. Stay tuned.