Dr.
Frisch’s E-News
A Publication of Dr. Glenn Frisch:
4137
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763-784-5304 • 763-784-5349 (fax) • dr.frisch@att.net • © 2002, Dr. Frisch. All Rights Reserved
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Dr. Glenn Frisch March 03: Welcome to the March issue of ENews! I did not plan on talking about nutritional issues at all this month, but some patients had questions and I felt compelled to help them. Once I got started, it took on a life of it's own and I feel that some very real topics were discussed. I want you to know that, at this time, I do not support any one food plan out there. I like parts of many plans, but there seems to be obvious flaws and biases with most programs. I was quite intrigued with the 7 FOOD GROUPS of 1942 and how things have changed since that time. I do believe that protein needs to be a significant part of our diets, whether from meats, eggs, dairy or legumes, but there is more to it than just that. There has to be a proportionate balance within the dominance chain of eating. Carbohydrate elimination will upset the insulin balance and start a 'roller coaster ride' of metabolic fluctuation that may actually make us fatter! Speaking of fat, do you know what the brain likes to use for development and health... that's right.... fat! It can't be eliminated either! Over this next year, I will be working on some nutritional ideas that I had 'shelved' until I had more time. But, it doesn't look like my schedule will lighten anytime soon, so why wait? I will be working with some 'people' in the scientific community to put together an easy to follow, effective, reproducible, food program for my patients. It will have to be scientifically, reproducible across a broad range of patients before I will release it to the general public. This should be fun!!!! Dr. Frisch
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What's New? Who Changed The Rules?
Eating properly has never been harder. There is the Pritikin Plan, Atkins Plan, Jenny Craig, Nutri-System, Weight Watchers, Deal-a-Meal, not to mention the medically supervised plans like New Day and Opti-fast. There are vegetarians who believe eating meat and some dairy is wrong, even though our eye- teeth are pointed for a reason and not flat (that's a joke!). Who is right? They all seem to think they are! What information have we learned or changed to our liking over the decades that has allowed our society to become obese when compared to other countries? The human body has not changed all that much in the last 10,000 years, why do we suddenly have to have someone (an expert...maybe?) tell us what is right? There is a golden rule that usually holds true: " History that is not learned is bound to repeat itself. " Where did we go so wrong with what and how we eat? A short trip back in history may help! Do any of you remember when there were 7 food groups? Not many people under 40 years old will have ever heard of it!
I see that a news report just came out reporting that high protein diets (I hate the word diet) may not deserve the bad publicity that they have received and may be a healthier way to eat. At this time, I can't completely endorse the Adkins high protein diet, but I do believe that it holds as much or more merit than just about anything else out there. It just needs to be easier to follow and incorporate into our lives. I will bring you updates as the research comes in! p.s. Do any of you know HOW we got the four food groups many of us were raised with?
HINTS:
* 'Eat the Right Foods' was published by the American Meat Institute in 1942
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These
were the standard 'approved' recommendations by the American Medical
Association and the Government Council on Nutrition in 1942. You
will notice that of the 7 food groups, PROTEIN is stressed as being
the most necessary (on top), with the other six categories following
in proportion underneath. Some of the categories may surprise
you: Butter and Sugar (sweets), Fruit (You will
notice the potato with the apple and banana), Citrus Fruit,
Vegetables, Breads and Grains and, finally, milk and
cheese. They were not so concerned with how much you ate, but
rather the proportion of foods you ate. This seems to make
sense, doesn't it? That could be part of the problem!
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Hint and Clues VITAMINS Do I Really need to take vitamins? That is a double edged question. On one hand, they do provide you with metabolic and nutritional benefits that you won't get without them, but can you live without vitamins? Sure. Vitamin use is high among people with needs or desires. This includes; athletes (performance), injured (healing) and the elderly (longevity). Are they smart for taking vitamins? The answer is yes! In this country we have been trained to think that we are healthy UNTIL we are in pain or ill. This is a 'stinkin thinkin'. Pain and illness are the LAST symptoms to show, not the first. Nutritional deficiencies can contribute to impaired healing and growth, enhance disease and speed your overall body degeneration. This is not a 'maybe' scenario, but rather, what will happen if you are not nutritionally sound. We are all aging, but how fast or slow may actually be in your hands! I am not going to describe to you a lot of vitamins and then tell you how much you need to take to be healthy! Vitamins are a supplement and should be taken that way. Not everyone needs the same amounts. That is one reason why vitamins have gotten a bad reputation. I have been investigating blood level nutrition for several years. I belong to the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and the technology is nearly available to provide quick, accurate, in-office nutritional analysis within minutes. By tracking you over a period of time, we will actually KNOW what your system needs to remain at optimum. Until that time, You can follow some simple rules:
Rule of Thumb: If you are taking a supplement, do you know why? If you are not sure why you need a vitamin, ask your doctor or nutritionist, they will tell you the truth. Salesmen sell! That is their job. Be smart!
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Talking Points 7 FAD DIETS TO AVOID This grouping of diets was taken directly from AskMen.com and compiled by Sabrina Rogers, a Nutrition Correspondent. I can't take credit for the findings, but I do agree with many of her statements. I have condensed, but not changed her report content or inflection. 1. THE ZONE DIET 2. THE ATKINS DIET: Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution- Robert C. Atkins, M.D. How it works: The author states that processed carbohydrates and insulin, rather than excess calories are responsible for weight gain and obesity. You can eat all the protein you want (meat, eggs, and cheese), as long as you eliminate the carbs and sugar from your diet. (1200-1800 calories daily). It is simple to follow, but eating large amounts of saturated fats may lend itself to cardiovascular risks. People also have a tendency to get dizzy, be dehydrated and get sugar cravings. weight gain is inevitable if you start to reintroduce carbs back into your diet. 3. THE BLOOD TYPE DIET: Eat Right For Your Type: The Individualized Solution to Staying Healthy, Living Longer and Achieving Your Ideal Weight- Peter J. D'Adamo, ND How it works: According to the author, you are supposed to eat foods that agree with your blood type. If you eat the wrong foods, it would be like getting a bad blood transfusion. Everyone is supposed to eat fresh fruits and vegetables along with lean protein, which is good, but unusual foods are also mandatory and found only on his website. The program can be difficult to follow when feeding a family of different blood types and the program is based on assumptions rather than research. 4. The Pritikin Diet: The Pritikin Weight Loss Breakthrough: Five Easy Steps to Outsmart Your Fat Instinct- Robert Pritikin. How it works: This diet restricts fat intake to 10-15% of total calories, attempting to curb the "Fat Instinct", which he claims is a biological drive to avoid exercise and eat too much high-fat food. Eating complex carbs, such as fruits and vegetables is stressed. This program leaves a person feeling 'unsatisfied' and likely overeating to get some fat into the diet again. This program is hard to stay on long term. Now for 3 of the most interesting fad diets that still make the societal loops and never seem to go away! 5. The Cabbage Soup Diet: The New Cabbage Soup Diet- Margaret Danbrot. How it works: Margaret Danbrot finally put this 'word of mouth' diet into writing. This diet claims you can lose 20 lbs. in 7 days by consuming a vegetable-based soup (cabbage, onions, peppers, tomatoes, celery and onion soup mix) and one other food. She stresses that you should not stay on the diet longer than 7 days because it has less than 1000 calories daily. On this program, there WILL be rapid weight loss, but be aware up front that it is WATER and LEAN MUSCLE (which you need for metabolism!) that you are losing. The side effects are nausea, lightheadedness and gas. NOTE: This diet is impossible to maintain and may result in serious illness. Be very careful if you have other health issues that require medication (insulin, blood pressure) or you may have an unexpected trip to the doctor! (GF) 6. The Grapefruit Diet: UNKNOWN ORIGIN How it works: This diet requires that you eat a grapefruit at every meal, along with a small amount of protein (eggs, beef, chicken), black coffee and salad. The grapefruit is proposed to have enzyme properties that burn fat, neglecting to say you are only eating about 800 calories a day. Weight loss will occur, you will get high amounts of Vitamin C and fiber, but you WILL put the weight back on when you return to your old eating patterns. Anyone with Acid-Reflux problems may want to stay clear of this plan anyway due to the acid content. 7. The Caveman Diet: Neander-Thin: Eat Like a Caveman to Achieve a Lean, Strong, Healthy Body- Ray Audette. How it works: According to Audette, modern processed foods such as wheat and grains are to be blamed for obesity. He reports that caveman remained fit by eating lean meat, fish, nuts, seeds, berries and fresh fruits and vegetables. It is true that 'whole' foods contain more vitamins than processed foods, but this plan is 'implied to be accurate' without any supportive research. Carbohydrate cravings are likely to take over and the weight will quickly return.
Conclusion: I have to thank Sabrina Rogers for this summation of fad diets. They all 'seem' to have some merit, but each of them falls down in their own right when trying to "Be The Best". It makes us realize that a 'complete program' does not really exist and we need to avoid the 'fads' that may do us harm. I remember reading the recipe for the 'cabbage soup' diet over 20 years ago! I also remember 'bell bottoms' being in fashion at the same time. Now that 'bell bottoms' are back in fashion, here comes the 'cabbage soup' diet, again. I wonder if there is a direct relationship between 'bell bottoms' and the 'cabbage soup' diet? Just curious!! (GF) |
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Eileen's Corner CITRUS SALAD This light and refreshing salad forms it's own marinade. It is almost too simple to be this good! Lettuce: You can use Spinach, Romaine or any other lettuce you choose. You can also use as little or as much as you want. You really can't ruin this recipe. 1-2 Tomatoes: Regular or Roma 1-2 Oranges: Clementine or Mandarin 3-4 Slices of a Red Onion. You can add more depending on your taste. Italian Dressing
Peel the oranges and separate. Chop the tomatoes into wedges. Combine these with the sliced onions in a bowl and add enough Italian Dressing to cover the ingredients. Place this mix in the refrigerator for a few hours. The flavors and juices will marinate together. Just before serving, add as much lettuce as you want for people you are serving. After you serve this a couple of times, you will know whether you like more lettuce with less marinade or more marinade with less lettuce. You can even add more Italian dressing if that's what you like. Because of the citrus and the vegetables, this salad goes well with both meat and fish. This healthy salad is quick to make for 'surprise' guests as well as regular weekly meals. It has a 'big' taste for such little effort! See you next Month! Eileen
Beautiful flowers like this one can be found at the Como Conservatory in St. Paul. |
Everything Else FAT The word 'fat' only has three letters, but it should have four! It is a problem in our society, but who has been doing anything about it? We have constant bombardment and are scolded daily for being fat by television, radio, newspapers, and let's not forget about the tabloids! We are told that we are overweight, but look at the food options we are given. I don't process my own food and I'm sure you don't either, so we are at the whim of 'what we can buy'. The high carbohydrate content of our diets will be converted to and stored as fat (reserve energy) unless it is burned off each day, which is nearly impossible. A sedentary lifestyle also means that we burn less each day and store more as fat. But, is fat the culprit? Fat is a necessary part of our diet. We cannot live without fat in our diet. The brain's primary source of functioning power comes from fat. Fat insures that our skin is healthy, as well as our hair and other vital organs. There are, however, different types of fat in the body. (I'm sure you're saying, "Oh great, now what?"). We are genetically programmed to have a 'basic' amount of fat when we are born, this includes 'white fat' and 'brown fat'. Brown fat concentration in our body actually aides in metabolism and body temperature regulation. The amount you have does not change during your lifetime. Many of you have not heard about brown fat, but it is real just the same. It can (and does) contribute to overall 'body burn rates' of what we consume and temperature regulation of the body. Now that you are thoroughly confused, let's talk more about fat! Some of the newest fat research has been done by Jeffrey Friedman, Paul Cohen and colleagues at The Rockefeller University and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Beginning in 1994, Friedman's team isolated and cloned an 'obesity gene' in overweight mice. They were able to isolate a hormone called Leptin which is actually released by fat, enters the bloodstream, travels to the brain and other tissues, causing fat loss and reducing appetite. In the July 12, 2002 issue of the journal Science, Friedman's team released their most recent findings. Leptin's function (or one of it's functions) is to 'repress' a liver coenzyme (SCD-1). When this enzyme is reduced, less fat is stored and more energy is expended, resulting in weight loss. One of the exciting parts of their research is that the scientists are actually concerned with what may happen when a drug is produced to stimulate Leptin function. How will this affect the 'obesity gene' and will it have adverse effects on other body functions. In other words, "Will the fix be worse than the fat"? Their open concern shows their legitimacy and it will be exciting to follow their work. In closing, let's remember that "Fat is not the culprit". Fat is a part of us, it has a function within our bodies and needs to be there! Fad diets will not alter the genetic or metabolic makeup of you. Some eating programs are definitely better than others, but they all seem to ignore body chemistry. When eating programs are developed around body chemistry and 'burnability' of foods, we will be on the right track for weight stability. Even if science is successful at developing a 'safe' obesity pill, it will still not give us the "perfect body". A large part of that is still up to us and, yes, we still need to exercise! I will bring you more interesting ENews next month! Be well and take care, Dr. Frisch ! News Flash ! I have a MEDICAL CLINIC to tell you about! (That's right, a medical clinic!) It is called the AALFA CLINIC. They are located at the corner of Highway 96 and Centerville road in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. The two MD's there, Dr. Mathew and Mary Paquette, are what most people want their doctors to be like! They are a small clinic, but the care is real and their concern genuine! See, I told you I would share secrets in these newsletters! They can be reached at (651) 653-0062.
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