Larry McCleary's Blog, page 3

Aging Can Lead to Depression

As we age we are continually faced with loss and change. Many of us will outlive our family members and close friends. We will retire from our lifelong professions. We may relocate to a more suitable climate or house. And, unfortunately, our bodies will begin to fail us. It is no wonder that aging can make us vulnerable to depression. Luckily, depression should not be a foregone conclusion.

From puberty throughout life depression is more common in women than men . While genetics and heredity p...

An Aging Epidemic

As the baby boomer population (born between 1946 and 1964) continues to age, the phrase “sixty is the new fifty” has become a topic of conversation. Thanks to medical technology and improved nutrition, that is the clear trend we are experiencing. And the baby boomers are the first generation to have woman regularly participate in sports and fitness. With the oldest baby boomers now reaching senior citizen status, the government may not be jumping for joy.

Not long ago, life expectancy was 77 y...

Diabetes Risk: White Rice Joins White Bread!

Due to its high Glycemic Index (GI), white rice has recently joined white bread on the list of foods that increase the risk for diabetes. It has the highest GI of any grain. Because of their high level of consumption, Asian populations are most likely to be affected by excessive white rice exposure. In China, people eat an average of four servings of white rice per day. Those living in Western countries, on average, eat less than five servings per week. A study done at Harvard University’s Sc...

Is the New USDA Food Plate Better for Us?

I went through the My Plate website (http://www.choosemyplate.gov/) and made recommended food choices and sizes as suggested on the web site for a middle-aged (31-50 y/o woman).
 
Included from just the grain, vegetable, fruit, dairy and empty calorie (which are allowed as recommended) choices I arrived at:
 
Allowed daily calories for a middle aged female (1800)
 
Empty calories (160 cal from 11 teaspoons of sugar-allowed)
Milk (3 cups of skim milk-36 g of sugar (144 cal of sugar))
Fruit (2 cups of unsweetened grape juice (72 g of sugar (288 cal of sugar))
Veggies (1/2 cup each of potato, corn, parsnip, beet and green peas) (49 g starch (196 calories of starch)) and 7 g of sugar (28 cal sugar)
Grain (50% whole grain) (3 oz white flour (refined, not whole grain) (63 g of starch (252 cal of starch)), 3 oz of corn meal (whole grain) (66 g starch (264 cal starch)) The glycemic index of both of these is high (about 68-71).
 
So, from this alone there are (160 + 144 + 288 + 28 ) = 620 cal from sugars and (196 + 252 + 264) = 712 cal of starch (high glycemic index for the most part) for a total of 1332 cal (out of the allowable 1800 cal total). Note: that other than for some protein in the milk, there is very little nutritional value in these foods.
 
Thus, on the MY PLATE diet you can make recommended food selections that provide little nutritional value and provide over 77% of your daily calories as sugar or rapidly digested starch. That leaves only 23% of the remaining calories (468) for protein although there were already 26 g of protein in the milk. Probably half of the remaining calories will be fat (234) and half protein (234).
 
This will result in hyperinsulinemia and if the same choices, or similar ones, are repeated day after day, the result will be the likely development of insulin resistance and all the diseases that accompany it.
 
Moreover, fully 1/3 of the calories are sugar!
 
Larry