The Get with the Program! Guide to Good Eating: Great Food for Good Health

Introduction

As far back as I can remember, I've been interested in the connection between food and good health. Even at the tender age of nine, I'd read in the paper about the health hazards of nitrates, then lobby my parents to banish bacon from our table. Though I was just a kid when word about the harmful effects of pesticides hit the headlines, I took the news to heart and worried about the quality of the produce my family was eating. What about the news (which turned out not to be true) that margarine is better than butter? I pestered my mom until she finally bought a tub of it. Or that salt causes high blood pressure? I warned my dad about using the shaker so liberally.

I guess you could say I was kind of an alarmist kid, but as the self-appointed guardian of my family's well-being, I took nutrition news seriously. And I still do, though I've learned that not everything you read in the papers and hear on the news is good solid advice -- or that just because friends are into a new eating fad, you should be, too. I've also learned that while the more the average person learns about nutrition, the better, the sheer amount of information out there can be confusing. People are perplexed by all that they read and hear about nutrition and weight loss. Whenever I have a speaking engagement, I'm often bombarded with a million questions about crazy diets, "revolutionary" new foods and supplements that supposedly melt off pounds. People will also ask me for sound nutritional advice: Should I limit the amount of carbohydrates I eat? How many fat grams should I allow myself each day? Should I be taking nutritional supplements?

Nutrition, relatively speaking, is a very young science. But although we don't yet know everything about how good nutrition can help us stay healthy and lose weight, we do know a few key things. Foremost is that eating moderate amounts of nutritious foods -- in combination with exercising regularly -- is the number one way to ensure our well-being and fight the accumulation of body fat. Eat sensibly and exercise. It's a relatively simple prescription -- and we know it works.

We also know what doesn't work, particularly in regard to weight loss. Americans have been dieting since the early 1900s (if not before; however, it's the crash diets of the last forty years that have really given us a crash course in what to avoid. I hate the idea that a lot of people (and possibly even you) have tried to lose on many of these programs, perhaps even gaining more weight in the process of yo-yoing from one diet to another. But these programs have at least taught us that going to extremes is an impractical -- and clearly inadequate -- way to slim down. And looking at them, you can see why.