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Mediterranean food is good for what ails you

03 Mar 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"The Lord is kind and merciful," the psalmist assures us this Sunday, and “heals all your ills.” When it comes to healing diet-related ills, two new studies suggest that cutting sugar intake and increasing the use of olive oil and nuts may be good for what ails you.A study published in the Feb. 27 issue of the journal PLoS One, published by the Public Library of Science, strongly linked increased consumption of sugar with increased rates of diabetes by examining the data on sugar availability and the rates of diabetes in 175 countries over the past decade. After accounting for many other factors, the researchers found that increased sugar in a population’s food supply was linked to higher diabetes rates independent of rates of obesity. In other words, according to this study, obesity doesn’t cause diabetes: Sugar does.The study demonstrated this link with the same level of confidence that linked cigarettes and lung cancer in the 1960s. According to Rob Lustig, one of the study’s authors and a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, “You could not enact a real-world study that would be more conclusive than this one.”At the same time, a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil and nuts beats a low-fat diet hands down in preventing strokes and heart attacks in healthy older people at high risk for cardiovascular disease, according to research released Monday.Spanish researchers found that the consumption of extra-virgin olive oil and nuts “were probably responsible for most of the observed benefits” attained by those in the two study groups on a Mediterranean diet. The findings, released by the New England Journal of Medicine, also add to mounting evidence contradicting a long-held tenet of dieting to improve health: That all calories are equal. Most of the calories in a Mediterranean diet come from fatty fish, fruits, vegetables, and fatty acids and almost none from red meat.The superiority of the Mediterranean diet was substantial: Those who followed one were 30 percent less likely than others to suffer a heart attack, stroke, or death attributed to cardiovascular disease during the study. And Mediterranean dieters were almost 40 percent less likely than low-fat dieters to have a stroke during the follow-up period, which lasted nearly five years.Homily hint: Obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular ailments are at nearly epidemic proportions in the U.S. population. Perhaps your faith community could partner with a nearby healthcare institution to provide information on these conditions. Offer the ounce of prevention that could help loved ones avoid the pound of cure. Sources: Articles by Mark Bittman for the New YorkTimes and Melissa Healy for the Los Angeles Times

health calories new england journal of medicine nuts olive oil university of california san francisco rob lustig diabetes sugar public library of science mediterranean food diet stroke heart attack cardiovascular disease

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Hold onto your memory by holding the fries

02 Mar 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink,” says Jesus in this Sunday’s gospel in pointing out the need to rely completely on God. While trusting God in all things is paramount, a little self-discipline when it comes to nutrition can help avoid serious health problems. New research suggests that eating a high-carbohydrate diet may increase the risk of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia as well as other conditions including depression and ADHD.The rise in blood sugar caused by consuming carbohydrates may compromise brain health, according to Dr. David Perlmutter, neurologist and editor. “We live with this notion that a calorie is a calorie, but at least in terms of brain health, and I believe for the rest of the body as well, there are very big differences between our sources of calories in terms of the impact on our health," Perlmutter said in an interview published in Alternative and Complementary Therapies.Today’s first reading reassures us that the Lord does not forget us, but degenerative memory loss is a ever-present risk as people age. To reduce the risk and to improve brain health overall, Perlmutter recommends a low-carb, high-fat, gluten-free diet. "In the clinical arena, when we see children with ADHD, or elderly individuals with depression or dementia, we may see improvement in these clinical presentations simply by removing gluten, reducing carbohydrates, and adding healthy fats back into the diet. We understand the benefits of doing this from both the literature and clinical observation," Permutter said.Perlmutter notes that going "gluten-free" is not by itself the answer. "People who are gluten-sensitive may suddenly become attracted to the gluten-free aisle in the grocery stores and gravitate toward gluten-free pastas, breads, and crackers. These people are not doing themselves a favor because they are still dramatically pounding their bodies with high levels of carbohydrates.”Homily hint: Healthy living involves striking a balance and avoiding excess but also staying away from a fixation on nutrition. While a healthy diet is indeed important, it is also crucial to avoid becoming so obsessive about what you will or will not eat as to suffer anxiety—or create it for others! “In all things, moderation,” Aristotle said. Sources: Articles by Christine Hsu for Counsel & Heal and by The Huffington Post (UK)

fat diet gluten free carbohydrates brain health david perlmutter

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Meat … maybe not what’s for dinner

01 Nov 2015 - Preaching the News for Sunday

As we learn in this Sunday’s first reading, the Lamb of God is good to humanity, bringing salvation. But leg of lamb is another story, or so says the World Health Organization. In an announcement that has alarmed bacon and hot dog lovers, and sent the entire meat industry into a furor, the World Health Organization's cancer research arm on Monday declared processed meat a carcinogen, like tobacco, and said red meat is probably one, too. Homily hint: Though we are mortal, and can’t live forever, it behooves us to develop healthy habits and be good stewards of our health. With health, we are able to focus on going about doing good in the world with greater energy and effectiveness. Eat well to serve well. For more on the reported risks of meat, see: WHO says hot dogs, bacon cause cancer. Does this mean we should all become vegetarians?

health diet cancer

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Homily stories

02 Aug 2009 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

There are many different diet plans. Bookstore shelves are filled with diets that say eat only this type of food or that. Some diets tell people to skip a particular food. Some concentrate on removing entire food groups out of your diet. Most books come with recipes but more important with testimonials and pictures of those who succeeded in dropping a significant amount of weight over a short period of time. In reality, a majority of these diets work because they all include two common elements usually found in small print on the very last page of the book. The dieter is told to reduce food intake and begin moderate exercise. Ultimately these two factors, which most dieters reject, are what will bring about the real weight loss. Most popular these days are the diets that are based on restricting or eliminating carbohydrates. Some people swear by these diets while others give up on such an approach almost instantly. For many, a meal is not a meal without a loaf of bread on the table. In reality as well as symbolically, bread is the food of life for many people. Jesus proclaims that he is the bread of life. God’s presence in bread goes back to Moses in the desert and continues today in the Eucharist. We can deny ourselves many things in life, but why deny ourselves spiritual nourishment so necessary for the health of our soul? And so we should always eagerly gather around the altar.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

diets bread of life

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