The New American Diet

Not surprisingly, the newest trend to try to get Americans to eat healthier is to package all the components of a healthy lifestyle into a set of rules that can be bound and sold for $39.95. Specifically, eating organic, avoiding pesticides and plasticides, and aiming for grass-fed meat is all part of the New American Diet, where "you can eat STEAK, BURGERS, CHOCOLATE, and ICE CREAM and still lose fat (starting with belly fat)!"

The New American Diet aside, this related article offers some specifics as to how natural and synthetic chemicals play a role in weight gain and what we can do to avoid these chemicals as much as possible. Some highlights:

The 12 fruits and vegetables you should always try to buy organic (they contain the highest levels of pesticides) listed from highest to lowest:

• peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots, and pears

The "clean fifteen" on the other hand have the lowest levels of pesticide residue:

• onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, mangoes, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwis, cabbages, eggplants, papayas, watermelons, broccoli, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes

Other interesting points:

• Natural EDC's (endocrine disrupting chemicals) are those hormones found naturally in soy. I'm no expert on this subject, but it seems to me that those estrogen producing chemicals in soy, frequently cited for reducing the risk of certain cancers, can also be a contributing factor in hormone disruption and therefore weight gain (among a ton of other side effects such as early development in girls). I'm sure that naturally and in moderate amounts, soy is probably really good for us, however, I'm wary of anything that a. the government has started subsidizing (i.e. corn) and b. we are likely ingesting in all kinds of invisible ways (through the meat that we eat and in numerous products where it has replaced high fructose corn syurp). Anyway, didn't mean to go off on soy, just found it to be an interesting, if underdeveloped, component in this article.

• Don't ever heat up plastic and avoid drinking hot things out of plastic. Side note: my roommate, Missy, just took a class on natural cleaners and household poisons and she said that we get the highest amount of phthalates from our shower curtain. Apparently, high amounts of phthalates (another chemical found in plastic) have been shown to corrolate to disruptive behavior, a topic that is very dear to her heart as she is a pre-school teacher.

• Finally, and I am sure I am being redundant to anyone who reads this blog regularly, try to avoid eating animals that have been given hormones during their lifetime or fed on diets of corn and soy. Instead, aim to eat grass-fed "organic" meat. Also, avoid high fructose corn syrup at all costs.