The Art of Eating Well Nutrition Reporter Jack Challem
by Jennifer Rischard
ating is a necessity. Eat- ing well, however, can be an art. Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming amount of confl icting nutritional infor- mation available today, many people feel defeated before they’ve even begun to sort through the confusion. Luck- ily, Tucson has local nutrition expert, Jack Challem, to paint a clearer picture.
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About Jack Jack discovered an interest in nutrition and the benefi ts of supplementation as a 19 year old college student. The inspiration came from a conversation with his biology professor regard- ing nutritional supplementation as a treatment for heart disease and cancer. This led Jack to experiment with vita- min supplements. Changing nothing about his typical college diet of fried foods, pizza and beer, the addition of certain vitamins and minerals made a signifi cant change in his mental clarity and physical energy in just one week. This began his quest for a deeper un- derstanding of health and nutrition. He has since entwined his per- sonal interest with his professional pursuits by writing countless maga- zine articles, more than 20 books, and a 10 issue/year newsletter, The Nutrition Reporter. He is also a per- sonal nutrition coach and an interna- tional public speaker. Each endeavor is an effort to demystify and distill nutritional research and reports into individualized and usable informa- tion. A rule of thumb that Jack lives by
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when trying to make sense of current studies: “Don’t look at individual stud- ies, look at overall trends.” Individual studies may contradict one another, so he looks at several studies on the same subject matter and notices what the predominant fi ndings are.
Basic Changes for a Healthier Diet For many people, adhering to changes in their eating patterns is diffi cult. Jack explains that there are many factors shaping the choices we make, spe- cifi cally what we put in our mouths. Social and psychological factors such as family upbringing, advertising, and societal and peer pressures all play into where we place our food dollars. Also, the prevalence of grain-fed beef, high-yield food production techniques and processed foods has changed the way we eat. “Our taste buds have been perverted by the typical Ameri- can diet. People want to eat what is predictable,” says Jack. Jack suggests that we not make
too many changes all at once, nor expect it to be an overnight process.
Greater success will come by mak- ing one small change at a time. Three simple changes are: • Eat more vegetables. We’ve all heard this one before, perhaps because it’s such a good idea! The wider and more diverse the selec- tion, the better.
• Add quality proteins to your weekly menu. Examples are wild salmon (Alaskan salmon is wild; Atlantic salmon is farmed), organic chicken and turkey, grass or range-fed beef, farm-fresh eggs. • For people with weight and/or blood sugar problems, it’s very important to cut back on carbohy- drate and sugar intake. “That doesn’t mean go cold turkey, just modify,” Jack explains. If you are generally healthy and active, you can tolerate a higher level of carbs and sugars.
“The art of eating well, just like other aspects of creating a well-rounded healthy life, is an ongoing learning process.”
Jack also has some tips about ad- hering to dietary changes. We all want instant results and desire changes to be easy, and so if we feel stressed or inconvenienced we often give up. Jack suggests:
• Plan ahead. A little bit of planning, such as taking one afternoon a week to cook large batches of food that can be portioned out and refriger- ated for meals throughout the week, can make a huge difference in time and convenience. • Eat breakfast. Again, this goes back to planning ahead. Give yourself a
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