other baked goods. Table sugar is another
example, a fragment of sugar cane. Colbin calculates that it takes 17 feet of sugar cane to make one cup of sugar. What’s missing is mostly the cane’s water content and the result, she says, is that sugar makes you thirsty. It’s a big reason why when we drink a soda, ingest- ing an average equivalent of 12 teaspoons of sugar, we’re thirsty afterward and drink even more, creating a vicious cycle. Fruit juices are, by defini-
tion, a fragmented food. When we drink orange or grapefruit juice, all or most of the fiber from the raw fruit is obviously missing. Craving something to chew, we may reach for chips or something crunchy. Vegetable juices may yield the same result.
Colbin cautions that while vita-
min and mineral supplements can be helpful in treating specific conditions or
deficiencies, they nevertheless comprise fragments of food at best. She notes that the body may have difficulty processing these isolated nutrients outside of the whole food. Supportive studies
include Kentucky’s University of Louisville School of Medicine comparison of the effects of the spice turmeric with those of its active ingredient, curcumin. Adding the whole food tur- meric to the diet of rats reduced inflammation significantly, while curcumin alone was ineffective. Results suggested the difference may be explained by turmeric’s higher bioavailability.
A Pennsylvania State University re-
search review determined that although population studies consistently report that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables protects against cardiovascular and other chronic diseases, studies of antioxidant supplements did not show the same benefits. The difference may be that a
whole foods diet naturally contains not only antioxidants, but a wide range of nutrients and compounds that may act synergistically to protect against diseases. Colbin goes further, suggesting that supplements may even make us less likely to want to eat vegetables and set us up for junk food cravings to balance out too many vitamins or minerals. Her advice is to use vitamins and supple- ments if medically required, but not every day and not for a lifetime. Her views are all about maintain-
ing the natural balance in the foods that nature provides without worrying about striving for perfection or radical chang- es in diet. Colbin recommends aiming for 70 percent whole foods overall to keep everything in balance. Start by taking a few small changes, listen to the body to see if there’s a noticeable differ- ence and adjust accordingly.
Margie King is a former corporate at- torney now working as a holistic health and nutrition coach and natural health copywriter from Philadelphia, PA. Con- nect via
NourishingMenopause.com.
January 2014
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