Food bank and health

Tuesday morning I followed through on a decision I made to give a little back to the community. I've been thinking for quite a while about how to contribute my time to some volunteer organization, and I finally got the information and did it. I visited Second Harvest Food Bank on Monday to chat with them about the process of volunteering, when I could participate, etc.

It was ridiculously easy. There are volunteer shifts twice each day, including weekends. The morning shift is from 8am to 11am, and the afternoon shift is noon to 3pm. You show up, they put you to work, simple as can be.

I decided to take on the morning shift for my first visit of what I intend to be a weekly endeavor. When I arrived there were several other people there volunteering. They ranged from older retirees to younger folks my age. When I told them why I was there, the gentleman handling the process seemed a tiny bit surprised that I wasn't there to work for food or to satisfy a court ordered sentence.

We were put to work, assembly line fashion. First we assembled big bags of vegetables and produce. Potatoes, onions, carrots, apples, oranges and brocolli all went into a large fishnet style bag. We did that for almost two hours until we had finished the "job", filling I think it was around 160 bags.

Following that, we assembled a mixed bag of groceries. A box of oat cereal, a can of peas, 4 containers of applesauce, some bags of almonds, and a few granola bars. These were then grouped up into boxes of 3-4 bag and stacked on a pallet. I estimate that we created somewhere between 120 and 180 of these bags for a couple of different jobs, stacks of food destined for different organizations and non-profits that would distribute them further.

It was a happy environment, it seemed like there was a core of regular volunteers and everyone seemed to know most everyone else. I spoke with a few different people, one of whom told me he had been volunteering there for 8 years.

As for my time, it was well spent. I was busy, I was active, I was working hard, and I was making a difference to someone's life. I also got a serious workout, and my upper body was sore from the lifting and sorting and hauling.

I was also pleasantly surprised to note that the vast majority of the items we worked with were healthy food choices. It's good to know that we are providing food that will really nourish and sustain the hungry children of our area, and not just stuffing cakes and pastries at them.

We're the government, we're here to help!

Yeah, right!

It seems like the government is always interfering with things better left alone, or meddling where they don't belong. At the beginning of the year, the U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S Dept of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. By law, they are required to review and possibly update the guidelines every 5 years.

Well, they updated it all right. It seems we have been given some faulty information in past guidelines, such that they are taking the drastic measures of providing us with such valuable tidbits as "Maintain calorie balance over time to achieve and sustain a healthy weight." and "focus on consuming nutrient-dense foods and beverages."

Oh really government? We should eat right all the time, and do it with nutrient-dense foods? I believe that this set of guidelines probably was delivered to the USDA from the U.S Department of Stating the Obvious. But at least they finally are getting it right.

For years we have been told to eat a daily mix containing a large amount of wheat and flour based items that are now being downplayed. Research in recent years has shown that processed foods and refined grains are lacking in the nutrients that their original component foods contain. The act of refining and processing these items, like sugar and white flour, has almost completely removed any nutritional value.

One of the interesting sections describes the current top sources of calories in American diets by category. It's truly horrific to note how children get the majority of their caloric intake.

For example, the number one category of caloric intake of kids age 2-18 is grain based desserts, which includes cake, cookies, pie, cobbler, sweet rolls, pastries, and donuts. This is followed directly by pizza and sodas.

Fortunately, the guidelines also include the ultimate importance of physical exercise in the caloric balance equation, shows sodium intake levels needing to decrease, and actually recognizes the differences between saturated, monosaturated and poly-unsaturated fatty acids.

All in all, it looks like a massive improvement over previous nutritional guidelines, so all kidding aside.... Good work government.

The amazing power of dietary fiber

MISCONCEPTIONS
Let us first address the most common misconceptions about fiber. It's just for old people, and it just makes you "regular".

So it's not that these statements are completely untrue. Fiber IS good for the elderly. Fiber DOES have a good effect on bowel regularity. However, it's much much more than just those things, so much more than most people understand.

The current system for describing fiber uses two terms, soluble and insoluble. Scientists and nutrition experts are in the process of proposing new terms that more accurately describe fiber impact in the body, with the terms "viscous" and "ferment-able". Soluble (or viscous) types included things such as oat bran, and are known to reduce blood cholesterol levels and assist with normalizing blood sugar levels.

Insoluble (or ferment-able)types include things like wheat bran, and help with bowel regularity. Some fiber sources contain both types. There is one herb which contains 70% soluble and 30% insoluble called psyllium. It is regarded worldwide as one of the best sources of heart-healthy soluble fiber. It is typically labelled as psyllium husk or psyllium fiber in nutritional supplements that incorporate it.

A study published in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) in 1999 concluded

"Fiber consumption predicted insulin levels, weight gain, and other CVD risk factors more strongly than did total or saturated fat consumption. High-fiber diets may protect against obesity and CVD by lowering insulin levels."

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition conducted on men with Type 2 diabetes and mildly elevated cholesterol levels found that those who received 5.1g of psyllium fiber twice daily for 8 weeks had lowered their serum cholesterol levels by 8.9% and their LDL cholesterol level by 13%.

So these studies, and many others, show that daily fiber intake can have a major impact on systemic health in the body, in the digestive system and in the circulatory system.

Let's take a look at HOW fiber accomplishes these important feats.

Reduction of Cholesterol Levels
Viscous fibers help lower the serum cholesterol levels by reducing the intestinal absorption of dietary cholesterol. They also "soak" up bile in the digestive system, forcing the liver to use more cholesterol to produce new bile.

Normalize Blood Sugar
Viscous fibers assist with blood sugar levels by slowing the digestive process and the rate at which food leaves the stomach, and delaying the absorption of glucose following a meal. They also increase insulin sensitivity. Thus increased fiber intake can participate in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. Also, since fiber keeps food in the stomach longer, you feel satiated or full longer, which can assist with problems associated with weight gain and overeating.

Bowel Regularity
Contrary to popular belief, fiber is not just "roughage". Fiber does help to bulk up stool production, but that is not the only way that fiber benefits regularity. Fermentable fibers act as food for the healthy culture of bacteria that live in the gut and assist with the digestive process. These healthy bacteria produce necessary short-chain fatty acids, but they also play an important role in the immune system by preventing pathogenic bacteria from surviving the intestinal tract.

Exactly opposite to the way that fiber keeps food in the stomach longer, non-fermentable fiber increases the speed at which waste travels through the intestinal system, and keeps the whole system cleaner and assists with the removal of toxins through the bowels. Bowel regularity is linked with a decreased risk for colon cancer and hemorrhoids.

There are several categories of Dietary fiber.

- Cellulose, found in apples, peas, bran, cabbage
- Hemicellulose, found in bran and whole grains
- Polyfructoses, Inulin and Oligofructans
- Galactooligosaccharides
- Gums, found in oatmeal, barley and legumes
- Mucilages
- Pectins, apples, strawberries and citrus
- Lignin, root veggies, wheat, and fruits with edible seeds
- Resistant starches, ripe bananas, potatoes

Recommendations for daily consumption

The National Academy of Sciences established an Adequate Intake level of 38 grams for males 19-50 and 25 grams for women 19-50. The average intake is less than half those amounts.