Squirrels

[James L]

Here's a piece of nutrition advice from the new book, Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less, by Mollie Katzen and Walter C. Willett. (Prof. Willett is head of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.)

Eat nuts. Two billion squirrels can't be wrong!

[gitfiddle]

;) I heard that before and I love nuts. Trouble is, I get less activity than the average squirrel and have to consider the fat content.

[avnndd]

Well, I HAVE been accused, from time to time, of being a little squirrely...

[gitfiddle]

Oh, Lord, keep my mouth shut!:rolleyes:

[Gabriel Guzman]

Hmmm... what if somebody wants to use the same argument but with cows instead?


Eat grass.... millions of cows can't be wrong...


Or for those who still believe that since gorillas and humans are just spitting distance apart (very little difference between our DNA and the gorillas'), then... well, gorillas are not carnivorous... ;)

[James L]

Or for those who still believe that since gorillas and humans are just spitting distance apart (very little difference between our DNA and the gorillas'), then... well, gorillas are not carnivorous...

Clearly, we need more research on the differences between humans and gorillas to explain this difference in dietary preferences!

[Inez]

Mollie Katzen did the Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook and Enchanted Broccoli Forest (both vegetarian). Interesting pairing of authors!

[Gaelen]

Hmmm... <snip> for those who still believe that since gorillas and humans are just spitting distance apart (very little difference between our DNA and the gorillas'), then... well, gorillas are not carnivorous... ;)

umm...point of order...while gorillas are classified as herbivores, all species of gorilla take in some amount (one research observer figures it at around 15%) of animal proteins in the invertabrates (insects and larvae) that they eat in the fruits, leaves, stems and barks, along with deliberately choosing to eat those things in nests when they find them. The Western Lowland Gorilla Diet (http://www.animalinfo.org/species/primate/gorigori.htm#Diet) is one example; this article (http://www.colszoo.org/animalareas/aforest/gorilla.html) from the Columbus zoo further explains the diet.

Gorillas are actually two steps away from humans; chimps are closer in both DNA and ability of the body to digest various things than gorillas...and chimps actually construct tools to dig their animal (insects, especially termites) out of their nests.

As for human dietary classification, I thought humanids were classified as the most opportunistic feeders of all...omnivores, creatures who could and did eat everything they could find in order to survive--meat, eggs stolen from nests, plants, fruits, seeds, insects, roots--whatever.

[Gabriel Guzman]

As for human dietary classification, I thought humanids were classified as the most opportunistic feeders of all...omnivores, creatures who could and did eat everything they could find in order to survive--meat, eggs stolen from nests, plants, fruits, seeds, insects, roots--whatever.

Precisely... we're omnivores... gorilla's arent. In genetic terms, even a small difference could mean a whole lot, so being two steps or one step closer between species A and species B actually can determine who adapts and survives and who doesn't. I would've liked to find a reference on that article when it mentions that Western gorillas "further differ from eastern animals in that they occasionally include some animal food in their diet" (unless Stuart and Stuart is the reference for the whole paragraph). More interesting, at least to me is that it mentions that "it has been observed that mountain gorillas had ample opportunity to eat eggs, helpless young birds, and the honey of stingless bees but never did".

Leon Abrams, Jr. wrote an article (http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/gorilla.html)at westonprice.org about the misconception surrounding the diet of Gorillas. Maybe is more accurate to say that gorillas, while not carnivors, do eat animal protein; that coming from insects, which after all are part of the animal kingdom. I particularly like (and agree) with his final statement:

What Can the Diet of Gorillas Tell Us About a Healthy Diet for Humans? by H. Leon Abrams, Jr.

So what can the diet of gorillas tell us about what constitutes a healthy diet for humans? Little if anything. Humans are omnivores and need animal protein as well as plant foods to maintain sound health.

[James L]

Mollie Katzen did the Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook and Enchanted Broccoli Forest (both vegetarian). Interesting pairing of authors!

One of the flaps of the book's jacket describes them as "The Dream Team."

[Gaelen]

(originally posted by Ines: Mollie Katzen did the Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook and Enchanted Broccoli Forest (both vegetarian). Interesting pairing of authors!
to which James replied:
One of the flaps of the book's jacket describes them as "The Dream Team."

Actually, Walter C. Willett, MD, Dr.PH and Mollie Katzen have been associates for at least the last five years. Katzen sits on the Nutrition Roundtable of the Nutrition School at the Harvard School of Public Health, where Willett is currently Chairman of the Dept. of Nutrition and the Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and a Professor at the Harvard Medical School. I don't know how long he's been at HSPH for sure, but it's been at least the last six years. Neither are strict ovo-lacto vegetarians according to their own interviews and dietary reports.

Katzen, one of my favorite cookbook authors, started out as a combination vegan/ovo-lacto vegetarian, is now 'flexitarian,' and as a 'Flexitarian' has also authored, among other things, Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe and The New Flexitarian Plan (http://www.molliekatzendesigns.com/flexitarian.htm) which, according to the promo, "combines the thoughtful and practical decision to make garden and orchard-based foods the center of your diet with the freedom either to keep it vegetarian or to include quality meats and fish for variety. The New Flexitarian plan is well balanced and practical, includes essential nutrients in every meal, and best of all ― it’s fabulously delicious and easy!" I've only read excerpts contained in reviews of 'The New Flexitarian Plan,' but it appears to be a nutritionally grounded approach that harmonizes with Willett's own nutritional research and advocacies.

BTW, I live about 70 minutes from Moosewood Restaurant, which has been 'flexitarian' since the late 80s; daily menus typically include at least one seafood entree at lunch, often two at dinner or a seafood-based soup and a seafood entree. Sundays at Moosewood, published in 1990 compiled the best (at that time) of the collective's ethnic, natural foods focused Sunday night dinner recipes, many of which include seafood. Nope, I don't work for them...but I have been there, and I go back when I'm in the neighborhood. Might be time for a road trip pretty soon, in fact. ;) You can check out a sample lunch and dinner menu from today at the home website here (http://www.moosewoodrestaurant.com/index.html).

'Flexitarian' is a coined word to describe a degree of vegetarian practice...Katzen, like Willett, has a primarily vegetarian dietary preference, and some of her recipes are vegan, but she also regularly includes seafood and poultry and occasionally includes small amounts of red meat in her diet, and has developed recipes using those things. Her cookbook writing and continuous nutritional investigation and grounding continue to be top-notch, IMO, analyzing, crediting, recognizing and including the recommendations of evolving nutritional science (in a good way.) Her vegetarian approaches have lasted the hardest test of all--time. I still have original editions of her early cookbooks, and use their recipes regularly, largely unmodified, in Protein Power compliant meals and menus. Sunlight Cafe isn't low carb, but it's a wonderful resource for baking with alternatives to Crisco and high-carb, low fiber flours like all-purpose white. It's emphasis on protein for breakfast is dead-on, and to that end includes lots of things to do with eggs, nuts and dairy to oomph up the protein in breakfast. Many of her current and past recipes are suitable for people following PP at any phase, even Phase I at < 40g ECC, but they can be especially helpful for those people transitioning to PP maintenance whether they are vegan, vegetarian, meatless like me (I include fish), flexitarian or even omnivores looking for a change of pace for a single meal or a special occasion . Many christian and non-christian religious celebrations have 'meatless' holydays or periods when a steak au poivre is traditionally not an option, and Katzen's recipes fit many of those celebrations very well.

Katzen's name also periodically crops up on the advisory boards of several diet/nutrition magazines, including Veggie Life, which ceases hard copy/newsstand publication with the Summer, 2006 issue due to rising mailing/publication costs. The magazine will still be available online.

Dr. Willett's research focuses on the effects of diet on disease, and to that end some of the research credited to him (from his online bio) (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/facres/wlltt.html) includes: As examples of the relationships we have studied, we have described a positive association between alcohol consumption and breast cancer but no relation with fat intake, a positive association between animal fat and red meat consumption and risk of colon cancer, strong inverse associations between vitamin E consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in both men and women, a positive association between partially hydrogenated vegetable fats and coronary heart disease incidence, and inverse association between intake of calcium and kidney stones. Willett also initiated and is the principal investigator of the followup to the Nurses Health Study (the Nurses Health Study II), the 1986 Health Professionals Follow-up Study which focused on dietary relationships between men and cardiovascular disease/cancer occurrence and has spent decades attempting to perfect methods of following dietary intake in large target groups with more accuracy and consistency. He offered a redesign of the USDA food pyramid in 2001 to dispel many of the myths of the original UDSA pyramid; the USDA rejected most of his recommendations.

Willett's approach isn't PP, but it's a nutrition program that emphasizes the importance/necessity of adequate protein and healthy fats, and includes: eggs, poultry and seafood, eliminates processed carbs, prefers low starch green leafy vegetables, melons and berries in the fruit and veggie department, and puts attention to diet (mindful eating) and exercise as the FIRST level of the pyramid. Like Katzen, Willett is a 'Flexitarian', and like the Drs. Eades, he has/does the research to back up his theories. Willett also, according to interviews, practices what he preaches, and he was instrumental in revamping cafeteria offerings at the Harvard School of Public Health. He's been interviewed at least twice by Eating Well magazine, in 2003 to describe his food pyramid and how it was put into real-time practice at Harvard School of Public Health, and in 2005 in an article on the need for healthy fats in a balanced diet (including why transfats and partially hydrogenated oils are bad eats, and why lard, butter, avocado, nut and coconut oils, among others, DO qualify as healthy fats.)

IMO, Willett's research and dietary bent (anti-transfats and processed foods, anti-sugar, recognition of the necessity of healthy fats, recognition of the dietary requirements of the insulin resistant, and the need to differentiate between foods and approaches that actually work to reduce/prevent disease and those that don't), and Katzen's experience and nutritional development as a cookbook author and recipe/dietary designer set this particular book of dietary recommendations into a higher class than the average 'diet' book. It's not PP, but from what I've seen, it could be a viable approach and the nutrition information it's bound to contain has the potential to broaden my knowledge base.

I'm not sure I'd classify them as 'the dream team,' but I have put the book on my reading list. I can't tell everything about a book from the liner notes, cover flap and press kit. ;)

[Inez]

Gaelen: You bring back memories! I grew up near Ithaca and spent many pleasant hours at the Moosewood Restaurant -- my favorite place to eat and my favorite cookbook for many years!

[James L]

Gaelen, thanks for all the info in your post!

[James L]

Eat grass.... millions of cows can't be wrong...
Although squirrels are a lot friskier and more energetic than your average cow.

And would you really want to have a milking-machine attached to your chest twice a day?! :-)

[SherryJ]

And would you really want to have a milking-machine attached to your chest twice a day?! :-)

Been there! Done that!! :p :D :p

Sherry

[James L]

Been there! Done that!! :p :D :p

Sherry
So, stop eating grass. :)

[SherryJ]

Nope... stopped having kids!!! :p

Sherry