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Eating
Right -- It’s All About Balance
(ARA) - In
recent years, a lot of people have jumped on the low-carb bandwagon, hoping to
lose a lot of weight, fast. Some are succeeding, others are not. Why are so many
people failing?
“Because it’s not a long-term fix,” says Lisa Katic, a registered
dietician in private practice in Virginia. “People may lose weight initially
because they are lowering their daily calorie intake, but by cutting back on
carbs, they are starving their bodies of sufficient energy for daily function.
Eventually, something has to give, and the end result is that most people will
put the weight back on.”
So what are your alternatives? Katic says people should focus on balance. Not
just in their diets, but with exercise as well. “The best way to achieve
balance is by combining an active lifestyle with a diet that offers variety,”
she says.
Katic points out that exercise promotes bone density, boosts the immune system,
lowers high blood pressure, and helps improve the body composition by burning
fat. Meats are a good source of iron, vitamins and protein; dairy provides
protein, calcium, vitamins and minerals; fruits and vegetables provide you with
protein, minerals, vitamins and fiber; and carbohydrates provide energy.
Dr. Ara Yeramyan, the president of Crum Creek Mills, a Pennsylvania-based health
food company, knows all about balance. For years, his kitchen looked more like a
laboratory as he experimented with adding soy protein to foods his family loved
to make them more nutritionally balanced.
"The issue with so many foods today is that they are very heavy on
carbohydrates. And when you consume too many carbohydrates, the body will
ultimately store the excess as fat,” says Dr. Yeramyan. "The carbohydrate
is one of the body's key sources of energy, so starving the body of carbs is not
sound either. When you add protein to carb-heavy foods, they become more
nutritionally balanced, slowing down the rate at which carbs get absorbed.”
Because his family loved his kitchen creations, Yeramyan decided to share his
passion with the rest of the world, and started the Crum Creek Mills food
company in 1995. "The purpose in starting Crum Creek was multifaceted. For
one, I wanted to make everyday foods healthier, such as pastas, snacks and
muffins by making them more nutritionally balanced. Second, by adding soy
protein, people would benefit from the many benefits of soy in foods they
already love. And they would be getting a protein source similar to meat, eggs
and dairy without the fat and cholesterol. And third, I have always been
committed to making a difference in eradicating world hunger. The amount of
people you can feed by growing an acre of soy versus raising cattle on that same
acre is staggering. This business is a great way to express that
commitment." In fact, a portion of the company's after-tax profits goes to
charities working to end hunger.
Eight years later, Crum Creek is thriving. Hundreds of dietitians stand by the
company's products -- 4 varieties of pasta, mac and cheese, pancake and muffin
mix, breadsticks, soy nuts and soy bites -- as great alternatives. “They offer
a way for people to obtain a balanced, healthy lifestyle while adding soy to
their diet in a simple and economical way,” says Dr. Yeramyan.
Crum Creek's products can be found in health food stores throughout the
Northeast or ordered online at www.crumcreek.com.
Courtesy of ARA Content
Further
Reading: Top 10 Reasons to Eat Soy
1. You will be in good company. Twenty-five percent of Americans are eating more
meatless meals than they were a year ago. Soy foods, for many of these people,
are becoming one of their basic food groups.
2. Lower your cholesterol. Between 40 and 60 percent of the U.S. adult
population is modifying their diet to reduce fat and cholesterol intake.
Genistein, a natural estrogenic compound found only in soy, appears to
significantly decrease levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) while
increasing HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol). High LDL (and low HDL) is a
major risk factor for coronary heart disease, the number one cause of death
among men and women in the United States.
3. Lower your risk of cancer. Asian populations on average consume as much as 30
times the amount of soy as the American population. This dietary difference
appears to be a significant factor for a four-to-ten-fold lower incidence of
death from breast and prostate cancer in these countries.
4. Menopausal symptoms. The Genistein in soy appears to reduce the severity of
menopausal systems such as "hot flashes", without the risks associated
with estrogen replacement therapy. It also appears to reduce the risk of
osteoporosis.
5. Soy foods are nutritious. Soy foods are rich in nutrients such as calcium,
iron, zinc, and many of the B vitamins. An excellent source of protein, and
cholesterol free, soy products are lower in saturated fat than most of the meat
and dairy foods that they easily replace.
6. A quality protein source. Soy protein is now recognized by the USDA, the
American Dietetic Association and the World Health Organization as being
equivalent or superior in protein quality to animal-based proteins such as
dairy, eggs or meat.
7. Save our precious resources. Soy foods are an extremely efficient way to
utilize precious food resources. A cow grazing on one acre of grass will produce
58 pounds of meat, enough to sustain a person for two and a half months. If that
acre were replaced with soybeans, those beans would contain enough protein to
sustain that same person for seven years.
8. A variety of alternatives and greater availability. Over the past decade,
more than 2,000 new soy products have been introduced. Today's health conscious
consumers have soy-based options for milk, cheese, burgers, hot dogs, luncheon
meats, ground meat, yogurt, ice cream and more. Many traditional supermarkets
have integrated these products into their stores.
9. Better quality. Manufacturers of soy-based products have come a long way
since the products many people tasted (and disliked) a decade or two ago.
Advances in technology have resulted in remarkable improvements in the taste and
texture profile of all categories of soy products.
10. Soy foods are “in.” American awareness for soy foods has never been
greater. Seventy-five percent have heard of tofu, 55 percent are familiar with
soy milk, and 50 percent have heard of soy burgers. Soy food consumption is
increasing 30 percent or more per year.
Courtesy of ARA
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