Super Immunity (16 page)

The bottom line is that while powdered fruit and vegetable supplements,
³⁷
multivitamins,
³⁸
and other health remedies—even garlic and vitamin C or E—may show some benefits in those with deficient or marginal intake of antioxidants and phytochemicals, the best and most effective way to prevent illness is with comprehensive nutritional adequacy maintained all year (following the dietary and supplemental recommendations contained within this book). An improved diet is more effective than any of these specific cold remedies.

Almost every family has their favored remedies and advice. From eating chicken soup, to wearing cloves of garlic around the neck, to wearing warm hats, you probably learned your immunity-enhancing ideas from your mother, who learned them from
her
mother. Unfortunately, chicken soup, steam vaporizers, hot tea with honey, and smelly salves on the chest have no scientific data to document effectiveness; most, in fact, have mostly been debunked in scientific investigations. When scrutinized via high-quality placebo trials, almost all remedies have shown no significant
treatment
effects (except in people who were somewhat nutritionally deficient). For example, pomegranate is a super food that builds stronger immune function, and the long-term use of it and other highly nutritious super foods may decrease incidence of infections—in other words, these foods help with
prevention.
However, pomegranate and the other super foods should not be seen as cold remedies. Rather, these highly nutritious foods support a normally functioning immune system.

Even vitamin D, elderberry, and zinc, with
proven
efficacy, are likely of value only in people whose levels are suboptimal. The goal, then, is still to achieve nutritional adequacy and forget the idea of nutritional remedies when ill. Take 15 milligrams of zinc per day all year, increasing that to 30 milligrams with the onset of cold symptoms. Probiotics and elderberry syrup are likely worth a try when you're ill. (Let me know if you think they worked for you.)

Let's review our findings:

Finally, remember these important points when ill:

1. The greenish or yellow color of respiratory mucous does not mean you have a bacterial infection.

2. Expectorants and cough suppressants do not work and will not facilitate your recovery.

3. Neither taking vitamin C nor pushing fluids is useful.

4. Humidifiers and steam showers are not effective either.

5. Cool baths for lowering the fever should be avoided; they do not keep the fever down for long, and the fever itself heightens the effectiveness of the immune attack.

6. Avoid acetaminophen and other fever reducers; if you are too uncomfortable to sleep at night, take ibuprofen with some food.

7. If significantly ill, watch for the signs that a medical consultation is indicated (see chapter 2).

8. Reduce food intake and consume primarily vegetable juice, vegetable soup, water, and raw salad vegetables.

So now that we know what works and what doesn't work when it comes to colds and flu, let's return to our diet and check out the best healthy fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. You might just be surprised by what you will discover.

T
he most consistent and proven concept in the history of nutritional science is that the combination of high-nutrient intake and low-caloric intake promotes disease resistance and longevity. It is the basis for my health equation:

Health = Nutrients/Calories

What this equation means is that your health will improve as you eat more foods with a
high
nutrient-per-calorie density and fewer foods with a
low
nutrient-per-calorie density. First and foremost, avoid low-nutrient foods such as white breads and processed foods. White flour, other refined grains (such as those found in sweetened breakfast cereals), soft drinks, sweets, and even fruit juices are weight-promoting, lead to diabetes, and raise triglyceride and cholesterol levels, increasing heart attack risk. Furthermore, these low-nutrient processed foods also suppress immune function, increasing one's risk of infection and cancer. Incredibly, by 2010 these processed foods had become 62 percent of the calories in the standard American diet.

Consuming calories without the beneficial presence of antioxidants, vitamins, and phytochemicals leads to a buildup of waste products in the cells. When you eat white bread or other processed foods without enough accompanying plant-derived micronutrients, the body can't remove normal cellular wastes. When our cells don't have the raw materials needed for normal function, we age prematurely and become susceptible to disease.

The three macronutrients—fat, carbohydrate, and protein—supply us with calories. Certainly Americans eat too many calories, but there is no health advantage in making your diet extremely low in fat. I intentionally do not give a specific percentage of each macronutrient in the diet, and I do not recommend that fat be avoided. Trying to micromanage the precise amount of each caloric source misses the most critical issue in human nutrition.

The essential issue in human nutrition is meeting your
macro
nutrient needs without excess calories, and getting sufficient
micro
nutrients in the process. There is a broad acceptable range in the macronutrient ratio, as long as one is not overeating calories and one's body fat percentage is favorable. You may be surprised to learn that adhering to a diet that is
less
than 10 percent of calories from fat is
not
an appropriate recommendation for ideal health, and indeed often results in less than ideal health outcomes. However, one could be on a healthy diet that is 15 percent of calories from fat, or a healthy diet that is 30 percent of calories from fat. As long as the diet is rich in micronutrients and does not exceed our need for calories, the lower-fat diet has no advantage in the prevention and treatment of disease.

There is no evidence to suggest that a diet of
equal calories that is lower in fat is an advantage
for prevention or treatment of heart disease or
any other disease. Studies that compare dietary fat
percentages suggest that it is not the fat
level but other more critical qualities that make
the diet more or less beneficial.

While the fat percentage does not determine the quality of your diet, the amount of colorful vegetables does. To achieve an ideal level of phytonutrients and other micronutrients, you have to eat a large amount of green vegetables each day. Generally speaking, you can rate the nutritional quality of a diet by the percentage of colorful vegetables it contains. When you eat lots of vegetables, especially green vegetables, you meet your body's need for fiber and micronutrients with very few calories. Then, to comprise the balance of the diet and fill your caloric needs, you can choose an assortment of other foods, preferably including other foods with a decent micronutrient load. So when you eat more greens and other colorful vegetables and more fruits, beans, nuts, and seeds, you naturally eat less of other foods of a lower nutritional quality; that means fewer animal products and processed foods but also less oil, white bread, potato, and rice.

With that general grounding, let's now look at carbs, fats, and proteins in more detail.

Certainly most of us understand that a wild blueberry, strawberry, or cauliflower floret is a nutrient-rich source of carbohydrate, especially when compared to a candy bar or a slice of white bread. Not only do the natural, healthy carbohydrate foods contain more micronutrients, but they are also loaded with fiber and so-called resistant starch, both of which keep these foods' glycemic index (an index of their rate of conversion to sugar) and caloric density low. Resistant starch is like fiber in that it is resistant to digestion and does not break down to glucose or other simple sugars. It is a “prebiotic,” something that promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, in the digestive tract; these bacteria then break down the resistant starch into favorable compounds that improve our immune system function and reduce cancer risk.
¹

So the healthiest starches are in high-fiber, natural foods. These are typically low in absorbable calories, and they give us lots of micronutrients per caloric buck—not just an injection of glucose into our system.

The aforementioned glycemic index (GI) evaluates the blood glucose response in a fixed amount of carbohydrate in particular foods on a scale of 1 to 100. Glycemic load (GL) is a similar ranking, but it is generally thought to be more meaningful because it takes into account the carbohydrate content of a certain portion size of each food rather than a fixed number of grams of carbohydrate. Diets containing large quantities of high-GL foods are associated with the risk of diabetes, heart disease, multiple cancers, and overall chronic disease.
²
That means a diet with lots of bagels, cold cereals, pasta, white potatoes, and sweet desserts and snacks is not just fattening; it also promotes cancer. It's not that you cannot eat
any
high-GL foods; it's just that your diet should contain only a limited amount of those foods. Most of your carbohydrate intake should come from low-GL sources such as beans, vegetables, and berries.

G
LYCEMIC
I
NDEX
(GI)
AND
G
LYCEMIC
L
OAD
(GL)
OF
C
OMMON
P
LANT
F
OODS
*

There is a nutritional hierarchy of carbohydrate-rich plant foods. Beans, starchy vegetables, intact grains, and certain other nutritious natural foods are generally the most heavily emphasized in my recommendations, not just because of their favorable glycemic scores, but because they are richer in micronutrients, fiber, and resistant starch too. Interestingly, the micronutrient density of high-carb plant foods parallels their fiber and resistant starch content.

Regardless of the relative merits of these natural carbohydrates, things get considerably worse when they become processed. A perfect example is a cereal that consists of finely ground flour combined with fruit juice to sweeten it. When this processing occurs, it results in a food with a high glycemic effect and without significant micronutrient content.

So what are the specific foods you want to include in your diet, to utilize the best high-carbohydrate foods? You've got a wide range of acceptable options.

Beans, peas, corn, wild rice, barley, steel-cut oats, oatmeal, tomatoes, squashes, berries, and fresh fruits are examples of the most favorable carbohydrates sources. Beans, green peas, berries, and tomatoes are at the top of the list. Squashes, intact whole grains (such as steel-cut oats), wild rice, quinoa, wheat berries, and even sweet potatoes would be more favorable choices than white potatoes, which would be at the bottom of this list.