Nutrition facts and fiction

If nothing’s right, what’s left for us to eat? Well, for some answers, check out this book: Nutritionally Incorrect by Dr. Allan Spreen (available at Goodwill Bookstore).

Take this hodgepodge of nutrition facts (and fiction) from the book:

• When buying wheat bread, make sure it’s 100 percent stone ground whole wheat. Everything else is cheating, such as "enriched" or "100 percent unbleached enriched."

• Avoid the words "partially hydrogenated." This is what makes the oils solid that make margarine, and they are often used in baked goods. Hydrogenation makes a chemical change in the oil that the body can’t handle.

• Health foods may not be as healthy as you think. Health food suppliers must also compete so sometimes, they sneak in more sugar in a product than you might think. Fact is, many juices sold in health food stores are loaded with added sugar. The hardest to track down is concentrated fruit juice, like dehydrated grape.

• The preferred juices are 100 percent juice, without the use of concentrates. Mixed is fine, just no concentrate.

• Try carrot juice. It’s sweeter than most people think, and it’s excellent for stomach problems.

• There is the same amount of oil in regular peanut butter as in the health nut type. The only difference is you can see the latter. It does take some stirring to mix the good stuff, but it’s worth it. Store the good stuff in the fridge, and use it up as quickly as possible, so the fats have less time to go rancid.

• Soups are nearly always better for you from the health food store as they rarely have monosodium glutamate (MSG), which should be avoided at all costs.

• Tin cans and other containers are far superior to aluminum, which leaches into the food. Boxed and paper-sealed packages are better than aluminum or plastic. The newer materials leach into foods, affecting both taste and the body’s toxin levels.

• Plastic does leach into drinks from containers and should be avoided, especially with carbonated drinks, which are more reactive. Use glass as much as possible.

• Do not buy something just because it says "low fat." This does not necessarily make it good.

• Distilled water is for steam irons, not for people, as it is lacking the all-important minerals that all natural waters possess. Look for deep-well sources of high mineral content water.

• Goat’s milk is more like mother’s milk than cow’s milk. Both are naturally homogenized and lower in fat than cow’s milk.

• Milk, cream, butter, and cheese are not all bad. Purchased with the least amount of processing, they can be very nutritious as long as you are not allergic to them.

• Most herbal teas have no caffeine and, compared to regular tea, they taste wonderful. Herbal teas just for drinking require less sugar.

• Herbal teas for therapy can be very effective but they should be used with education, so read books on this brewing topic. Some good teas are ginger tea and taheebo.

• Nuts and seeds contain fats in differing amounts, plus a good quality of protein. The raw fats (from raw, fresh nuts and seeds) are excellent for killing your appetite and for much longer than any sugar can. If you eat them slowly and chew well, you get some real, whole food without a lot of naked calories from sugar.

• You shouldn’t deep-fry because well-cooked fats are generators of free radicals, which are bad for the body. Soaking foods in liquid fat also increases its calorie content.