Eat Right: The Foul Four

Brush Your Teeth! and other simple ways to stay young and healthy
Dr. David S. Ostreicher
Eat Right
The greatest problem of the "typical" American diet is one of excess. We consume too many calories, too much fat, too much salt and too much sugar. I call these:
The Foul Four
Too Many Calories

The largest health problem in America today is obesity. We eat too much and we are too fat. Between 20 and 30 percent of Americans are obese. This epidemic of obesity is linked to early deaths from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and infections.

Suggestion: Carefully read Nutrition Facts labels. Watch portion sizes. Reduce your intake of high calorie snacks.
Too Much Sugar

Each American eats, on average, 153 pounds of it per year. It’s hidden in almost everything, from ketchup to canned soups, from luncheon meat to salad dressing. It’s in soft drinks and

mixed drinks, juices and apple sauce. Sugar causes cavities and periodontal disease. It’s also linked to obesity, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease. It’s cheap and tastes good, but it is nothing but empty calories. It contains zero vitamins, minerals, or fiber.

Suggestion: Limit intake of candy and sweet baked goods. Read Nutrition Facts labels. If sugar, or high fructose corn syrup is a leading ingredient, think twice before you eat.
Too Much Salt

Salt is cheap and omnipresent. It’s in almost everything. The average American consumes about 4 grams (4,000 mg) of salt per day. That’s about twice the recommended amount. Salt is known chemically as sodium chloride. Nutritionists use the two terms more or less interchangeably, and on nutrition facts labels, salt is listed as sodium. Generally, the more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure will be—and high blood pressure is not a good thing for your health. When your blood pressure is high, your risk of heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease is high, too. Excess salt is also linked to some forms of cancer.

Too Much Fat

Fats are everywhere, especially in foods that already have a lot of calories: chocolate bars, french fries, processed foods, ice cream, cheese, and of course, nice, juicy steaks.

Fat, ounce for ounce, has more than twice the calories as carbohydrates and protein. Furthermore, some fats make us not only fatter but sicker. Saturated fat and trans fat are the culprits behind diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, and maybe even Alzheimer’s disease.

Overall, limit your total dietary fat intake to between 20 and 35 percent (preferably on the low end) of your total calories.

• Limit saturated fats to no more than 10 percent of your total calories.

• Choose unsaturated fats from fish, vegetable oils, and nuts whenever possible.

• Don’t eat trans fats.

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