WEB POSTED 06-25-2002

Let us eat to live, not live to eat

Those familiar with my writing know that periodically I normally find it necessary to devote this column to our culinary and dietary habits. This is one of those culinary discourses.

The May 7th issue of THE NEW YORK TIMES carried an article which included a section entitled, "A New Reason to Eat Your Beans." The article dealt with a new study which indicated that beans and grain products can lower the risk of stroke. It quoted studies which showed that this simple food was instrumental in lowering the risks of strokes and cardiovascular disease, and reported that "Higher amounts are suggested for pregnant women." The findings were based, said the article, upon "a study of 9,764 Americans ages 25 to 74 over 20 years." We will discuss the value of a few other foods, but I was particularly attracted to this particular item because of my recent and present physical condition.

This is my first full week of not being bedridden, after four full months spent in bed at the instructions of a group of hospital physicians. At the beginning of my affliction, my Leader and Teacher, The Honorable Louis Farrakhan, sent me a huge sack of small navy beans. Neither directions nor explanations accompanied them, and frankly, none were necessary. The only days on which I did not eat some of those beans were two or three days on which I did not eat at all, and most days, that was all I ate, except for a toasted whole wheat bagel.

The physical progress which I am making caught the doctors somewhat by surprise, but their only reaction was�keep on doing what you�re doing!

Another valuable dietary article appeared in the May 14th edition of THE NEW YORK TIMES, entitled "The Color of Nutrition: Fruits and Vegetables." The author of this article recommends two recently published books�"What Color Is Your Diet" by Dr. David Heber and Susan Bowerman, and "The Color Code" by Dr. James A. Joseph, Dr. Daniel A. Nadeau and Anne Underwood. One early observation is that "Nearly all fruits and vegetables are naturally very low in fat, replete with filling fiber and loaded with natural chemicals that can help protect against heart disease, cancer and age�related cognitive decline, cataracts and macular degeneration."

Even the "paler members of this community� garlic, onions, leeks, cabbage, celery and the like�have notable health-promoting virtues," claim the authors.

"Fruits and vegetables," they note, "come closer than any other category of food to behaving like a fountain of youth. Each one is power-packed with plant-based chemicals, or phytonutrients, that can help to prevent or even reverse one or more chronic, debilitating and often deadly diseases."

"The trick, these experts say, is to include as many plant-based colors in your daily diet as possible. In many cases, that means eating the colorful skins, the richest sources of protective phytonutrients, along with the paler flesh. So try to avoid peeling foods like apples, peaches and eggplant lest you lose their most concentrated source of beneficial chemicals."

Sounds pretty simple�and it is�but only if you do it!