Synthetic Vs. Real

In the Experience Life magazine I leisurely browsed through a discussion on advantages of vegan and paleo diets (Paleo Vs. Vegan). Frankly, both diets seem a bit extreme to me. When you live long enough you eventually see many fads disappoint and their enthusiasts impacted in regretful way. 

However one remark caught my attention. It was by Mark Hyman, MD, a family physician, the author of four New York Times bestsellers, and chairman of the Institute for Functional Medicine,

‘I think the Paleo argument of no grains is interesting and has some merit. If you go with traditional grains, such as buckwheat, quinoa and millet, which have been around for 10,000 years, you’re better off. But gluten-containing refined grains, and modern dwarf wheat full of super-starch and super-gluten, can be problematic.’

Mentioning of dwarf wheat and its properties struck me in correlation with gluten-intolerance epidemic that I hear about all too often lately. My parents (and grandparents) had no such concept. There is another new and mysterious diagnosis out there – the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). This one becomes popular in cases when a digestion problem is not exactly understood.

Though we are fairly informed on the controversy of genetically modified (GM) grain, no one seems connecting the dots:

We are sensitive (allergic, intolerant…) not to wheat per se, but to its genetic mutants that bring havoc into our bodies.

I say ‘we’ because stats indicate 30% of gluten-related diagnoses, and they are on the rise; also because, we still recognize very few effects of GM foods besides the most immediate.

Meanwhile mainstream media is comfortably dwelling on the absence of clear evidence against GM grains – i.e., they are safe.

‘A scientist examines a GM crop’ (this is the original comment from a pro-GM article)

My first afterthought was: well, I try to protect my family by buying mostly organic wheat products. How safe are we?

To assess the level of our vulnerability, I started researching the issue and here are my findings:

First of all the impact of mutated wheat is not limited to compromised digestion. As Dr. Mark Hyman said in ‘Three Hidden Ways Wheat Makes You Fat’:

…The first major difference of this dwarf wheat is that it contains very high levels of a super starch called amylopectin A…

… We know that foods with a high glycemic index make people store belly fat, trigger hidden fires of inflammation in the body, and give you a fatty liver leading the whole cascade of obesity, pre-diabetes and diabetes.

…Not only does this dwarf, FrankenWheat, contain the super starch, but it also contains super gluten which is much more likely to create inflammation in the body…

… wheat products, not just gluten (along with sugar in all its forms) is the major contributor to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression and so many other modern ills.

http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/02/13/three-hidden-ways-wheat-makes-you-fat/

And did you know that GM wheat already ousted the real one IN MOST PARTS OF THE WORLD?

Frankly, I didn’t.

For the vast expansion of GM wheat we have to thank, in particular, Norman Ernest Borlaug, an American agronomist, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate.

Borlaug received his Ph.D. in plant pathology and genetics from the University of Minnesota in 1942. He took up an agricultural research position in Mexico, where he developed semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties. Borlaug led the introduction of these high-yielding varieties combined with modern agricultural production techniques to Mexico, Pakistan, and India.

As a result, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India.  Later in his life, he helped apply these methods of increasing food production to Asia and Africa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug

The scientist had great intentions to feed the starving world. It worked short-term but also contaminated farming lands making them barren; destroyed traditional agricultural communities and made people sick. 

As a result the old-fashioned –i.e. real wheat became an exotic rarity. And therefore today, many nutritionists recommend to exclude gluten-containing products altogether without even explaining to their patients  that the problem is not with the food staple but with its industrial imposter. 

This simplification agrees perfectly with GM seed producers: they are not afraid to lose customers because not too many people are capable of rejecting wheat entirely.

I looked through several discussions on going gluten-free. Among a steam of enthusiastic confessions I noticed quite a few laments on difficulty adjusting to such a diet. The reasons are objective:

The modern dwarf mutant variant of Triticum aestivum (that our USDA urges us to eat more of) contains greater proportions of gluten proteins compared to wheat pre-1970.

Glutens are the source of wheat-derived exorphins. Beyond removing an exceptionally digestible carbohydrate that yields blood sugar rises higher than nearly any other known food (due to the unique amylopectin structure of wheat-derived carbohydrate), wheat withdrawal is a form of opiate withdrawal, somewhat like stopping heroin, Oxycontin, and other opiates. Stop eating whole wheat toast for breakfast, whole grain sandwiches for lunch, or whole grain pasta for dinner, and the flow of exorphins, i.e., exogenous morphine-like compounds, stops. You experience dysphoria (sadness, unhappiness), mental "fog," inability to concentrate, fatigue, and decreased capacity to exercise.

‘Heroin, Oxycontin, and a whole wheat bagel’ By Dr. William Davis:

http://www.medpedia.com/news_analysis/68-The-Heart-Scan-Blog/entries/62642-Heroin-Oxycontin-and-a-whole-wheat-bagel

So, mutant wheat makes us specifically addictive to it, which justifies the title of the above article 100%. 

The information regarding genetic status of organic wheat that is now available on the market is quite confusing as well. Some experts say that often wheat is called organic, but it is the same mutant (because old-fashioned grain is hard to find), just grown without pesticides.

The only reassurance I found on the following site:

http://www.worc.org/userfiles/OrganicWheatProduction8-04.pdf 

They say:

In order to advertise their crops as (USDA) certified organic, farmers must show that their crops are free of chemicals and genetically modified material.

My relief was unfortunately short-lived, because they also say:

Complete segregation of GM crops from conventional and organic crops cannot be guaranteed, so the introduction of a new GM crop could contaminate the organic food supply.

So, here we are:

•     Organic farmers straggle to give us wholesome food
•     Industrial giants make it difficult in ways more than one. Even if you plant organic, your crop can be contaminated by neighboring  ‘conventional’ fields.

The entire situation reminds me of science fiction stories I read in my youth (Ray Bradbury? Isaac Asimov?) : An elite group of world rulers have captured all the real food and keep it away from the rest of the population. These less fortunate are fed artificially created synthetic products. To avoid unrest the rulers convince people that synthetic food was totally superior to the dirty, rotting and stinking natural produce.

By the way, Norman Borlaug’s contribution to the world food supply was called ‘Green Revolution’.

I wish it was fiction.

Gains and Losses

In my mother’s last weeks with cancer my sister and I once met the lady manager of our apartment building. She enquired us about our mom and then said:

‘Your mother is blessed to have both daughters beside her!’

At that moment I was mostly impressed by the American way of finding good sides to any situation (Russian compassion would be typically expressed in graver terms).   

Later, however, the direct meaning of the remark caught my attention: indeed, those of us, who in the end are surrounded by the loving family, are lucky. Even if you have it to the last day, your siblings may be far away and head-over-heels busy.

But there is more to this picture than reassuring smiles and kind words. This is from the book I am currently reading:

 ‘…She took down extra pillow and quilts from the shelves, shoved the bed up to the window, and propped Eva where she could see the doings in the yard. She went back, put one syringe in the water, finished up the pies and put them in the oven, then brought a little tepid water in a cup for Eva to drink. She did drink, which was good, and her color was up. Her eyes brighter.’

‘The Master Butcher Singing Club’, by Luise Erdrich

Eva is a German immigrant, a butcher’s wife in the Prohibition era, who is dying of cancer.  ‘She’ – is her friend and neighbor, a younger woman without a profession, a high school dropout and daughter of a small town drunkard.  The woman earns her living by helping in the butcher shop. She also nurses Eva out of love and respect.

What is important, both these women are, in modern terms, ‘uneducated’. All their skills are limited to meeting household needs and taking care of others.

Frontier woman

The female characters in the book (as well as some women of the older generation, we know) are remarkable experts in what they do, but on the modern social scale their skills are evaluated very humble.  A woman today that stays at home and has no career aspirations is often considered not very bright, or lazy. She is almost expected to explain herself, and I know a few who feel inferior even for a temporary break in corporate career.   

On the other hand, the prestige of many professions, as well as their financial worth, notably devalues just because too many women are now pursuing them. 

Another sad social paradox. 

But there is a third side to the situation that bothers me most: what we have lost by persistently disengaging women with humble family matters.

…Those bright and creative, who a century ago channeled their natural observance and smarts into making life around them comfortable and dignified…

…Those strong and daring, who kept their loved ones safe and, by their own everyday example, taught children to face life challenges and to persevere…

Now, when we need a fraction of their domestic expertise we go to specialists.

Well, to do what an uneducated neighbor in the extract above did for Eva, we would need the services of:

A certified nurse (preferably, 24-7)

A personal chef (specifically instructed to make everything from scratch)

A skillful housekeeper - to maintain things that poor Eva could not do anymore for her family of five

But even if one has money to pay for all the above, a certain ingredient would still be missing – that is, the whole-hearted care.

It just cannot be bought!

This is not so, because there are good and bad nurses, or good and bad housekeepers, but because development of ‘thick skin’ is an unavoidable stage of professional maturity. You either suffer with every client of yours, destroying your mental and physical health, or you figure out the ways of protecting yourself during your job and - of getting over it, as soon as the job is done. 

This genuine care is not even a component, but rather the binding agent that turns detached impersonal services with all their ‘9-to-5’ limitations, lack of ‘current knowledge’  and ‘honest human mistakes’ into the adjusted to a tee, living and breathing supporting system.

It makes mother a better doctor than a member of the medical academy and - a better cook than French chef.       

Quietly women did it for centuries turning wilderness into civilization and chaos – into live. But the appreciation of society was elsewhere, and in search for this appreciation many started seeking more respected roles, leaving traditional occupations behind or delegating them to machines and services.

Now we take a pill for every ailment and battle child obesity.

Besides other, more material reasons, this is also the price we pay for the deeply rooted in modern culture look down on clothes mending, floor scrubbing and lullaby singing. 

It Is Not About Hunger

A good friend of mine who is straggling with her weight told me the following story:

"When I turn on TV during a commercial of, let’s say, blueberry pancakes I immediately want them. It may be straight after dinner, a moment ago I felt totally full, but the picture of golden streaks of honey over warm puffy cakes makes me salivate.

Ten minutes later, in the next commercial I would see a stack of crackers and start wondering if we had anything similar in the pantry. Inspired by these visuals I might crave pizza after candy and then a fried chicken wing. Eventually I would end up opening the fridge and eating something… unplanned."  

Frankly, I do not have a problem with TV commercials, because most of them look very unhealthy to me. But when I do grocery shopping I try every sample in the store. It may be a processed product that I would never buy to eat at home, but a small bite of it, as a harmless little indulgence… why not?  

So, what is it: a bad habit, lack of self-control or poor judgment?

Some people believe that if they limited their food consumption they will be constantly hungry. To avoid it nutritionists suggest having more fiber, or even - to reduce stomach surgically. That will make us satisfied earlier, so we will easily get slim and, consequently, healthy.  

This approach puzzles me a lot, because most of us hardly ever experienced hunger. To be really hungry food must be chronically scarce.

In one documentary made somewhere in Ceylon a famous American traveler was invited to a village feast. A stick-thin old woman in traditional dress offered him something looking like a handful of rice on banana leaf. Taking into consideration the circumstance this was no doubt a generous “guest” portion. 

Around us food is abundant, easily available, in our faces more often than not, and sometimes even free (yes, samples!)

The truth is – we often eat not to satisfy hunger but because the process makes us feel good. While having a morning coffee, dinner, ice cream, or a bucket of popcorn, we experience pleasure and comfort. Worries and anxieties fade or step aside. Studies say that food alleviates depression and (this I checked myself) calms down moderate pain such as head- or toothache.

Naturally, anyone would like to prolong such a feeling and induce it as often as possible.

"Drinking tea", by V. Nesterenko
This is how we like it! And, by the way, every object in this picture is real

Of course, when we were young, we had other sources of joy, much more powerful and noble: the intense array of romantic emotions, the thrill of intellectual or physical achievement. Who cared for food then? I could skip dinner for days, or grab something instead, just to keep myself on the go.

But let’s be honest, after 40 for the most of us these are sweet memories. Gradually and quietly, food becomes our closest buddy, our most reliable (hopefully, not the only one) source of gratification.

Another peculiarity of human digestion is actually formed by evolution: it is the ability to eat as often as you can get it. Predators in their natural habitat eat once in a while after they chased and killed their prey. Then they lay satisfied and rest for days.

Humans, on the other hand, may consume food anytime, just in case there would be no such opportunity later. Therefore, we can be pretty full, and yet a mere sight of food might trigger cravings again. This human weakness is very well known to producers of billboards and TV commercials. 

So to get control over food we must first admit that by the laws of nature we are not supposed to be in control here.

It has nothing to do with certain individuals having more willpower than others.  Some overweight people hesitate starting healthy diet because they believe themselves morally weaker than their slim friends.

No, we are all in this together.

Therefore, we need all help we can get to fight unreasonable food cravings. This is important not just to control portions but in making healthier choices.

Over the years I have collected an arsenal of little arrangements to help myself on a bad day. Some of them I figured out on my own, and others - found in related publications. Not all the recommendations out there worked for me. But those that do may be as well useful for somebody else.

Next time I will share them in this blog.