Good Nutrition

Courtesy of My Generation.

Patrick Holford is deadly serious when he says, “Most of us are digging our own graves with our knives and forks.”

The English nutrition expert believes many debilitating or potentially fatal diseases are the result of what we’re putting in our mouths and we could get rid of them if we ate healthy food.

He’s spent 25 years researching evidence to back that up and has written more than 30 books on the subject.

“The idea of optimum nutrition is not new,” says Patrick, who co-founded the Institute of Optimum Nutrition in Britain with two-time Nobel Prize winner Dr Linus Pauling back in 1984. “In 390BC Hippocrates said ‘Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food’, and in the 21st century we need to remember that more than ever.”

In the western world especially, we’re dying from diseases that are rare in other parts of the globe. For example, rates of breast cancer in Patrick’s native Britain (comparable with New Zealand), are more than 10 times the rates found in China. “What’s the difference? Diet.”

In the case of breast cancer, he believes milk and dairy products play a role. In China the consumption of these products is only a fraction of what we eat and drink every year.

“Our bodies are not designed to cope with cow’s milk. They contain oestrogens, which are linked to hormone-related cancer.”

But if he had the power to ban just one single food, it wouldn’t be milk.

“If I was Prime Minister I would tax sugar and put a warning on it. Sugar is driving the epidemic of obesity and many of the problems we’re seeing as a result. It’s a toxic substance.”

Also on his hit list are saturated and hydrogenated fats, and he says caffeine should be avoided too, because it promotes inflammation in the body.

Over the years the Institute of Optimum Nutrition has been involved in some groundbreaking trials in Britain including a study in the early 1990s that showed antioxidants reduce cancer and slow ageing. Back then, very few people had ever heard of antioxidants.

One of his projects has involved research into Alzheimer’s disease, which Patrick believes can be avoided. “Ninety-nine out of 100 cases are preventable and it is largely to do with diet.”

He says the damage to the brain which results in dementia is caused by inflammation linked to a variety of factors, such as high blood sugar and too many oxidants. The key to reducing the risk is to eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, especially colourful ones like blueberries, carrots and peppers; have lots of oily fish like tuna and salmon; and cut out refined foods, alcohol, sugar and fried foods.

It is not as hard you think to change your diet for the sake of your health and the benefits are well worth the effort. “You can add 10 years to your life span and not suffer a debilitating illness,” reckons Patrick. “Optimum nutrition just makes you feel so much better – most people experience improvements within the first week of making changes to their eating.

”We have the potential to be healthier than humanity has ever been – why wouldn’t we want to achieve that?”

Patrick Holford’s Top Tips For A Healthy Daily Diet

• Eat whole, organic raw food as often as you can

• Eat two servings of beans, lentils, quinoa, tofu or “seed” vegetables like corn or peas

• Eat three pieces of fresh fruit such as apples pears, banana, berries, melon or citrus fruit

• Eat four servings of whole grains such as brown rice, millet, rye, oats, wholewheat, corn, breads and pasta

• Eat five servings of dark green, leafy and root vegetables such as watercress, carrots, kumara, broccoli, spinach, green beans, peas and peppers

• Drink six glasses of water, diluted juices, herb or fruit teas

• Take one heaped tablespoon of ground seeds or one tablespoon of cold-pressed seed oil.

• Supplement your diet with a high-strength multivitamin and mineral preparation and 1000mg of vitamin C a day

• Avoid fried, burnt and browned food, hydrogenated fat and excess animal fat

• Avoid any form of sugar and refined and processed food with chemical additives, and cut your intake of alcohol, coffee or tea (have no more than one unit of alcohol a day).

About Patrick Holford

Patrick was a psychology student when he decided to take up two nutritionists on their challenge to improve his health by changing his diet.

Within two months of starting a wheat-free vegetarian eating plan, he’d lost 6kg, his acne-scarred skin had cleared up, his regular migraines virtually vanished and he was full of energy.

Nutrition became his passion and he says after more than 32 years of following his own guidelines he’s living proof of the benefits of a healthy diet.

“I’ve only gained 1.5kg in that time, I’m as fit as I was when I was a teenager, my cholesterol is very low and I don’t get sick.”

Patrick’s latest book is The Low-GL Diet Bible (Little, Brown, $21.99)