OT: Mediterranean diet with junk food

More food for thought:

www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/04/24/junk-food-not-harmful-to-heart-when-eaten-with-mediterranean-die/

Somebody said...
Red meat, snacks or fizzy drinks did not increase the risk of a heart attack or a stroke when eaten alongside a healthy Mediterranean diet Credit: Alamy

Sarah Knapton, Science Editor

25 April 2016 • 12:01am

A ‘Western’ diet of deep fried food, sugary drinks, alcohol and red meat has long been viewed as a recipe for poor health and shortened life-span.

But a new study suggests that, when it comes to keeping the heart ticking over, it may not be so bad after-all.

A study of more than 15,000 people found that while a Mediterranean diet of fresh fish, fruit, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, did lower the risk of a heart attack or stroke, eating a Western diet did not increase the risk.......................
“The main message is that some foods – and particularly fruit and vegetables – seem to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and this benefit is not explained by traditional risk factors such as good and bad cholesterol or blood pressure," said Professor Ralph Stewart, from Auckland City Hospital, University of Auckland, New Zealand, who led the study.

“If you eat more of these foods in preference to others, you may lower your risk. The study found no evidence of harm from modest consumption of foods such as refined carbohydrates, deep fried foods, sugars and deserts.

“The research suggests we should place more emphasis on encouraging people with heart disease to eat more healthy foods, and perhaps focus less on avoiding unhealthy foods.”................The study, which was published in the European Heart Journal, appears to prove that balance is key to keeping healthy, while a bit of ‘what you fancy’ is unlikely to do much harm. To find out the link between diet and health, the researchers asked 15,482 people with stable coronary artery disease to complete a lifestyle questionnaire detailing their intake of meat, fish, dairy foods, whole grains or refined grains, vegetables (excluding potatoes), fruit, desserts, sweets, sugary drinks, deep-fried foods and alcohol.......................
After 3.7 years, there had been 1,588 incidences of heart attack, stroke or death, which accounted for 10.1 per cent of the original group. However only 7.3 per cent of those who scored 15 points or more on the Mediterranean Diet Score had suffered a heart event.

But there was no significant difference in death and heart attack/stroke rate for those who ate a predominately Western diet.

Post Edited (BillyBob@388) : 4/26/2016 7:10:47 AM (GMT-6)

The message I get, and continue to get more and more, the more I read, is that it's amazing how little we know about the best way to eat. With all of our resources, and the most up to date technology, we continue to get one conflicting study after another. It makes me want to just give up trying to eat healthy, and just enjoy all the foods that I miss, a lot .

RCS said...
BB,

I think they concluded that you could eat the non- healthy foods in moderation .... whatever that means.

To me, it means I do not have to sweat the occasional donut or pizza. Since this is pretty much what I've been doing for 20 years (falling off the wagon once a week) I LOVE THE STUDY.

Maybe I'll fall off the wagon twice a week!

RCS, not picking on you, but the old phrase “Everything in moderation” fails because there’s nothing moderate about the Standard American Diet (SAD).

The marketing research group NPD revealed that Americans are following MyPlate guidelines only 2% of the time. That translates to seven days out of the year! That surely is not moderation and I would argue that this is evidence the message of moderation is not working. MyPlate promotes such a simple concept and advises Americans to consume half of their plate from fruits and vegetables. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Moderation is a word that has been used quite often when describing healthy eating and drinking patterns. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines moderation as avoidance of extremes or tending toward average. What does this really mean when we are talking about food? Does it mean one cookie a day or one less cookie than we usually eat? Perhaps it means that we don't eat the whole cookie jar? Does it mean once a day, once a week, once a month or once a year? The problem is that it can mean anything that we want it to mean. This isn't good enough when we are talking about promoting healthy eating behaviors. To say "all things in moderation" to me seems like an excuse to maintain the status quo, which arguably is SAD.

Roberto, I eat more or less as you do. Low carb, HIGH FAT, opposite of Ornish. I will have a very occasional steak, but very occasional. My lipids and other cardiac markers have come down tremendously. I beleive it is due to both diet and Statin (low dose). But I think diet is a really big part of it.
And as you, I have become lighter.
Drs tell me it's ok to cheat once in a while. I do but only very rarely. Maybe I could cheat more. But I'd rather not.