A good variety of plain, unrefined plant food for Americans

A good variety of plain, unrefined plant food is more nutritionally balanced than the animal products and manmade processed foods. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds contain high-quality protein, a better fatty-acid profile (thus decreasing the risk of heart disease and cancer), no cholesterol, plenty of complex carbohydrates and fiber, and are rich in vitamins and minerals and water.

Animal products and man-made foods are often high in fat, cholesterol, sugar, salt, and harmful additives, and are lacking in fiber. Sometimes we cannot obtain an ideal diet. People shouldn't be made to feel guilty about what they eat if they are doing the best that they can with what knowledge and resources they have. Certainly it is not unhealthful to use some refined products like white flour, sugar, or oil in small amounts to prepare healthful and tasty dishes. A moderate amount of salt can be used by most people. The problem is that the average American taste bud has been conditioned through overuse to expect and demand far too much of these things. It would be well to gradually re-educate people to require much less.

The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs in 1977 issued these recommendations to all Americans: Reduce salt intake by about 50-85 percent, cut fat consumption by at least 10 percent, slash sugar ingestion by 40 percent, and limit cholesterol to 300 mg. daily (equivalent to one egg).

These guidelines suggest that major changes are in order for the average American diet. The benefits of making such significant changes in the types of food in the diet are amazing. The Adventist Health study has shown that pure vegetarians (no animal products) have only one-third as many deaths from cancer and one-fourth as many deaths from coronary heart disease as non-vegetarians. In these studies other variables such as tobacco and alcohol were accounted for, so that we know that the tremendous health advantage of the pure vegetarian group is due to the fact that they are not using animal products in their diet. These same studies have shown that the vegetarians who do not smoke or drink have only 14 percent as many heart-attack deaths and 9 percent as many cancer deaths and live an average of l2 years longer than the general population.

Traditionally, most people measure the nutritional status of their diet by the Four Food Group Plan. The four food groups are: Milk and milk products, meat or protein, fruits and vegetables, and bread and cereals. The idea is to eat a certain number of servings from each group every day to ensure balanced nutrition. This plan does ensure that we will meet the daily requirements for all nutrients. Its chief drawback is that it does not guard very well against overnutrition, which is the greatest nutritional problem in the U.S. today. We can easily consume too much protein, fat, cholesterol, and salt on this plan.

Do we really need four food groups when we can obtain all our nutrients from just two groups-the fruit and vegetable and bread and cereal group—just as the vegetarians do who are so much healthier than the nonvegetarians? It is an elemental fact of nutrition science that there is no such thing as an essential food. There are only essential nutrients. We can get them all from two groups or four.