Health Alert 13
Today I want you to decide to do one simple thing to improve your health. If you are like most Americans, it may be the most important thing you can do for yourself. That one simple thing has to do with starches.
You may have heard the news of the most recent groundless lawsuit. An obese New York man is suing McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King and KFC. He claims fast food made him fat. And, of course, it’s not his fault. It’s the fault of the restaurants. They sold him the food without telling him it would make him fat.
Why would I spend your time bringing up such nonsense? Because it does raise an important issue. Who or what made Americans so fat? The question has a complex mixture of historical, epidemiological, social, economic and medical aspects. You will get as many answers as the number of “experts” you ask. And now we have the lawyers involved. Good grief!
* Back to That One Simple Thing *
There is one thing I know for sure. You can easily do something about it. It’s not how fast your food was prepared that makes you fat. Some of the healthiest foods don’t require any preparation at all. It’s not fat in the diet that makes you fat. Look at the French. American’s are fat for several reasons but the biggest reason is what American’s do the most of. American’s eat more starches.
Starches make you fat. My grandmother knew this. I’ll bet yours did too.
What are starches? They are complex carbohydrates. Where are you getting them? Simple, grains and potatoes. Avoid things made from grains –pastas, cereals and breads. The very things we are told to eat in the food pyramid. And avoid potatoes. You can do it. Hundreds of my patients have done it. I did it. It requires some effort but it really isn’t that tough.
In a future Health Alert, we will talk about the good and bad dietary fat. But starches are the bigger issue – especially when we are talking about what made us fat.
* Fast Food Facts *
The American fast food concept was born in the late 1940’s. The Post-War economy was booming and the “nations car culture reached its height”. The car oriented restaurant emerged. In the words of Jesse Kirby the founder of one of the earliest drive-in restaurants, “People with cars are so lazy they don’t want to get out of their cars to eat!”
The McDonald’s brothers opened their first drive-in restaurant in Pasadena in 1937. In 1948, they tried something radically different. They eliminated cooks, waitresses, dishwashers, bus boys and carhops. Everyone was replaced with teenage unskilled workers who did the same simple task like putting pickles on a bun repeatedly. Next, they eliminated all menu items that required plates, bowls, knives, spoons or forks. Everything had to be served in paper bags, plates or boxes and eaten by hand. The fast food industry was born.
Today McDonald’s
* has about 30,000 restaurants opening about 2000 new ones per year.
* is the countries largest employer, hiring about one million people per year.
* is the largest owner of retail property in the world.
* operates more playgrounds than any other private entity in the US.
* Ronald McDonald is recognized by more children than any figure except Santa Claus.
Reference: Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation, Harper Collins, 2001
Al Sears, MD