Pasta Is Not Health Food

The standard American diet is centered around animal foods and processed
wheat products, neither of which are ideal foods. Even worse, the typical
modern eater consumes a tremendous amount of extracted vegetable oil. Many
Americans add high-fat dressings or sauces to almost everything they consume
that is not a high-fat food to start with. Yet those familiar with the scientific
research on fats, including extracted plant fats such as olive oil and soy oil,
know that fats increase our risk of cancer.
10 Vegetable fats are processed foods
that interfere with the normal function of our immune system11,12 and that
contribute to obesity and chronic disease.

When individuals change from an animal-food-based diet to a vegetarian diet,
but then eat mostly processed foods such as low-fat pizza, tofu dogs and other
health food store concoctions, refined cereals and grains, pasta, and bread as
the primary source of their calories, the diet is still inadequate.

Grains, when consumed in their refined state, are comparatively poor sources
of vitamins, especially antioxidants. They are also nearly devoid of essential
fatty acids. The opposite can be said of green vegetables. Green vegetables and
especially the leafy greens are rich in vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty
acids, as well as thousands of other important nutrients that research scientists
are beginning to identify as being essential for optimal health. These plantbased
substances, called phytochemicals, support our immune system and
protect us from cancer.

Just a few years ago, scientists didn't know phytochemicals existed. Today
they represent the new frontier in cancer-prevention research. The reality is
that there exist thousands of compounds that will never see the inside of a
vitamin bottle. Until recently nobody even knew they existed, and more are
being discovered each year. Every slice of an orange, every bit of broccoli,
every forkful of romaine lettuce, contains thousands of these essential nutrients
produced when sunlight hits plants. Only through eating large amounts of many
different natural, unprocessed fruits and vegetables will we obtain these
necessary elements for optimal health.

The normal functioning of the intestinal tract depends on the presence of
adequate fiber. The typical diet is unhealthfully deficient in fiber. So another
benefit of a diet high in natural plant food and complex carbohydrate is that it's
invariably accompanied by more fiber. A diet high in fiber holds fluid within the
digestive tract and moves feces through the system at a faster speed. This is
important to protect against colon cancer, diverticulosis, appendicitis, and
hemorrhoids, as well as constipation and intestinal spasm.

The contemporary diet that most Americans view as ―healthy‖ is a far cry
from that. Those believing they are on a ―low-fat‖ diet are usually consuming
between 30 and 40 percent of calories from fat, roughly three times as much fat
as we should be eating. When the fiber and antioxidant nutrients consumed by
most people are totaled, the result is frightfully low.

In a nationwide survey, only 9 percent of those polled had eaten three or
more servings of vegetables and two or more servings of fruit on the previous
day. People are not following the recommendations by the government to
consume more fruits and vegetables. More important, even if they followed the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's recommendations to the letter, their diet
would still be inadequate. Though an improvement over the past, the
recommendations of the new Food Guide Pyramid still do not sufficiently
emphasize fresh fruits and raw and cooked vegetables.

The suggested guidelines still encourage a diet too high in fat and protein,
and too low in plant-borne nutrients and fiber for optimal health. Only a plantcentered
diet can provide optimal amounts of vitamins, minerals, and fiber
while keeping fat intake under 20 percent of calories. For example, the diet I
recommend supplies about 1,500 mg of vitamin C daily from food. With the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and the adequate amount of foodborne
vitamin C come the other bioflavonoids and important unidentified
compounds that are present only in whole plant food.

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C is 60 mg a day.
This is a ridiculously low and arbitrary number, as are the RDA's of many other
plant-derived nutrients. These inadequate recommendations are healthy only
for the industrial food giants, so their products don't look as deficient as they
are. Contrary to popular belief, we can get very large quantities of nutrients
such as vitamin C, beta carotene, and vitamin E in our diets without the use of
pills simply by eating a natural, plant-based diet.