To Enjoy Food Less, Learn More About It

By CHARLES M. GUTHRIE
Of the editorial page staff
Published by the StarTribune
April 13, 1969


   THE MAN in the street only knows the essentials about food and is willing to let it go at that. He eats when he's hungry and prefers to eat what he enjoys most.
   It's probably just as well. To study the subject is to court confusion. My wife says I'd live a lot longer if I lost 10 or 15 pounds but she's never convinced me that I could do this without starving, and I'd rather live to be 70 on a full stomach than 80 on an empty one.

   SHE NEARLY won me over the other day, though. She sprung a carbohydrate chart on me. She'd been talking for weeks about getting thin the carbohydrate way. She pretends to be talking to herself but I'm not deceived. The message is for me. She doesn't need to lose weight.
   "Look at this,"she said. "Here's the way to get thin and not feel hungry. If you limit your intake to 50 grams a day you get as lean as a greyhound."
   I took a quick look and shook my head. "Nothing doing. Breakfast alone would put me over the top.  A glass of orange juice, an egg, two slices of toast and a bowl of cereal come to 60 grams, 10 more than allowed. Then what do I do, skip lunch and dinner?"
   "It would be quite a change," my wife admitted, "but you'd be all right if you cut out the breakfast toast. For lunch and dinner you could eat beef, pork, lamb, Swiss cheese, lettuce and dressing."

   THERE COULD be worse fates. I took a less hostile look at the list and was comforted by the knowledge that I could gorge on celery, olives and bouillon.
   The more I read, in fact, the better I liked what I saw. If you stuck pretty much to high protein fare you could keep within 15 to 20 grams of the 50 gram limit and eat like the rich people. Meat, fish and eggs are low in carbohydrates and so is butter, mayonnaise, cream, asparagus, sauerkraut, crackers and peanut butter.
   I'd have to give up pie at noon, though. "A four inch wedge of apple comes to 53 grams," I was warned, "pumpkin is a shade less--and mince is loaded."
   Still the diet didn't seem bad. Life never would be completely gray as long as I had an egg for breakfast and peanut butter and crackers at bedtime.

   THEN HOPE was shattered. My dreams of losing weight while eating well were blasted by a friend who is an authority on nutrition. I was telling him about the diet I was about to adopt. "It has calorie counting beat to death and my only regret is that I didn't learn about it sooner. Now I'll have bacon and eggs for breakfast and pour cream on my cereal instead of that carbohydrate-loaded skim milk. I'll eat the way I want to, except to go light on bread, pastries, fruit and juices. Bananas, grapes and apples are out but I can live without them."

   MY FRIEND shook his head. "It isn't that easy, man. Load up on stuff like bacon and eggs and cream and your veins clog up. Haven't you ever heard of cholesterol?"
   "But people are different," I objected. "Some have a big cholesterol buildup and some don't. There's a difference in body function."
   "Your assumptions are incorrect," said my friend. He mentioned a magazine article based on a heart study. "The piece leaves no doubt that cholesterol is the culprit. Eat as you say you're going to eat and you'll not only get fat as a hog but have an early ride in a hearse."
   So now I've decided to forget about dieting and go back to my carefree ways. It seems the more you know about food the less you enjoy eating.

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