There’s more expert consensus than you’d think when it comes to nutrition. If you’re confused by seemingly contradictory advice, Christopher Gardner suggests:
1. Try asking the questions “With what?” and “Instead of what?”
2. Take inspiration from established cuisines
Garnder is the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor of Medicine and director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center.
– Hi, Christopher Gardner, professor of medicine and nutrition scientist at Stanford. So in my world of nutrition, there’s really less controversy and more consensus than you might think, and let me give you a couple tips to help you with that. And two of them are with what and instead of what.
All right, let’s start with with what, and let’s pick eggs, for example. All right, so eggs with what? Lots of people eat eggs. Some people avoid them, but eggs by themselves, scramble. That’s pretty simple. How about cheesy eggs? Oh, they got saturated fat on there and, ah, does that sound a little better?
How about eggs with bacon and sausage? Your cardiologist probably isn’t gonna want you to choose that, but how about a veggie omelet? Veggies on the inside, salsa on the top, a side of fruit. Doesn’t that with what make a difference for those eggs? Okay, now let’s try and instead of what.
How about those eggs, any one of those versions versus steel cut oats? Wouldn’t your health professionals say, “Yeah, have some steel cut oats with nuts and berries on them.” I can’t imagine a health professional saying anything about that. How about eggs versus Pop-Tarts? Can you think of anything worse than Pop-Tarts?
They’re certainly gonna pick eggs over the Pop-Tarts, right? All right, so this is the with what instead of what combination, right? So let’s think of all those different kinds of eggs, even the bacon and sausage. Are they all better than Pop-Tarts? Probably.
I think I’d actually pick any of those three kinds of eggs over the Pop-Tarts. The chefs that I work with have been working on this concept called the protein flip for a long time. So the typical American plate has a big slab of meat in the middle.
It’s a chicken breast or roast beef or a steak, and it’s a big hunk in serving. And then some things on the side, right? So chefs, these culinary wizards are looking for more than that. They’ve been putting heirloom grains and legumes, oh, so many kinds of beans, pulses, chickpeas, lentils,
Some grilled veggies on top. And in that kind of meal, then you get meat as a condiment or as a side dish, or maybe just a small portion. I can tell you there are lots of delicious, unapologetically delicious, options for this in Mediterranean cuisine, African, Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern.
So really not trying to get you to give up on taste at all here, but this protein flip ends up being more in favor of environmental sustainability and better for animal rights and welfare. And if you’re eating this plant-based diet, it tends to be bulkier, high fiber, low-saturated fat,
Good for cardiometabolic health, and it’s filling. It’ll probably help you cut back on some calories, help you maybe with some weight maintenance, maybe some weight loss. Those are my tips for you for the coming new year.