TV Program

Current Episode

Fighting Disease With Your Fork

SERIES: Health Series #4 of 6

2008-01-06

PRODUCTION #: 1084

SPEAKERS: Shawn Boonstra, Fred Hardinge,

We have all heard it before. You are what you eat. And today many people are talking about the difference your diet makes when it comes to optimizing your health and getting the most out of your time on this planet.

Today, on It Is Written, we are going to open the word of God and see what it says about the things you feed the human machine. And we're going to ask a special guest some questions that I think you will want to hear.

The list of diseases that people live with today is different than it was 100 years ago. Today's biggest and scariest killers are things like cancer and heart disease; things that the experts are telling us might be directly related to the foods we put into our bodies.

So now, TV is full of miracle solutions. If you follow this diet or use that nutritional supplement, you will shed all those unwanted pounds and live forever.

The only problem is there is so much conflicting information that it's pretty hard to figure out what is right. One person says cut out the fat; another person says cut out the carbs; one person says eat more vegetables; another person says be careful which vegetables you eat.

So, what in the world are you supposed to believe? To help us wade through the facts and figures today is Dr. Fred Hardinge, a specialist in the field of health and nutrition.

INTERVIEW

SHAWN: Dr. Hardinge, great, once again, to have you on It Is Written.

FRED: I'm happy to be here.

SHAWN: Over the past few decades we have all become painfully aware, as people have been telling us over and over again, that what we put into our bodies does make a difference. We're going to talk about that a little bit today. And you are the perfect person to speak to this because not only are you a nutritionist and a specialist in public health, but you're also a minister and a Christian. So let's explore one thing before we even get into diet or the things we put into our body. Why should we care? What does it matter if we're healthy or not?

FRED: Well, for me as a Christian, the most important reason for being healthy is that I want a healthy mind because God speaks to me through my mind. And I communicate with Him through my mind. It's the only way I have of doing that. And so I recognize that I need a healthy body in order to have a healthy mind, the mind is a part of the body. And the right choices of eating, the right choices of living, the right choice of exercise, all contribute to strengthening me so that my mind can function at its optimum. And my communication with God, my understanding of His word, can be the clearest.

SHAWN: It has occurred to me, and I'm not a doctor by any stretch of the imagination or a health specialist, but I've thought about this often. If you can clog the arteries that are connected to your heart, why can't you clog the arteries that are connected to your brain and starve it of some of the things that it needs?

FRED: Well, I think you can, and there are certain kinds of strokes that are caused by plugged arteries in portions of the brain. We often think of a stroke as being a bleed, but there are also strokes that are caused by plugged arteries, so you're absolutely right.

SHAWN: You know it has also occurred to me that God loves us. He paid a huge price to save us, and He is interested in not just in our spiritual well being, but also our physical well being. And, as you have described, there's a link, and both of those things become very important. Our physical health actually leads to better spiritual health. I think of passages such as one of John's letters by Revelation, where he actually writes, "I wish that you would prosper and be in good health."

This is obviously something God cares about.

FRED: Even as your soul prospers.

SHAWN: Even as your soul prospers, God cares about the whole package. He has a holistic approach to how we're doing. So the question I have is this. I'm going down the supermarket aisle and I want to know what to put into my body. Does God leave me fishing around in the dark or are there guidelines in the Bible as to what I should be eating?

FRED: Well, there are guidelines in the Bible that help point us in the right direction in terms of what we eat.

SHAWN: Well, share something with me, and show me.

FRED: The first one that I know of in the scripture is found in the first chapter of Genesis.

SHAWN: So right here in the beginning.

FRED: Verse 29. And God said, "Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat."

And in the old King James language, meat meant food.

SHAWN: Okay. So here is the original menu. God creates man and gives him a menu. Unpack it a little bit for me. What's the menu?

FRED: And this was the menu given in the Garden of Eden, where man was first created and brought into existence.

SHAWN: So it's here, the herb bearing seed and the fruit of the tree. We're talking about fruits and vegetables?

FRED: I believe we are also talking about grains as well, and probably nuts, which is really the fruit of a tree.

SHAWN: Absolutely.

FRED: And so we have fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts. Later, after the Flood, as recorded in scripture, we see that things that are grown in the ground like legumes were also added to the diet.

SHAWN: That sounds an awful lot like the nutritional recommendations coming out of government agencies today.

FRED: Well, it's amazing, but that is absolutely true. It's particularly amazing to me having been involved in nutrition for almost 30 years. When I think back on my training in the early years, there was not the emphasis that there is today on eating those foods, particularly the recognition of how important they are in preventing many of the chronic diseases that are afflicting man today.

SHAWN: Now I can't help but notice as I'm looking at this list, there are some foods that, frankly aren't there, that are missing from the list. We have fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts and so on. What's missing from that list?

FRED: Well, I think we'd have to say that the animal products are missing from that list.

SHAWN: Yeah. It's very hard for me to imagine, of course, in the very beginning in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chasing a cow with a knife through the Garden. So obviously it was a plant-based diet.

FRED: I'm sure it was.

SHAWN: Now, I've heard some people say that God insists everybody must be vegetarian. We know that isn't true. Jesus ate the Passover lamb and fish and so on. But the general recommendation seems to be we ought to go plant-based. It seems to be the best fuel for us.

FRED: I think that's the way the world of science is moving; that our diet should be primarily plant-based.

SHAWN: Let's go just a little bit deeper, though, because we, the human race, have actually begun to study why those things are good for you. And I have heard a lot of buzz words in the news every time there is a new health report and so on. I hear about things like phytochemicals, and I haven't got a clue what a phytochemical is. What is a phytochemical?

FRED: Well, phyto comes from the Latin word, plant.

SHAWN: Okay, so here we are back again in Genesis.

FRED: It is simply chemicals that are produced in the plant, and these are a special class of compounds. We now know of over 5,000 phytochemicals that are found in plants, plant foods, actually, and they're only found in plants. Things like whole grain, fruit, vegetables and nuts. And these things are being recognized more and more as an important part of preventing chronic disease. And to be a little bit more specific, there are the carotenoids, and there are the polyphenols, and there are the phytosterols, but we won't get into all of those.

SHAWN: But you know that's going right over my head, and I know there may be some out there who do understand all those terms. What I need help with is, where do I find the good stuff?

FRED: Well, it's really not that difficult. Today the current recommendations are that we should be eating at least six to eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day. And probably around six or more servings of whole grains.

SHAWN: What does that mean? I mean, potatoes are vegetables, is a serving of French fries a serving of vegetables? You know I know the answer to that but we need to ask it.

FRED: French fries are an abuse of potatoes. Potatoes are a good food, actually, but we need more than potatoes. Now, I know there are a lot of men that think that potatoes and French fries are the only form of vegetable to eat, but the reality is that there is an abundance available. You only have to go down the produce aisle of your grocery store to see that we are especially blessed in this country with the choices that are available to us in these foods.

SHAWN: So I want phytochemicals, I want carotenoids or whatever the word was. Walk me down the produce aisle, what should I do to make sure that I'm getting the things that I need?

FRED: It's probably more important, Shawn, to make sure that we eat what we purchase in the produce section of the grocery store. We can walk down the aisle and enjoy the wonderful colors, and in fact, there is a whole dietary plan that is based on a recommendation to eat more colors.

SHAWN: Really?

FRED: Yes.

SHAWN: Explain that a little bit to me.

FRED: Well, we know that some foods are more colorful than others. And those colors vary among the different foods, so there are the deep purples, there are the dark reds, there is the iceberg lettuce, which is, you know, a light green and then there are the darker leafy vegetables, like kale.

SHAWN: Now you're talking my language.

FRED: And there are the brown breads or the whole grains. And we know that each of these categories, even by color, has certain protective phytochemicals in them. And they are richer, the dark grape compared with the light grape has more polyphenols. The darker the fruit, the more carotenoids. The darker the vegetable, the more important phytochemicals it has.

SHAWN: I don't have a degree in nutrition and I don't have the time to become educated as a nutritionist would, but would it be fair to say that as I choose the fruits and vegetables I'm going to eat, I should just get a variety of color and mix it up a little bit? Would that be a good rule?

FRED: That's a very good rule of thumb.

SHAWN: Okay. Now listen, you have also mentioned, in addition to the vegetables and the fruits, whole grain. As a kid, I wanted white bread, give me Wonder Bread with peanut butter on it. Boy was that good. But my tastes have shifted. I don't like white bread anymore. I've been eating more whole grains. And I have also been hearing that's actually better for me. Is that true, and why is it?

FRED: The whole grains have more vitamins and minerals, but the refining process removes a large portion of the vitamins and minerals. It also probably removes a number of the phytochemicals that are beneficial to our health that are found in the whole grains. And it also removes the fiber, and dietary fiber is very important for our health. It's helpful in bowel health, it's helpful in heart health and probably helps to prevent stroke as well.

SHAWN: So whole grains for fiber.

FRED: Actually for fiber, Shawn, fruits and vegetables are also a rich source.

SHAWN: Now we have described some ideal diets. We're spending a lot of our time in the produce section of the grocery store. We have been "flirting" with all the wonderful fruits and vegetables; how does that compare to the average North American diet today?

FRED: As I said, the recommendation is for somewhere between six and eight servings of fruits and vegetables per day. At the current time the average American is consuming less than three servings.

SHAWN: So what are we eating?

FRED: Well, Americans are eating a lot of meat, a lot of dairy products and eggs, and a lot of refined grains, like the white bread you mentioned. We're just not eating much in the way of fruits and vegetables.

SHAWN: How are we paying for that?

FRED: We're paying for it with the increased risk of a number of the chronic diseases, including cancer, hypertension, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, etc.

SHAWN: You mentioned cancer. Let's talk about the big "C" for just a minute. In my family there have been a lot of people who have died of cancer. It seems to run in my family; it's only a matter of time, I guess, until I am at risk for it. It seems to be in the family and I think that's true for many people watching today. What do I do to better my odds at the dinner table? Is there something I can do? I mean, nobody is going to live forever. In this sinful world we are always going to die of something and I may get cancer anyway, but how do I improve my odds?

FRED: Doing the things we have been talking about. But I think you bring up an important point, and that is that we may choose the very best diet and eat it for a fairly significant period of time, if not all of our lives. Diet is not the only reason that people get cancer.

SHAWN: Of course.

FRED: There are other reasons, and sometimes I meet people who think that they have failed themselves, failed their families because they have eaten this or eaten that, maybe only a few times, and they feel guilty for it. And then they get a diagnosis of cancer. It's more complicated than that. And food is not a magic bullet; it's just a very important one, including an adequate amount of fruits and vegetables and whole grains and some legumes. Legumes or beans have been shown to be potentially very protective in terms of lowering cancer risk as well as heart disease and so forth. These things all form a wholesome diet, as well as some nuts.

SHAWN: Now you're talking my language. I love nuts.

FRED: What's your favorite nut?

SHAWN: Cashews. I guess it's not actually a nut, is it? We treat it like one.

FRED: Cashews,we do treat it like one, but it's one that's fairly high in fat.

SHAWN: I was afraid of that.

FRED: You are allowed one ounce of nuts a day. That's the recommendation.

SHAWN: What's one ounce?

FRED: One ounce would be 18 medium size cashews.

SHAWN: Oh, that's not bad at all.

FRED: It's what you could fit in the palm of your hand.

SHAWN: Now actually, I prefer them raw. Is there an advantage to that, over salted and roasted?

FRED: You're probably better off to have the raw ones. You can toast them if you want to in the oven and they become a little nuttier, and you don't have to have the oil and the salt on them.

SHAWN: That's what I'm trying to avoid. Nuts, a little bit of that added to our diet has proven to be good for our heart. Is that true?

FRED: They're very good in helping to reduce the risk of heart disease, reduce the risk of stroke and maybe even some cancers.

SHAWN: Well, listen, most people don't eat a lot of cashews. I think the number one nut would be peanuts. How many peanuts should I eat?

FRED: Well, that's one that is very interesting, because it is a legume, not a nut.

SHAWN: Ah.

FRED: But we classify it as a nut.

SHAWN: Okay.

FRED: And there is about 33 peanuts in one ounce.

SHAWN: That's pretty good.

FRED: And that's enough to make about two tablespoons of peanut butter, not heaped up. You have to remember that we talk in terms of servings, dieticians use some very technical language. Most people think that a huge scoop of peanut butter is one serving. That may be their common serving, but it may constitute three servings from a dietician?s point of view.

SHAWN: I always find it interesting when I read the nutritional information on a bag of nuts and you get excited, and eat the whole bag. And then you discover there are 22 servings in there.

FRED: Yeah, exactly. Walnuts are about fourteen halves, walnuts, almonds, a few more. Somewhere around 22 almonds constitutes a serving.

SHAWN: Okay.

FRED: We recommend about a one-ounce serving of nuts per day.

SHAWN: Tell me about soy. I read about it everywhere. It's on TV, everybody's talking about the benefits of soy and everybody is putting it in their products. Tell me about it.

FRED: Well, soy is a legume, and it has gained a great deal of attention in recent years. It started with a recognition that people in Asia, particularly women, had less breast cancer. Also, men had less prostate cancer, because they consumed more soy than Americans did. And a lot of research has been done and is going on in the area of soy nutrition, and that's why we hear so much about it. And of course, we have an organization that likes to promote the sale of soybeans. Soybeans are a wholesome food, but I wouldn't consider it to be a magic food. Tofu has become very popular in this country.

SHAWN: Right.

FRED: Tofu is an excellent source of soy. It has some of the phytochemicals that are protective and it's an excellent way of eating soybeans. But it isn't, again, a magic bullet. Soy milk has become very popular and I use soy milk at home. I like it. I think it's probably a better choice than dairy milk.

SHAWN: And, of course, soy milk might be free of some of the things that we inject cows with. Is there anything to that?

FRED: It's a more wholesome alternative, and I would agree with that.

SHAWN: Okay. Well, my kids love soy milk. I never liked milk and so I don't like soy milk, either. But tofu is great and it's good for you.

FRED: But we think that appropriate amounts of soy in different forms reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, of perhaps osteoporosis, and certain cancers. Such as maybe breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men, which are the most common forms of cancer in men and women.

SHAWN: Let me ask you a question because I'm a busy guy, my family is busy. And like many other families reading this right now, it's a rush to get the kids out the door in the morning, it's a rush to get ourselves to work, it's a rush at night, and eating right seems to take so much time. So why can't I just go out and get some of these wonder supplements that I see everywhere, one pill for fruits, one pill for vegetables, and just supplement my way to good health?

FRED: And as you know, there are a lot of manufacturers out there producing those products to try to help people, but the ones they help probably the most are their own pocketbooks. Now that may sound a little bit cynical, but we really have no evidence that supplements are as effective as the real foods.

SHAWN: Okay.

FRED: In fact, we have evidence that suggests that eating the real foods is the best way of getting those nutrients and phytochemicals and things that are important in terms of preventing disease.

SHAWN: Not only that. You shared something interesting with me. Not only is it worth it to take the time to prepare good foods, there is another benefit, isn't there, when we take time with meals, particularly in this busy world?

FRED: There really is. In the family setting, there is the relaxation, the social time, the bonding that occurs around the table. And when we eat fast food prepared in the typical ways, we often just gulp it down, and we don't spend the time that we should in the social benefits. But we also don't get the nutrition from wholesome food, when we gulp or wolf it down. And when we do we don't chew our food adequately, we don't really prepare it for the digestive process as well as we should and we don't get the nutrition from it that I believe the Lord has designed. We need to take some time for eating, and we will be much better off for it. And the other thing is that when we wolf food down, we tend to eat more than when we take our time to chew our food.

SHAWN: Why is that?

FRED: Well, it's probably because of the fact that the feeling of fullness is quite complex. It is partly biochemically controlled; it's partly by the stretching of the stomach, and it is a perception that occurs in the mind. It takes a little time spent in eating before those triggers take place or get pulled, so to speak, and we feel the feeling of fullness.

SHAWN: You know I find it very interesting. Food is a big subject in the Bible, and you've just talked about families taking time together. Jesus spent a lot of time eating with people, in fellowship.

FRED: Fellowship.

SHAWN: It's an important subject. And this is far too big of a subject for a half hour TV show; I wish we had more time. But you have given us a great running start on this subject, helping us prevent disease by using a fork. Thank you so much for joining us today.

I find it amazing how much detail God gives to our health and well being in the pages of the Bible. It shows me that He cares about everything. He cares about you as a spiritual person, as an emotional person, and as a physical person.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. Here is a verse we have looked at already. It is found in the opening words of one of John?s letters near the end of the Bible, where he writes, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers."

That is amazing, because we usually think of the apostles taking care of people's spiritual needs, but they cared about physical needs, too. And that's because they knew Jesus, and Jesus spent as much time healing people as He did preaching to them. The fact is that God cares about you as a whole. And that's why from the very beginning, He laid out the ideal diet, the foods that give us the very best odds.

Now, I need to be clear that sin eventually is going to take its toll on us and no one is going to live forever until Jesus comes, but there is still something you can do to maximize your odds.

Wouldn't you like to know more about a God who loves you that much? Wouldn't you like to spend more time in a book that talks so much about His care for you?

Today, I can't think of a single good reason not to trust God with every area of your life, can you?

Why don't you join Dr. Hardinge and myself, right now, as we pray to recommit ourselves and find a more abundant life in Him. Let's bow our heads.

PRAYER:
Our gracious Father in Heaven, we are overwhelmed by how much You love us. We see that, right from the very beginning, You had our best interests in mind. You even laid out a diet for us that would be best, and today we're discovering through science that You have been right all along. Lord, keep our attention on You. Teach us to grasp Your hand and walk with You so that we can enjoy that more abundant life that You promise. For we ask it today in Jesus' name, Amen.

FRED: Amen

Scriptures Used in “Fighting Disease With Your Fork”

"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."
—3 John 1:2 (NKJV)