This article originally appeared on
AlterNet.
In
the future, when we’re zipping around the biosphere on our jetpacks and
eating our nutritionally complete food pellets, we won’t have to worry
about what foods will kill us or which will make us live forever.
Until
then, we’re left to figure out which of the food headlines we should
take to heart, and which should be taken with a grain of unrefined,
mineral-rich sea salt. Low-fat or high-fat? High-protein or vegan? If
you don’t trust what your body tells you, remember that food science is
ever evolving. Case in point: The seven foods below are ancient. But
they’ve gone from being considered healthy (long ago) to unhealthy
(within the last generation or two) to healthy again, even essential.
1) Coconut Oil
Old wisdom: Coconut oil is a saturated-fat body bomb that should be avoided.
New wisdom: Coconut oil can cure what ails you.
Talk
about an about-face. Anyone who grew up eating such nutritious fare as
SpaghettiOs, Nestle Quik and Bisquick—actually, anyone old enough to
vote in the United States—probably doesn’t remember a jar of coconut oil
in the cupboard, or anywhere in the family diet.
Why? Coconut oil
was stigmatized after flawed studies decades ago tested partially
hydrogenated coconut oil for its ill effects. Now, of course, we know
that the chemical process of hydrogenation is what does a body ill.
That’s true whether the oil consumed is coconut, corn, canola, soy or
any other.
It turns out that unrefined coconut oil offers terrific
health benefits. Yes, it is a saturated fat. But the scientific
consensus on whether saturated fats are bad for us is changing. Now
researchers are stressing that saturated fats like coconut oil actually
lower bad cholesterol in our bodies. Studies of people in countries that
consume high amounts of coconut oil have found fewer instances of heart
disease than in nations, such as the United States, where coconut oil
has not been a staple. Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which is
known for its antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory,
anti-microbial properties. Coconut oil, the new wisdom says, is good for
our bodies inside and out. Studies and anecdotal evidence across the
blogosphere tout coconut oil as a wondrous beauty aid, which can and
should be used as a moisturizer to reduce lines and wrinkles, a
moisturizer for dry hair, a soap and mouthwash.
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2) Coffee
Old Wisdom: Coffee equals caffeine equals bad for you.
New
Wisdom: Coffee is loaded with antioxidants and other nutrients that
improve your health. Plus, a little caffeine makes the world go round.
Why?
Actually, most of the world never bought into the whole caffeine/coffee
scare that made so many Americans start to swear off coffee, or heaven
help us, switch to decaf. But these days, the U.S., chock full of
Starbucks, has come around. Several prominent studies conducted over the
last few years unearthed a bounty of benefits in the average cup of
joe. As everyone knows, caffeine boosts energy. Based on controlled
human trials, it has also been proven to fire up the neurons and make
you sharper, with improved memory, reaction time, mood, vigilance and
general cognitive function. It can also boost your metabolism, lower
your risk of Type II diabetes, protect you from Alzheimer’s disease and
dementia, and lower the risk of Parkinson’s. Whew.
3) Whole Milk
Old
wisdom: High-fat milk lead to obesity. Exposing children to lower-fat
options keeps them leaner and healthier and instills the low-fat habit.
New Wisdom: Ha!
A
study at Harvard University found that despite recommendations from the
American Academy of Pediatrics that children drink skim or low-fat milk
after age two, doing so did not make for leaner or healthier children.
In fact, the study found the opposite. Kids who consumed skim milk were
likely to be fatter than those who drank it whole. Turns out that skim
drinkers were more likely to indulge in junk food, which spiked their
blood sugar levels, leading to more cravings for junk. And so on and so
on.
4) Salt
Old Wisdom: Salt kills. It raises blood pressures, causes hypertension and increases the risk of premature death.
New Wisdom: Salt is essential to health. Too little salt can actually lead to premature death.
The
new wisdom is actually older than the old wisdom. Long before it became
the number-one evildoer in the Department of Agriculture’s hit list,
worse than fats, sugar and booze, salt was considered so valuable to
body and soul that it was literally used as currency. Homer called it a
“divine substance.” Plato described is as dear to the Gods. The Romans
considered it the spice of life; a man in love was salax—in a salted state. Only fairly recently, in that oh-so-wise 20th century, did salt become the bad guy at the dinner table.
It
turns out that high-sodium processed “food” is the real villain in our
diets. Unrefined salt, such as Himalayan salt or raw sea salts, contain
60 or more valuable trace minerals. It supports thyroid function and a
faster metabolism and speeds the elimination of cortisol, the stress
hormone that causes weight gain. Did you know salt is also a natural
antihistamine (a pinch on the tongue may stem an allergic reaction).
Finally, unrefined salt is needed for good digestion.
5) Chocolate
Old Wisdom: Chocolate gives you pimples, makes you fat and creates heartburn.
New Wisdom: Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants.
Chocoholics
of the world rejoiced when the food scientists started doing an
about-face on chocolate. After a few decades on the vilified list, in
2001, scientists began doing a double take, with the New York Times
reporting that the science on chocolate was up in the air. Ten years
later, chocolate had moved squarely into the good-for-you column. A 2011
Cambridge University study concluded that chocolate “probably” lowers
stroke rates, coronary heart disease and high blood pressure. A more
recent study has found that regular chocolate consumers are often
thinner than non-chocolate eaters.
No one is advising you to grab a
Snickers bar for lunch, though. Eating chemically laden, sugar-bombed
milk chocolate is still a no-no…for now, anyway.
6) Popcorn
Old Wisdom: Popcorn is junk food.
New Wisdom: Popcorn is a whole grain, loaded with nutrients.
Like
most of the foods on this list, this one has caveats. If you consider
popcorn something to douse with “butter-flavored topping” and shovel in
your mouth at the multiplex, then keep it on the “bad” list. A study by
the Center for Science in the Public Interest has concluded that movie
theater popcorn—a medium tub, mind you—has 1,200 calories and 60 grams
of the worst kind of saturated fat. And that’s before you add whatever
it is that is supposed to taste like butter. That calorie count is the
equivalent of three McDonald’s Quarter Pounders.
Microwave
popcorn, laden with chemicals, is also bad. But homemade, air-popped
(let’s add organic, for good measure) or made with good oil popcorn,
well, that’s a snack of a different color. Last year, researchers at the
University of Scranton revealed that homemade popcorn has more
antioxidants—known as polyphenols—than fruits and vegetables.
Polyphenols have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and
cancers.
If that isn’t enough to make popcorn addicts rejoice,
popcorn is a great source of fiber (it’s a whole grain) and is low in
calories. Air-popped popcorn is the healthiest of all, with only 30
calories per cup.
7) Eggs
Old Wisdom: Eggs clog your arteries and increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes and early death.
New Wisdom: Nonsense! Eggs are very nearly the perfect food.
How
did this one happen? A century ago, when our grandparents gathered
their eggs from the backyard hens, there was no controversy. Then
cholesterol became the big bugaboo, and all of a sudden, we were being
lectured to limit our consumption of eggs to four a week, if any.
Last
year, scientists decided to settle the matter once and for all. A
meta-analysis of 17 studies on egg consumption and health discovered
that eggs did not contribute—at all—to heart disease or stroke in
healthy individuals. On the contrary, eggs raise our good (HDL)
cholesterol numbers and change the bad (LDL) cholesterol from small and
dense to large and benign. Eggs are also high in iron and protein and
two antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthine, which protect against
age-related eye disorders like macular degeneration and cataracts.
The
key is to eat eggs from free-range, happy and healthy chickens, just
like in the old days, and avoid eggs that come from sickly,
antibiotic-soaked, factory farm hens.
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