Important fact about polar bear liver

Mis­in­formed folks are jump­ing on the band­wagon of the “Noth­ing White Diet.” I cringe every time I hear these words. I’m here to defend the colorless.

A Har­vard study blamed white pota­toes for weight gain in the United States. French fries are the most pop­u­lar form of veg­eta­bles eaten. Avoid­ing all pota­toes because of a study that zeros in on a man­ner of cook­ing is like throw­ing the baby out with the bath water.

Sure, white pota­toes, white rice, white flour and white pasta are high in calo­ries when smoth­ered in gravy or sauce or grease. A plate­ful of pasta def­i­nitely will add extra weight as com­pared to a smaller one cup portion.

The brown and whole grain vari­eties of these foods add more fiber and antiox­i­dants. The 2010 Dietary Guide­lines for Amer­i­cans encour­age “mak­ing half your grains whole grains.” Meal plan­ning should not totally avoid white foods.

Bananas, cau­li­flower, gar­lic, gin­ger, mush­rooms, onions, pota­toes, turnips, white corn, white nec­tarines and white peaches are a few of the white foods that peo­ple avoid because of the fear of gain­ing weight. White fruits and veg­eta­bles con­tain nutri­ents that pro­vide pow­er­ful immune boost­ing activ­ity. They also can reduce the risk of colon, breast and prostate can­cers. They have been iden­ti­fied as able to bal­ance hor­mone lev­els, reduc­ing the risk of hormone-related cancers.

Yet peo­ple still ride the tide of the “Noth­ing White Diet.” Hear­ing that some­one is fol­low­ing this regime makes my blood boil. There are no good foods or bad foods.

Wait, I will eat my words. There is one bad food that no one should ever eat. If you ever are stranded on an arc­tic ice­berg and hap­pen to shoot a polar bear, I have one cau­tion. Bear meat is high in pro­tein and will sus­tain life until res­cue occurs. Do not, and I repeat, do not eat the polar bear’s liver. It is so incred­i­bly high in Vit­a­min A that it will be toxic. When the heli­copter does arrive to trans­port you to safety, you will be dead. As far as I am aware, there is one bad food, polar bear liver.

As far as eat­ing white food, have at it! Por­tion size is the key to weight con­trol, not the color of the food.

A con­cern with the white pota­toes, flour, rice and pasta is the poten­tial impact on blood sugar lev­els. These types of white foods have very lit­tle fiber and they break down into sug­ars more quickly caus­ing a blood sugar rise more than high fiber foods. This action could cause some peo­ple to be hun­grier sooner. When peo­ple are hun­grier sooner, they eat more result­ing in weight gain.

Instead of fol­low­ing a “Noth­ing White Diet” con­sider a high fiber diet with at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day. Call it the “Noth­ing but Fiber Diet” and enjoy lower blood sug­ars and blood pres­sure. Be care­ful with the polar bear liver, though, you just never know.

Bob­bie Ran­dall is a cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor, reg­is­tered, licensed dietit­ian. She super­vises a dia­betes self-management train­ing pro­gram at Aultman-Orrville Hos­pi­tal, Orrville. Con­tact her at bobbie.randall@aultmanorrville.org or 330–684-4776.

Posted by Bobbie Randall on Jun 6 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.