Participants: Agatha Thrash (Host), Calvin Thrash, Don Miller, Rhonda Clark
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000233
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00:01 Hello, the more we know about foods and techniques of eating
00:05 the better the health is likely to be. 00:08 We'll be talking about a number of principles that have to do 00:11 with these health giving processes so we hope you 00:15 will join us. 00:36 Welcome to Help Yourself to Health, with Dr. Agatha Thrash 00:39 of Uchee Pines Institute, and now here is your host 00:43 Dr. Thrash. 00:46 There are things about eating, even not eating, that can be 00:52 health giving. 00:53 As those who are in charge of the most marvelous piece 00:59 of equipment on this planet, we need to learn as much 01:03 as we possibly can about these techniques, 01:07 and about these processes. 01:08 Physiologic law is that thing that can guide our health 01:14 so that good health is usually not just an accident, 01:18 we usually are in good health because we plan to be 01:23 in good health. 01:24 So today we would like to talk with you about some of these 01:29 wonderful health principles that if you follow them 01:32 and you plan to have good health you can have the best health 01:36 that you possibly can with this most marvelous 01:39 piece of equipment. 01:40 Now I've asked Cal Thrash to join me, 01:43 welcome I am glad you are with us today because I want you 01:48 to talk about the subject of fasting. 01:50 In our family we have from time to time promoted 01:54 that family members fast for one reason or another, 01:58 would you like to say something about your experience or 02:01 knowledge about fasting and why it is beneficial? 02:04 - Well fasting can strike terror into most people's hearts 02:08 here in the United States. 02:09 Yes! I think about it with a good bit of dread, 02:11 yet when I get into it, it doesn't bother me that much. 02:14 - It shouldn't really, because fasting can actually do some 02:17 pretty good things, it can help us to detoxify, it can also 02:22 clear a good little bit of fluid from our bodies and help us 02:26 to have some much needed rest in our digestive system. 02:30 - It can also make you lose a few pounds too, 02:33 if you tend to be a little bit corpulent. 02:36 - It certainly can help you go that direction. 02:38 Most people won't find any problem with fasting for a few 02:41 days even, if they don't have some serious medical condition 02:45 that they have to worry about, but my own personal experience, 02:49 recently I did a little bit of fasting, and I went into it 02:52 thinking that I was going to be having some real trouble, 02:55 in actual fact, it wasn't to bad, certainly after 02:59 the first day or so I... - How many days did you fast 03:01 altogether? - I fasted four days total, 03:03 which doesn't seem like to much probably but when you consider 03:07 that that was about six meals it was plenty but not to bad 03:13 after the first few hours, the hunger started to go away. 03:16 When I was about your age I had a five day fast, 03:21 and I remember very well that after about the beginning of the 03:26 third day I didn't have any more hunger, 03:29 I could see that food looked nice, but I could look at food 03:35 that I could never resist before and I could resist it 03:39 did you have that experience? 03:40 - It certainly was my experience, now I have to say 03:42 that probably those who are having trouble eating 03:45 a good diet, you won't have to much trouble after you have 03:49 skipped several meals in a row, pretty soon you are ready to eat 03:52 pretty much what is before you 03:54 and if it's healthful food, you can stand to eat that 03:57 even though perhaps you aren't able to before. 04:00 - Now you mentioned that it can be a cleansing thing for us, 04:04 the liver is cleansed, the intestinal tract is cleansed, 04:07 what about other organs of the body, like skin, 04:11 have you ever noticed anybody's skin clearing up 04:14 when they are on a fast? 04:17 - Personal experience has been that many times skin problems 04:21 and even allergy problems will clear up almost miraculously 04:25 with just a little bit of fasting, 04:26 it doesn't even have to be a complete fast. 04:28 Somebody could fast with leaving off a meal or two, 04:32 or perhaps go on a juice fast, just drink tomato juice 04:36 if they are not sensitive to that, or whatever it may be 04:38 they can skip a meal or maybe two and experience some 04:43 wonderful benefits with allergies even clearing up, 04:47 and symptoms. 04:48 - I understand that you have a student or had a student 04:51 recently who was having a big problem with acne, 04:54 and especially acne on her neck and she would wear band aids 04:59 on her neck to cover her pimples and she went on a fast, 05:03 did she get cleared up with that? 05:05 - I believe totally cleared up in fact. 05:07 - That's what I heard, that she was pretty much clear 05:10 when she got through with... and she didn't have a full fast, 05:14 she had a juice fast wasn't it. 05:17 - That's right a juice fast, which was juicing, 05:20 she actually did the juicing herself, 05:22 now I don't believe that you have to 05:23 do that, but certainly it's the nicest thing to have fresh 05:26 juiced vegetable juice or even fruit juice that you put through 05:30 the juicer yourself. 05:31 - What made you think that it was possible to even do that, 05:35 anything scientific or inspired that might make a person think 05:40 that it was alright to fast, just leave off food 05:43 for a few days. 05:44 - Well I've heard several doctors say that it certainly 05:46 wouldn't hurt us to fast for several meals, in fact probably 05:52 it wouldn't hurt most people, most Americans to fast 05:55 for a day, or even two, pretty much every week. 05:58 Now I can hear people out there saying, I don't know if I could 06:01 fast a whole day, every single week. 06:04 If you get into the routine pretty soon your body 06:06 gets to the place were you realized that the fast 06:09 is coming and you prepare for it and actually it's not to bad, 06:12 now I wouldn't climb Mt. Everest on that day, but probably 06:16 it will be something that you will get used to and actually 06:19 began to get to the place to where you enjoy having 06:23 that time off, and certainly can use the extra time 06:26 to other things. 06:27 - Now what adjustment do you think a person ought to make 06:30 in their daily schedule on their fast day, let's say they 06:35 decide to do one or two days of fasting every week, 06:38 what adjustments if any do you say they should make? 06:43 - Probably would be good to schedule any heavy activity 06:48 on some other day, especially toward the end of the day 06:51 you might be running out of steam a little bit 06:53 on the fast day, but it's actually not to bad, 06:56 if you've had pretty good meals up until that time 06:59 you shouldn't have to much trouble. 07:00 - I had a colleague one time who was greatly overweight 07:04 and his doctor told him that if he didn't loose weight 07:08 he was going to have a heart attack and die. 07:10 He was a fellow pathologist and he took that advice seriously, 07:17 and his wife told me that he fasted for 89 days, 07:22 now he took certain minerals and certain vitamins, 07:28 but he didn't eat any food for almost three months, 07:33 and I thought how could a person possibly fast that long. 07:39 So one day when I saw him at a medical meeting, 07:41 I asked him about that, he said yes, I fasted from 07:45 something like September to maybe New Years. 07:50 But the only thing he ate was a tiny bit of stuffed celery 07:59 at some kind of Thanksgiving meal that everybody went to 08:04 that was all that he ate for that long, 08:06 what do you think about such a prolonged fast? 08:09 - Well I don't know, that's the first time I have heard of 08:11 someone fasting quite that long I believe, 08:13 but I think that probably most of us Americans are stuffed 08:18 in various ways that we could probably stand to get rid of... 08:21 You stop and think about when we celebrate anything, 08:24 an anniversary, a birthday, Thanksgiving, 08:27 just about any kind holiday what do we do, 08:30 we go to some place to eat, and usually to eat to much. 08:33 To much food, and to rich of varieties and so forth 08:39 so it certainly wouldn't hurt us to back off on what 08:42 we are eating, even on a daily basis at each meal, each portion 08:46 and you could consider that to be somewhat of a fast by itself, 08:50 just leaving off one meal of the day, if you eat three meals 08:53 a day then go to two, that would be a fast of sorts, 08:56 I don't know about the long extended fasts. 09:00 - To tell you frankly, I don't know either, 09:02 I don't know about those and I think that probably 09:04 it is not the wise thing, short fast say five days, 09:09 I can freely endorse that, for people who do not have 09:13 either diabetes type 1, or gout, either one of those 09:18 types of diseases, these people should not fast, 09:21 because the gout person is likely to spill more uric acid 09:24 in the urine, form some uric acid stones, or get deposits 09:30 in arteries or joints or muscles and that would not be good. 09:34 And for the type 1 diabetic they may become acidotic 09:39 and even land in the hospital with a fast, 09:43 so they should not be fasting. 09:45 - That's good. 09:46 - Well thank you for highlighting this thing of 09:48 fasting and it's an interesting thing that when we talk about 09:54 eating we should also talk about fasting. 09:58 But I have some more things that I would like for you to 10:00 learn about eating and I've asked Rhonda Clark 10:04 if she will join me in presenting some of these things, 10:08 this is Rhonda Clark who is one of my colleagues 10:11 at Uchee Pines and does teaching there, counseling, 10:15 patient counseling, and telephone counseling, 10:18 and you wear a number of hats, we're very appreciative of your 10:24 work there for us. - Thank you! 10:26 And I'd like to know you have a number of props here, 10:28 and I'd like to know what you are planning to tell us 10:32 about today. 10:33 I wanted to talk today a little bit about portion sizes, 10:35 and how to know if the portion sizes that we are eating 10:38 are healthful. 10:39 Even if we are taking a healthy diet if we are overeating 10:42 we can interfere with proper digestion and gain weight, 10:46 even if we are eating the best possible diet. 10:48 So I wanted to let you know a wonderful tool I learned 10:53 from a nutritionist a long time ago is that with this we 10:57 always have our hand, the ability to measure portions 11:02 and gauge whether or not items we are eating fit with the 11:05 portion size we know to be appropriate. 11:07 Your fist, a loosely made fist represents about one cup, 11:12 or would also represent for example about eight ounces 11:16 of the potato or an apple, and I brought... 11:19 - so you mean all of this much of your hand represents about 11:23 one cup, and I brought an example with me of a potato 11:26 that's fairly close is size to my fist, this would represent 11:32 an appropriate serving size, it's a little bit bigger 11:34 but appropriate serving size of a baked potato. 11:37 - So if a person had a smaller hand, they would have a 11:45 little smaller serving size. 11:47 - A child's serving size of course is smaller, 11:49 a large man needing a little bigger size so that's 11:53 a healthful tip, also on our hand the first joint 11:59 our thumb down to tip of our thumb, this represents about 12:03 a tablespoon, or about how much you would want to use 12:06 of salad dressing for example maybe a spread on your bread 12:11 would represent about that much of how large your thumb is. 12:14 - So a person with a big thumb might be able to take in 12:18 and tolerate quite well in the body still about 12:23 that much volume, that's a good little tool. 12:27 - Then on our index finger another first joint to the tip 12:33 the finger, this is a little smaller and in most people 12:36 represents about what a teaspoon would represent. 12:39 So this might again represent if you are using a nut butter 12:42 or more concentrated spread the appropriate portion size to use. 12:46 Now for many vegetables and fruits we're told portion sizes 12:52 by nutritionists, a nutritionist might give you a list 12:55 of appropriate portion sizes and tell you, 12:58 a portion of fruit for example is a medium size piece of fruit 13:01 and then you go to the market and you have this apple 13:06 and this apple, and oh boy which one is a medium size 13:11 piece of fruit, I really like the look of this apple, 13:15 it is fine to take the bigger apple, while this would 13:19 more likely fit in your palm and represent the serving size 13:25 the medium size piece of fruit. 13:27 We are encouraged to increase the number of fruits 13:29 and vegetables in our diet and so this apple while it might 13:33 represent one and a half servings of fruit, 13:36 that's fine if you are taking into account the fact that 13:39 this is a little more than a quote serving size of fruit. 13:44 Now one of my favorite foods especially for breakfast 13:47 is cereal, I love cereal, and I brought with me today 13:51 a cereal bowl, if I were really hungry and it's 13:56 breakfast time, I would probably fill this cereal bowl 14:00 one third to one half of the way full of cereal, most likely 14:05 before I put some soy milk on it to enjoy. 14:07 But we need to be sure we read if we are using 14:12 packaged cereals especially Granola cereal is a little more 14:15 concentrated. 14:16 What the appropriate serving size is for this, 14:18 today I brought with me a generic whole grain cereal 14:25 and as we read the label we see the serving size 14:29 for this cereal is a half cup, well a half a cup is really 14:33 a rather small amount of cereal and when I pour that into my 14:37 cereal bowl, well you might feel a little bit deprived, 14:43 I'm not sure, let's see how this looks, I'm measuring out 14:46 I've got my half a cup of cereal well! 14:52 - That's disappointing! 14:54 - That is very disappointing and this brings out the point 14:57 that our dishware can help us or hurt us, 15:01 when we are learning about appropriate portion sizes. 15:04 Instead of using a large cereal bowl like this, 15:07 you may wish to use your half cup of cereal 15:11 in a cereal bowl more like this. 15:14 - That gives room also for something chopped up in it. 15:19 - Yes! - Like an apple or a banana. 15:21 - Of course, we still have room for the fruit but it doesn't 15:24 look quite so disappointing in a smaller bowl. 15:28 I also brought with me today and example of two 15:31 different serving plates and it's not uncommon 15:37 now days to see serving plates that are quite large 15:42 and when you set your potato on this plate, it looks a little 15:46 pitiful, you feel like you need more things to fill the plate, 15:50 really an appropriate size may be something more like this. 15:55 - Yes this is what we might consider to be 15:59 a breakfast plate. 16:01 - Yes! - But it would really be good 16:02 for a dinner plate as well. - Indeed! 16:04 - That's more like a serving platter for the family. 16:09 - If people are used to eating in restaurants their idea 16:12 of portion sizes will be a little distorted, 16:14 restaurants tend to serve greatly enlarged portion sizes. 16:18 I mentioned labels and I want to call out something 16:24 important this is a little bit different than portion sizes. 16:26 With portion sizes we do have to read labels 16:29 very carefully if we are looking to see the 16:31 nutritional value of foods, this package of pasta 16:35 for example, how many people would you suspect this is 16:39 supposed to feed? 16:41 - Well, let's see, one, two, three, four, maybe five. 16:48 - This is supposed to feed according to it's label 16:51 eight people. - Eight people. 16:53 - This is just a handful of pasta, now I could see where 16:56 this might even feed three people if they are hungry 16:59 and working out doors, and yet if you are looking to see 17:02 how many grams of fat am I getting, how many grams of salt, 17:06 milligrams of salt am I getting, look at the portion size as well 17:11 when you are reading the labels. 17:12 Nutritional labels I will say can be very deceptive 17:20 in this age where foods are marketed to appeal to health 17:24 reasons, like you will see things like no cholesterol, 17:26 no trans fats, it's still very important to read 17:31 the ingredients label. 17:32 Not all foods that are labeled with many lovely 17:36 healthy messages like we found a little snack food here 17:39 no cholesterol, dairy free, no additives, vegan, 17:42 and wheat free, no preservatives, doesn't this 17:45 look wonderful? 17:47 - All natural. - All Natural Cashew Crunch, 17:50 it sounds delicious, actually I think some of us have 17:53 sampled it and it is delicious, but a serving size is seven 17:56 pieces, and let me show you the size of one piece, 17:59 this is one piece, like a little piece of popcorn. 18:05 - One serving is seven pieces. - Seven pieces almost 18:09 200 calories, 12 grams of fat. 18:12 - Let's see seven pieces, let's see how much, one, two, three, 18:17 four, five, six, seven, that's not very much, 18:22 so that's a handful, but I know people, I myself if I 18:27 enjoy a snack this might be the beginning of... 18:30 - One snack with the intention of eating three or four snacks. 18:36 - Some food manufacturers will provide a small 18:41 serving size on the label this then as you read the 18:45 nutritional label, you'll say well this only has 18:47 one gram of fat, or this has very little sodium, 18:50 always look at the serving size, sometimes packaged candy bars 18:55 for example will have nutritional information 18:58 on there, and you will think well that's not so bad. 19:00 But it represents two and a half servings, 19:02 or something very unusual when you know you will eat 19:04 the whole candy bar, this gives food manufacturers 19:08 also the opportunity to put labels like no trans fat. 19:12 If the article of fat is less than one gram of fat per serving 19:20 then they can say it has no trans fats, if you read 19:24 on the label and partially hydrogenated fats are still 19:27 in the ingredients list, you can guarantee that you will 19:30 get trans fats in that product, even if it is labeled 19:33 on the front no trans fats, just some precautions. 19:37 - I have seen some labeled negligible quantities of fats, 19:43 or negligible quantities of trans fats, I assume now with 19:48 with what you have said that this means per serving. 19:52 Negligible amount. - Yes per serving. 19:55 - But a serving is usually not what one would consider to be 19:59 adequate quantity for a meal. 20:02 - Frequently not, so always look at the ingredient list 20:07 carefully, don't choose products that have any 20:10 amount of something harmful, trans fats, 20:12 partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils really should 20:15 completely eliminated from the diet, they are very harmful, 20:18 carcinogenic in fact, and so even if you see no trans fat 20:23 all across the box of crackers if it says 20:27 partially hydrogenated oils and the ingredients list. 20:30 You can know that you are going to be getting some, 20:33 you may not be getting a lot per their size serving 20:37 but if you are going to eat a reasonable quantity 20:40 it's going to be more. - Indeed! 20:42 - Thank you so much, I appreciate the research 20:45 that you've done on this, 20:46 and how you have let us know how much trans fat might 20:52 be in a serving. - Yes! 20:54 - Thank you. - You're welcome! 20:55 - Now we can see that we need to become label readers, 20:59 and we need to be knowledgeable about labeling practices. 21:03 I have asked Dr. Don Miller if he would join me in 21:09 another aspect of talking about this matter of foods, 21:13 and I'm constantly amazed at the lead way that manufacturers 21:22 and people who serve can take with the foods that we eat, 21:27 Dr. Miller welcome to the program. 21:29 - Thank you. 21:30 - Tell me what you are planning for us for today. 21:33 - Well this thing about food portions has always been 21:37 interesting to me, we had a young man come to Uchee Pines 21:40 quite a few years ago and he was stumbling over this 21:44 idea, how much am I supposed to eat, and so he had gone 21:48 to the Bible and see what does the Bible say, 21:51 he found here in Exodus the 16th chapter this thing 21:55 called an Omer. 21:56 So he estimated how much an Omer was 21:58 and how many Omer's each person was supposed to have 22:01 and so he would go out every day from his room 22:05 and bring a little scale, little measuring container 22:09 which contained as much as he was supposed to eat 22:12 for that breakfast, so he would go into the cafeteria 22:15 and let's say this was his Omer and he would fill it up 22:20 with that much food and he would sit down and he would 22:21 eat this amount of food, he would eat his Omer. 22:24 When he got done, he was a big fellow and he thought, 22:28 still a little bit hungry, so he would go back and 22:31 he would borrow some of this Omer food for lunch 22:35 and eat the rest of it for breakfast, then he got there 22:38 at lunch time, well he didn't have quite as much in his 22:41 Omer scale, so he filled it up to that much, 22:44 that he's allowed to have, and he ate that and he is still 22:46 a little bit hungry... - So I know what he did, 22:48 he must have borrowed from tomorrow did he? 22:51 - Tomorrow morining's breakfast, that's right, 22:52 and in a couple of days he had nothing for the next meal, 22:55 and he finally gave up on this. 22:57 So what I've always been told the best amount of food is 23:02 enough food to maintain your weight, 23:04 as long as your weight is right. 23:05 I like another quote, I was over in Europe recently 23:10 and someone asked me a question about why, 23:12 but I like this, I like that, I said well, 23:14 I just want you to read in Proverbs 23:2: 23:24 And put a knife to your throat If you are a man 23:27 given to appetite. 23:28 But it's interesting it follows verse one: 23:31 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently 23:35 what is before you; 23:37 That takes my mind to a man named Thomas Parr, 23:40 have you ever heard of Thomas Parr? 23:41 - Don't think so. 23:42 - Well there was a book written about him called 23:44 The Old Old Very Old Thomas Parr, this man was born in 1483, 23:52 he lived to the reigns of 10 monarchs, kings and queens, 23:57 he lived to be 153 years and 9 months of age. 24:02 He was a farmer, he ate very simple food, 24:05 maybe one of the secrets to his longevity is that he got 24:08 married the first time at the age 80. 24:09 Sorry about that, anyway he went on through his life 24:14 he had married twice, the second time he was married 24:17 in his 120's, he fathered a child at 100, 24:21 he was cooking along really well, I mean the guy 24:24 was doing great. 24:26 - Sounds as if he had a strong constitution, 24:28 he was taking care of it. 24:30 This was his... you know every time someone dies, no I'm sorry, 24:34 every time someone lives to 100. 24:35 They interview them and say sir, what's your secret for 24:39 longevity, and they put the microphone in his mouth 24:42 and he might say this or that, sometimes they will say 24:45 well I only smoked hand rolled cigarettes, 24:46 and people think if I smoked hand rolled cigarettes 24:49 that will be my key. 24:51 Well this was his secret and he really did live a long life 24:55 here it is, keep your head cool by temperance, 24:59 your feet warm by exercise, rise early, go to bed soon, 25:05 and if you want to grow fat or prosperous, 25:08 keep your eyes open, and your mouth shut. 25:10 So anyway, he's living a great life, he's an old man 25:17 but he's not really that old, I mean I've seen his death mask 25:21 the painting and the mask the made of him upon his death 25:25 and he looks like a young compared to our old age now 25:30 he did not have gray hair but the Earl over the estate 25:34 where this old man worked discovered this man, 25:35 work discovered this man and he said ohhh! King Charles 25:39 has to meet him because it was during King Charles reign. 25:41 So he takes him to meet King Charles, can you imagine, 25:46 you've got a man here who is 153 years of age, 25:50 who has lived through 10 Monarchs, 25:52 he's got a good memory, he's very lively, 25:55 he has lots of health, he regaled the entire King's court 26:01 with his stories and his antidotes, and the King says 26:04 come live with me, eat at my table, we really want you here, 26:08 the guy says that sounds like a super idea, he moved in with 26:11 the King, should have read Proverbs 23:1, within two weeks 26:16 he was dead. 26:17 Upon autopsy they found that he had the digestive tract 26:22 of a young man, there's the key, is how well we take care 26:26 of this digestive tract, but that young digestive tract 26:30 was in a severe state of inflammation, the rich foods, 26:34 of the King's table killed him in two weeks, 26:38 what it took brown bread and the simple things he ate, 26:42 potatoes, for 152, 153 years to do, and it couldn't kill him. 26:47 So, it's so important to eat simple foods. 26:50 - Absolutely! 26:51 - Simple foods, that's simplicity is one of the 26:57 great keys of life, thank you so much for this good thought. 27:01 I have a few things that I would like to bring you 27:04 about how to live healthfully, one is about blueberries, 27:09 I have a little blueberry patch myself and I invite my friends 27:14 and neighbors and just people I meet on the street 27:16 to bring a bucket and pick blueberries at blueberry time, 27:20 and I tell them this: that blueberries will be good 27:23 for their eyes, blueberries will help them to live into 27:27 advanced old age, blueberries will help to reduce the 27:31 cholesterol levels, it will keep the bladder healthy, 27:35 because it has a substance in it that prevents germs 27:38 from being able to get their colonization activities into 27:43 high gear, it helps against glaucoma, and against cataracts. 27:48 So with such good recommendations for blueberries 27:53 I can recommend them whole heartedly to you. |
Revised 2014-12-17