Four Foul Foods To Avoid During the Holidays

Dec. 2, 2008
Time off from work, out of your daily routine, coupled with an endless buffet of holiday feasts and treats can leave people starting the new year unhealthy and unfit. But, it doesn’t have to be that way, says Dr. David Ostreicher.

Ostreicher, author of Brush Your Teeth and Other Simple Ways to Stay Young and Healthy (http://www.brushyourteethbook.com), has a list of ways to keep people from looking like Santa after the holidays.

His message is simple: Air and water are polluted. Diet is loaded with artificial ingredients and hormones. Americans are fat and do not exercise. Yet we are living longer than our grandparents did. He calls it the “American paradox.”

The answer, says Ostreicher, is simple: Hygiene, from improved sewerage to personal hygiene. He also suggests avoiding the “foul four” foods that hijack health.

“The American diet is one of excesses,” Ostreicher says. “We eat too much – too many calories, too much fat, too much salt and too much sugar. And those elements make up the ‘foul four’ dietary villains.”

Salt – “Salt raises your blood pressure and can lead to heart attacks and strokes,” says Ostreicher. “It has also been linked to cancers of the stomach and esophagus. Throw out your salt shaker. You don’t need to add any salt to your food. Salt is not the only spice. We should all make much better use of pepper or other spices. When cooking, leave out the salt, or cut the amount in half. After a period of time, your sensitivity to salt will change.Your taste buds will accommodate to the normal salt diet, and soon you will find you don’t need it anymore.”

Sugar – Sugar is Ostreicher’s next target. He believes we eat way too much of it, and the wrong kinds of it. “Whether it’s in the form of table sugar (from sugar cane or sugar beets), or high fructose corn syrup, the average American eats about 3 pounds of sugar a week,” Ostreicher says.

Calories – Those 3 pounds of sugar is equal to 3,312 empty calories per week. “No vitamins, minerals, fiber – just 3,212 calories,” he says. “That will convert to 4 pounds of fat per month. No wonder obesity in America is epidemic.”

Fat – The last of the foul four on Ostreicher’s hit list is fat. “Fat is another endless supply of calories,” he said. “The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans says we should limit total fat to 20 percent to 35 prcent of our RDA for calories. Most Americans get more than that. Fat, especially the ‘bad’ fats (saturated and trans) are linked to obesity, heart attacks and cancer.”

One major fallacy to avoid this holiday season is the idea that any member of the foul four somehow is made healthy because it’s organic. “It seems intuitive that ‘organic’ is healthier,” Ostreicher said. “Given the choice, I would rather eat an organically grown tomato than one grown in a field with pesticides and artificial fertilizers. However, there is very little true scientific evidence to show that eating ‘non-organic’ foods cause serious illness. There is a ton of evidence that shows that eating sugar, salt and high fat/high calorie diets cause all kinds of health problems and increase risk for disease.

“At the end of the day, with all the choices we have with our diets today, clearly we can all agree that avoiding these foul four foods is a good start,” says Ostreicher.

About the Author

Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith is the former content director of EHS Today, and is currently the EHSQ content & community lead at Intelex Technologies Inc. She has written about occupational safety and health and environmental issues since 1990.

Sponsored Recommendations

Unleashing the Power of Stories: Level-up Safety Culture with Three Easy Storytelling Tools

Jan. 3, 2025
Effective storytelling can shape a workplace culture and improve safety, especially in times of change when risk soars, hazards multiply and human factors threaten to derail progress...

4 Resources to Get Better Safety Performances From Supervisors

Jan. 3, 2025
Here is an overview of four of the best safety resources that safety folks can use as they consider how to get better safety performances from supervisors and workplace leaders...

4 Often Overlooked Types of New Workers—and the Different Dangers They Face

Jan. 3, 2025
This blog post is an adapted excerpt from the safety guide Fitting in Fast: Making a Safe Workplace for New Hires, which examines data and best practices regarding the protection...

4 Ways Frontline Supervisors Influence Workplace Safety

Jan. 3, 2025
These four areas determine whether frontline supervisors are having a positive or negative effect on workplace safety.

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of EHS Today, create an account today!