A Proper Diet for Living in the Water

For today’s Monday I thought I’d share the advice of the Linus Pauling Institute. The Pauling Institute is located at Oregon State University and serves as a working memorial to Linus Pauling. Pauling is the only recipient of two unshared Nobel Prizes. The Linus Pauling Institute researches the effects of vitamins and nutrition on health and disease. If you have an interest in nutrition and learning what you can do to improve over all health and quality of life I highly recommend the book How To Live Longer And Feel Better by Linus Pauling Ph.D. 

Combine the information in the Pauling book and the Sears books and I think you will be doing everything you can to improve the quality of your life and reach and maintain optimal health.

Following is the Pauling Institutes “TOP TEN LIST” to help maintain health and increase longevity.

The words in bold italics are my comments and should not be attributed to the Linus Pauling Institute.

1. Don’t smoke; exercise regularly. (Put out the camels for good, and keep swimming!)
2. Eat at least five servings of vegetables everyday. (More than five servings would even be better.)
3. Reduce the intake of sugar and hydrogenated and saturated fat. (Remember 8 ounces of uncooked pasta has 1 cup of white sugar in it. Go easy on the pasta, bagels, chips and breads. Sounds like The Zone.)
4. Eat unrefined foods high in fiber.
5. Use monounsaturated oils for cooking and salad dressings. (Olive, canola, nut oils.) (The best monounsaturated oil is olive oil.)
6. Eat fish high in omega-3 fatty acids at least once a week. (Don’t forget most fish today is farm raised and has little if any omega-3 fat. It’s a good idea to supplement your diet with this essential fatty acid see DAM Monday January 24, 2000)
7. Limit the intake of overcooked or charred meat and eat meat or fish with ample portions of vegetables. (Sounds a lot like the words of Dr. Berry Sears surprise!)
8. Drink plenty of healthy fluids. (Water, fruit juices, tea.) (This is the only one of the top Ten List I have a problem with. Fruit juice is just sugar water. Most fruit juices have as much refined sugar per serving as soft drinks! As for tea choose green tea or an herbal tea. The best choice for fluids is still water)
9. Consume moderate amounts of alcohol (not more than one drink a day for women and two for men) to reduce the risk of heart disease; however avoid alcohol if you have a family history of breast or colon cancer or alcohol addiction. (Ok, I know this one is the hardest for masters swimmers to handle, but if you have a history of breast cancer, recent research supports giving up drinking all together! Interestingly the French define moderation a bit differently than Americans, a very good reason to travel.)
10. Take a daily multivitamin/mineral with 100% of the daily values, and extra supplements of folic acid (400mcg), vitamin E (200 mg natural source) and selenium (100 mcg); take as much vitamin C as you like. (I think adding 500-800 IU’s of Vitamin E from a natural source is a good idea Pauling recommended 800 IU’s a day. Make sure your total vitamin E intake is not over 1000 IU’s per day. There is some question about multiple vitamin and mineral supplements that contain iron. The thought is iron will interfere with other vitamins and minerals. I personally don’t take supplements with Iron. Unless you have been tested and prescribed Iron by a physician I would avoid supplements with Iron. Even in those cases requiring supplementation, iron should be taken separate from the other vitamins and minerals.)

There you have it  - the recommendations from one of the leading research Institutes on nutritional supplementation. A few simple adjustments in your daily routine and you can rest assured that you are doing all you can to improve the quality of life for yourself and those you love.  See you at the pool. 
Bobby