FOOD: Is the fresh stuff really better for us?

An informative look at recent Holistic Fitness News

DR KAPLAN'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Return to the Fitness training News and Holistic Health Archive

You are what you eat. Or are you?
Food was back in the media this week. Not that it's ever out of the news, but this week was different. Scientists are questioning how much better fresh food is for us than canned or frozen food!

To can or not to can?
Fresh food is reflexly considered superior to canned food but can this commonly held belief be proved scientifically? "Not easily" seems to be the surprising answer. Some studies showed that canned tomatoes have more nutrients than the fresh variety. Tomatoes are a source of lycopene, the plant ingredient that makes them red.

Anti-oxidants comprise a group of nutrients that bind to unhealthy free radicals in the body and eliminate them. Lycopene has useful anti-oxidant functions in the body and the men in white coats are saying that cooking tomatoes enhances their anti-oxidant powers, making them healthier for us than fresh tomatoes. Researchers at Cornell University in the USA also found that it reduces their Vit C content, but you can always get your Vit C supply elsewhere! So it's good news for those of us who make their own tomato-based pasta source. (Tip: use Italian canned tomatoes, good quality olive oil and fresh basil)

To freeze or not to freeze?
Concentrated frozen orange juice - a phrase nobody who has seen the movie Trading Places can ever forget, is big business. Of course, you can pay more and get the apparently superior freshly squeezed variety, but is it healthier for you? Not according to researchers in Madrid who found that fresh juices do not contain more anti-oxidants or other nutrients than frozen juices. So the Spanish scientists concluded that all juices are equally healthy.

It all depends
Okay, some clarification is required. It all depends on how you look at the issue. This rather ridiculous debate of fresh vs. preserved food comically shows how everything depends on who is looking and how they are assessing. A matter of philosophy, but let's keep it simple. It's a matter of mechanism versus holism.

Mechanistic point of view:
We will break down the food (tomatoes and orange juice for example), analyse its constituent components and compare fresh to frozen or canned versions.

Holistic point of view:
A tomato or an apple is more than the sum of its parts. As we bite into an apple it changes. The complete apple is perfectly balanced by nature and contains many fresh, live plant enzymes that are not measured by the scientists. The fact that fresh food tastes better than canned food should also tell something about what our body instinctively prefers.

(For a full discussion on Mechanism and Holism have a look at this website: www.wholepersonmedicine.co.uk )

My personal preference (unsurprisingly) is for the holistic way of looking at things. The poet, Wordsworth puts it well when he shows that as we break something in order to analyse it, we are making a mistake.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:-- We murder to dissect.

Or as I'm in a poetic mood how about this poem by Louis Macneice?

Having bitten on life like a sharp apple Or, playing it like a fish, been happy,

Having felt with fingers that the sky is blue, What have we after that to look forward to?

Not the twilight of the gods but a precise dawn Of sallow and grey bricks, and newsboys crying war.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. But when it doubt, why not give nature the benefit of the doubt?

Homeopathic Tip of the Week

Recently I've been asked a lot about homeopathic vaccinations. Let me be absolutely clear about this. There is no such thing as a homeopathic vaccination. Although homeopathic remedies have been made from orthodox vaccinations, they are neither vaccinations nor substitutes for vaccination. Vaccination/immunization is a topical subject and personal choice is important. By all means choose the best for your child, but 'homeopathic vaccination' is simply not a valid alternative.

Dr Kaplan's personal website is: www.drkaplan.co.uk and his practice website is www.140harleystreet.co.uk and he can be contacted on (020) 7487 3416