Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991 TAG: 9102060258
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Beth Macy/Staff Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We don't have health insurance; we have sickness insurance," says Mindell, the author of four best-selling nutrition books, including "Unsafe at Any Meal" and "The Vitamin Bible."
On a national publicity tour for the vitamin company Nature's Bounty, Mindell came to Southwest Virginia last week to preach on his favorite subject: preventive medicine.
A Beverly Hills nutritionist and pharmacist, Mindell, 51, believes Americans could cut in half the $600 billion we spend annually on health care simply by changing our eating habits.
Indeed, Earl Mindell is to nutrition what Jane Fonda is to aerobics (and politics) - zealous, loud and full of advice.
Mindell on dieting: Don't. You'll just gain the weight back.
On drinking water: Do. Ten glasses a day.
And on smoking: Don't. Ever. Especially around Mindell, who recently had a man thrown out of a Beverly Hills restaurant for blowing smoke into the no-smoking section.
"No one's dying from old age anymore," he says. "They're dying from heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancers.
"At the turn of this century, when people still did physical work, these things were virtually unheard of."
Nowadays, he says, we spend an average of seven hours and six minutes in front of the television, nearly as much time as we do sleeping. Where does most of our nutritional information come from? The TV.
"TV bases its ad campaigns on junk food. So I tell people, `If you see it in an ad on TV, don't eat it; don't drink it.' It's like, do you ever see `Have a carrot today' commercials? No way."
Though Americans invented the gym solely for the purpose of sweating, Mindell says we are still the most overweight - and yet undernourished - bunch in the world. Last year, he says, Americans consumed 1 billion Twinkies.
"Just look around: You can walk the streets at lunchtime, and see people with their Holy Grail diet soft drinks, and most of them are 20 pounds overweight," he says, adding that diet sodas increase appetites, especially among women.
"I just passed a hot dog place downtown, and I tell you - those people look exactly like what they eat," he continues. "You eat enough of those things, and eventually you turn into a tube steak."
Mindell, who has a Ph.D. in nutrition, offers these tips for healthy eating and weight loss:
Reach for a glass of water instead of a snack. It aids digestion and slows down your appetite.
Daily exercise is a crucial key to both stress- and weight-reduction. Walking 2 miles a day at a brisk pace can remove a half pound per week. If the weather's nasty, go to a mall. Morning exercise is best.
Eat small meals and eat often. Americans consume 75 percent of their daily calories at supper.
Never skip breakfast, the most important meal of the day. If the best you can do is grab a bagel on the run, that's better than nothing. Fifty-five percent of Americans skip breakfast, and - worse yet, says Mindell - 8 million Americans start the day off with a cola drink.
Consider yourself a diabetic - no sugar or alcohol, low-fat foods only, and lots of complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, pasta and whole- or multigrain breads.
Treat vitamin supplements as you would an insurance policy. Mindell recommends multivitamin supplements for everyone, and, for women over 25, additional iron and calcium supplements.
Avoid buying into the 26,000 diets on the market. Changing eating habits is something individuals have to do on their own, he says, not through costly programs.
Mindell is convinced that 75 percent of all disease can be prevented by following those tips. He also says Americans could stand to follow the Chinese, who 5,000 years ago paid their doctors monthly retainers - when they were well, not when they were sick.
"Here, we hear only about problems after they're problems; we hear nothing about prevention," he says. "Our entire medical system is based on diagnosing and treating problems by drugging, cutting and burning."
The fact that most insurance companies don't cover preventive medical visits - such as annual check-ups - simply adds to the rising cost of health care. Mindell says people are frightened to become sick: Hospital stays average $2,000 a day, and it is estimated that by the year 2000 employee health insurance will cost $22,000 per person.
"So I know I'm on the right track with preventive medicine," Mindell adds. "People don't do anything till it hits them in the pocketbook, and it's getting to be that time."
by CNB