Lean and Lovin' it: Don Mauer reflects on two decades of advice, looks forward to healthier recipes
My first column appeared right here 22 years ago and the inaugural photo showed me wearing a bow tie. I quickly ditched the bow tie, but that's not the only thing that changed over the last 22 years.
When Lean and Lovin' It began, I got excited about low-fat hot dogs, fat-free frozen yogurt, reduced-fat and fat-free cheeses and fat-free cookies. Back then, when it came to fats, I believed we had almost all the heart-healthy answers. Clearly, animal fats were not healthy. And, fat, all fats, made us fat. Right? Saturated fats were particularly villainous for their link to heart disease.
And cholesterol? Oh my. Dietary cholesterol was treacherous, too. No more egg yolks, cheese or butter. Trans fats? They seemed like a healthy, no-cholesterol alternative at the time. Fat-free goodies (despite their high sugar) seemed just fine.
Were we wrong? Were we ever!
This year, Time magazine's April butter-curl cover proclaimed: "Eat Butter: Scientists labeled fat the enemy. Why they were wrong." Strong words.
Even though it's always best not to rush to judgment, I've made numerous changes in my food plan in recent months. Here's what you'll see reflected in future columns.
First, trans fats should never have been part of the American diet and ridding our food plans and processed foods of them (depending on what replaces them) will save lives. From here on out I'll be striving for 0 trans fats in my diet and my recipes. Even though I'll still list cholesterol in the nutrition analysis with all my recipes, it's been determined that dietary cholesterol is virtually a nonissue. Eating fat doesn't make us fat. Really, as long as fat is consumed in reasonable quantities.
I'll be less focused on keeping fat at less than 30 percent of calories per serving and more focused on using fats that are considered healthy.
What makes us fat, as Gary Taubes made clear in his book "Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It," are sugars, refined carbohydrates and insulin. Future lean recipes will be lighter on sugars and refined carbs and heavier on fresh vegetables, fruits with some whole grains, high in natural fiber.
My modern food plan is long on proteins and when it comes to animal proteins, animals that have spent any time in concentrated area feed operations do not land on my dinner table. Same goes for pork that has been treated with anything, especially ractopamine, the drug that's banned in 160 countries yet is still used in U.S. pork production, but doesn't have to be listed on the label.
When I lost more than 150 pounds between 2005 and 2007, I made desserts that fit into my weight-loss program with artificial sweetener; first NutraSweet and then Splenda. What I've learned over the years about those artificial sweeteners concerns me and I no longer use or consume either.
If I want to sweeten something, I use organic stevia (I started with Wholesome Sweeteners brand; for cost, I shifted to Kroger's Simple Truth brand and, when I can find it, Aldi's Simply Nature brand).
Because sugar plays a very important chemical role in baked goods, I've never satisfactorily produced a baked desert with any sugar substitute, including stevia.
A few months ago I wrote that I'd shifted my food plan around to reducing carbs and increasing protein and healthy fats and I'd let you know after a complete physical what happened. After stepping on my doctor's office scale, I found I'd lost 13 pounds and a bunch of tests revealed that I could not be much healthier.
That makes this my happiest column anniversary ever. Thanks for checking me out every other week. I couldn't have done it without you.
• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write him at don@theleanwizard.com.