RE: Re: Olive Oil? (Pritikin)

[Guest guest]

>>I'm curious about the Pritikin diet. Do they use oils in their cooking? Is

Pritikin a meatless diet? I guess what I am asking is what constitutes a

" Pritikin diet " ? Thanks.

>>A Pritikin diet contains no high-fat foods. Fat % of total calories should be

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10%.

As the current director of nutrition at the Pritikin Center, I think I may be

able to answer this.

The " thought " that the pritikin diet is 10% fat or less than 10% fat is not

current and very outdated as is the comment that it contains no high fat foods.

While I am not sure what the official " cut off " of low fat vs high fat is, On

the menu today was tahini sauce (70% fat) wild atlantic salmon (45% fat), tofu

(45% fat), Soy Milk (25% fat), Oatmeal (16% fat), Cauliflower (16% fat),

berries (12% fat), Romaine (13% fat) all of which are over the 10% fat mentioned

above.

While pritikin has written some books and in those books are some

recommendations, the problem is that they often get " pigeon-holed " into those

written recommendations, even though their true allegiance, is not to the past,

but to current scientific research.

If you were to see a copy of our current " in house " guidebook, and/or a copy of

the brochure called " the pritikin eating plan " you will not see a % fat

recommended. The reason is, the emphasis on low fat was often, and

unfortunately, more often that not, misrepresented, or misconstrued. Many

people followed what they beleived to be " pritikin " and ate a diet that was low

fat, maybe even 10% or less, but while it was very low fat, it wasnt a healthy

diet.

There have been many diets that have been studies and labeled low fat and shown

to be unhealthy, are diets that while they may be lowfat they can be high in

sugar, refined carbs, low in fiber, and low in nutrients. In fact a very

famous studied once had headlines that said " mediterranean high fat diet is

better than a low fat diet " . Yet, the diet that was the " med diet " had less

fat, less calories, less saturated fat, less cholesterol and more fiber and more

omega 3s. So, the studied didnt prove a med diet was healthier than a low fat

diet, it proved a med diet was healthier than a typical white flour, white

sugar, refined and processed diet. The fall out is that ALL low fat diets get

condemned.

The way to approach a healthy diet is not " through " the door of a " percent fat "

as the entry point as you can often, and unfortunately, more often than not, end

up with a diet that is very unhealthy.

But, if you approach a healthy diet " through " the door of " what are the

healthiest foods overall " based on many issues such as high nutrient density,

low calorie density, high fiber/calorie, you will end up with a very healthy

diet that will be lower in fat than the typical diet most people eat, by

default.

A recent analysis of the weeks menus at the pritikin center showed the fat to

average around 15%, with a high of almost 20 and a low of around 8.

On average, pubished studies on our program ,and others like it (that make these

distinctions) show that most " bad " numbers drop 20-40%.

HDL is a seperate issue, which I Have addressed here and can do so again, but a

high HDL is not always indicative of health, or lowered risk and the converse is

also true.

HOpe that helps

Regards

Jeff