Ah, food! One of life’s pleasures, and sometimes one of its perplexities. It’s been a happy surprise for me to realize that the way of eating that naturally flows from simple food is not only a very economical way to eat, but is also very health-promoting.

Eating a diet of grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables, with occasional (if any) meat or fish, and relatively little added fats, sugars, preservatives, etc., is how many people eat today in other parts of the world. And they often have much lower levels of heart disease,cancer, osteoporosis, and other ailments, than Americans and Europeans do. There are many studies examining the health of people who come to North America from other countries – Japan especially – and  typically, as people start eating in a more American style, with more meat and other fats, their disease rates go up.

Doctor and researcher Dean Ornish is one of the best-known voices advocating eating in a low-fat, vegetarian manner, both for general health and for weight control. Here is his latest book at Amazon, just out:  The Spectrum: A Scientifically Proven Program to Feel Better, Live Longer, Lose Weight, and Gain Health.

I have approximated his guidelines at many times in my life, though where he is a total vegetarian, I eat moderate amounts of chicken, fish, and red meat. This seems to work best for me; I would feel sorry for myself if I gave them up completely, and so I ultimately wouldn’t stick to this way of eating.

Just recently I discovered from a fascinating book called The Metabolic Typing Diet: Customize Your Diet to Your Own Unique Body Chemistry that evidently some of us are carbohydrate types and others are protein types. Some are mixes. I’m a protein type, married to a carb type. We often have meals where Kelly is having toast or tortillas that I’m skipping and I’m having more animal protein.