Eating Frisian

Now that my workout schedule is curtailed, I have had extra time to delve into some cooking, European football, rowing, and socializing.

This life is kind of nice, actually; I don't feel like an extremist anymore. I am able to walk pretty well now, swim and bike for up to 60-90 minutes without too much pain, so I can keep some level of fitness. I haven't gained any weight (in fact, those 10 pounds are staying off... just wait'lll you see my 6-pack!), I've met some great people, and I've learned quite a lot about nutrition.

For the last few weeks, I've been eating a mainly Paleo diet (meat, vegetables and fruit, plus some seeds, nuts & natural fats). While it's tasty and keeps the weight off, it's darn expensive, time-consuming, and leaves me low on energy sometimes. I'm quite a firm believer in the "Whatever works for YOU" theory of nutrition, because once you cut out the obvious stuff (junk food, processed food, refined flour and sugar, excessive alcohol, etc) I believe there are many variants of a successful "diet". People can be healthiest and happiest eating vegetarian or omnivore; low-fat or high-fat; high-carb or low-carb depending on their bodies and genetics. Brendan Brazier does well on his mostly raw vegan Thrive diet, for example, while others subscribe to Paleo or Atkins ideology. Michael Pollan seems to advocate a more environmentally-conscious plan for eating (based on plants and whole grains) which is equally laudable.

To each his own.

With my middling success on Paleo, I've decided to take it as a base and modify my diet to focus more on what my ancestors ate... not in prehistoric, ancient or even medieval times, but rather from about the 15th or 16th century AD.

Why? Well, I am in a somewhat strange position here in North America, in that I am born of two Frisians, whose parents were Frisians, and whose parents, in turn, were Frisian and Dutch. I am able to trace my ancestry back in the Netherlands for many generations. Oh, very probably there is some cross-mixing somewhere, as my name has been traced to South Africa and inevitably, the Frisian communities in Germany, as well as the Polish, co-mingled to some extent. But what I am saying is that, for the most part, my particular set of genes may have developed to thrive on food common to that region of the world.

Thus, I am really very curious to see how well I do on a traditional Frisian/ Dutch/ West German diet. Or maybe I really do have too much time on my hands!

So what are these traditional foods? Well I did some research, and I found a good starting point at www.medievalcooking.com; there is a document specifically outlining Frisian cooking during that time period. As I said, that is a bit too far back in time to be practical for me, but I'll try to start there and add /subtract later as I learn more...

Meat:
We are looking primarily at fish, pork, beef, lamb, and goat... pretty much in that order. I know that fish, fishing, and sailing were the prime focus of the paternal side of my family for generations. Poultry was also available (goose, duck, chicken). I had the idea that cows tended to be used for milk and dairy foods (first?).

Dairy:
In a word: lots. Why do you think they call those dairy cows "Frisians" anyhow? In fact, Northern Europeans are one of the few groups of people who can actually digest milk and milk products into adulthood. This is a notable deviation from the Paleo and Atkins prescriptions.

Vegetables:
Root veggies reigned supreme... potatoes, turnips, beets, onions, parsnips, carrots. Pumpkin, cucumber (lots of pickles!) cabbage, spinach, kale and collards were also used.

Fruits:
Apples, pears, melons, and various berries were predominant.

Grains:
Rye or pumpernickel bread was a staple of the diet for centuries.. and I mean the supremely dense, dark stuff (Westphalian pumpernickel). It is pretty much like the German Volkornbrot or Roggenbrot. I was exposed to it growing up but always hated its bitter, dense texture; now I'm going to give it another go... I found Volkornbrot at Loeb and I'm eating it with raw goat cheese now! Other available grains included (but were not limited to) oats, millet, and barley.

Nuts, seeds & legumes:
Hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, and some varieties of beans

Wish me luck... I'm going to post pictures if I can...

Oh... beer, wine, coffee and tea were all copiously consumed!

Unhappy Meals : Pollan tells it as it is

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Why would I write yet another rant on North American consumption habits when the "real food vs. isolated nutrients" debate has been so eloquently summed up by Michael Pollan in the NYT mag?

You Are What You Eat

Some of you have commented on my insatiable appetite, or the fact that I often eat 5 meals a day. While I don’t yet answer to “The Human Carburetor”, the truth is that A) it is not McDonald’s Big Macs I am consuming and B) I only eat like a crazy woman on days when I have 3 workouts scheduled (3+ hours) or two super-long ones. Thus, Wednesdays and weekends are my prime food days. Note that I have maintained a steady weight for the past, oh, 10 years. But I welcome constructive criticism, so if anyone thinks I am fat please post your comment below. I am still making slow but steady progress on improving my body composition.

I thought it might be fun to do a detailed analysis of my food intake on one of these turbo-days. So, thanks to http://www.nutritiondata.com/, a site that uses information from the USDA's National Nutrient Database as well as data provided from a variety of popular restaurants, I logged my consumption for Wednesday January 23rd into the virtual “Pantry”. Some adjustments were necessary for my activity level; namely, I increased the daily caloric requirement from 2,000 to 3,000. I also increased micronutrient requirements by a factor of 1.5, to align with the caloric increase. This method has some drawbacks; firstly, my “additional” energy requirements would be mostly carbohydrates, with the remainder distributed between protein and fats, and secondly, the RDA for vitamins and minerals is not based on caloric intake or expenditure but rather by gender and body size/type. I may also need a bit more sodium and other electrolytes than sedentary people, more iron, and perhaps require more Mg, Ca, and Zn for muscle repair and bone health, but I would doubt that it would be at the same rate of energy expenditure. To my knowledge, there is no definitive answer to these questions; however, I have done some research on the maximum tolerable daily intake of the essential vitamins and minerals, and I know that for the vast majority, it is safe to consume at least 1.5 x the RDA on a medium-long term basis.

Menu for Wednesday, January 24th

Early morning snack (pre-swim): 1 cup coffee with milk, 1 homemade Ginger-Pear muffin
Breakfast (pre-run): 2 cups coffee with milk, 1 organic apple, 3 oatmeal-blueberry pancakes, 1/2 tbsp Nutella
Lunch A: 2 cups green tea, 2 homemade peanut-butter and jam muffins, pasta with tofu, cauliflower & tomato sauce
Lunch B (pre-bike): 1 cup green tea, jambalaya (chicken, brown rice & veggies)
Dinner: 1 can tuna, 2 cups steamed veggies & 1 cup brown rice
Snack: 2 cups decaf tea with milk, 2 Ginger-Pear muffins

Energy Summary:

Total Calories: 3020
Carbohydrate: 61% (479g, 177g from sugars and 61.4g from starch)
Fat: 21% (18.8g Sat, 23.9g Mono, 21.1g Poly, ~0g Trans)
Protein: 18% (144g)

Nutrient Summary (at 150% RDA, with the exception of Total Cholesterol which I lowered to 130% RDA):

Vitamin A: 23919 IU (319%) – Gotta love those carrots.
Vitamin C: 159 mg (177%)
Fibre: 67.4g (182%)
Calcium: 1800mg (120%)
Omega-3 fatty acids: 3709 mg

Cholesterol: 392mg (98%)
Caffeine: 430mg
Alcohol: 0mg

Too High:
Sodium: 5288mg (147%)

Too Low:
Iron : 28.5 mg (81%)
Zinc: 18.6 mg (81%)
Vitamin D (15%)
Vitamin B12 (61%)
Pantothenic Acid (73%)
Vitamin E (70%)


Observations:
1. First of all, I take a daily high-potency, broad spectrum vitamin-mineral supplement. If I add these values to my dietary intake, I meet all nutrient requirements. I also take extra Vitamin E, Zinc, Magnesium, Calcium/D, B-complex, B12, Vitamin C, and Omega 3 or 3-6-9 on a rotating basis, and Glucosamine Sulphate during high-intensity weeks.

2. While dietary Zinc and Iron consumption fell short, I do eat red meat several times per week and thus am probably closer to meeting the required levels.

3. Vitamin D (the “sunshine” vitamin) doesn’t need to be obtained through diet alone; however, in the winter months it can be hard for your body to produce enough by sun exposure (more about this from CBC). I walk outdoors about 2 hours daily in the winter, but usually only my face is exposed; thus, I rely on my daily multivitamin (400 IU) and occasional Ca/D supplement (200 IU) to ensure that I am meeting the RDA. I may re-think this and invest in some plain D supplements, however, since the Canadian Cancer Society now recommends that Canadians consume 1,000 IU of Vitamin D daily during the winter. Health Canada’s guideline, established 10 years ago, suggests that 200 IU per day is sufficient (source).

4. Health Canada recommends that healthy adults curb their caffeine intake at 400mg per day. I slightly exceeded this with my 430mg, but then again, my calorie and nutrient intake was 150% that of the average adult. My caffeine intake fluctuates from week to week and from season to season, but I think I’d average 3 cups of coffee per day year round (400 mg), and I do not drink soda pop or consume “excess” amounts of chocolate. Generally, is acknowledged that modest amounts of caffeine can have beneficial effects on sports performance and other activities requiring alertness. However, there seems to be no consensus on either the dangers or the advantages of caffeine to one’s general health, with the exception of a (serious) warning to pregnant women and those wishing to conceive.

5. Sodium deserves special mention, as I was shocked to find that I had exceeded the RDA x 1.5 in the off-season. This may be partly due to calculation errors, because I don’t measure baking soda and salt when I bake, and because I had to estimate the salt content of Mrs. Dash Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic spice mix. The results made me pause to think about what my sodium intake is like in the ON-season, when my requirement is higher, and I actually eat “real” salty snacks like pretzels, tacos, and Ripples chips during or after long workouts and races.

In short, an eye-opening project!