How to lose weight and live a longer, healthier life

The answer is so simple that it’s hardly believable: beans.

And the question is – how to lose weight and live a longer, healthier life.

In a recent TED Talk and Wall Street Journal article, explorer and educator Dan Buettner describes what he calls “blue zones,” areas with unusual concentrations of centenarians. Buettner identified and studied seven such regions having an unusually high number of persons 100 years or older: Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and Loma Linda, California.

Working with demographers and physicians, Buettner uncovered the common threads that these healthy oldsters share. Here is one of his major findings: “Their diet consists mainly of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans and other carbohydrates. They eat meat but only small amounts, about five times a month, usually on celebratory occasions. The cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world was the humble bean.”

The theory is that the complex carbohydrates and high fiber afforded by this diet in general, and beans in particular, are kind to our microbiota, the teeming trillions of bacteria in our guts. They, in turn, are kind to us, helping us to digest and glean energy from our food. Further benefits of healthy gut flora include increased metabolic function, prevention of allergies, and boosting the immune system. These little guys are busy, indeed.

A high fiber diet, in addition to longevity, is also correlated with weight loss. In a recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers performed a dietary study of 240 adults in Worcester, MA. Their goal was to compare the efficacy of a simple, high fiber diet to the more complex, multicomponent American Heart Association (AHA) diet.

What they found was that by following one simple rule, that is, to consume a diet high in fiber, those subjects lost nearly as much weight as the ones on the much more complex AHA diet.

The value of this may not be immediately obvious. But take a look at just a small excerpt from the thousands of words describing the AHA diet:

“Consume a variety of fruits and vegetables; choose 5 or more servings per day. Limit intake of foods with high content of cholesterol-raising fatty acids. Match intake of total energy (calories) to overall energy needs. Limit salt (sodium chloride) intake.”

This, compared to only one rule: eat a high fiber diet. Those following this simple diet gained nearly all the benefit of those following the AHA diet. (Remember, this was for weight loss).

But how to choose a high-fiber diet when our supermarkets are full of sub-optimal stuff?

Harvard Health has the answer. In a 2013 study published in Public Health Nutrition, Harvard Health researchers developed a simple method to allow shoppers to choose healthy, whole-grain, high fiber products. They call it the 10-in-1 rule.

The simplicity is alluring. When shopping for bread, breakfast bars, pasta, chips, or any such related carbohydrates, pick the ones with the lowest “total carbohydrates to dietary fiber” ratio, no more than ten to one. Compare the nutrition labels on various offerings, and choose those where dietary fiber is at least 10% (more is better) of total carbohydrates.

Refer to the nearby depiction of a nutrition label. Note that total carbohydrates per serving is 28 grams, while dietary fiber is 9 grams. The dietary fiber is far more than 10% of the total carbohydrates (2.8g). This is indeed a high fiber choice.

What you will find is that that simple guideline will automatically steer you away from foods which are high in simple carbohydrates, sugars, and trans fats. A simpler shopping guide could not be found.

But you may find that some old favorites do not measure up. You may need to switch to whole-wheat pasta to get healthy spaghetti. Or that the white flour tortillas at the local grocer aren’t nearly as healthy as the whole-wheat variety from another supermarket. Or that you may need to change your brand of bread, because a much healthier option has been found. All this based on a simple ratio, no calculator required.

A rather whirlwind tour, but remember these points:

·         A high fiber diet (especially one rich in beans) is correlated with longevity

·         A high fiber diet is a simple way to lose weight

·         A high fiber diet is simple to shop for using the 10-in-1 rule

In the end, you must eat the foods that please you. But perhaps this will give you pause, and readiness, to try other options. Your microbiota will thank you. And their applause is thunderous.

We are not alone

Science News Magazine has been published since 1922, over ninety years. The news arm of the non-profit Society for Science and the Public educates and informs the public about current happenings in science and technology. It has covered such seminal events as the first man-made nuclear reaction, the first electronic computers, man’s first walk on the Moon, and the first jet aircraft. For some time, the editors have selected the top science story of each year.

For 2013, there were plenty of candidates. The amazing rise of miniature unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). Gene therapy advances in managing blood cancers. The ability to grow replacement organs from scratch. The Nobel prize in physics for the discovery of the Higgs boson.

But what was the top science story of 2013? Bugs.

Or more precisely, bacteria and other organisms which make up the microbiota living on and within the human body.

In a steady stream of studies and reports throughout the year, we learned more and more about our remarkable little cousins. For instance, the fact that only 10 percent of your cells are human; the other 90 percent are a mixture of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. (That microbes are so tiny and human cells relatively huge accounts for the fact that, by mass, our microbiota only amounts to a few pounds).

Scientists are even beginning to argue that we should view the human body as a superorganism defined by this mixture of human and microorganism DNA (microbiome). The advantage in doing so is that it might help us better understand the effects of diet, chemical exposure, and other factors on our health.

It is important to note that our community of microorganisms is for the most part beneficial. They help us digest food and convert it more efficiently to energy. They influence the immune system, training it to identify and fight true pathogens. They produce hormones instructing our body to store fats, and create necessary vitamins. To understand the workings of the human body without considering our microbiome is, we are finding, impossible.

Michael Pollan, in an in-depth New York Times Magazine article (“Some of My Best Friends are Germs”, May 15, 2013), details his research into this new frontier. Starting with a submission of swabs to the BioFrontiers Institute at the University of Colorado, he received a detailed report of his personal microbiome. Pollan interviews the scientists involved in the project and describes how our microbiome, unique as a fingerprint, is developed. Soon after birth, a community of microbes takes hold in the infant gut. Its composition from there is influenced by environment and, mostly, diet. In fact, the BioFrontiers scientists can identify from a person’s swab samples both where they live in the world and what is the makeup of their diet.

Researchers have observed that obesity may be encouraged by a certain mix of gut flora. And that mix of flora is a result of diet. Meat eaters have a distinct pattern of gut flora from vegetarians. Diets high in sugars and fats are quickly absorbed, denying nutrition to our little minions. They prefer diets high in fiber and complex carbohydrates; these take much longer to digest. What a surprise, then, to see that independent research into low glycemic index (GI) diets have concluded that diets high in fiber and complex carbohydrates are highly preferable for health. The microbes are the key, and they live or die by our dietary choices.

So what might this flood of human microbiome research mean? Perhaps we’ll find that our war on bacteria, with a plethora of antibiotic soaps and cleaning products, might be taking a toll on our little helpers. Certainly we need to be concerned with pathogens, but perhaps we are overdoing it.

We might find that diet books of the future will focus on cooking for our whole selves. Lightly cooked vegetables, whole grains, al dente pasta, for instance, all take longer to digest and provide the fiber that our gut bacteria thrive on. Feed them well and they will serve us well. It would be a complete change in perspective and provide a grand new toolset for managing obesity and optimizing health.

There is much research yet to do and understanding to be gained. But it is exciting that we are beginning to comprehend the owner’s guide to the whole human being.