Latson lecture targets healthy eating habits
By KATIE MILLER
News Writer
Conscious eating and health awareness were the topics of Deanna Latson's program, "Eat Right. Feel Good. Look Great!" Wednesday night at Saint Mary's.
"I used to be an unconscious eater," said Latson. "I put anything and everything in my body. I wanted to find a better way to live my life."
In college, Latson suffered from bulimia, excess weight, severe migraines, colds, flus, and low energy.
"It is painfully obvious that most of us take better care of our material items than our bodies," she said.
She decided that she needed to make changes in her life when she realized her father was slowly dying due to his poor eating habits.
"He had stockpiles of medicine in his cabinet ... My father's doctor said my dad would die quickly if he went off the medicine and slowly if he stayed on the medications," said Latson. "I wanted to find a better way to save my father's life."
Latson changed her major and studied unconventional medicine. In graduate school, she met a "conscious eater," a woman of 41 who looked healthier, younger, and had more energy than Latson who was 23 at the time. This conscious eater became a mentor and friend to Latson.
The images the media supplies us with are 99.9 percent false, said Latson. A friend who works at Cosmopolitan Magazine sent Latson a picture of Cindy Crawford before it was altered. The picture that appeared in the magazine was dramatically different, said Latson.
Latson warned the audience of the chemicals contained in Olestra, the fat-free ingredient found in products such as WOW Doritos. The ingredients attach themselves to vitamins and take them along when they leave the body.
"One bag of WOW chips can lower cancer fighting antibodies by 50 percent," said Latson. "Proctor and Gamble has invested $500 million in this product, that it will take years to get it off the market."
Just because food is on shelves does not mean that it is safe. Lots of foods should have warnings on them and don't. Whatever you do, do not ignore warning labels, said Latson.
Preservatives and additives in foods are a major problem , according to Latson. Even Girl Scout cookies contain additives that cause abdominal distress in young children. The FDA has reported an increase in high levels of toxins in young people.
"Thirty -thousand new additives get added to the market each year," she said.
Latson dismissed the notion that dieting is an effective way to maintain weight loss.
"Eighty-seven percent of dieters gain their weight back or more," she said. "As a bulimic, I had no idea of what it meant to eat healthy. It's not about dieting, it's about lifestyle."
Latson studied nutrition in Asia and Central America. The lifestyle of the elderly of the different countries was very different from that of elderly Americans. Their aging process had not caused deterioration.
"They were active. They had a completely different lifestyle. Those people do not look like our elderly people."
Dairy products are not part of a healthy diet according to Latson.
"Dairy products intensify allergenic reactions by 70 percent," she said. "Calcium is lost by people who consume "takers" such as soda and candy- ingredients which pull calcium out of the bones."
Heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and cancer can be prevented by a healthy diet, said Latson.
"The American Cancer Association says that 40 to 70 percent of all cancers could be avoided by a diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes," she said. "Twenty years ago, one in four Americans developed cancer, ten years ago, one in three Americans developed cancer, today, one in two will develop cancer. Eight-hundred thousand new diabetes cases are developed each year. And heart attacks are becoming more common among women"
Stanford University conducted autopsies on children between the ages of four and seven who had died in car accidents and found their veins to be hardened with plaque as a result of a poor diet, said Latson.
"Vegetarian athletes have twice the stamina of flesh eating athletes," said Latson. "The body expends energy to break down food; the more soluble food you eat, the more energy you create."
Latson emphasized the power of the media over consumers' diets and the importance of educating oneself.
"We are educated by smart business people who want to sell their product: they are biased. Are you eating to live or living to eat?" Latson asked the audience. "If you live to eat, you could end up a statistic.
Since becoming a vegan, Latson has lost sixty-five pounds and has not experienced any of the migraines her doctor told her were hereditary. Her father was able to go off his medications after three months of being a vegan.
Latson left the audience with six strategies for living a healthy lifestyle.
"Define healthy for yourself, cut down or eliminate animal products, experiment with vegetarian meals, eat as many raw foods as possible, eliminate processed sugar and caffeine, and educate yourself."
"The power of hand to mouth is incredible. By learning better choices, you can change your life and the lives of your loved ones."
Latson is a member of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and a full time nutritional educator. She spends her summers facilitating an accelerated learning program at Stanford University.
All News Stories for Friday, March 2, 2001
