Remember the pudgy dietician on WebMd who was recommending a non-stop stream of flour to combat GERD? Well, look what I dug up:
http://www.webmd.com/video/healthy-refrigerator-fridge-makeover
I cringed at nearly every bit of advice she gave, and it sure doesn’t seem to be helping her manage a healthy weight, so why would anyone in their right mind do what she says? So let me tell you how I choose my food:
- Dairy products. Full-fat products from cows not treated with rBST. (For me, this isn’t so much a health concern as a memory from my childhood when farmers were being paid to dump milk. So why do we need cows to produce more?) Products should have nothing but milk or cream, salt, enzymes, or live cultures (depending of course on the product). Low-fat or fat-free products are almost always loaded with stabilizers, thickeners, and other junk with no nutritional value. I do occasionally purchase low-fat buttermilk, since I have never seen full-fat buttermilk for sale in the United States. (I might try making my own some day.) I leave the sweetened yogurts on the shelf, and if I suddenly developed some demonic desire to eat pudding masquerading as yogurt, I would certainly skip the overpackaged ones that have trans-fat laden granola in a separate little compartment on top. As for unsweetened yogurt, if I can’t find full-fat yogurt, I go without.
- Soy milk. I never touch the stuff. Silk brand, in particular, is loaded with sugar. If you must drink it, I encourage you to look for unsweetened varieties. (Good luck finding them, however.)
- Non-dairy creamer. Ugh. Why would I buy this stuff when I can get 42% butterfat heavy cream from a local Massachusetts farm at my neighborhood Whole Foods?
- Orange juice. I don’t use orange juice or any other fruit juice; they are too high in carbohydrates and have no fiber to slow their absorption. Even if you’re not on low-carb, you might consider dumping juice, which is junk food masquerading as health food. If you can’t give up juice, skip the calcium-enriched varieties. Calcium in the absence of magnesium, vitamin D, boron, and a host of other nutrients is not beneficial and may be harmful. Better yet, eat an orange.
- Mayonnaise. Homemade with olive oil when time permits. If I have to buy commercial mayo, I get full fat varieties. I have some in the fridge right now. This is a compromise, however; the oils used to make commercial mayo are full of omega-6 fatty acids, or, in the case of canola oil, have a distinct fishy smell. (Wasn’t our dietician friend’s comment on “one tablespoon” nauseating?)
- Butter. Forget the advice to “use a lot less.” I use it liberally. I always buy unsalted, since it is more versatile, and salt can be used to mask off flavors in butter.
- Fruits and vegetables. Yes!
- Cheese. I am an adventurous cheese-eater. In my fridge right now is some Vermont artisan jack cheese, a little wheel of Wensleydale, a little bit of goat feta, a scrap of Parmesan, and some soft goat cheese. At work I also have some brie. At least once every couple of weeks I try out some cheese I’ve never tried before.
- Eggs. Cage-free eggs with DHA. I’m skeptical that the “grain-fed” eggs the dietician shows in the video are actually high in omega-3, since grains are deficient in this nutrient. So where would the chickens actually get omega-3 in their diet?
Migraine aura picture from



[...] Original post by Joe McManus [...]
Pingback by Would You Take Diet Advice From This Person? — November 28, 2007 @ 11:48 am
I loathe Elaine McGee. She also writes a “recipe makeover” column that appears in our paper once a week, and she always takes perfectly good recipes and makes them “better” and “healthier” with lots of unnecessary, but predictable-for-the-lowfat-crowd changes. Her publicity photo in the paper shows her even chubbier than she was on this video. So I’m with you — why would I take diet advice from her?
I wouldn’t buy most of the crap in that person’s refrigerator because most of it is processed and manufactured. I am quite fortunate to be able to get most of my meat, all my eggs, and a good portion of my produce from a farm not too far from where I live.
Been enjoying your blog for a couple of months. I’m totally with you all the way.
Comment by annebanan — November 28, 2007 @ 2:19 pm
Thanks for stopping by, annebanan.
I noticed that she has a blog! I was tempted to go there and start some lively discussions (”soy is not the health food you make it out to be”), but considering that she only posts once a month and no one ever comments on her posts, I figure that she’s not getting much traffic.
I’m jealous of you - I’m a city girl, and my car-free lifestyle makes dealing with “nearby” farms tough. I belong to a CSA (which delivers to my neighborhood) for produce, but I end up getting stuck with a lot of corn, potatoes, and beets that I can eat only in tiny quantities, if at all — because that’s what the other CSA members like. I just learned there is a raw milk coop/CSA thingy that serves my city, so I might investigate that further.
By the way, I was delighted to find, in the otherwise lackluster cheese section of an area supermarket, not one but two different varieties of raw milk cheese! One is Great Hill Blue, made here in Massachusetts, and one is a Swiss Emmentaler. Tonight we’re having a little of the Great Hill Blue sprinkled on a broiled steak!
Comment by psipsina — November 29, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
You would have no problem finding things to eat in my fridge! I have pretty much stopped using WebMD for anything. The WebMD info is practically useless on just about any topic I look up.
We are a raw milk family, for about two years now. We prefer drinking raw cow milk, but I also am able to get goat milk in season, which I use for making fresh cheese now and then (it’s pretty easy and very fun). By the way, commercial buttermilk is nothing like real buttermilk, but hardly anyone knows that anymore because they a have only had commercial. Buttermilk is what is leftover from cultured whole cream after the butter is made, so it is not thick (skimmed, in reality).
I thought of you while reading two books recently. One is The Brain Trust Program, which you may have read about on Dr. Mikes Eades’ Protein Power blog. The other book is called Lights Out! Sleep, Sugar, and Survival. I’m still reading the second book and it is blowing my mind! I’m glad I started it after some of the other reading/investigating of the last few years, because now I have the right foundation knowledge and can put it into context. You might like these books. And now I am remembering it is late already and I should get to sleep earlier :-).
Ciao.
Comment by Anna — December 1, 2007 @ 3:49 am
Hi, Anna,
Thanks for all your lovely comments, and I’m sorry my blog cut into your sleep time! I know about old-fashioned buttermilk, but it turns out that you can make your own “buttermilk” quite easily using the same starter culture that commercial buttermilk is made with. New England Cheesemaking Supply (http://www.cheesemaking.com) sells the culture, but you could probably use commercial buttermilk, too.
I have The Brain Trust on hold at the library, but the library was closed by the time I got there yesterday, and my local branch is not open on Saturdays. Today would be a good day to read, too - a chilly but brilliantly sunny late fall day.
My husband asked me a while ago how many books on “the subject” I’d read. I said, “Oh, maybe half a dozen.” Then I looked on my shelf and saw that I own at least 12, plus the many I have checked out from the library. It would be fun to compare booklists with you; I bet we’ve read many of the same ones.
Comment by psipsina — December 1, 2007 @ 1:55 pm
I have just found your site and am enjoying your posts. I also struggle with the migraines and recently started a ketogenic diet after reading The Brain Trust (by the way, Dr. McCleary has an interesting blog at http://www.drmccleary.com/).
I am curious that you make your own mayonnaise. Do you use raw eggs? I have been wanting to make my own mayonnaise but am a bit worried about using raw unpasteurized eggs.
The best store brand mayonnaise I have found is Whole Foods cage-free egg mayonnaise. Unfortunately it is made with Canola oil rather than olive oil.
Comment by Katharine — December 5, 2007 @ 11:22 am
Hi, Katharine,
I actually do make my own mayo with raw eggs, but I realize it’s a risk. I’m not going to recommend one way or another whether other people should do the same - I think people have to evaluate the salmonella risk for themselves - except I would say that people with compromised immune systems should definitely NOT eat raw eggs.
I’ll be interested to hear how the ketogenic diet works for you. I think I’ve mentioned before, I’m already spilling ketones at a +2 or +3 level every day. I have Dr. McLeary’s book out from the library but haven’t started it yet. I would like very much to get off Inderal, but I’m also afraid of my weekly migraines coming back.
Are you taking any medications in addition to the diet?
Comment by psipsina — December 5, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
Fantastic video! In a horrible sort of way. That has got to be my nightmare refrigerator. And look how well this grotesque mockery of food is serving the commentator! Gee, if I stop eating real mayonnaise, can I have a double chin, too?
That jean jacket was a dead giveaway to the bulging waistline that must be underneath. Any woman who doesn’t like her figure is all too familiar with the old open-jacket trick for hiding it. Sorry, Elaine, we all know you’re not svelte and slim under the jacket. If you were, the jacket would be off.
Comment by lowcarbarama — January 5, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Hi. I found your website from a pointer on an LJ community about migraines, and wandered around a bit. I don’t think you’re ever going to find buttermilk containing much fat. The whole point of buttermilk is that it’s the liquid remaining after making butter…most of the milkfat goes into the butter, and only a little stays in the buttermilk.
Comment by Adrian — May 5, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
Actually, Adrian, that’s only half the story. Butter used to be made by culturing cream, then churning it. The remaining cultured liquid was buttermilk. Nowadays, most butter made in the US is made from sweet, not cultured, cream. I don’t know what is done with the leftover liquid, which is not the tart and tangy buttermilk that most of us think of.
So commercial buttermilk is made by simply adding the same culture to lowfat or non-fat milk. So, since we’re making buttermilk without actually making butter, why not add the same culture to whole milk? I assumed it was because we’re a nation of fat-phobes.
In fact, since I wrote this post, I have discovered that I can do this in my own kitchen. New England Cheesemaking Supply sells the culture, or you can buy some commercial buttermilk and add a tablespoon to whole milk.
Comment by psipsina — May 7, 2008 @ 10:22 am