OPINION
Saturday, December 5, 2020
East Oregonian
A5
Holiday food dilemma — feeding body and soul
JOHN
WINTERS
HEALTH CARE ESSENTIALS
T
he holidays are just around the corner,
with the attendant obligation to overeat
and ingest more sugar, salt and fat than
we normally would. Special occasions call for
special circumstances.
Human culture has honored the impor-
tance of food in celebrations and gatherings of
all types for millennia. Food and joyful cele-
brations are powerful bonds for families and
friends. Guided by customs and availability,
special foods enhance weddings, holidays and
myriad social events. Food is fun, festive, sym-
bolic — and necessary for survival, of course.
Here are a few tips to get you through the
end of 2020 and help you boost your health in
positive ways in 2021.
Diet and health
Your diet is likely shaped by how much
time, money or energy you are willing to invest.
Speed, ease, economy, simplicity and your
upbringing most likely affect your choices. I
propose another criteria, one which only you
can discern — what works for your body now?
Food serves many needs but, primarily,
food should be nutritious fuel your body can
use. Unfortunately, many modern “foods” are
linked with fatal diseases and are nutritionally
barren. All foods contain some combination of
fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, miner-
als and other nutrients. These materials are used
to build, repair and animate the body. Vibrant
health requires more from food than merely a
full stomach.
Everything you put in your mouth affects
your health, for better or worse. You have likely
heard the phrase “food is medicine.” Yep. Your
goal is to supply good nutrition in the safest
form.
Some guidelines
There exist dizzying numbers of diets, each
claiming phenomenal results. Most regimes are
based in some science and can be helpful — to
some people. But, one size does not fit all. The
question is — what do you need? Many diets
take a good idea and go to extremes, in my
opinion, making them of questionable use for
most of us. Here are some thoughts that keep
coming up in my study of nutrition.
Variety
No single food offers everything your body
needs, so consume a wide variety of foods.
Leave the details to Mother Nature, unless you
want to be an expert in nutrition. Brightly col-
ored vegetables are rich in anti-oxidants, nuts
and seeds have healthy fats, beans offer protein
and fiber. Meat, poultry and seafood are rich in
minerals and protein. Try new foods, avoid ruts.
Quality
This is important. Get the freshest, highest
quality food you can. Nutritional value is deter-
mined by how and where the food is grown,
shipped and stored. Local is best. Modern farm-
ing and food processing techniques are more
efficient and profitable than the old ways — but
never before have we endured so much chronic
illness and obesity. That certainly gives one
pause!
Read labels
A small investment of your time here will
yield quite an education. Simple awareness can
lead you to make important changes. In gen-
eral, buy foods with the fewest ingredients and
fewest long unpronounceable words. A loaf of
bread can have six ingredients or 20. There are
thousands of food additives used to make foods
taste good, look good, increase storage and
even feel good. More are added every year.
Food chemists go to school for years to
design foods that will be profitable and last lon-
ger than they actually should, but these are not
always healthy. Extra sugar, salt and fat, plus
many artificial ingredients, are often employed.
Do you really want all those extra ingredients
in your food? Added ingredients serve dif-
ferent functions. Some increase shelf life or
safety, some attempt to replace what process-
ing has removed, others are used to increase
sales because they make the food more appeal-
ing. Artificial flavors, colors and even vitamins
are an attempt to create a product similar to the
whole unprocessed version.
For example, wheat. Plentiful in Eastern
Oregon, it contains fiber, fats and more than 20
vitamins and minerals. Food processors make
“enriched” white flour by removing the fiber,
fat and most nutrients, then adding back a few
synthetic vitamins. This flour acts like sugar in
the body, causing weight gain and blood sugar
spikes. Enriched white flour offers little nutri-
tional value, but lots of calories and is com-
monly used in packaged foods.
Summary
Author Michael Pollan puts it succinctly:
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Foods
and human beings have co-evolved for millen-
nia. Human physiology is designed to use real
food, not synthetic additives. New to the food
chain, margarine used to be promoted as the
heart-healthy alternative to butter. Margarine is
made from man-made “trans” fats that are not
found in nature. These funny fats foul up your
machinery, often causing the very disease they
claimed to prevent.
The “Mediterranean Diet” is a good place
to start. Include foods that you like, are fun and
healthy. Don’t obsess over details. Listen to
what your body tells you. Does a food help you
feel light and energetic, or bloated, heavy and
lethargic? You are genetically unique. While we
have many similarities, no one is exactly like
you. If you wish to enjoy the rich traditional
holiday foods which make you feel loved and
happy, do it with an attitude of gratitude know-
ing that this is an exceptional time. That’s actu-
ally better for your body than beating yourself
up because you “cheated” on some sort of diet.
It is what you do most days that matters. Get to
know your food, buy local. Pick your battles;
you can’t do it all. Above all, have some fun.
And remember, moderation in all things —
including moderation.
———
John Winters is a naturopathic physician,
who recently retired after operating a practice
in La Grande since 1992.
It’s time to come to the aid of wildland firefighters
HARRISON
RAINE
OTHER VIEWS
B
y mid-September, there was no one left
to call. The West, with its thousands of
federal, state and local fire engines and
crews, had been tapped out.
Wildfires across the West had consumed the
labor of all available wildland firefighters, and
though there were fewer fires burning, those
fires were larger and more difficult to contain.
They consumed 13 million acres — an area
almost the size of West Virginia.
In the midst of the 2020 wildfire season,
John Phipps, the U.S. Forest Service’s deputy
chief, told Congress this “was an extraordinary
year and it broke the system. The system was
not designed to handle this.”
Draining the national wildland firefighting
pool was why my fire crew and I had to work
longer and harder than usual on the Idaho-Or-
egon border. We were fighting the Woodhead
Fire, which had peaked at 85,000 acres and
threatened to burn the developed areas around
the towns of Cambridge and Council, Idaho.
With only three crews to try to contain a fire
that required probably 10 crews, it meant day
and night shifts for 14 days. Each crew found
itself with miles of fire line to construct and
hold. With not enough person-power, we were
always trying to do more with less, and it was
no comfort to know that what we faced was not
unique.
Across the nation, the large fires meant
working in hazardous conditions that called
for far more workers than were available. For
those of us on the line, it came down to little
sleep and a heavy workload, combined with
insufficient calories and emotional and physical
exhaustion.
Fighting wildfires week after week takes a
toll on the body. Smoke contains carcinogens,
and firefighters spend days exerting them-
selves immersed in air thick with ash. We all
figure that the long-term health effects cannot
be good.
One of my co-workers confessed that he
goes to sleep “with pain in my knees and
hands,” and added, “I wake up with pain in my
lungs and head.” Over a six- to eight-month
fire season, minor injuries can become chronic
pain.
Wildland firefighters are also vulnerable to
suicide due to job-related stress and the lack
of resources outside of the fire season. Long
assignments put a strain on firefighters’ fami-
lies and can damage relationships. A 2018 psy-
chological study, conducted by Florida State
University, reported that 55% of wildland fire-
fighters experienced “clinically significant
suicidal symptoms,” compared with 32% for
structural firefighters.
Wildland firefighters who work for federal
agencies, such as the Forest Service or Bureau
of Land Management, are classified as “range
technicians” or “forestry technicians” — a title
more suitable for golf course workers than peo-
ple wearing heavy packs and working a fire
line.
Calling them “technicians” negates the
skills, knowledge and experience necessary to
work with wildfire. Most firefighters sign con-
tracts as seasonal “1039s,” agreeing to work
1,039 base hours for $12-$16 an hour. This is
one hour short of being defined as a tempo-
rary worker who is eligible for benefits, such as
retirement and year-round health care.
Overtime work is what allows “technicians”
to pay the bills, but once they reach 1,039 base
hours some firefighters are laid off even while
the fire season continues and their regions con-
tinue to burn.
There is a remedy in sight: the Wildland
Firefighter Recognition Act, which formally
identifies wildland firefighters as exactly that,
tossing out the technician term and recognizing
the “unusual physical hardship of the position.”
Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines
introduced the bill last year, and recently, Cal-
ifornia Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa intro-
duced the bill in the House. Co-sponsored by
California Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier,
the bill currently sits with the House Oversight
and Reform Committee. This is a nonpartisan
bill that deserves support from every westerner.
We all know fires will continue to burn
throughout the West, but right now many of the
men and women who fight those fires on our
behalf are suffering from burnout. Addressing
wildfires as a national priority starts with rec-
ognition of the profession fighting them.
———
Harrison Raine is a contributor to Writers
on the Range, writersontherange.org, a non-
profit dedicated to spurring lively conversation
about the West. He started fighting wildfires
in 2016 and is a recent graduate of Colorado
College.
Horse meat should be
Oregon must protect kids’
considered as food for the poor access to oral health services
CARLISLE
HARRISON
OTHER VIEWS
T
o watch the nightly news showing
long lines of drivers accepting food
handouts because their families are
hungry is depressing. To know the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) is spending $50
million of taxpayers’ money to feed 50,000
wild (feral) horses being held in corrals is
disgusting. In addition to these animals, the
BLM is allowing at least 60,000 more ani-
mals to destroy the range because they are
exceeding the Appropriate Management
Level (AML) mandated by the Wild and Free
Roaming Horse and Burro Act (WFRHBA).
The AML has been established to be 26,700
animals.
As a trained biologist, this destruction
of the range bothers me, but this concern
pales when compared to the empathy I have
as a retired teacher who has witnessed the
learning difficulties that children experi-
ence because they lack protein in their diet.
During the Great Depression, during World
War II and during several special periods
since the war, people have found this protein
by eating horse meat. Now is one of those
times. Many advanced countries around the
world are aware of this and don’t have to be
prompted to include horse meat in their diets.
For years, I have advocated these sur-
plus animals be fed to the poor. Everybody I
have talked to seems to think this is a good
idea. But contacting our elected officials
has proven to be a waste of my effort and
time. Their responses have ranged from they
are putting more money into the budget to
develop a program to control the animals’
fertility, step up adoption, and expand hold-
ing facilities in other parts of the country.
They further informed me it is against the
law to slaughter horses because their meat
is unhealthy because they get shots of med-
icine. And then there was the one who said
there are no meat inspectors to certify the
meat. What a cop-out.
A country that can build and send a rocket
into space should be able to come up with a
way to get the precious protein found in these
animals into the diets of the poor. These ani-
mals receive no shots and would qualify as
organic. I know the “Greatest Generation” I
grew up emulating would have found a way.
I do have a plan I feel could make this hap-
pen, and it appears to me to be able to pay for
itself. This would involve a fleet of mobile
slaughter units. I have been told these units
cost about $100,000, the price of feeding 100
horses for a year. These units can butcher
about seven horses per day. That would be
a savings of about $7,000, which would cer-
tainly pay for all labor and operating costs.
From these seven animals one might expect
about 2,000 pounds of high-protein ground
meat. The value of this meat in the diets of
children would be priceless.
With 50,000 horses in corrals and another
60,000 exceeding the AML, it would prob-
ably take five years for a fleet of 20 mobile
units to get the job done. After the initial five
years, there would probably still be enough
excess horses to keep two units taking care
of the annual excesses.
Each of these units would cause to be
employed three or four full-time work-
ers. The need for refrigeration units might
be met by military surplus. The contract-
ing of a rendering company to remove the
offal and other waste products must be con-
sidered. The training of a BLM employee
to be a meat inspector could come from the
ranks of employees presently hired to feed
the animals. Some organization like Feeding
America could be in charge of distributing
the meat to the poor. To get program com-
mitment it might require the BLM to grant
the owner of the mobile unit an interest-free
loan with a clause the final five years of pay-
ments would be forgiven after they worked
five years.
As I see it, the big problem will be finding
enough votes in Congress who feel the lives
of children are more valuable than the lives
of horses to make this happen. Finding alter-
natives for the hay farmers might be prob-
lematic, but knowing farmers, I am sure they
share my empathy for the poor and they will
find a way.
———
Carlisle Harrison lives in Hermiston and
is a retired educator.
DR. MANU
CHAUDHRY
OTHER VIEWS
I
n Oregon, we believe that every child
deserves the chance to succeed. Through
legislation like Cover All Kids — our
policymakers have shown bipartisan support
for the well-being of our children, regardless
of where they come from or their household
income.
When it comes to oral health, though, we
still have a long way to go. A recent report
released by the Oregon Health Authority
along with data from Capitol Dental Care
demonstrate that investments in preventive
oral health are paying off for our children.
However, we know that families are fac-
ing significantly higher barriers to access-
ing oral health care, because of COVID-19
safety protocols. School-based dental pro-
grams that have served for years as a safety
net for children who cannot access care
through other means are at risk due to the
need for remote learning.
The Pediatric Oral Health Coalition,
which was convened by the Oregon Com-
munity Foundation in 2018, recently hosted
two virtual community listening sessions
to hear directly from parents and caregiv-
ers. Multiple people cited continued diffi-
culty in finding dentists who take patients on
the Oregon Health Plan. Many, regardless of
coverage, weren’t sure whether their dentists
were open or if it was safe to seek dental
care, due to COVID-19.
Several others noted that school-based
programs were a major source of regular
care and screenings for their kids; they were
concerned COVID-19 was going to take
away this needed service. “There are lots of
kids that [school] really is the only way they
get some of those screenings,” shared a par-
ent from Joseph in Eastern Oregon. “If that’s
not happening at school, where is it happen-
ing? Or will it happen at all? That is kind of
frightening for people.”
With declining state revenues expected
in the future, our state leaders have tough
choices to make. Oregon’s children are
counting on them to protect their health.
Nearly half of the kids in our state will have
a cavity by age 9, and about 40% of those
cavities will go untreated.
Cavities are preventable, but untreated
cavities cause pain and heightened risk for
serious issues down the road, like heart dis-
ease, diabetes and respiratory infections.
Dental pain is also a leading cause of absen-
teeism. When children struggle to eat, sleep
and learn, their development and academic
achievement are at risk.
We know that relatively modest invest-
ments in preventive oral health can have
lifelong impacts for our children. At Cap-
itol Dental, children who receive sealants
are able to reduce their risk of cavities by
43%— and we can improve those outcomes
even further with other preventive mea-
sures, such as fluoride varnishes and regular
checkups.
Over the last several years, Oregon has
made progress by focusing on preventive
oral health for children and bridging access
gaps by bringing the care into schools.
According to the 2019 CCO Metrics Per-
formance Report that the Oregon Health
Authority released in September, children
across all age groups on the Oregon Health
Plan had accessed critical preventive oral
health services at a higher rate than in 2018.
Statewide, we saw a 6-10 percentage point
increase in children who received dental
sealants.
Preventive care reduces health and aca-
demic disparities. However, accessing pre-
ventive services is particularly difficult for
families who lack reliable dental coverage,
who are in the working class, who are fami-
lies of color, or who live in rural areas. Such
pre-existing barriers to care are only getting
worse due to the pandemic.
We know that parents, DCOs, and dental
providers are motivated to keep all Oregon
children safe and healthy. We’re calling on
our state leaders to do more to support them.
———
Dr. Manu Chaudhry is president and den-
tal director at Capitol Dental Care, which
has served Oregon Health Plan members
statewide since 1994. Capitol Dental Care
is a member of the Pediatric Oral Health
Coalition.