We are going to start today's class, Nutrition and Wellness, and we are going to focus on two things. We spend almost 15 minutes of the class time to do the quiz and have discussion. The remaining time that we have, I am not going to talk about various types of diets and how to count calories, high protein diets, low sugar diet. We are going to focus on two major issues when it comes to nutrition and being healthy, and those two topics are the following. One is sugar, so we are going to talk about sugar. Some of you have looked at the slides and you know probably what I'm going to talk about. Along the same lines talking about sugar, we are going to talk about and learn how to read labels. Hopefully, at the end, we are going to come up with a practice. That probably now you know by now that next week the practice is going to be the review quiz may be, maybe, maybe not. Let's start the class. What do you think about this statement? "Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food." What does that mean? This is not a new age comment, this was made by Hippocrates. What does that mean? Yes. Well, medicine is used usually to cure things like diseases or illnesses, and if food can be used as medicine, then I guess it's very important that you're eating things that are healthy or can be used to make fuel for your body. Very good. Boram said that, I'm summarizing what you said, that you just look at what you eat as something that can make you healthy. Because traditionally when we get sick, we take a medication to get better. Instead of having that focus, which is a very reactive approach to health, I wait until I'm sick and then I'm going to take a drug to get better. This is a very proactive way of maintaining health and being healthy. You eat the right thing, so this is very simple. When it comes to nutrition, this is a very important tool for our health. Why? This could have been a spoon or I should have had my hand. Yes. Makes you eat less. Makes you eat less, that's a good observation. When you eat with a fork, you eat less? [inaudible]. I have to teach you how to eat fast with a fork. I eat really fast. Your name is Amir. Amir, that's a good point, but that doesn't apply to me. I can eat as fast with a spoon, with fork, or even with my hands in my bed. I'm sorry. You cannot eat rice with this fork. I can teach you how to eat rice with a fork. No worries, that I can do. This is a very important tool because of what I just said, that you have to look at food as something that is going to maintain your health and make you healthy. Of course, there is pleasure in eating good food. I'm not going to tell you that then I eat sushi, I am tortured and I don't use a fork. I can eat sushi really fast food with chopsticks. I should have had that also picture of chopsticks. If we look at the data, if you look at American Heart Association, National Cancer Institute, and World Health Organization, this is what we see. The reason that I only have two websites as references on this slide is that this slide could have been covered with study after study, publication after publication on what you see on this slide; that 80 percent of heart disease and about 30 percent of cancers could be prevented with a healthy diet and lifestyle. Some of you may be thinking that, "Well, this doesn't apply to me. I'm young, I'm in my 20s, why should I worry about this?" Because it's never too early to start eating healthy and focusing on what you're eating and paying attention to what you put on your fork, that's why. Some of you may become health care providers in the future. That's another reason, so you have to pay attention. What are some of the adverse effects of unhealthy eating? If you eat unhealthy, the short-term side effects are weight gain, bloating and constipation, fatigue, mood changes, bad skin and hair. Did you guys know that? Yes, now you do. Long-term effects, diabetes, cancer, depression, obesity, heart disease, etc. We are going to talk about sugar today. I want you to remember this slide, because if you don't pay attention to the sugar in our diet, we are going to develop diabetes sooner or later. When I was in the cholesterol clinic at UCI Medical Center, one of the patients that I had with high cholesterol also had diabetes, and he was 19 years old. You can't say that diabetes, of course, these are mostly diseases of aging, but it's never too early to start preventing it. That's why I'm standing here today, trying to really convince you to pay attention to what you put on your fork and in your mouth.
