Tim Spector - Food for Life

“Happiness for me is largely a matter of digestion.” - Lin Yutang

Tim Spector's Food for Life is an encyclopedic book. I've seen books this thick devoted to, say, one type of nut - but Spector writes about virtually every food group. It would have been daunting enough if he only covered the nutritional aspect of food, but no! The man had to include cultural significance (pumpernickel is German for "devil's fart", did you know?), environmental impact, and of course his subjective take on how they taste.

Each segment is necessarily brief and non-comprehensive, but for nutrition beginners it's more than enough information. Helpfully, at the end of each food group section you'll find a list of 5 to 10 key takeaways.

Underlying the entire book is a single prescription for health: aim to eat 30 types of plants a week for optimum health. (This insight is supposedly backed up by some studies Spector conducted - he references these quite a lot, but I suppose to understand them you'll need to read his previous books.)

As to why the need for such diversity, the one-word answer here is: polyphenols. Polyphenols are chemicals that plants produce to keep themselves healthy - so the reasoning is that when you eat them you transfer those health-giving properties to your body, in a Renfield sort of way? Quick ways to determine polyphenol concentration are: depth of colour (hence "eat the rainbow"), strong smell (herbs are high in 'phenols), strong taste (bitter or astringent tastes in particular).

Below are some notes I've made for myself. (I have omitted the sections on meat, fish, poultry, and processed meat as most of us do not need any more reason to consume those.) Enjoy!

Fruits: eat them all, but berries have the highest polyphenol content.

Veggies: eat them all, especially strong-tasting and bright-coloured ones. Over-long storage and over-cooking kill polyphenols. Light steaming with olive oil is best.

Legumes: all legumes including beans, peanuts, green peas, lentils are worth including in one's diet especially in unprocessed form (whole chickpeas as opposed to hummus). No nutritional downsides to canned or frozen options.

Grains: the "wholeness" grains is a spectrum - think steel-cut oats (just cut-up) vs rolled oats (steamed and rolled flat) vs instant oats (steamed, rolled flat, and cut-up)

Rice: brown rice seems self-evidently better than white but clinical studies are inconclusive. Brown is higher in nutrients but they may be hard to absorb; brown rice contains more arsenic; neither white nor brown rice is significant source of fibre. Reheated cooked rice is supposedly more nutritious than freshly cooked. (????!!!)

Pasta: ... is actually a good source of protein: 8-13g per portion (!!???). More WTF: studies show that "pasta consumption slightly reduces body weight compared to other carbs" (???) - the key however is to use it to deliver veg-heavy sauce.

Bread: ...is a nutritional minefield! here may be little/no health benefits to eating brown over white bread. Some commercial bread is artiificially darkened to look healthier. As rule of thumb use the carb:fibre (C:F) ratio to determine healthiness. (NTUC house brand wholemeal is a respectable 5:1, while Gardenia white is 22:1!!)

Mushrooms: you wouldn't know it, but mushrooms are a good source of protein and fibre, plus interesting chemicals not found in plant world.

Seaweed: another strong-smelling source of nutrients like iodine, calcium, iron etc.

Milk: dairy milk has higher nutritional value than plant-based milk although less sustainable. Butter is healthier than not-butter (we knew that already).

Eggs: most environmentally form of animal protein, although still much less sustainable than legumes.

Sweets: dark chocolate is high in polyphenols and fibre (considering it's made of beans!)

Nuts & seeds: high in fat but (studies show) they result in weight loss and increased health. Spector recommends a handful (raw/roasted, skin-on) a day.

Seasonings: salt is important for bodily functions and is not worth cutting out from cooking; but avoid processed foods which are high in hidden salt. Use plenty of herbs and spices as they are high in polypehnols.

Oils: extra virgin olive oil surpasses all other fats in terms of health benefits; can also be used for high heat cooking. (The olive is an atypical fruit that stores energy in fat form rather than sugar.)

Drinks: coffee contains more fibre than orange juice (???). Of all teas, green tea is highest in polyphenols.