DEAR DR. BLONZ: I am a retired male, 66 years old, 5'9", 142 pounds and take no doctor-prescribed drugs. In your opinion, what is the nutritional value of a daily consumption of 8 ounces of Low Sodium V8 vegetable juice? I try and eat healthfully, i.e. no red meat, but don't always get my veggies. -- M.M., Sun City, Ariz.

DEAR M.M.: No problems with the V8 juice. I encourage people to eat whole foods: These are the packages made by nature that contain all the nutrients and phytochemicals needed for that particular plant to survive amidst the insults and ravages of nature. You lose a bit of these nutrients when you take steps back to processed food, but your vegetable juice has been only minimally processed. This is not to say that all processed foods are bad; read the labels to see what they are made of. The key is to have real foods -- vegetables, fruits and whole grains -- serve as your foundation. With that as a basis for your diet, the door opens to adding other items. I have no problems with red meat following such an approach.

DEAR DR. BLONZ: Is eating beef liver dangerous? -- J.S., Canada

DEAR J.S.: The liver is a remarkably resilient organ and it is endowed with an ability to regenerate. It has an undeserved reputation as a toxic waste dump, and while it does serve as a clearinghouse for unneeded or unwanted substances, it doesn't hold on to these substances. Its job is to take them out of the bloodstream, make modifications where possible and then send them out of harm's way. If, however, there is an ongoing exposure to dangerous compounds, the liver will be in the midst of the battle. Thus, the health of the animal that the liver comes from is key.

For people in good health with an otherwise healthful diet, an occasional serving of liver should not be a problem. A healthful option is to seek out liver and other meats from grass-fed, organically raised cattle and organic, pastured poultry. Seek out a provider that sells in your area, one who follows a stated philosophy of raising his or her animals on healthful pastures without using hormones or feed additives. You can often find such providers at farmers' markets and natural food stores.

DEAR DR. BLONZ: Maybe you can help me with this fiber problem. In the November 2011 issue of the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, an article on eating vegetables suggested pureeing veggies and including them in other foods. My concern is about getting the maximum amount of fiber out of the veggies. Does pureeing them reduce the amount of fiber, or is it intact regardless of how the veggie is eaten (raw, steamed, pureed, etc.)? -- V.R.C., via email

DEAR V.R.C.: The process of making a puree out of fresh vegetables (or fruits) does not have a significant impact on its fiber content. Of course, this does not apply to juicers where the fibrous portion of the food is discarded.

Send questions to: "On Nutrition," Ed Blonz, c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO, 64106. Send email inquiries to questions@blonz.com. Due to the volume of mail, personal replies cannot be provided.

DEAR DR. BLONZ: I am a computer engineer and I was fortunate to get a job just out of college. It's a great job, but I spend most of my time working in a cramped space. My concern is that I always eat high-calorie convenience food when I am working, such as pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers. I do like the stuff, but I don't want to be headed down a bad road. What should I add to help prevent chronic diseases? -- I.F., San Jose, Calif.

DEAR I.F.: When young, we have a resilience that allows us to feel that we can eat just about anything and not suffer ill effects. Unfortunately, continued imbalances and abuses over the decades do add up, and by the time we reach our later years, we have to live with the cumulative effects.

There is often a covert aspect to chronic disease. A perfect example of this is hypertension (high blood pressure) where, with the exception of elevated numbers on a blood pressure reading, there can often be no signs or symptoms until the disease's damage is done.

Everything we eat does not have to be a paragon of healthfulness. My approach has always been that you can eat most things as long as the rest of your diet fills in gaps and makes things "whole." Add to this a healthful lifestyle and you can have it all.

But now let's pose a few questions. When building or working on a computer, would you choose substandard components? Would you run a computer in an environment where vibration, dust or power glitches could interfere with the operation of the unit? And finally, would you rely on an operating system that was full of buggy subroutines?

The computer programmer adage "garbage in, garbage out" is akin to dietary dogma "you are what you eat," both reflecting that we are only as good as what we put into our systems.

I encourage you to take a close look at the totality of what you eat, as well as what you are not eating. If your workday is limited in its food options, help your situation by starting the day with a high-fiber breakfast cereal with fresh fruit. Try to have a big salad or fresh vegetables with your lunch, but if that's not feasible, be sure to have those greens with dinner. Keep some nuts and dried fruit at your desk for a snack. Stash some yogurt in the office fridge. If possible, go for a brisk walk during a break -- up and down the stairs or around the block, if that's all that's available. Tweaks such as these could turn those workday fast foods into a minor player in your overall diet and provide greater distance between yourself and the risk of chronic disease.

Send questions to: "On Nutrition," Ed Blonz, c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO, 64106. Send email inquiries to questions@blonz.com. Due to the volume of mail, personal replies cannot be provided.

DEAR DR. BLONZ: Please tell me what you think of the following statements describing the benefits of waterless cookware. These were the selling points at a cookware party where the salesman made a presentation in the hopes of signing everyone up. The promotional claims were: 1. When cooking vegetables in water, all or most of the nutrients are depleted. 2. Pans made of aluminum or Teflon, or enamel-coated pans, have been proven to cause disease. 3. Cooking with oil can cause disease. How truthful was this salesman? -- S.C., Sun City, Ariz.

DEAR S.C.: These statements are examples of playing fast and loose with the facts in the hopes of getting customers to sign on for the product -- a technique that can give salespeople a bad name. Perhaps he was just repeating what he was told by his trainer, but whatever the source, those statements are definitely off the mark. There is probably nothing wrong with the cookware, but your purchase should be made with your eyes open. Let's look at the individual assertions:

1. When cooking with water, all or most of the nutrients are depleted.

False. While all forms of cooking will deplete some nutrients, the actual nutrient losses depend on many factors, including temperature, cooking time, type of food, size of the pieces and how much water is used (if any). The amount of loss will also vary with the type of nutrient. Water will deplete some of the water-soluble vitamins, but only if the cooking water is discarded. Heat, regardless of its source, can affect the fat-soluble vitamins, vitamin C and thiamin. The most stable of the nutrients are the minerals, and unless a large amount of water is used with food that has a small particle size, and the water is discarded, these nutrients will remain in the finished product. 

2. Cooking with pans made of aluminum or Teflon, or enamel-coated pans, has been proven to cause disease.

False. There is no evidence that Teflon or enamel-coated pans cause disease. But what about aluminum? It is true that there is a higher than normal amount of aluminum in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's disease, but there is no evidence that aluminum cookware is a part of the problem. A study published in the journal Food Additives and Contaminants reported that even if you were to take an entire day's food supply, store it in aluminum containers and prepare it in aluminum cookware, the daily aluminum intake would be approximately 6 milligrams a day. Compare this with the Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake of 7 mg of aluminum per kilogram body weight (established by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives). This is the equivalent of 68 mg of aluminum per day for a 150-pound adult -- meaning that our hypothetical 6 mg per day is well within the acceptable limit.

3. Cooking with oil can cause disease.

False. But of all the statements, this one at least has a modicum of truth. Cooking with oils is not inherently dangerous, but elevated intakes of certain fats are associated with an increased risk of disease. I would stay away from any source of trans fat, and I would avoid mistreating cooking oils by overheating them or failing to store them properly. But assuming you have an otherwise healthful diet, fats are not to be feared. In fact, they lend wonderful tastes and textures to the foods we eat. And isn't enjoyment what eating is all about?

Send questions to: "On Nutrition," Ed Blonz, c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO, 64106. Send email inquiries to questions@blonz.com. Due to the volume of mail, personal replies cannot be provided.