Salad is bad for you. And so are eggs, avocados, and soy.

[Quiksilver]

There is a grain of truth in the notion of cooked eggs being inferior to soft-boiled.

I would not go so far as to say cooked eggs are "bad", just "not as good".

Any time you cook dietary fats, you are making them less healthy due to molecular destruction which enters the blood stream and causes inflammation.

 

[5string]

My dogs greatly prefer my cat's turds.

:crackup:

Those are commonly known as tootsie rolls.

Funny Bible Belt! Made my day.

 

[Alle_Gory]

I'm confused. Dogs eat their own turds and still remain healthy. WTF?

Strong immune systems and antiseptic saliva.

 

[iqqi]

For anyone wondering, I didn't tell her that I have anything. These are her general healthy eating guidelines. If anything I just suffer from low energy levels, and a bit of female typical anemia.

My research DOES lead me to believe veggies are better lightly steamed or boiled, than raw or cooked any other way. Here is another link on that: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=raw-veggies-are-healthier

I also think that it makes sense how super cold liquids can lead to energy loss so whenever I can, I choose room temp or warm drinks. Of course, I don't hold back when I really want something cold though!

I believe she was also against coffee.

 

[Marvin Gaye]

I might try this once I turn 60, and my digestive system deteriorates...but for now I'm good.

 

[iqqi]

One thing I would like to research more is red meat.

I LOVE steak. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT and could eat it all the time. As a woman, I'd think red meat would be especially beneficial for any anemia deficiencies. That's just me thinking though, no actual deep research.

Also steaks are great for protein, right??

 

[5string]

iqqi

Don't you think you are over thinking this sh!t? Most things in moderation are not going to hurt you. Why analyze so much?

Just stay away from the dog and cat turds and you'll have a long and healthy life.

 

[Metzgermeister]

One thing I would like to research more is red meat.

I LOVE steak. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT and could eat it all the time. As a woman, I'd think red meat would be especially beneficial for any anemia deficiencies. That's just me thinking though, no actual deep research.

Also steaks are great for protein, right??

Steak is just about the best source of protein there is! And DELICIOUS too. They're my favorite food, also, hands down! :rockon:

Red meat has suffered a lot of bad press lately, and I think it's mainly just from hokey studies funded by the pork and chicken industries who want to boost their own sales. The high fat and cholesterol content in red meat seems to be what people have the problem with, even though those things aren't automatically unhealthy if you exercise regularly. Dietary cholesterol does not directly lead to cholesterol in your blood stream, and saturated fat is necessary for muscle building and brain function, just to name a couple things.

If you're worried about those things though, I'd suggest you look into getting buffalo steak. It's gaining popularity these days and you may very well have a buffalo ranch somewhere in your area and not even know it (unless you live in Hawaii..) It tends to be much higher quality meat than supermarket beef, just because most buffalo ranches are small "mom & pop" operations, as opposed to a massive factory farm where the workers don't give a crap about sanitation or animal welfare.

 

[Poonani Maker]

I believe in home grown. I eat a lot of spinach out of my garden. I deep fry it with a top of the line Cephalon ss pot, in olive oil. I never get tired of it. It's like dessert to me. When I eat red meat, it's a large helping, like 3 burgers at once, or mega steak. I drink an energy drink (Rockstar recovery, noncarbonated) a day. Then vitamin D, fish oil, centrum silver, magnesium to start the day. Only really eat one huge meal a day, because I feel like it. I guess it's a work hard, then get rewarded hard mentality that keeps me on this path or habit.

I figure that as long as I eat spinach 2-4 times a week, then I can eat whatever else I want. I believe pizzas are bad all the time, low carb is good and keeps you lean, even if you don't exercise. I cycle for exercise, because I live in a beautiful place and the scenery is enough motivation to get out and ride/sweat/endure.

 

[iqqi]

iqqi

Don't you think you are over thinking this sh!t? Most things in moderation are not going to hurt you. Why analyze so much?

It is because I have never given it any thought.

I've never had any issues with weight or any real heath issues. I've never been over 100 lbs in my life, I don't smoke, so the whole healthy lifestyle thing has never been much of a concern for me. But I know for a fact that I do not eat healthy. I have been a big fast food eater all my life, and I used to be a coke head. No, not that kind obviously, see the current war on drugs thread to confirm that. But yeah, pepsi and coca cola, I used to drink that solely and not much else! Also I don't really come from a sit down at the table and eat this home cooked meal type of family. I didn't get a lot of that "basic education" one might get from being told to eat their greens!

Living in a big city has opened my eyes and ears to a lot of thoughts about healthy eating, and also I am getting older. I don't want to have my unhealthy lifestyle catch up with me and cripple me in old age. Old age is pretty far off, but I think 30 is a good age to really implement some thought into what I am doing to my body. I've been blessed this far and I don't want to take that for granted.

So yeah, I've been putting some thought into it these days. Not to mention my energy is SO LOW, I am sure it has to do with diet at least a little bit if not a whole lot.

And now that I am starting to wonder about these things, information is so conflicting!

Like this:

I believe in home grown. I eat a lot of spinach out of my garden. I deep fry it with a top of the line Cephalon ss pot, in olive oil. I never get tired of it. It's like dessert to me. When I eat red meat, it's a large helping, like 3 burgers at once, or mega steak. I drink an energy drink (Rockstar recovery, noncarbonated) a day. Then vitamin D, fish oil, centrum silver, magnesium to start the day. Only really eat one huge meal a day, because I feel like it. I guess it's a work hard, then get rewarded hard mentality that keeps me on this path or habit.

What is up with this "home grown" stuff?? I don't understand why farm to table is so hot right now, aren't green beans... green beans? And how come "home cooked" is so much better than what you can order at a nice restaurant? I'd think restaurants would be the place to get good quality cooked food. I'm sure the finer places that care about quality aren't serving you crappy sh!t.

Poonani by the way, everything I've read says deep fried anything is BAD BAD BAD for you, buddy. Home grow that.

 

[Edward.M]

Your post is quite rational and logical but i am not agree in this sense that salad is not good for any one.In my opinion it must be the part of our food,specially in launch.
Nikon Coolpix S3300 Review

 

[Ninja Dude]

@iqqi, the diet you are referring to is known in many circles as macrobiotic. It takes into account not only the properties of food on its own, but also the properties endowed by the cooking method.

The general guideline you have is pretty sound. IE: peanuts are known to host all sorts of mold/fungi - whereas almonds/walnuts/seeds are antifungal. Soy, vinegar and other fermented products also contribute to a disproportionate amount of fungus/candida in the gut, which is not healthy. Sugar is pure poison. I eliminated it from my diet years ago and got rid of acne, allergies and bad case of athlete's foot.

A lot of raw veggies are actually not easily processed by your body (carrots/kale/cruciferous veggies) until they are cooked. Though light methods such as steaming and sautee are recommended so you dont fully destroy the nutrients (frying is a major no-no)

Another concept inherent to the diet is locality, which is something BibleBelt mentioned. The philosophy is that certain types of produce thrive in your current ecosystem for a reason - consuming such produce fortifies you against the same elements, making your health more resilient/relevent to your environment.

It is worth mentioning that the concept of "bad" vs "good" fluctuates with the individual and the seasons, and none of these rules are written in stone. The basis of it all is the principle of Yin and Yang. You must take into account your own energetic state, and that of your environment before you can make a dietary choice (and the cooking method as well). For most people most of the year salad is not the best thing, due to its cooling effect (they'd be much better off eating yang foods, like ginger, yams, etc). But for people in the tropics its a god send.

So how healthy is this diet? A lot of people call shenanigans because it sounds so extreme. I dont have any scientific studies to pull out my ass here but I can tell you this: I know 4 different people who had malignant cancer. One of them had 6 months to live max. They all experienced full recovery after they ditched chemo and religiously took on a macro diet.

I myself observe this diet (not as religious because I do like to indulge) and I can say that I have not gotten a flu or virus in years. The only sickness I have experienced was due to my excessive smoking of marijuana, and now that I've quit I don't think I will need to see a doctor for a very long time.

The best thing you can do is research and try it for yourself with an open mind. I am pretty well versed in this form of eating, and asian medicine overall so feel free to ping me if you have any questions.

Great thread overall - if there is anything healthy in this world it is skepticism.

 

[Ninja Dude]

DoublePost (how does that happen???)

 

[iqqi]

Wow, thanks for that post Ninja. I didn't really know WHAT to make of her guidelines, and having some explanation for it really helps.

I am trying some of what she has said to do, little by little. I eat a LOT of that "bad" stuff, so I don't know if I can do it as well as you. Would you mind posting a week long list of your meals and snacks to give me an idea of what you are doing exactly?

Do you drink coffee? Do you have any dairy intake?

She was also VEHEMENT against sugar. I am drinking my third pepsi today right now. Haven't had any in like two weeks so I'm like a crackhead right now.

Also, do you do acupuncture or anything like that?

 

[xintrc]

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, good health is believed to be achieved by a balance between yin and yang. They represent two abstract and complementary aspects that every phenomenon in the universe can be divided into.
Yin Yang
moon sun
female male
inside outside
cold hot
downward upward
moist dry
Winter Summer

The concept of yin and yang is also applicable to the human body; for example, the upper part of the body and the back are assigned to yang, while the lower part of the body are believed to have the yin character.

Yang "perfers/likes" Yin and vice versa.

Belly=Yin(cold) Back=Yang(Hot/Warm)
We are likely to turns our back(yang) against freezing winds(cold/yin).
We perfer to cover our belly with a blanket or something when we sleep even in the summer. If you don't, I suggest you do, you will less likely to catch a cold.

Hands=Yang Feet=Yin
You see kids (or yourself) throwing snowballs with their bare hands in the winter, they have fun and enjoy it. But try to walk on snow with your bare feet, you can't last a minute.

Food has yin and yang too. Watermelons are yin(cold), they are good for summer. If the cold weather in winter is killing you, eat lamb. Lamb warms your stomach, it's very good for your stomach and keep you warm.

Dairy products are consider "bad" in Traditional Chinese Medicine, because they make your "Qi" stay in your lower body. IF you've been eating dairy products or drinking milk all your life, and you don't feel sick or anything from it, then keep eating them. The most important thing is, just because something is consider "bad", you don't eat it at all. Or something is consider "good" and you eat a lot of it. It's all about keep good balance.

 

[Ninja Dude]

Sugar
Make no mistake - it is pure, concentrated evil. At least the kind present in most industrialized foods (refined or corn syrup) The stuff wrecks havoc on your pancreas, spleen and liver. It also turns your blood acidic, making it a hospitable place for infections, viruses and cancer! If you do not believe me go to a pharmacy and ask them for some urine litmus papers. You pee on them and the color shows your body's ph level. I have eaten a snickers bar and within about 30 minutes my ph jumps 2 points more acidic. Definitely not what you want - a healthy body is more alkaline than acidic. More info on that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ceJI2Cnz1w

If you absolutely must have sugar, go for the raw brown stuff. It's not only tastier but devoid of the rancid chemicals applied to white sugar. My GF used to live near a sugar processing factory and it smelled like dead bodies all the time. Really put me off to it forever.

Sugar substitutes
Aspartame is really vile stuff: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...e-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx If you really want a healthy substitute look for Stevia products. It's 1000 times sweeter than sugar and 100% natural (also touts some health benefits for certain ailments.)

Sodas
Aside from being laced with copious amounts of sugar, preservatives and petroleum-based coloring agents, sodas are very high in phosphoric acid, which leeches calcium from bones and provides gratly increased risk of osteoporosis, especially to women who are more susceptible after menopause. You should also know that Pepsi products use cells from human fetuses to test their chemical flavors for safety. Mind you I am pro choice but ethically this just seems wrong to me on so many levels. The company that provides this testing is called Senomyx (google them) they also work for Nestle and Kraft. Avoid those products like the plague! And if you are thinking diet sodas are healthier, think again: http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/diet-soda-may-be-making-you-fat-2504019.html

Dairy
Really bad stuff when overused. Especially the type of dairy which is prevalent in the US. Milk producers are not obliged to let you know that your milk is flooded with synthetic hormones and antibiotics (which have both been linked to chronic disease and birth defects) If you must have it try to get organic stuff. The fresher the better. Milk from a freerange cow is actually pretty healthy stuff, but keep in mind that no animal adult is meant to consume this product - it is tailored to the needs of the young (and another species at that!) Even if you do find the good stuff dairy tends to increase mucus levels and congestion, which invite viruses/colds and other illnesses.

Coffee
This was harder for me to give up than weed to be honest. The withdrawal headaches foiled several attempts until I learned to substitute coffee with various teas (chai is amazing, so is green once you get used to it). In moderation coffee is not that bad for you - the problem is that its hugely addictive and most people feel like they cannot function without it in the morning. Daily consumption dehydrates the **** out of you - and if you tend to enjoy it with lots of sugar AND milk, what you have there is a bomb for your system. I wont front, I still enjoy an occasional latte because frankly I dont want to give up that amazing flavor. But it no longer constitutes part of my morning ritual and as a result I said goodbye to my yearly flu.

Recommended Diet
My diet is pretty varied, and largely improvised based on what's available at my local farmer's market. Here is a rough outline to give you an idea.

Typical breakfasts

Sprouts are the first thing I consume. Alfalfa, onion, radish - it doesnt matter as long as its fresh and organic. Nothing gives you a greater boost of energy than sprouts! they are stupidly easy to grow. Right now I have 4 different varieties growing wild on my window sill.

Miso soup (very easy/cheap to prepare and the perfect pick-me-up)
If I am feeling REAL hungry I will add some thick udon noodles. Seaweed is crucial part of this meal. I use wakame, hijiki or nori.

If I wake up with a sweet tooth I will go for warm cereals (oatmeal/millet/quinoa) all organic. I will usually add fruit (apples or berries) and top it off with seeds (sesame, sunflower, linseeds)

Typical lunch

Steamed veggies coated in a mixture of sauteed garlic, paprika and various herbs. Usually accompanied by baked sweet potato, cassavas, or brown rice.

A variation of this is a classic stir fry. I have a wok and that thing gets serious use. Works with rice or noodles.

I will usually include an egg or two in there somehow, either scrambled into the stir fry or simple soft boil on the side.

In the winter I will use copious amounts of ginger in both plates. In the summer I follow up with a fruit ****tail (melon/pineapple/peach/cherries)

Typical snack after lunch

Fire up the juicer and get a nice green juice going (kale/spinach/cucumber/pear/lemon/carrot)

Seeds/nuts - mostly almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds which are my favorites.

If its winter I will enjoy a small serving of creamed veggie soup (zucchini, brocolli, squash ) I make a big pot of it every Monday and ration it out during the week.

If its summer I will make a seaweed salad (wakame, cucumber, carrot with sesame and umeboshi dressing)

Sprouted bread. OMG if you haven't tried this stuff it's amazing. This is what kept the Jews surviving in the desert for decades of exile (a.k.a. manna bread) It includes sprouts, nuts, dried fruit and is either sun baked or mild oven baked at low temperature. Stuff tastes like God was baking it! Google the term "essene bread"

Typical dinner

Pan seared fish or chicken with mashed turnip/cauliflower (awesome macro substitute for carb-heavy potatoes)

Macro lasagna or spaghetti (use seitan with shiitake shrooms instead of meat and ground up almonds with salt instead of parmesan) If I am feeling indulgent I will use real mozzarella cheese - but only if its fresh. F-ck that Polly-O crap! The noodles are usually quinoa based. Try to avoid the refine wheat stuff

Legumes of some sort (red kidney, pinto, azuki) with couscous, quinoa or wild rice.

Okay this got a lot longer than I expected - there is so much more to this I could honestly ramble on forever. Just know that again the above are rough outlines - I change them all the time depending on how I feel. It's all about tuning into the natural rhythm/balance of your own body.

I still eat "bad"things occasionally, because I believe in enjoying life's little pleasures and feel that they offer a healing emotional value in limited doses. The difference is that my cravings do not control me the way they used to. By eating and viewing food differently my body has learned to crave other things.

Edit: Almost missed your question about acupuncture. I HATE needles and do not trust them, but I do get regular accupressure massages. The effect is the same if you have a skilled practitioner. Qi Gong and Thai massage are both amazing and the right hands can help eliminate all sorts of physical problems you may have. A word of caution though, if you have never done it before the first couple of times you may feel dizzy/lethargic or slightly ill. This is normal consequence of stagnant energy (not to mention lactic acid from muscle knots) working its way out of your system. It is also normal to be pretty sore the following day. your 2nd or 3rd time this wont usually be a problem and you will learn to enjoy them immensely.

I used to go a lot more than I do now. My regular massage lady put me onto this 5 minute exercise routine I do every morning and it really cuts down on my need for massages due to the energy boost and loosening up. I am pretty convinced this also help me quit coffee because it gets you charged up in the morning: it's called the 5 Tibetan Rites http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juZxrvc8-A4

 

[Metzgermeister]

It is because I have never given it any thought.

I've never had any issues with weight or any real heath issues. I've never been over 100 lbs in my life, I don't smoke, so the whole healthy lifestyle thing has never been much of a concern for me. But I know for a fact that I do not eat healthy. I have been a big fast food eater all my life, and I used to be a coke head. No, not that kind obviously, see the current war on drugs thread to confirm that. But yeah, pepsi and coca cola, I used to drink that solely and not much else! Also I don't really come from a sit down at the table and eat this home cooked meal type of family. I didn't get a lot of that "basic education" one might get from being told to eat their greens!

Living in a big city has opened my eyes and ears to a lot of thoughts about healthy eating, and also I am getting older. I don't want to have my unhealthy lifestyle catch up with me and cripple me in old age. Old age is pretty far off, but I think 30 is a good age to really implement some thought into what I am doing to my body. I've been blessed this far and I don't want to take that for granted.

So yeah, I've been putting some thought into it these days. Not to mention my energy is SO LOW, I am sure it has to do with diet at least a little bit if not a whole lot.

And now that I am starting to wonder about these things, information is so conflicting!

Like this:


What is up with this "home grown" stuff?? I don't understand why farm to table is so hot right now, aren't green beans... green beans? And how come "home cooked" is so much better than what you can order at a nice restaurant? I'd think restaurants would be the place to get good quality cooked food. I'm sure the finer places that care about quality aren't serving you crappy sh!t.

Poonani by the way, everything I've read says deep fried anything is BAD BAD BAD for you, buddy. Home grow that.

It's pretty well known that vegetables straight from the garden taste better. Seriously, if you ever get ahold of a tomato straight off the vine, take a bite of it, and then take a bite of a tomato from the supermarket, and tell me which one tastes better. Yea, green beans pretty much are green beans, but then there are green beans full of pesticides, dyes, wax, and other additives that the giant food companies put on there to sell more green beans.

I'm not saying that home cooked food is better than a five-star restaurant, but who can afford to eat out at a place like that for every meal? The hierarchy as I see it is (generally)
- Five-star restaurant food
- Home cooked food
- Regular sit-down restaurant food
- Fast food
- Vending machine food
- Dog feces
- Shoney's

And sometimes, fancy restaurants aren't even cooking the actual food in the restauraunt. It was revealed that one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants was having the duck terrine brought in from some other place where they cooked them in advance and wrapped them in plastic. Then they'd just warm them up at the restaurant. So it just goes to show that you can never really be sure what you're getting at a restaurant, even the fancy ones. If you buy meat and vegetables straight from the people who grow/raise it (and they're reputable) and cook it yourself, you know EXACTLY what you're eating.... Besides, fancy restaurants tend to give you TINY portions.

Deep fried food is not necessarily bad for you. If it's done right, it shouldn't have any more fat than other cooking methods (the water inside the food should turn to steam and bubble out, repelling the oil) I deep fry chicken once in a while, and if you pull it out before all the water is depleted, it's not greasy at all. The problem is that when people think of "deep fried" food, they're thinking of french fries from McDonalds, made by some 15 year old earning minimum wage who doesn't give a rat's ass about the quality of the food he's serving.

 

[Groovy]

Potato- 19g of carbohydrate per 100g, is that carb heavy?

Link about soy:
http://tcmdiscovery.com/News/info/20081301_7097.html

 

[Ninja Dude]

@Groovy - It's true that potatoes are not as carb-heavy as other foods - for clarification I do not want to demonize carbs as they do have their use. Sometimes I eat potatoes, but only when I am sure that I will have an overly active day and need a burst of power. Hardly ever eat them at night. Fact is they raise your glucose levels higher than sugar does and for that reason alone should be eaten consciously. Your body will process other roots better (yams, yuca, cassava) which are also richer in vitamins and fiber.

@Metzgermeister - Great points (and LOL at dog poop > Shoney's )

Re: deep frying

It's only remotely healthy when fresh oil is used. (Preferably olive) Recycling the oil (very common in homes and moreso in restaurants) makes it carcinogenic. It works for chicken and fish which retain their chemical composition pretty well due to density/mass. But deep frying vegetables destroys a great deal of their nutrition, unless you do it tempeh style (really really fast so veggies are still somewhat crunchy) I generally avoid fried because once oil is heated to a certain temperature it also loses its healing properties and can become toxic. I also enjoy cooking for the most part with alternative oils like sesame, pumpkin and coconut, which do not suffer high temperatures well at all.

 

[iqqi]

^^^ Yeah, I briefly overheard something about potatoes being browned in any kind of way released carcinogens and therefor caused cancer. Don't remember where I heard that.

Thanks for all that Ninja, it is overload but feel free to update whenever you feel like it, like "today I ate this:" lol.

A lot of those words were like spouts, kale, legumes, what?!?!? And no mention of stuff I eat regularly.

I do opt for the brown raw sugar packets regularly, but who knows what kind of sugar is in stuff I eat like these 8 girl scout cookies I just devoured... with my Pepsi.

I DID eat a fresh salad at work today, with tuna, beets, and lentils.

Thanks to you to MetMeister, the more I hear about this stuff, the more I absorb information about how to eat healthier. It's going to be a HUGE challenge, coming from where I'm from!