I recently read an article while I was having breakfast last Saturday.
The article was health related.
This article I was reading was listing foods that are nutrient sinks, foods that are full of cell damaging free radicals and foods that are full of bacteria and disease.
I thought to myself that the list was pretty damn huge.
I realised that these foods had some disadvantages, but none of them would actually kill you (at least in the short term) The problem and kind of mental difficulty I have with this listing of bad foods which by the way looks like this: white bread, rolls, syrups, jellies, candy, popsicles, ice-cream, doughnuts, pies, cookies, cakes, pasta, soda pops, punch, juice drinks, fried chicken, fried chips, anything fried in hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil, margarine, overcooked meat, unwashed fruit and veg, coffee, chlorinated water and of course alcohol and smoking ...
is that it's such a huge list of stuff and they are everyday foods! Take a close look at the list again and ask yourself is there anything about it that you can relate to? Do they have a common link? Well, if you take out the unwashed, undercooked, and overcooked fruit and meat, you are mostly left with the world of sugar cravings, simple sugars and fast foods.
All these consumable items including coffee, alcohol and cigarettes are among the most advertised, hyped up, and highly marketed goods on earth.
It's not people's fault that they succumb to natural cravings for sugar, and highs especially when it's in their face every minute of every day on TV, radio, billboards, and papers.
There's a time and a place for a treat, but these companies don't teach anything about balanced diets and they would be more than happy to feed you every day of the week if you cared to dine in their well designed, aesthetically pleasing restaurants.
(If only you could see the preparation of the foods, the processing, the trans-fats, the dehydrogenated oils they use in the background) In fact the article had a damn good point.
These foods..
1.
Remove minerals and vitamins because it takes more vitamins and minerals to digest, break down and use the calories in these foods (doughnuts, cookies) 2.
Attack our cells and persistently disrupt the molecular structures of our cells (fried foods) But, is it really right to just go out and slam down all these delightful foods? I mean, they taste so so good, don't they? I personally believe it's not fair to remove such a big list of foods as a general rule.
There should be a time and a place for eating such foods.
So, for now, let's look at the foods that that article didn't mention.
Let's say you take the time to wash your fruit, and vegetables.
That means fruit and vegetables are on the good list.
Nothing was mentioned about nuts, so I assume they are good too.
If you cook meat right then it's healthy.
Unrefined grains are good.
Fish, eggs, cheese, would be fine also.
So what's the difference between this list of "good" foods, and the list of "bad" foods? First of all, foods need a certain amount of preparation before we eat them.
If we wash and cook our food well,, this will kill the bad bacteria, and germs, and leave us with the full nutrients of the food to nourish our bodies.
However, over-preparation, over-cooking, and processing of foods in some cases kills the nutrients, loads them lopsidedly with calories, sugars, and harmful fats.
The rule of thumb is that highly processed foods are bad: The more it takes to get from nature to the store or restaurant, the worse it is.
The less change the food goes through from how it appears in nature, to how it appears in the meal dish, the better.
Question: What process do doughnuts go through from nature to plate? Short or long? Point made.