Diet Good & Bad

Much of both our mental and physical health problems stem directly from diet.
I know sometimes people scoff at this aspect or say its just too expensive to eat right (partly true - it is more expensive) but it is well worth the study and the practice…plus personally i think it tastes good!

Some things taken for granted that many people consume that is bad for you, and can even be toxic to your system…

Refined white sugar… is bad for you all around and causes changes in the b rain…not just making you hyper or having a sugar crash… Molasses and honey is all I use for sweetener now

Bleached white flour…includes white breads and anything made with bleached flour, including almost all snack foods like cakes and cookies…Scary !
It’s generally understood that refining food destroys nutrients. With the most nutritious part of the grain removed, white flour essentially becomes a form of sugar. Consider what gets lost in the refining process:
Half of the beneficial unsaturated fatty acids
Virtually all of the vitamin E
Fifty percent of the calcium
Seventy percent of the phosphorus
Eighty percent of the iron
Ninety eight percent of the magnesium
Fifty to 80 percent of the B vitamins
Go with whole wheat and whole grain products.

Juice Cocktail… it’s not even real…has anywhere from 5 to 20% real juice and the rest fillers, including high fructose corn syrup (bad) and/or white sugar. get 100% pure juice with no sugar added.

Breaded products…fish, chicken, minced, etc… the breading is bleached flour usually and the minced products are the least nutritious of the meat… go with fresh or frozen. You can make your own breading with wheat products.

Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils… these are man made trans fats and extremely bad for you…poison… They are still found in a variety of products like margarine, snack foods, etc…have to read labels and know your product.

Low fat and non fat foods containing aspartame and other artificial sweeteners…pure poison. Get rid of it… These are mainly found in beverages, including some claiming to be good for you, in some candy and snacks, condiments, and even in yogurt. Aspartame especially is an extremely bad additive
http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-information.html

Frozen vegetables - blanched… Veggies are good for you but if you only eat frozen veggies you are losing out on many nutrients that get destroyed or decreased in the blanching process… Use fresh veggies as much as possible…

Saturated fats…red meat and pork fats are the worst and to cook the meat directly in its own grease is just a recipe for disaster. If you must eat these foods get the leanest meats possible and broil, grill or otherwise try and cook the fat out of them. Good fats are found in fish and eggs… Poultry isn’t too bad… Pork sausages are the worst…

Foods with pesticides and antibiotics and GMO are also bad to varying degrees. Going organic is the way to go…I know its more expensive, but worth it in the long run…

There is a lot more i could add…this is just basic, but I have followed this for years and am constantly cutting out bad stuff and adding new stuff…I can definitely tell the difference both mentally and physically.

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They say that the longer a food takes to prepare, than it is usually better and healthier for you. America is overweight because we are all into fixing “easy” , “instant” pre-packaged, meals that are usually not good for us or even nutritious. Or microwavable meals.It is really not that hard to cook delicious homemade meals, based on chicken or pork or cheap beef. I made some great tasting chicken kebobs out of yogurt, curry, and a few other simple ingredients. I made a marinade and let them sit in my fridge overnight. I ate off of them for THREE days. I made a passable cheesecake with 4 or 5 ingredients. Not nutritious but it was on my diet plan.

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I have been eating a lot more healthy as of late. More fish, less refined carbs - more veggies and fruit.
I looked in the mirror today and am noticing that I lost even more weight, I will weigh myself in a couple of days I think.
Eating healthier is the way to go!

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Yes it is. I lost three more lbs…I’m down to 224lbs. And I am never hungry and I eat well. 26 lbs to go. I just finished lunch. I cut up some steak into 1/2 pieces and sprayed a skillet with Pam. I fried the meat and while it was cooking I cut up two mushrooms, some bell peppers, and some yellow onion. It took less than five minutes. The meat took 5 minutes to cook. I threw in the vegetables. I then beat three eggs and added them to the skillet. Cooked and stirred for a few minutes Viola! A healthy meal in about twelve minutes and clean-up was minimal.

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Not only that, much of what mainstream Americans eat is just filler with no nutritional value or very low nutrients. So the body is actually screaming for nutrients so you eat more and more and still are not getting the proper nutrients because all you are getting is sugars that metabolize to fat or saturated fats and trans fats that put the weight on…
You can actually eat a LOT of really nutritious food and not gain weight.
Should use Extra Virgin Olive oil instead of vegetable oils…its a good fat, healthy for brain…
Microwaves kill nutrients too, and most microwavable dishes are already frozen so have been blanched…

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Yes, you are right about all that. I eat a lot of meat even though it’s expensive; I shop sales. Sometimes pork is on sale so I buy a lot of pork and freeze it. Or chicken etc. Whatever is cheapest at the time. On my diet I can eat as much meat as I want (within reason) It burns fat. I can also eat as much non-fat dairy products and vegetables. I usually use extra virgin olive oil. Well, I’m guilty of zapping things in the microwave.

Great information! My mom and I have been working with a holistic nutritionist for the past 6 months. She’s really taught us a lot. One thing that shocked me was MSG, which is in a lot of foods, causes anger. I hadn’t eaten it for awhile and was cleaning my body out, and then one night I ate a bag of Doritos and bam I was overflooded with anger. @77nick77 you shouldn’t really eat or drink non-fat dairy products so you know. They cause obesity. They give pigs skim milk to make them fat. Whole milk is better for you.

Something else that surprised me is diet soda is horrible for you. Any soda really isn’t good, but diet stripes your teeth and bones of calcium. :sunny:

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It’s on my diet SunGirl. I’ve been eating non-fat yogurt and non-fat cottage cheese and drinking non-fat milk and losing weight. I have to be more careful with non-fat cream cheese and non-fat sour cream though. I can only eat them in limited quantities.

I eat a lot of fruits and every once in a while some veggies. I eat cereal and non-fat greek yogurt. I eat string cheese and am guilty of drinking diet sodas. I drink a lot of water too. I’ve been eating linguicia. I lost 3 lbs. when I went to my PCP yesterday. I also have been eating some tomato and basil triscuits that I’m rather fond of. Linguicia is a Portugese sausage that is very tasty. I’m half Swedish and half Portugese. I’m so bad.

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If it works for you that’s awesome. I was surprised our nutritionist said that so we switched to whole milk. I feel guilty because well I have made changes I don’t completely follow her plan. I’m going to start doing Weight Watchers while implementing Mara’s plan. :sunny:

Have you ever tried Chorizo? It’s Mexican, kind of like sausage but it only takes a little chunk at a time. It is good mixed in with scrambled eggs.

I tried Weight Watchers a couple times. Their program has vastly improved since the 90’s.But I don’t like having to go to meetings so often. And I couldn’t afford it. I think it cost like $25.00 or $30.00 a month which actually isn’t that bad. I’ve heard a few places that they are one of the best programs out there.

In my mid twenties I lost about 80lbs with their program. I was so motivated then. If I didn’t have enough points for dinner, I would exercise. I was a fanatic, I weighed and measured everything I put in my mouth. It’s a good program. It is a pain to go to the meetings, but I really think I could use the support. I’ve tried doing their old program on my own at home, and it didn’t work out. Their new program is supposed to be a lot easier. We’ll see. Good luck getting the rest of your weight off. You can do it! :sunny:

Chorizo is originally Portuguese, but there is a Mexican kind that is similar… I’ve had the Portuguese before… very not so good for you though it tastes good…

All that stuff being mentioned here with low fat and artificial sweeteners is not good…

Check this out

note this

  1. Equal
    Tea Leaf: We killed our ants by mixing Equal packets with apple juice. It is a neurotoxin to the ants. Scary that people put these in their coffee.

Equal is aspartame…its not just a neurotoxin for ants, it is for people too!
According to a 2002 report from Penn State University, headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome, epilepsy, fibromyalgia and bi-polar disorder have been blamed on aspartame…

I can speak from experience that my wife who committed suicide began using a lot of aspartame products back around 2010 - 11…and developed chronic fatigue, more than usual migranes, and some mild symptoms of bipolar - more on the depression side… but there was also a manic side where she would spend all night up on the computer…she began seeing a therapist in 2011 and prior to that she had been totally against therapy and was into healthy living… Besides many external factors, aspartame poisoning was one issue that seems culprit in leading her down a slippery path… she became pretty much addicted to Crystal Light products… I can look back and see how she changed along the same time line of using that stuff…

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I’m so sorry about your wife. Aspartame is scary stuff. It’s amazing it’s legal! It’s funny stores have a section for organic food. It should be the other way around where this is food and this is fake food. If people changed their diets it would cut down on so much disease. I believe people are becoming more aware though. :sunny:

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I found out that organic farmers have to pay to farm organic, whereas regular farmers dont have to…it’s one reason organic foods are more expensive… and you also have the GMO companies opposing them…kind of like big oil opposing alternative energies…
We are going to try and grow a good garden here next year… I don’t have much this year. I have totally organic soil and can get organic seeds locally. Another thing is that if the soil is depleted of trace minerals the food grown in it will also be lacking in some minerals. Unfortunately many areas of the US have depleted soil from years of use and misuse without replenishing the soil…
It’s amazing the amount of sheer research you have to do to make sure you are getting top nutrition…

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As a Muslim, I am forbidden to eat pork, and Islam condemns pork for a very good reason - it is full of worms and even when you cook it well, the worms do not completely die. Pigs eat anything, even their own faeces and it gets into their bloodstream and muscle. When people consume pork, they are in fact consuming all that the pigs eat, including the rubbish they ate. It eventually builds up in the body and can cause slow-emerging diseases in the body. So scientifically pork is very unhealthy. As you said, it is also very fatty.

That too. The meat is just not good for you. It is also forbidden in the Old testament / Torah…

I finally weighed myself this morning and I lost 5 more lbs!! I will continue eating healthy - I have been eating a lot of fish - low carb -high in essential Omega 3’s - high in protein, this is the way to go!

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Cool…I just had this discussion last night…fish is the best meat by far… Salmon is #1…you have to sort of be careful to avoid too much mercury fish…

This is a fairly good list

these are the good ones, but also try and avoid farmed…you have to sort of research individual farms as some are ok but some are pretty nasty
Fish and Seafood with Very Low Mercury Levels

Catfish
Mullet
Flounder, fluke, plaice, sand dabs
Herring
Anchovies
Pollock
Crayfish
Haddock
Sardine
Hake
Salmon
Oyster
Tilapia