#RSS 2.0 RSS .92 Atom 0.3 next MyDiet » Feed MyDiet » Comments Feed MyDiet » 20 Healthy Foods that Turned Out to Be Unhealthy Comments Feed [p?c1=2&c2=17622616&cv=2.0&cj=1] MyDiet * Diets * Weight loss * Fitness * Recipes * Videos * Books * The Lab * Back Burner * Advertising [Menu_______] Advertise on Mydiet? Click here Don't Miss * Wall Street Diet Review * Juice Diet Review * The Cheater’s Diet Review * HCG Diet Review * A Diet Without Vegetables – Is It Possible? * * * * * ____________________ Home > Weight loss > 20 Healthy Foods that Turned Out to Be Unhealthy 20 Healthy Foods that Turned Out to Be Unhealthy Share on Facebook Tweet Google +1 bigstock-Muesli-Bars-44898367 Photo credit: Bigstock 1. Muesli Many people make the move from consuming sugary cereals or fatty fried breakfasts to eating a portion of muesli in the mornings. This is no surprise, as muesli is often specifically marketed to the health-conscious crowd. You may be dismayed, however, to learn that the type of muesli that you can find in most stores is actually quite bad for your body if you are trying to shed fat or maintain a healthy weight. Specifically, muesli often provides as many as 500 calories per serving, has a high fat content, and contains an unacceptable amount of added sugar. You’d be better off eating fresh fruit or even a plain doughnut. If you hate the idea of giving up muesli, but are committed to eating healthily, the best thing that you can do is make your own muesli. To make muesli, you need buy oats, sunflower seeds, a small amount of dried fruit, and some macadamia nuts (though you should be conservative when adding the fruit and nuts in order to keep the sugar and fat content of your muesli under control). With a serving of fat free milk, this homemade muesli will give you the fuel you need to start your day without causing your blood sugar levels to skyrocket. 1 of 22 Also popular * fustian24 Fat and proteins are great for dieters. Sugars and grains aren’t. When will you people get the message? + deb_gib Too much protein is very _unhealthy_ for anyone ( animal protein is especially hard on one’s kidneys ). The “good” fats are what one can benefit from , stay completely away from the LDL fats. Sugar in any form is very bad for humans in anything more than a small amount as it raises the blood sugar sharply and creates a steep “crash” which then requires the person to have more sugar to get out of the crash ,’wash, rinse,repeat’. Limited serving sizes and servings of fruit are best to keep blood sugar within the healthy boundaries .Fruit does not fill up and sustain a full feeling in one’s stomach which leads to snacking and overeating. Carb counting is also necessary to keep control of one’s weight and general health. The carb to fiber content ratio in food is important. (see:carb formula). Red Dwarf Short Wheat (White flour !) is the evil demon of our society. All breads and cereals contain RDSWheat (even canned soup contains white flour for thickening,etc.), it turns to poison in the human body. Grains are very _good_ for anyone, in a variety of ways. You really need to educate yourself about grains, your ignorance is blinding. Quinoa, millet, teff, spelt,brown rice etc. are all very healthy and high in fiber and nutrition. o fustian24 I will grant you that there are grains that are better and worse for you, but having grain be a major portion of your diet is still probably a bad idea. And Quinoa isn’t even a true grain. o pbrower2a We really should eat less mammal meat. We should not eat meals perfectly suited to the family dog, let alone the cat. We are apes — not dogs. o http://www.theenglishrag.com/ Tony Butler However, the artificial sweeteners Aspartame, and the GM corn syrup concoctions cause a craving carbohydrates, and create fat to be retained by the body. + Looli When it becomes true. + John Wheeler Not only great for dieters, also better choices for diabetics. Carbohydrates cause blood glucose levels to spike. That goes for fast carb and so-called slow carbs. They’re all carbohydrates, in other words, sugar. + Proud Skeptic True Dat. I always feel best and am at my best weight when I’m on Atkins. + Lil Because we know that places where people eat lots of fresh fruit (which contains sugar) are fat as holy f***. And those Japanese and Koreans who eat a lot of white rice? All that rice, they’re fatasses. Oh wait, they’re some of the most slender people on planet earth in 1st world countries. Not saying fat and protein aren’t GREAT, but everything in moderation, except water and green veggies (which you can pretty much eat an unlimited amount of without harm, provided you listen to your body and don’t try to drown yourself or stuff yourself stupid) + Briton I was just wondering the same thing. If I hear “be careful of saturated fat because it raises your cholesterol” on more god damn time… + Robyn Complex carbs are the body’s first and main source of immediate energy. Complex carbs are processed into glycogen which is stored in the muscles and liver. Glycogen does not convert to fat. The fat you eat is the fat that directly inhabits your cells and blocks insulin as well as non-fat soluble nutrient absorption. Excess protein is proven over and over AND over again to be a direct cause of breast, colorectal, and kidney cancer. When will you protein and fat promoters start taking physiology classes and learn how the human body functions? The high-fat, high-protein fad is helping to strengthen the epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in the US and Europe. The world’s populations that depend on rice, potatoes, legumes and other grains are proven to be the world’s healthiest populations. o Trillstar Is there a healthy population that subsists on sugar? + JaiGuru I disagree with the grains bit. Whole grains, including healthy doses of flax seed have routinely mad ea huge difference in my weight loss efforts. I more or less always experience better results in switching to whole grains than by removing that form of carb entirely. Remember folks: You need servings of ALL the macro nutrients. Attempting to cut one out is bad at best, and potentially dangerous. Anyone telling you to cut one out does not know what they’re talking about. Carbohydrates/fats/proteins NEVER = bad. + Randy Two ways: 1:Advertisers and big companies (with agendas to sell you unhealthy, cheap foods for larger profits) will be legislated against and forced to comply with new laws disallowing any form of “creative advertising” (read: Lying). 2: People will try it for themselves and see that as long as Intake < Output, they will lose weight. I personally have lost 21kg on a high-fat, no carb/sugar diet. Unfortunately, what we'll see instead of a variety of supposedly reputable scientists (who are getting paid to support whichever theory at the time) telling us entirely different things, and we'll see more and more fad diets. + Michele I think the important thing to remember is “healthy fats” in moderation. By healthy fats I mean things like an avocado, walnuts, and almonds, etc and not cookies and cupcakes. So many people want to believe it’s still okay to slather things in butter and cheese. Then they wonder why they are over weight and have health issues. I don’t see the reason in arguing about food here. I ask myself when I purchase something… would my grandmother recognize this as food? People born in the 1920’s (aka grandparents and now great grandparents if they took care of themselves) ate a lot more vegetables than what most people do today. They ate a LOT less sugar. Their food didn’t have any of the chemicals (dyes, pesticides, and preservatives) that it has today. Nothing came out of a box pretty much. My grandmother had a sweet tooth but otherwise ate the same food, never out of a box ever day and lived to 88. She only died because she was a smoker and had complications. Her mother died at 92. They ate balanced meals with proteins, healthy fats and minimal carbohydrates. Knowing these things is not the challenge… resisting the yummy temptations is! + Fred Johnson Animal protein is bad for everyone. A whole food plant based diet is the only healthy way to go. * Adam Perpetuating the old lie that saturated fat leads to elevated cholesterol. When will they get it right. Sat at doesn’t increase cholesterol leading to diabetes, diabetes causes damage to blood vessels and the cholesterol level rises to repair the damage. If you want to lose weight eat mostly fresh or lightly steamed fruits and vegetables with some protein. it doesn’t even have to be lean or fat free although I would skip the deep frier. + Kaitensatsuma Actually, if you want to lose weight, Move Your Ass. + sleat Very true. The agenda is to keep us addicted to corn syrup and white flour. Wouldn’t mind fried chicken if it was light on the breading (fried salty chicken-skin instead)…and fried in coconut oil! But could just as easily go an eggs benedict with smoked salmon, spinach, and hollandaise! Yum! * Rachel Well the good news is that I haven’t eaten anything on this list in ten years or more. I was considering trying the cereal but if I have to make it myself then why bother? * adfljkafklj Sushi’s unhealthy? Japan still tops in life expectancy at an average of 83 years old. + matt227 Just tuna. I wouldn’t eat it more than twice a week. In time I even think its mercury content will be labelled by law. o newsmom4968 and with the leakage of radioactive stuff from fukushima, i suspect we should be on high alert for fish caught in japanese waters.. + Marco Contrary to popular belief, sushi and sashimi do not form the mainstay of the average Japanese person’s diet. Fish (together with rice) is the mainstay, but it is not always raw and comprises of a whole host of species other than tuna. + jdege Japan is healthy because they eat Natto, which is rich in K2. The French are healthy beacause they eat full-fat cheeses from grass-fed cows, which are rich in K2. Americans are not healthy, because when we eat animal fat, it’s from grain-fed animals, so we’re all K2 deficient, and so we get calcium deposiiting in our arteries instead of our bones. o san san A very nicely precised answer! * Mercura Sunglasses Zero fat Fage Greek yogurt with Spectrum Ground flaxseed with berries and plain apple sauce is my favorite high protein right fat delicious mix! * Tal Heathful/Unheathful. If they were healthy, they would be alive. * doctorzombe I would rather give up a year of my life than do without Ahi. * JCW43 The quickest, easiest, healthiest, and tastiest salad dressing ever is simply a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to lightly coat your greens and veges, then a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and toss lightly. Try it. You will love it. + deb_gib Don’t be such a know-it -all, just because you “love ” it doesn’t mean everyone will like it or tolerate it well. By the way, you didn’t ‘invent’ oil & lemon on salad. * Gary Fischman The part about energy bars is bunk. I’ve never seen one with 500 calories. Most are under 300. Next time do a little research! The rest of what you say is valid. * newsmom4968 and too little exercise! * IvonaPoyntz Making own muesli not a bad idea. * Scott So to sum it up – everything you eat in unhealthy * gary kaposta Skim milk is more fattening than fully fatted milk. Glycemic index skim…32….whole…..27!!! Eat healthy fat with every meal,,,30% of fat intake should be saturated(Nothing fried/hydrogenated), Fat slows the time(Transient time)it takes for carbohydrates(…the body converts all carbohydrates…fruits, vegetables and starches into sugar) to convert into glucose thus limiting the production of the fat storing hormone insulin. + mike932 or just eat fiber with skim milk * Grey Define for me the word “pedant” + alfred ferguson A pedant is one who “pays too much attention” (Webster’s Collegiate) to “book learning”. However, I think that you can’t learn “too much” from “books”–beats hell out of the potential whips and scorns and, occasionally, fatalities of literal experience–which, of course, is essential and instructive as well as complementary. * Joe Smith Make sure you point which brands to get and where yo can get these brands. Recipes would be nice sometimes instead of branding everything. * LindsyLoo Saturated fat has now found to be ok. In fact research shows it can prevent heart disease. We need to eat fats (not hydrogenated or vegetable oils) and cut out carbs and garins. keep up with the health research by medical doctors and you will find this is true. * Mia Rabovsky the whole “make your own at home” message is the only good part about this article. otherwise, i think it tries to scare people away from too many foods. i was appalled that they think mercury poisoning from eating too much tuna is a serious concern. i mean ya it does happen, but you have to be eating tuna or swordfish or mackrel or yellowtails at least 7 days per week or more for that to happen to you. seriously if more people ate fish – we would all be much healthier! * Keepin_it_simple If you have a regular exercise routine you can ignore this article. Carb counting is not the answer. Push up counting on the other hand…. Honestly, starting an exercise routine is all you need. You will learn/want to be more healthy with your food choices as you progress. The body needs to sweat or it’ll become toxic. It’s as simple as that. It’s like changing the oil in a car, regularly. + Rich It’s so true, so many of these “health” articles are focused almost entirely on calories, and that’s not all there is to it. Fact is, you can get away with a lot of this stuff if you have a regular exercise routine. Also, I really don’t like that “energy bars” on here. Why? Because I’m pretty sure I never thought of them as being “healthy” food, but just food.. to give you energy.. they’re good for keeping up your energy if you’re, say, going for a ridiculously long walk or something, for which you need the calories. But have they ever really been considered as a way to lose weight? + just me sweating is only a way of cooling down ,the liver kidneys and spleen will help stop your body from becoming toxic (septicemia) its not necessary to sweat when exercising but it is necessary to get “puffed” breathing deeply getting the heart pumping for at least 30 mins 2/3 times a week * SoitDroitFait They actually did a study a while back where they put three groups on 1500 calorie diets made up of 90% fats, 90% proteins, and 90% carbohydrates. In a week, the first group lost a couple pounds, the second group lost a little less than the first, and the third group actually gained weight. So, yes, eating carbs will make you put on fat, even with a controlled calorie diet. + Guest holy crap. THIS is where the “confusions” come in…. NO BODY is identical to the guy next to them. so, OF COURSE….. in that study “some” people will lose weight and “some” will gain. no one can eat the exact same diet as another person and expect identical results. that’s no confusion what so ever. But the same is true of the ice-cream diet. the pure psyllium-husk diet. or the pure-butter diet. if you level the playing field by caloric content alone. that only makes perfect sense. You CAN…. “lose weight” eating ice cream….. (OR by eating absolutely nothing) that would work , also……. :-/ * dan its not correct to label high calorie foods as dangerous or unhealthy…a calorie surplus is what makes you gain fat. Everything has calories and also everyone knows eating fat doesent necessarily make you fat. Fat has 9 cals per gram and carbs and protein have 4 per gram, so it could make you gain fat more easily but at the end of the day like i said its down to a calorie balance. * Dorian A lot of what they describe is only correct with an “if” attached, so mutli grain products do not have to be highly processed for instance, if they are then of course they are unhealthy. Fats do make you fat. They are calories and they make you fat. The MYTH they do not (and it is a myth, definitely and unequivocally) is because of the Atkins diet. + mookow I am so sick of people saying “a calorie is a calorie” and that there is no difference in weight gain or loss from the type of calorie consumed. Gasoline contains 11 calories per gram. If I drink gasoline, I’m going to gain more weight then if I were to eat the equivalent weight of carbs or fat? A car engine works because of the calories (energy) stored in the gasoline, which are released as heat to power the engine. You know what has a higher energy density than gasoline? Magnesium metal. Instead of putting higher octane fuel in the car, go throw some magnesium shavings into your gas tank. I’m sure you will get more miles to the gallon that way! To be oblivious to the fact that the body reacts differently to different types of foods you put in is equivalent to saying taking 100 milligrams of morphine is going to do nothing but give you one calorie of energy. + sleat If you eat 100 calories worth of coconut oil, or 100 calories of pasta, I’ll guarantee that you won’t want as much more food after the coconut oil, as you do after eating the pasta. It’s an empirical, biological fact! * just me! the best ,easiest, most healthiest ,cheapest way of losing weight ,which EVERYONE can do ,including diabetics…is just eat …LESS!! that’s all there is to it , there is no magic formula and no quick fix, all that is needed is “willpower” ..and that’s free,,,there is one instance where fat is an absolute necessity ,as part of one’s diet ,Vitamin D require’s this to help it’s absorption in to our system , this seriously applies to M.S sufferer’s where their need for Vitamin D , is approximately 3/4 times more then normal circumstances * Byron C Mayes The problem here is that the article keeps equating “unhealthy” with “inappropriate for weight loss.” They aren’t the same thing. Even the best “energy bars” aren’t designed for weight loss. They’re designed to provide an energy boost — usually high caloric — to someone who needs it for working out, sports, heavy lifting, or other calorie-burning activity. You’re certainly not going to lose weight by eating an energy bar — or pretty much anything else — and then sitting on your butt for hours. Besides, not everyone wants to lose weight. Some want to gain and build muscle, some want to maintain, and some just want to remain “in good health.” None of that necessarily means losing weight. + Stevie Mac If the article is right that there is shitloads of sugar in energy bars, they’ve got a good case its unhealthy. * rogern1967 Oh no…..we are all going to die!!!!! * melbeetoast Fat isn’t bad for you. Lots of things that are high in fat are healthy: avocados, nuts, coconuts, etc. Fat in food making you fat is a myth. Just don’t eat processed junk and get most of your sugars from fresh fruits. Also exercise. It’s not rocket science. * FMaz The comments on energy bar miss the point of what Energy bar are for: Energy bar are a supplement in … Energy (aka. Calories). You’re not suppose to take them when you want to loose weight, but when you have trouble eating enought for the energy you’re spending… so it avoid loosing weight, muscle mass, or feeling dizzy. I’ve yet to see fat maraton runners. Their weight is not a problem for them because they spend huge amount of calories (aka Energy). An energy bar that have few calories is useless. I want my energy bar to be packed with sugar (fast energy) and calories for “long term”. I don’t want to fill my stomac with too much food, so I don’t feel sick while running, and I also want potasium, to help avoiding cramps. If I could take something the size of a Chewing gum that would give me 2000 calories and have a good share of Carbohydrate (sugar), it would be the perfect Energy supplement. A cofee and an energy bar are 2 very differents things. “Energy drink” are often more like cofee, and have a completely different purpose. An energy drink don’t keep you awake with “Energy”, neither does a cofee. * Ranlyn You are totally right! + ThirdEyeOpen Finally people have opened their eyes! Grains and mass sugar is exactly what should be limited in our diets. Fats and proteins are the way forward. Obese people tend to rarely have fresh meat or the correct fats, and they should diet properly not with all this low fat&wholegrain stuff. o Rebecca White Well I know that I gain weight when I have too much fat, and having inflammatory problems, if I eat too much protein it makes everything ache and makes my allergies bad. Also I have diabetes and too much protein is not good for diabetics because digesting proteins is hard on the kidneys and diabetics have to watch out for their kidneys. The answer as to why Atkins works for some people (for awhile, I’ve never known anybody who it worked for in the long run because people don’t stay on it and it makes them feel like sh*t)) is that it makes you sick. You are not getting proper nutrition. You are not getting your vitamins and minerals and anti-oxidents. Sick people lose weight. Now when I don’t eat very much fat and eat lots of fruits and vegetables and enough healthy carbohydrates to curb the hunger (potatoes, whole grains, pasta, even white pasta) I lose weight. I don’t eat meat or dairy and I feel absolute wonderful. That’s enough proof for me. The whole high protein thing is nonsense. Nobody but anorexics ever have a protein deficiency. You can lose weight and be sick and feel terrible, or you can lose weight and be healthy and feel good. I prefer the latter, thanks. # Sylvie sounds like you need to heal your gut in the first place that actually is the cause for all your health issues . what caused that was excess sugar and carbs (so you developed diabetes) and processed/junk food. you most likely have systemic yeast (so much toxins from dying off yeast that you developed allergies from overloaded kidneys/liver with dead yeast toxins) and most likely a bunch of other digestive symptoms you’ve had for years. sounds like you have ‘leaky gut’ -perforated digestive tract-and symptoms caused by the immune system reacting to undigested food that gets in the blood stream thru your perforated digestive tract. because of all the toxins you most likely have toxic kidney/liver overload and cant process protein for that reason. You have to change your diet and heal your gut first. For sure you are not going to do that by eating refined carbs/sugar that caused your issues in the first place. Lots of learning for you :) Good luck. @ brimstonesacrifice . Are you Rebecca’s doctor? Are you her nutritionist? You assume to know what type of diabetes she has. Assuming and giving advice is DANGEROUS. @ Sylvie i’m not diagnosing ANYTHING. You don’t understand what im saying at all. Understanding the mechanism of getting sick is key and that’s what i did. Healing of gut -that applies to most people that are ill with anything, and for sure to those with any ‘autoimmune’ issues. Changing your food to get healthy is always a step #1. So why don’t you re-read what i wrote and try to understand it :) @ LCDR USN Ret Some folks never let the facts get in the way of a good harangue! Makes them feel special. @ Kimberly Lira How do you heal your gut? @ Sylvie with the right food Kimberly. no other way. Gluten is a huge culprit as it permeates gut and undigested food get into the blood stream causing huge issues. This is really simplifying it- but it all is actually very simple: key changes: no sugar, no flours, nothing from cans, nothing processed. Eat only natural food -as nature made it- buy only from perimeter of a grocery store and go cook it all yourself. Eat meats, fats, butter, sour cream, eggs, some veggies, nuts. Little fruit. Use sea salt, we need good salt. Drink water(only when thirsty), tea, coffee is fine. Its all very simple. After 2-3 weeks you will not believe the difference. It’s ALL about the food. cheers @ http://www.stephenjones.biz/ Stephen Jones I wouldn’t necessarily dis the fruit, because the purple and blues and reds are SO very nutritious, but the amount of fructose is the main concern. For many reasons we all need to keep our blood sugar as low as possible before and after we eat, and also because we don’t want to feed the candida and other yeasts in our gut. The health benefits of fruit is so great that it is in my opinion, worth checking into products like Juice Plus or other similar organic fruit extracts that give you all the benefit, but without the fructose. ~ Peace! @ Sylvie you right. thats why i said ‘little fruit’. i think each person needs to judge how they FEEL after eating fruit. e.i. – i cant tolerate higher sugar fruit like apples, grapes and for sure i cant eat fruit AFTER meals. My stomach feels awful – bloated and gassy. I think we need to get back in touch how the food makes us feel as well. The best way to tell- A GOOD DIGESTIVE SYSTEM SHOULD NOT BE FELT OR HEARD. :)) @ Arcanek Watch out for sea salt. What gets sold as sea salt is often sodium chloride from seawater, which is just plain table salt. What you want is whole, unrefined salt. @ Sylvie of course. im totally aware of that :) @ Biophys No it is not, and no it does not. Gluten is a name given to a part some grains foods which contains a protein called gliadin. Some people are allergic to gliadin, causing a disease called variously “Gluten Enteropathy” and “Coeliac Disease” (Celiac in USA). If you are not allergic to gliadin, then eating gluten which contains gliadin is not dangerous. @ traderjim7 Kimberly, You heal your gut with avocado, probably the most nutritious food you can eat. Another helpful food for that is organic yogurt, but be sure to avoid the kind with sugar in it. Remember to eat a good amount of roughage with fruits and vegetables, so that your food will go through you properly without any issues. @ Nabeel Saeed Hassan Sylvie, since you can’t eat fruits without feeling bloated or gassy, maybe its Your gut you need to heal. Carbs didn’t ruin your gut and give you yeast; handsanitizers and antibiotics and UV filters did. We ARE our microbiome, and our modern lifestyles complete ignore this fact. If starches caused diabetes, ALL of south east Asia would be diabetic and dead. (it isn’t). Why? because our genes are a lot smarter than you realize. 5000 years is plenty of time for genes to adapt to changes in nutrition. Which is why its no accident that grains became a staple of human everywhere, and in fact gave the grain eaters a huge advantage over those who still ate tubers for starch. Humans and grains co-evolved symbiotically. Besides you have to be very hypocritical, or very stupid to promote dairy consumption but prohibit grains. What stone-age man drank cow’s milk? No, our bodies are NOT the same as the stone age, nor is anything that we even think of as food. Your whole sticks and stones diet is therefore based on a lie. @ Trillstar Starches aren’t the main culprit of diabetes. The problem is starches combined with added sugars. Yeast survives on sugar. When you eat sugar (and thereby, carbs in general), you are feeding the Candida. 5000 years is a drop in the bucket when it comes to adaptability. This is the reason people are continuing to develop diabetes, because we haven’t evolved to be able to process all of these agricultural grains, which didn’t show up on earth until roughly 7500 years ago. Before that, humans survived on meat and foraging. That means nuts, berries, some vegetables, some fruit. No chips. No pasta. No wheat. No bread. # Neal All false. You may feel bad for the first week or two on low-carb, but that is withdrawal. It’s just like the heroin addict who tries to quit. They feel real crappy while their body is reeling from the heroin deficiency, and with your logic, they might say, “Well heroin must be good for me.” Our whole society is addicted, strung out, on carbs and sugar. You may have a particular sensitivity to protein, but you are a rare case. More likely, you are sensitive to a certain ingredient in the meats you have tried. ( And if you are vegan or have tried to get protein from exclusively non-animal sources, THAT’s your problem). Our ancestors before agriculture ate mostly meat proteins and fats, and what little carbs they got came from berries and nuts. We are descended from that stock, and our physiology is almost identical to theirs. There are still whole societies today who live on a low-carb diet, such as in the jungles of South America and above the Arctic Circle. And guess what? Diabetes is almost unheard-of in those societies. The diet humans ate for thousands of years pre-agriculture is not the problem. I cannot believe you seriously think that potatoes and pasta are good for diabetics. I have been almost completely carb-free for three months, and I feel great. All my cholesterol and other blood work is great. Now if I were to eat a bowl of pasta right now, then I would feel like crap, and also start back craving the carbs that made me that way. Stop believing the government and Big Agri. @ AUricle Neal, RW’s “problem” is that she’s diabetic and has probably already damaged her kidneys to a degree. Any normal person who follows the whole Atkins plan through ALL 4 stages will emerge a healthier, fitter, slimmer person. As far as being tough on the kidneys, the ‘induction’ phase of Atkins will put you into ketosis (not acidosis) which could give you kidney pain, BUT if you’re drinking the amount of water he recommended, you will eliminate the extra ketones without causing problems. All know is, when I did it, my carb cravings disappeared totally by the 5th-6th day, and once you get past that, induction can go on indefinitely until you’re close to the desired weitght. It literally fell off chunks at a time for me! @ Sylvie i had exactly same experience ..and ive been on ‘atkin’s version’ for over 12 years now. i call it caveman diet though. i have tonnes of energy, no cravings, i sleep like a corpse for 5-6 hrs, perfect digestion, im skinny and have great skin. :))) it’s unreal how different i feel from what i used to be all my life before that- lethargic, no energy to do anything, exhausted after a normal work day, could sleep until noon every day and still feel not rested, 3 pm crashes, weight gain, etc ect. what amazes me is that people are sick and fat and still defend the bad food they eat. the lack of common sense is shocking. cheers! @ Smart_Tech_Spinner What people did millions of years ago… must be good for us today, right? (Like those 30 year life-expectancies) # scott schor I’m diabetic and had a heart attack. My nutritionist from cardiac rehab encouraged me to up my proteins and healthy fats, and to discontinue all processed foods. It’s been three years, I lost 90 pounds and am considered a rockstar by my cardiologist’s office. As I upped my protein intake (generally 30% of my daily intake, I drink more water to assist my kidneys. # disqus_wreTySFzQM I quit eating fruit and wheat products except one cheat day a week October 18. I weighed 277 that day. Yesterday jan 27 I weighed myself I was 237.8 (digital scale. I would suggest if you have problems with protein drink a lot of water. Also get rid of dairy if you are using any for protein. farmers put cattle on skim milk to fatten them up # WeAreNotAmused Atkins was mainly discredited because it had too many bad fats in it. As for inflammation, mine is caused by grains, gluten, soy and dairy, along with sweeteners, carageenan, too many simple carbs eaten out of proportion, the wrong oils, the wrong protein (commercially produced proteins are harmful, but grass-fed, organic, free-range, eaten in proportion are part of a healthy, balanced diet (find a good anti-inflammation plan, which has helped me cut inflammation/swelling significantly, along with some modified Paleo). I’ve already normalized all my glucose numbers that way. I scarcely ever consume any grains, nor white potatoes. Fruit servings need to be done proportionately, as well. There is no one-size fits all eating plan. # OstaraBaby Rebecca, is it all proteins you have trouble with or just animal proteins? Animal proteins are highly acidic and could be causing your inflammation. You might try some beans (the hard kind you have to cook, not already canned). The little red beans I usually eat have only 60 cal per serving and 7 g of protein plus they give me fiber. Kidney beans are a higher protein bean too. Quinoa is also a good vegetable protein source, and it picks up the flavor of foods it is cooked with. So when we make meatloaf, stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbage, etc at home, we use a 93% or better ground beef and mix 1 part beef to 2 parts quinoa. That cuts our consumption of animal protein to a third (a little over ONE ounce per 4 oz serving of the dish) and still almost 20 grams of protein. If you eat NO meat at all, quinoa is still very versatile – you can use it anywhere you would have used rice, as a side dish or with veggies mixed in. Personally, I try to eat like my grandparents, before processed foods became so prevalent. I don’t avoid any food component – I include carbs, fats and proteins – and I feel it is a mistake to exclude any of them. Our ancestors evolved eating them all, so our metabolism is geared to being supplied with them all. Just stay away from anything processed (ie, my carbs are complex). # Trillstar I’m diabetic as well and I have to disagree with you. Of course, if you indulge in fatty food, you will gain weight. This is because fat is more calorie dense than protein or carbohydrates. I also engage in this annoying balancing act when it comes to diet. One thing I can tell you for certain is that carbs. ALL CARBS are the enemy of the modern diet. All carbs eventually turn into sugar. Diabetics have trouble processing sugar. Simple enough. Stop eating sugar=stop eating carbs. That doesn’t mean you supplement your diet with fatty red meats. It means avoid potatoes, whole grains, and especially white pasta. Your chances of dying from a blood-sugar induced heart infarction is far greater than your dying from Kidney complications. # John Moser Atkins recommended we eat less starch. He was right. Loonies recommended we eat 50 pounds of bacon and zero starch. # ArooMadazda Glad that is working for you, but the exact opposite is true for me. When I eat wheat and too many carbs, I feel bad, can’t sleep, and gain weight. When I stay away from the above, I feel great, lose weight and sleep all night. I guess it goes to show that not everyone is the same. * Idnylar You got that right! * http://www.cheese.com/ John Goatbirth The sushi situation is such a bugger – it would be really damn healthy, but for the mercury content. * izahavinpizza1 boy, could I go for a white rice & fried chicken sandwich on nice thick white bread * http://www.nwidesigns.com Kevin Morrison Moderation is the key, if you ask the right moron everything can be listed as bad for you. Its all about balance and if you balance your diet most all this nonsense about what is and is not healthy means squat! * Akgrandma No Hammibal, you are acting like a Dodo. The reasoning goes like this: we are apes (by some people’s contention;) apes eat meat; we can (and should) eat meat also. Let’s don’t warp the subject into something it is not. * http://stephenjones2013.wordpress.com/ Stephen Jones Some fats are very bad and some fats are good for you. When will fustian24 get the message? * SupeRed09 What’s this? Energy Bars have actual energy in them? Well I never…! * jonas (guest) Kind of an obvious set of articles, for the most part. Of course consumerist eating habits rely on a lot of dumb that should maybe be pointed out. Granola bars and prepared salads an unhealthy grab at our wallet, gee who knew food product designers were so unethical? We’re up the creek health-wise from eating and don’t even see how it happened. Scoundrels!! Eat less, eat better, eat less processed, and eat enough (or you) good suitable food you’ve properly educated yourself about. And yes being active however you can is a panacea. * cjhall You need another brand of Greek yogurt, then. You’re buying some kind of Franken-yogurt. Fage Total 0% Plain, which is also my favorite and should be the only kind a person buys, contains only Grade A Pasteurized Skimmed Milk, Live Active Yogurt Cultures (L. Bulgaricus, S. Thermophilus, L. Acidophilus, Bifidus, L. Casei). Copied directly from the container. Add your own flavor and sweetness with fresh fruit. If you buy it already flavored, then yeah, you’re going to get some weird ingredients. * Decom Poster The obvious here is not that all of these are unhealthy options, but that it may seem to be very difficult to get unprocessed stuff in USA. Tomato sauce for example, here the option is to buy tomato in a can? pureed tomato? Why don’t you buy natural tomatoes, onion, garlic, fresh basil, olive oil and sea salt? Then cook everything and you’ll get real tomato sauce. Artificial sweeteners are not the problem here, te problem is that you can drink as much as you can and you’ll never feel full. Can you eat 10 oranges? Don’t think so, but it is very easy to drink 2 pints of orange juice with all the natural sugar and excess vitamins. Natural sugar is still sugar and any excess will finish in your gut and buttocks. Control yourself, drink coffee without sugar, water alone and learn to cook something from natural ingredients for God’s sake! * Ellis Richards I think the biggest idea is that people think grains are totally good for you. They are LESS “good” than meats. and yes, too many calories from any source makes ya fat. logically. Ain’t no confusion. the “argument” is mostly about meat. in today’s society, MEAT is getting a bad bad rap…. way too much bad press. + Scott White Well the “bad press” is there for a reason…reasons i’m SURE you disagree with. Even with “proof” or stats or experiments…I’m SURE you’d say they aren’t good enough for one reason or another…just the same as someone with the opposite argument would say. For alot of people some “proof” isn’t good enough. The real question is…can a person be healthy and fit…without meat. Is it possible? I don’t expect you to answer this..i expect the vegans to prove it (many of them have, and many of them fail). * mark Isn’t lots of calories the point? I mean im sure if you just sit on your ass and do nothing you will gain weight, but if you do anything active, such as spend the better part of your day climbing a large mountain, a high calorie light weight source of protein like an energy bar is great. Particularly if its a hot summer day, something with sugar and salt in it is great, since you lose so much sweating. * Scott White So…your solution? I mean it’s almost as if…we should be more like cavemen? i think your forgetting how different times were…rape was considered almost normal…pillage and plundering…people also did not nearly live as long. It almost sounds like you think they had it…all figured out, or you admire them. I personally would rather deal with the school shootings than the constant death that “war” seems to bring…and that is just as old. * Scott White Good post man: ) * Scott White Well…many people agree i’m sure…and many will disagree…the average joe and educated nutritionist’s alike. My question is…what would are “ancestors” have done…IF they had the opportunities like us… + scofflaw What do those old ancestors know anyway? They are all dead. * Max_Freedom Fat from nuts is nothing to be concerned about.This is silly. * Shelley_B The whole diet discussion is a crazy one. Okay, I don’t eat the mentioned foods since I don’t like sugar. But seriously, why do people fuss over grains or proteins. I hate low fat food, since it’s tasteless. The key is to eat only what your body needs. The problem is excess. I always asked myself where the usda found the 2000 calorie diet, but upon examining labels from so called healthy juices, I got a very good idea. The only grain I definitely eat is rice and no more than my body is able to use. By the way, proteins are not hard on your kidneys as long as they are in natural form. * Tonkatoytonya Plenty of protein in your diet is the way forward, less carb! * ARBEE Wow. After reading the comments I can see why we are so unhealthy. FACT: Animals eat healthy plants and then we eat the animals. This is a SECONDARY MACRO-nutrient. FACT: The digestive system of ANY meat eater is SHORT for a reason. You have to eat a ton of meat to get any nutrition out of it, hence the shorter digestive track. So we have 2 food groups, not 4. The first one is MICRO-nutrient. The second is MACRO-nutrient. DAIRY is NOT food. And when your body leeches calcium out of your bones so that it can process meat and dairy, stop wondering why you have osteo. The whole idea of nutrition wont kick in until its too late and you are on a hospital bed. FACT:Ask ANY doctor , anywhere. They will tell you to eat more veggies/fruit. Make a blended shake or 2 everyday with fresh fruit & veggies… NOT juice. You WILL live and feel better AND lose weight, guaranteed. I’ll bet everything I own on that statement. ;-) * Sincerely Yours Learning all the time. * potteremma Just remember, You don’t have to feel full all the time. Being hungry(Not Faint) is just fine for a couple hours before eating. Half the worlds population lives on a handful of rice each day and is very hungry all the time. A lot of them live to be over a hundred years old. * tokoloshiman eat drink and be merry , it may be your last opportunity! * Tim Brown Trail Mix exists because it is extremely dense when it comes to calories – for it’s weight it packs a lot of energy – it was created for that very purpose. So it isn’t really fair to call it “unhealthy”. Anything that is designed for athletes on the go, probably should not be eaten by people tying to lose weight. Just as a runner will load up on pasta prior to a race or marathon, somebody trying to eliminate body fat should stay away from that meal. * Gregory Brown Trail mix is called that for a reason. Its calories are meant to fuel hiking on a trail. * harryhill Really, actually FIBER is the bad one. Million of words devoted to the need to have Fiber by the tons. Read Fiber Menace. Trying to get over impactation using fiber intake did me in. * Ronin There were no overweight people in Belsen, and all the other starvation death camps, its all about stuffing food down your throats. As for grains, they contain a cocktail of chemicals to be mass produced and genetically altered. Almost everything we eat and drink, has a chemical content, we consume a mass of chemicals every day. Even the “air” we breath is laden with filth. Just start by checking out the “contents and ingredients” hidden away on the packaging. * James Holy geeze, why the continued emphasis on fat? How about this, make a google search for something along the lines of “bioavailability nutrients fat” and you will probably find lots of scholarly articles talking about how everything from caretonoids to you name it is ONLY useable by your body in the presence of dietary fat. This is because many of the vitamins and nutrients we require, especially the ones from vegetables, are fat soluble. Bottom line? If you eat a salad with lots of fat, you will get the most out of the vegetables. If you eat a salad with no added fat or sugar, you won’t get much out of them but it won’t heart you. If you eat a salad with no fat but added sugar(every low-fat dressing on the market, basically) it will actually be deleterious to your health. * nikz nik Everyone has mentioned about calories, Fats and Carbohydrates. Haven’t you all thought about people have different metabolisms. I have a fast metabolism and I burn fat quicker than people with slow metabolism; however as I am becoming older my metabolisming is becoming slower. Exercise is very important and since I have stopped going to the gym for nearly 9 months I feel crap. Tiredness, lethargic, lack of energy, lazy, feeling Ill and I am pretty sure I have gained weight even though I hardly eat junk food. I eat whole meal chapptis with healthy indian curries and eat meat once a week. But I am really addictive to Coca Cola * The Kreator Many studies in the past five to ten years have concluded that the healthiest that the population of the UK has been in the last 100 years was during WW2 when the population was pretty much forced via rationing and food shortages to eat mostly leafy and root vegetables and ALL of any animal slaughtered, which means eating ofel as well as meat, but keeping to a minimum the animals consumed as these were a very inefficient food source, the single biggest factor of this diet was the scarcity and therefore reduced indulgence in food. As well as the effect of diet, many more people were taken out of their inactive lifestyles and forced to work, meaning everyone even Royalty had sufficient exercise. We have a lot to learn from these studies. * skinnyribs2 How does the Atkins diet work then? + Michael Kendrick The Atkins diet revolves around ketone metabolism and high fat consumption. So, fat as you know it is in the form of a triglyceride. This is three fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule. In order to digest fat for energy, you have to break off the fatty acids, attach CoA to them (fatty acids are dangerously reactive without CoA on them), get them through the mitochondrial membrane, and begin exposing them to the enzymes of beta oxidation. Because CoA is involved in this process, you can only metabolize (burn) so much fat at a time. Also, there are separate pools of CoA on either side of the mitochondrial membrane because in order to pass a fatty acid through you have to swap the CoA for carnitine temporarily and then swap back on the other side. When you eat a diet that is very high in fat and extremely low in carbs, you get to the point where your CoA pools are insufficient to process all of the fat that you need to, and your body will start to make ketones out of your fat instead, mostly in your liver. These ketones proceed through your bloodstream to nourish organs and tissues in a similar way as caloric foods do, and are only made because you aren’t supplying your body with the carbs it needs in the first place. It sounds good on the surface. But it is not. For example, your brain exclusively runs on glucose or ketones–it cannot use protein or fat to nourish its cells. If you don’t give it glucose, you run the risk of damaging it. There are a lot of problems with the Atkins diet though. First of all, metabolism of all of your sources of energy are tied to hormones like glucocorticoids and mineralcorticoids, so eating essentially zero carbs will probably screw up your endocrine system. Second of all, partly as a consequence of the first point and partly as a consequence of fat metabolism, you get really dehydrated on the Atkins diet. Initially, you will be losing mostly water weight, not fat. A lot of people think of weight loss and healthy weight in terms of pounds when they should be thinking body composition–a lady can weigh 150 pounds being mostly adipose tissue and not look attractive in the slightest, or she can weigh 150 pounds being mostly lean muscle with a little bit of body fat and then she looks so good she’s out of your league. Third, and this is the decisive point for me personally, on the Atkins diet you’re eating mostly protein and fat. This has consequences for your health aside from weight loss. Eating too much protein is very hard on your kidneys and heart–that’s well-documented by hundreds of studies. Eating too much fat is more complicated because there are different kinds of fat, but with protein sources the fat is usually saturated (the worst kind for you). You always transport fat around in your body as either fatty acids attached to special transport proteins in your blood or as triglycerides in special spherical packages called chylomicrons in your blood. These chylomicrons have different names depending on which proteins are responsible for holding them together, but you’re going to be most familiar with HDL and LDL. You see, they also carry around cholesterol. Neither HDL nor LDL is “bad cholesterol” by itself–in order to become dangerous these carrier molecules need to participate in unlikely side reactions where they get oxidized, glycosylated, acetylated, etc. If that happens, they have the potential to invade your arterial walls as foam cells and contribute to atherosclerosis. As I mentioned previously, saturated fat causes LDL receptors in cells to be made less frequently (these receptors take LDL out of your blood stream and into individual cells where it can be processed safely & normally) by physically blocking some of the machinery that makes those receptors. Also, on the Atkins diet you are far more likely to be seeing oxidized LDL molecules in the first place for two main reasons: 1–most antioxidant nutrition comes in the form of carbs, such as fruits, and you need antioxidants to prevent oxidation, duh. Furthermore, antioxidants that don’t come packaged with carbs in nature STILL need carbs to be made. Example: in the first steps of glycolysis carbs can enter the pentose phosphate pathway: Glucose -> Glucose-6-Phosphate -> 6-Phosphogluconolactone + NADPH. NADPH is a critical antioxidant. The PPP is not the only source, but it is the major source of NADPH in most organisms. So yeah, carbs are necessary for proper health. 2–the sheer number of LDL molecules circulating through your blood stream is going to be much higher on the Atkins diet than it would be on a sane diet because the sheer proportion of your calories that come from fat is much higher on the Atkins diet. You’re more likely to maximize your aterial clogging and potential for heart attacks because you will have more LDL and be less able to keep it from participating in unwanted side reactions on the Atkins diet. And that is how the diet “works,”or rather, doesn’t work. I’ll say it again, the body builders are the closest so far, just don’t go popping all their bottles of dangerous supplements. o jayv58 I don’t think you answered the question, the question being if the only thing that matters is calories in / calories burned, then why will one way of eating (for example, more calories in an Atkins diet), allow one to lose weight, while eating less calories in another diet will not lead to weight loss). The logical answer can only be one of two answers, there is more to it than “calories in / calories burned” or you are actually eating less calories in the Atkins diet but just don’t realize it. # Michael Kendrick You want to know how the Atkins Diet makes you lose weight? I’ll spell it out for you: Step 1: you forcibly shut down carbohydrate metabolism. Step 2: you start using mostly fat for energy, which produces water waste. Step 3: you pee out the water waste. Step 4: once your body realizes you aren’t giving it carbs for energy, the organs that can’t even USE fat for energy start crying (not literally). Step 5: In order to free up CoA molecules, you stop digesting fat for energy through beta oxidation (the normal way) and start making ketone bodies out of the fatty acid molecules instead, primarily in your liver. Step 6: you start using these ketone molecules to try to compensate for not having any sugar that organs like your brain NEED. Step 7: these ketones smell funny, and now so does your breath, which is how anyone can tell which diet you’re on. Step 8: You will lose water weight first, which has nothing to do with calories, but is unhealthy. You will lose some fat too, but only if your calories in < calories out. The one exception is if you don't have the required micronutrients to actually process food for energy (fat for example takes pantothenic acid and niacin and flavoproteins among others), then you are starving yourself. Usually this doesn't happen because Atkins includes vegetables, which are great sources of these micronutrients. Conclusion: Provided you are not nutritionally deficient, even on the Atkins Diet your weight revolves around calories in vs calories out, but the initial weight you lose which is independent of caloric intake will be from dehydrating yourself. Congratulations on that. @ Paul_Buhl One does not need to be a bio-chemist to eat right. Use common sense and listen to your own body. Stop eating junk white flour and refined sugar, period. You can include carbs from grain, but avoid whole grain flour as well. Use real “whole” grain (not ground into a super concentrated flour state) like flour-less sprouted grain bread, and keep even those grains in lower balance with lean protein, vegetables and fat. You will know what works for you by feeling the results. # drx1 People rarely track their calories. If they do it is not for long… calories tst you don’t burn are turned to fat (storage) for your body. Having some fat is good. Some diets can cause the body to go in ‘starvation mode’ and the body will burn less calories … your metabolism goes down (you have less energy). This is why eating healthy is key – so is a healthy gut. Processes foods are bad. Processes sugars are worse. Artificial sugars are even worse still, unless your body is already wrecked. Drinking water and # WeAreNotAmused Many people are eating foods their body does not properly digest, which in turn can lead to weight gain. Reworking one’s diet to the foods your body can handle (skip all the processed crap being a huge consideration). It takes some time and experimenting, but it’s worth it in the end. # je many people do not lose weight on atkins – it still has to be calories . . . but most people can’t tolerate a pure protein/fat diet over time (ie, their calories end up decreasing). * nyran125tk so eat salad with wholemeal bread with no sauces and you should be fine * Jman Trail Mix is not meant to be healthy, the reason it is called trail mix is because when you are out camping or otherwise it is meant to be a high calories intake for survival. Of course trail mix is going to be fatty, it is meant to be. * Chris Brown I am in the interesting situation where I need lots and lots of calories cos I’m tall I mean there will be lots of people who think that’s a good thing but I find it hard to keep weight on, alot of the fatty foods I tend to eat alot cos I just don’t cook enough at home, theres no substitution for home cooking though, as for energy bars and energy drinks I used to get loaded up on a couple a day and it just made me overly stimulated, coffee is my personal fave for quick energy * Mark Penrice I suppose a couple of these might be sort of surprising to some people…? But most of them shouldn’t really be that much of a shock. 1/ Muesli is basically trail mix in a bowl, with milk on it. It’s a high energy breakfast for people who are going out into the snow all day to do strenuous things, whether recreational skiing or chopping down trees. Shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s loaded with calories and sugar. The fat is a bit of a surprise, granted, but that’s less problematic than the sugar rush. Making your own can help, but it doesn’t avoid the fact of its origin. 2/ Banana chips. The clue’s in the name. Specifically, the “chip” bit. Nothing that comes as a “chip” can be considered good for you. Notwithstanding that bananas are a pretty sugary, fatty excuse for a fruit in the first place. Bonus on #3 – although I would actually have suspected Tuna as being an otherwise healthy choice (so long as you don’t take the easy option of slathering it in mayonnaise and instead either take it straight or with a sparing dash of soy sauce and/or a glug of rice vinegar, etc), the fish is established and well known as a strong muscular bioaccumulator of toxins like mercury and that your intake should be limited… at least since Minamata, anyway. Which was already old news when I was at school and learning about it in geography class. On top of that, we have the issue of taking it as sushi (already a slight risk in of itself – what, no grilled steak, or having it tinned?)… and a maybe more pressing one of 6+ ounces of it actually being rather expensive. If you can easily afford to eat that much of it a week, you can probably find room in your budget for a dialysis machine to hook yourself up to whilst eating, set up to strip as much mercury from your blood as possible even as you absorb it from your meal. I’ve no worries about overdosing, as even the little “4 ounce” (3 actual ounces when drained) supermarket tins are getting ever pricier and it’s now more of a sandwich filling treat than a staple… the fresh cuts are far worse, possibly more expensive even than lamb / veal / venison. 4/ Energy bars … if you really need it pointed out that something that is basically a chocolate or candy bar, with extra sugar and stimulants shoved into it to make it an “Energy” (big clue there! calories = energy!) bar, then there’s probably no hope for your life as an independent adult. Maybe I’m a freak but it was always obvious, and I’ve only ever viewed them as an emergency pick-me-up, a system reviver when it’s becoming very hard to continue with the day, that I might have half a dozen of during the year and then try to eat extra healthily the next day to compensate for it (ditto Energy Drinks, especially the high powered ones that leave you feeling like a robot with an overloaded battery). Never as a “healthy snack”. 5/ Trail mix. IT’S EXPLICITLY DESIGNED TO POWER YOU UP AND OVER MOUNTAIN PASSES, ON FOOT, AND NAMED AS SUCH. What part of that suggested it wouldn’t be full of empty calories that are intended to be digested and absorbed as easily and quickly as possible and sent straight into your blood… and from there, ideally, right into your muscles, turned into movement, heat and carbon dioxide, with the latter being quickly breathed out? Or, if you’re just snacking on it without exercising, into your fat cells after a quick sojourn in the liver? (What next, you reveal that Kendal Mint Cake is actually a block of pure sugar with a dash of mint extract, coated with the thinnest possible layer of dark chocolate, and it’s probably not a good idea to view it as a healthy option that’s OK to nibble on whilst slouched on your sofa?) I think the upshot of all this can be summed up as “just because it has fruits and grains in it doesn’t automatically make it healthy”. Which one would hope might be obvious to anyone who’s ever eaten a black forest gateau. 6/ OK, it’s a salad. It’s also slathered in oily and oddly sweet dressing. At what point did the alarm bells not go off? If you must order a salad from McDonalds, ask for them to either hold the dressing, or at least give it to you on the side. Then muse on how you could have got the same thing for a quarter of the price from Walmart. And let’s not even start on other things that abuse the falsely “automatically healthy” “salad” name such as potato, waldorf, etc. I wouldn’t worry about the parmesan, though. You get so little of it – thanks to how strongly flavoured it is – that until it starts to overpower the rest of the dish you can pretty much ignore it. Similarly if you make a greek salad and have a few cubes of feta and a cheeky drizzle of olive oil and balsamic. It’s the soggifying masses of mayo or readymade vinaigrette (which has a much smaller vinegar:oil ratio) that’s the real problem. PS a salad that actually has any kind of meat in it other than maybe plain, undressed tuna or a smaller amount of absolutely lean, plain chicken is a false salad. Especially so if it’s bacon. Go veggie / pescatarian, and have whatever meat you want in your meal on the side in explicit addition to the salad, or go home as you’re only fooling yourself. 7/ This is the main “surprise” (besides the tuna, I guess). Who would have thought there was so much sugar in even relatively plain yoghurt? However, it is now established as a common cheat for low-fat products to have a lot of sugar in them (and indeed, low-fat and low-sugar ones to have a lot of artificial sweetener, which can be its own problem besides the disgusting aftertaste). Otherwise the stuff just tastes bland. Once you start looking, you see it everywhere. It’s why I pretty much abhor all “diet” and “low fat” type foods, because not only do they taste or “feel” wrong, but they’re not actually any better for you unless they have so much taken out that they’re barely recognisable as what they once were and utterly unenjoyable. Better to have a smaller amount of the original thing along with a healthy, cheap, filling staple, and learn to ration and appreciate it instead of stuffing your face with crap. The exception is when they’re on clearance in the shop – being rather poverty stricken, low price trumps all other concerns. Which is why this week I have worked my way through a pack of “low fat” crumpets (I’m not even sure where the fat IS in regular ones – I thought they were just flour, water and yeast! It’s kind of the point!). With acceptable amounts of what would otherwise be considered rather fatty toppings (given extra flavour with a smear of yeast extract). Anyhoo. Sidestep it by just having a smaller, sensible amount of the real thing. It’s actually better for you that way. Plain greek style yoghurt (either set, or bio-active) with some fresh fruit on top. Nice :) * Susan Great post! I wish I had started eating like that years ago instead of waiting until I needed triple bypass surgery. Now, I am not allowed to eat some of the healthy foods you mentioned. live and learn the hard way. By the way, I have always been slender and exercised. * Sylvie You are still wrong about the fact the high cholesterol is bad. IT’S NOT! but i guess that truth will take few more years to come out and for the brainwashing to be undone, as it will be fought -and i can imagine how hard- by Big Pharma. How can they let go the gazillions of dollars that the cholesterol lowering legal scam made them? + D’Lene Just recently read that some of the cholesterol fighting drugs are worse for you than the cholesterol. o Rich39 My GP put me on Cholesterol medicine. My heart doctor took me OFF cholesterol medicine. Plus two other drugs the GP prescribed. The GP give me 6 drugs to prevent future problems. My heart doctor said….No, they cause other problems now. Weight gain, fluid build up in my body, aches and pains etc. # Sylvie You can fix all that Rich39 with the right food. Get off sugar and other manufactured carbs. They call it now Paleo diet, but it’s just the way humans should eat. Meat, fats, eggs and some vegg. All non-processed and fresh- you gotta do the cooking, man. Then watch your cholesterol drop/normalise and all other issues go away. Do it for 2 weeks first then go measure your cholesterol levels and let us know..and let me know how you feel :) If any of you asks how dare I to give any advice- well did his Md’s cure Rich39 of any issues? LOL Changing the DIET is key as BAD FOOD and DIGESTIVE issues and DEFICIENCIES caused by that are why we get sick in the first place. Understanding the root cause of illness is key. Root cause of 95% of illnesses is nutritional (plus some enviro poisoning of course). So how do u think any MD is going to help you with that? lol Just pls don’t expect it to get all fixed up overnight what you kept ruining for years. :) Notice how MD’s maintain him on THEIR own set of drugs! haha! Clever! They get paid for every prescription they write. :) .Keeping people sick is an awesome business. cheers @ HealthyPeopleDontNeedMedicine Remember that it’s not all about what goes IN your body, but also about how your body can process it. Naturally, a whole-foods, non processed, based approach makes the most sense, but also realize that STRESS is a Huge factor. when the fight or flight response is always on then the rest and digest mode is not going to work properly and self-healing will be severely limited. @ Sylvie well that is another issue. food is key however as if you have health body you will handle stress differently. cheers :) @ mplo I tend to agree with HealthPeopleDontNeedMedicine, up to a point. Being constantly subject to excessive amounts of stress does impair the body’s ability to absorb essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals, because the person’s whole system is thrown out of kilter, compromising one’s immune system and the rest/digest mode, thus compromising, prolonging, or even preventing self-healing. On the other hand, however, there are certain neurological conditions for which daily medication(s) is/are needed in order to keep them under control. Since such conditions are conditions that people are just born with, that can’t be helped, and medications are necessary to stabilize the person, thus enabling him/her to lead a normal, healthy and productive life, like most everybody else. @ Alexander I totally agree with you on that. I had anxiety-related sleep problems my entire life until I went paleo. I still got stressed from school and other obligations after starting paleo, but I haven’t had a sleeping problem for years since going paleo. @ ArooMadazda Same for me! I can finally sleep. @ misty swamp Well said, Ms Lady. @ Otto C You had me until “They get paid for every prescription they write. :) .Keeping people sick is an awesome business.” It’s just not true, most MDs are well meaning & do not get paid to write scripts. You should be careful making false statements like that-it may be unintentional, but it can negate everything else you wrote, which was dead on. @ Don Smith No that was intentional. I want to like this Sylvie person, but after reading her comments I have found her to be a very close minded person when it come to accepting the fact that she may be wrong. She also seen to be a “know it all” providing the “correct answer” to any disbeliever who offers up scientific explanation on why she is wrong about something like evolution, and then laughing in their face about how wrong they are with a conveniently place “LOL”. She has the right ideas but lacks the character and maturity to accept that they are not 100% correct all of the time. @ Darkthirty Wrongo on the $ for scrip @ JaiGuru The paleo” diet is A: Nothing like what our paleolithic ancestors ate, B: implicated in life threatening pancreatic diseases and C: paleolithic people’s life spans topped out around 30. So…yeah. @ davidrn Actually you are just repeating the Vegan religious comments, and we all know that shpiel. Where are you coming up with that idiotic pancreatic disease comment? Let me guess, the China Study? Also, until the turn of the 20th Century, Paleo man lived as long as any other human on Earth, Paleo man have been found who were quite old, the average age is about deaths in infancy. @ nomadnewyork They don’t get paid for writing prescriptions. That’s highly illegal. They don’t even get free pens and coffee any more. @ rat killer I know many doctors and they all literally get free lunches for themselves and staff brought in daily by pharmaceutical reps–always with plenty left over. Not to mention the free samples and whatever else I don’t get to see. @ good grief Since when do doctors get paid for every prescription they write? That is the biggest load I have ever heard! Doctors don’t get paid per perscription!!!! @ Michele LOL! Yeah! Doctor get a kick back from the pharma companies every time they prescribe their drug! I read a book called the 21 Day Kickstart that changed my health incredibly. A friends dad also went vegan and reversed his diabetes and cholesterol issues, lost a bunch of weight, and breathed new life into his marriage. So much of peoples medical issues today are due to improper nutrition but doctors would rather prescribe a pill than encourage you to change your diet first. But then again most doctors know very little about nutrition! @ fizix It seems the nutritionists don’t know what they need to know either. The ones I have experience with will tell you the standard set of ideas presented in the article here, without much knowledge or recognition of more recent research, especially in terms of misconceptions about fat. @ PDuncan12345 So true. Most people have no idea that Physicians are not required to take a single unit of Nutrition in their coursework. Not one. If “we are what we eat” what the *@#!! is going on there?! @ Rhett J D. Been on paleo for 8 years only way to eat the other way is what is killing us all . # misty swamp GPs should not be prescribing MOST medication. They are NOT specialists even though they’d like to think they are, especially with psychiatric meds. @ Mike Psychiatrists are the lowest Dr.’s in the food chain. Unfortunately they know little of the excellent comments I’ve seen in this comment trail. # kaj You should listen to your heart specialist. A lot of GP are overdiagnosed the problem due to the liability issues. For me, I don’t go to an obese GP who tries to feed me with all the medicine because he can’t even have a solution for his own obesity then how can i trust his advice. # Paleo FTW You need to stop eating processed foods and food with added sugar. Eat organic natural foods… Including fatty foods… real butter, eggs, meats, vegetables, etc. Don’t buy anything in a box or made in a factory… You’ll be good as new in no time. Don’t listen to the lies about fat and cholesterol. o Eddie Coyle I’ve been on the lowest level cholesterol drug for two years. Wallah, my liver readings are elevated! so the doctor is taking me off cholesterol drugs to see what effect that has. I’m 51, I eat healthy compared to most, but I think it is time to GROW UP and go to a truly healthy, natural diet. Drop the bread, drop the pasta & alcohol, avoid processed food. SO much more is known now than even 30 years ago. Not that the knowledge is perfect, so much turns out wrong, but the basics never seem to. If it was made by nature and humans have eaten it for years, it seems to be the best choice. Eggs, meat, veggies, nuts, fruit. + Sumer54 Cholesterol comes in two forms – HDL, high density lipoprotein, is not bad. LDL, low density liproprotien IS bad. o Sylvie umm that is not enough to say. do you know what that actually means and who labelled cholesterol that? :) o krocklin A healthy person’s cholesterol is 75% LDL. It too is naturally produced in the liver and serves a function. + krocklin How right you are. Scams like cholesterol seem to take root and never die in the Medical Industry. The doctors and food and drug industry just won’t let go of this myth. I spend a lot of time collecting studies that prove this and send them to friends in an effort to get them to stop statins. Their muscles and their memories are going noticeably as they continue to take these poisons, which suppress your body’s natural production of cholesterol, vitamin K, vitamin D (indirectly) and coQ10. The irony is that most statins are prescribed to older people, who need MORE cholesterol as they age for the proper functioning of every cell in their body. + dupkaman I guess all those cardiologists, internists and cardiac surgeons are lying to you because they are in bed with all those evil drug companies…..right? Cholesterol and Saturated fats are bad for you if you are prone to CAD. As is the case with pediatricians who vaccinate their own children despite the loonies who claim it causes autism, physicians take statins themselves. If it were a scam, would they be taking them? o Mike Do your homework. There’s no giant conspiracy, just ignorance. Cardiologists know nothing about preventive medicine, they fix broken vascular systems. They never leran about prevention. Statins will prove to be bad by all measures. Just give it time. + Rusty catania Sylvie….Thanks goodness for the internet…Right? The truth about diet, fat, sugar and food can be found by searching the web. Ancel Keys and his skewed study, George McGovern and his war on heart disease has sent our country down a terrible road. On top of that, the crony corporatism of the food industry that manufactures products that make us sick….what a battle we have on our hands….whew + Robert W mine is 241 it is well out of the range what should i do if eliminate the 3 pints of milk and occasional pizza ice cream and mac n cheese maybe lower by 80 points and the kicker is i have low vit d and testosterone go figure what else is needed maybe some b-complex help it along Isnt it ok to have high cholesterol as long it not sticking to platelets or arterial walls * vitalee THANK YOU for your comment! I have type II diabetes from eating all those lovely no good for us grains that I love, bake, and crave. When I was sick with GBS and rehabilitating in a nursing home, they constantly gave me white bread, puddings, ice cream, white rice and other types foods that I have tried to stop eating at home. They would then take your blood sugar count and then comment, oh, your blood sugar is way up, we are going to have to double your insulin this evening ( by the way I’m off of insulin and on pills to control my diabetes, and plan on eating in a manner that will get me off of those). Our eating habits are way off course. I have read numerous times that the grains that we eat today is so altered that even it if was good for out ancestors, it’s no longer good for us. * nightwriter “Trail Mix” is called that because its supposed to be a quick energy snack for when you’re hiking – anyone who eats it when they’re just sitting around isn’t even trying to understand nutrition. * Bert Buddy you’re dead wrong. Calories don’t count. That is so ’80’s. What makes you fat is the insulin response to those calories. Your body is very different than a calorimeter. * Nick Stokes simple formula= eat less + burn more = weight loss, 3rd grade math! * Ink Wells Rock Kind of common sense. To lose weight NO SUGAR: no bread, no pasta, no corn, no flour, no sugar, no sweetened drinks, no dairy. It takes three days for sugar to be out of your body. Raw fish is not good (ever) and SUSHI is raw fish (parasites and toxins). Raw meat too is bad. Salads with vinegar & oil are OK.. top them with canned tuna, salmon, hard boiled eggs, tofu, beets, carrots (not beans or cheese or raisins or sweetened dressings). The yogurt is OK (<100 cal) .. use fiber (metamucil) LOSE weight. Be happy + Road Less Traveled Except, that is a crash diet. We actually need some carbohydrates, in moderation. A zero carb diet is not healthy for your body. Just have it in small amounts, focus on whole grains and complex carbohydrates, not white flour/bread/sugar/rice. * http://wwww.youniqpilates.com/ YOUNIQ Pilates Read the labels and there will be no surprises to this list. * thirdman Actually they forgot to mention that sushi themselves (not only tuna sushi) are not all that health since they mix a large amount of sugar into its rice (not to mention rice itself is high on carbs/sugar). Whenever I go to a sushi restaurant in the US, I see a large number of obese people. You can certainly get fat by keeping eating sushi. * Castlekeep Our ancestors ate what they found or hunted before farming became a way of life and people were no longer seasonally migrant, but the foods they ate hadn’t been genetically tampered with, enhanced, chemically sprayed, packaged with preservatives, so it’s very difficult to live healthfully without doing your own research about nutrition. The fact that remains is that we can’t trust the FDA to protect us from additives, pesticides, artificial sweeteners. fluoride and the list goes on. We all have to, in self defense, become our own health guardians. It takes time and a higher level of commitment from each of us to know what to eat and how to eat it, but it’s that or take meds for the rest of our lives that have side-effects that are often worse than the “illnesses” caused by what we put into our bodies that are often considered food. + BuckSargent And many starved or suffered from malnutrition and pretty much died at much earlier age. There are lots of microbes out there just waiting as opportunists of spoil food, producing biotoxins that aren’t particularly good for the human physiology. As for genetic alterations, natural selection has been giving us all sorts of recombinant DNA enhancements and mutations. Ironic, if you applied the same logic to vaccinations, which is not typically a natural approach to immunization, there would be a lot more disease and pestilence throughout the world. Notwithstanding all that, you are correct to stop and think about what you’re consuming. o Sylvie They died from malnutrition and we massively die from cancer, heart disease, diabetes,and the rest of bad food induced illnesses. The rest of us is sick if still alive. What was your point again? lol + Sunil Thomas The advantage of being an ancient hunter/ gatherer is that the body was in movement. Hunting and gathering were physical activities. Today, most of us go to a supermarket, but prepackaged foods, eat and live a sedentary life. Most of the health problems facing the US has to do with our lack of physical activity. * Leo Yes…Fat is good.(unsaturated) Yes we are apes! But we have ALWAYS been l e a n. Fat happens on a good season maybe …or seasonal but except for certain diets and lifestyles weve been lean. Science now knows that as bi-pedals we always could simply follow another beast until it litteraly collapsed. Then conk it on the head or what not. Our mode of travel is so effective and view of the land allowed us to run down many animals to exhaustion.Like a dog running a deer to death. Our bodies perform more efficiently as we lose weight. Like being starving and following and animal for days. The animal cant eat or rest and collapses eventually. Recently the woman were found to be involved in this hunting technique. We were always migrating as needed. Following food, or seasonal forageing. And we gobbled fat and still can. And NOT GET HUGE. Unless we confuse the body with all hi carb foods. It cause blood sugar variations beyond normal. This causes stress in so many body systems. Less blood sugar fluctuation in our lives… the longer we will live. * gsp9993 Ah yes, the gullibility of Americans is outrageous. What until they find out the truth about the so called organic foods they have been eating. Shocking!. They are being tooled by the largest food businesses in the whole. + Road Less Traveled Except, the organic business by far is not the largest portion of either production or sale. It’s the corporate agrobusinesses that are, which are also heavily subsidized by the government. * K. I work with some obese women that are also experts in weight loss. I always thought, eat responsibly, more activity. Too difficult? * Just my view If the food police had their way all food would be outlawed in this country, everything we eat is suppose to be bad for us. It amazes me how many people actually believe all this propaganda, the reason people in the USA are fat obese chubby etc..is because they eat too much and have no self control, the country has turned into a bunch of overweight lazy slobs. * Sagesteve Any of these you could figure out for yourself if you are knowledgeable. The worst? ANY kind of Sushi. You eat ANY Sushi? You will get and you do have parasites…period. If you are always not feeling “well”? Do a parasitic cleanse. You will feel a thousand times better. Don’t do an extreme one…just the standard “kill ‘em” with the appropriate system. * Chloe Smith Life’s too short. If I want to eat some frosting, I will. * oracle2world Except for the tuna sushi, i do not like any of this s* anyway. There is no worry i am going to eat it. * Kisha Oakes I’m on Day 9 of a 21 day sugar detox and I can definitely tell the difference! Hoping by Day 21 though some of this food tastes better than it does now lol * Paul This article makes it sound as though the chief concern you should have is for your waistline or weight. Things that are packed with nutrients like some energy bars are great for you. So they have lots of calories in them, so what? That’s what they’re for, to give you energy before, during or after strenuous physical activity. Cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes–these are what you need to be look out for. * Jason Arkin Praying for the pandemic. * AUricle It CAN be diet related…..genetics plays a role in how your body deals with fat etc. too. It ‘s more about how you metabolize food, than it is about your fat consumption. * Sylvie yes and no. to simplify- body needs to maintain a constant levels of cholesterol. if you don’t give it enough of sat. fats -your liver will produce more cholesterol. What a big surprise.. :) Cholest. in food doesn’t affect blood cholest. levels. If it does -its just for a moment. (Sorta like sugar kicks your insulin levels sky high for a moment :)) Normal digestion process. Liver function is key but you will affect liver function with sugar- huge connection here. :) Good/bad cholesterol is another myth, as ‘bad’ chol. is not really bad. :) oh how about this : In the Framingham Heart Study, in subjects over 50 years of age, they found an 11% increase overall and 14% increase in cardiovascular disease mortality per 1 mg/dL per year drop in total cholesterol levels. The researchers attributed this phenomenon to the fact that people with severe chronic diseases or cancer tend to have below-normal cholesterol levels.[71] This explanation is not supported by the Vorarlberg Health Monitoring and Promotion Programme, in which men of all ages and women over 50 with very low cholesterol were likely to die of cancer, liver diseases, and mental diseases. LOL @ ‘phenomenon’ People with high levels actually live longer. cheers :) * Steve Matsukawa I eat what I want, but in moderation. I eat a Hostess Twinkie now and then, and a Snickers bar too. I am lactose intolerant so I drink Lact-Aid 100% milk, I am allergic to aspirin and associated products, and I am slightly allergic to unprocessed wool. When the Japanese started eating the Western diet they started getting all of the Western diseases and problems. Yes, they did get arthritis and some became diabetic, but that came from hard work and over indulgence with alcohol. Again, I eat what I want in moderation and I eat as healthy as anyone (veggies, fruits, nuts, etc.) so I don’t get why anyone wants to go on a special diet. Just don’t over indulge and eat moderately. Just keep the alcohol consumption to a couple of ounces a day. * James Wang hmm, white rice, the chinese have been eating that for thousands of years, i don’t see the chinese have any major health problems. + Sunil Thomas It’s a matter of quantity. While most Chinese eat a small bowl of rice, South Indians live on white rice. We eat pancakes made of rice in the morning, a plates of rice with curries for lunch and dinner. Interestingly, we have a high rate of diabetes and heart disease. Unfortunately, white rice remains our staple diet. * WeAreNotAmused I’ve learned to eat starchier fruit in proportion to non-starchy veg and a proper portion of protein (approx. 5 ounces of most, with 8 ounces for domestic shrimp). Too many people forget about portion sizes, which is half the battle in weight and blood sugar control. + tammytnt I have had surgery that does not allow me to eat much at a time. I eat about a cup of food at a time. Chicken, I can usually eat a breast or at least a part of one, but beef, very little. It is too dense and feels like a rock. I really like veggies, soup, yogurt. If you have any more ideas would love to hear them * markdouglas Thats VERY interesting Forgotten! Im going to look into that. Do you know which Niacin we should take> I did lower my numbers with niacin, but quit taking it, out of laziness I guess. Im not going to eat whole wheat or even much wheat at all, cause Im doing low carb, so do you happen to know WHICH kind of niacin, and how much, to take!! Please respond! + Arcanek You should avoid the time release/flush free/niacinamide versions. The type I get is the 1000mg capsules, which are pure niacin. 1000mg is way too much for most people, so be cautious. I open the capsules and only take about 1/4 or 1/5 of the capsule at a time. You can also get bulk niacin at places like pure bulk. I find that niacin is also great for colds and sinus congestion. It is especially good for bronchitis, where it is extremely difficult to clear your lungs. i just let the tiny amount i take dissolve in my mouth, and in a couple of minutes, a single cough clears clears my lungs. It is amazing how fast it works. Be warned however, that niacin is usually in very short supply during a cold outbreak, as apparently many people know how effective it is. And don’t take too large a dose, as the effect can be quite unpleasant. + Dan Lewin wheat sucks. Get your niacin from beans. * peggy BigPharma does push the statins, even though there is no solid evidence that cholesterol alone is the culprit. One need only ask why, after having most adults in the country on statins, is the leading cause of death still……heart attack?” I thik that we’re missing something, but it’s paying off for the drug pushers. + Sylvie Because it’s not cholesterol that is causing heart disease. But because most people don’t question ‘authority’ and instead of apply logic to obvious facts they continue on the ridiculous path of making gazillions to Big Pharma often paying with their lives.. A main stream ‘doctor’ said to my mother: ‘Your cholesterol is even higher then the 3 months ago. I told you to stop eating any animal products (sat. fat)”. Well she has been off ANY animal products for months and eating mainly carbs (vegge, breads, pasta, fruit, etc.) (carbs are sugar chemically speaking). I asked if she told him that and she said: ‘Yes but he said I’m lying.” That’s where the ‘Dr’s knowledge ended and that’s where hers ended too. Any suggestion that the Dr may be wrong and knows shit- so to say- was inconceivable to her, ‘What do YOU know.. he is a ‘Dr’.. etc etc :D Only now after years of talking, showing a bunch of publications, studies, the brainwashing, the motivation of the machinery behind of drug pushing industry, etc ect, only now she is finally getting it. Angry she had been fooled and sick for decades. An average or sick person mainly just wants to trust that her/his well being is actually the goal and the intention of the ‘health specialists’ But it’s not. We have been ‘trained’ to trust the ‘specialists’ with ‘medical training, asked to see credentials, diplomas,degrees, etc. Do we ever question what those diplomas actually mean? lol. Yes so we are missing something Peggy: common sense, logic, we are naive, trust authority no matter what, we are the many sheep that are being led by the few. Nothing new really :) cheers + Bendy Bentley I have felt HORRIBLE for the past year. I stopped taking my statin, and in less than a week, I feel like a million bucks! * Peter S Excellent description. Live like that since 16 years, superhealthy. Love it. + Sylvie same! :)) * http://cazort.net/ Alex Zorach While I think there are some truths in this article, I don’t like how it’s operating on the assumption of “calories=bad” and especially “fat=bad”, like how it carelessly drops a comment advocating for fat free milk, or saying chips are bad because they contain fat. A lot of foods, like whole milk, nuts, olive oil, are high in fat, but are generally better than low-fat alternatives like fat-free milk or carb-heavy snacks. * Sumer54 Thanks for the clarification. I had never been exposed to this distinction. * Love My Body I eat an Atkins bar for breakfast, an egg white proteinn shake for lunch and a big green salad with grilled fish or chicken for dinner. I enjoy a mid-afternoon snack of a handful of raw almonds and a half cup of blueberries. I do cardio and strength training at the gym 5 days a week and walk 3 miles each day on Saturday and Sunday. No weight or health issues here. If you are trying to lose weight by dieting alone, cardio alone or even a combination of both, YOU WILL NOT GET THE BODY YOU”RE LOOKING FOR! You MUST do some strength training as well!!! + ThatBaldGuy Too true. Cardio is good for you…it promotes better cardiovascular health and for me, anyway, increases my energy and makes me feel better overall. But weight loss? Not. Gotta’ lift ‘dem weights! * alfred ferguson I, too, once thought that you had to be really, really smart to be in med school. Then, I went to college and encountered those in my dorm who were actually in med school. Good grief. What a collection of (often arrogant) ninnies did I find there! (Presumably, they must have been capable in their med-related and science classes.) In any event, I no longer regarded such as they as the “elite” by any means. Some, in fact, appeared to be mentally dull. But, perhaps, that was appearance only, not the basic person. + Sylvie lol. yes Alfred.:) just look at what most ‘doctors’ can do for us? NOTHING- except SCRIBBLING a drug prescription and i mean it. *can he tell you WHY you’re sick? NO *can he advise WHAT TO DO to get better? NO *yet he makes an obscene amounts of money plus kick backs for each prescription written. (drugs – we are not sick from lack of drugs- most illnesses are nutrition/environment based. It is KEY to understand this so we will finally get that there is NO CHANCE of finding for example ‘cancer cure’… Cancers are a result of bad nutrition/environment. How can A PILL cure that?? Look at stats of when cancers became a plaque. I will leave conclusion about that to you:) * alfred ferguson Yes–all correct information. Here, perhaps, is other ‘food” for thought, since crocodiles have been mentioned. Not only have various facets of our existence evolved over eons; our brains and concordant mental faculties have also undergone evolution. Trace brain evolution back far enough, and we observe that once upon a certain time our brains evolved from what would very much resemble the brain of the crocodile today. Would this illuminate, perhaps, our human species hideous potential if not propensity for sub-human behaviors? Perhaps, actually, such behaviors are merely human–all-too-human: the crocodile or reptile brain resplendent. + Sylvie love your post haha! ….i don’t however consider crocodile behaviours hideous… only our self-preservation instinct -as we are a physically weak species in comparison to them-would concoct such a word- as we know we stand no chance face-to-face with an alligator lol :)))) ps. developing tools/weapons made human race survive.. that’s just a general comment, not specifically for you Alfred. cheers! :)) * mimi57 agree about the high fat diet! we are grain eating animals and should eat less meat and healthy fats from other sources…nuts avacados etc. and eat less processed junk bottom line and watch look at what you are eating…take time to think about what you rre putting in ur body + Mike We are not grain eating animals. Archer Daniels Midland wants you to think otherwise. Do your homework. * orlandojon Moral of the story, time to stop reading about the latest fad foods in the press. Just use common sense and eat natural foods. Nothing that comes in a box, jar or can and you will do fine. * Sylvie Yes you are right. Pro-biotics are very important if you don’t eat the ‘real’ food and one’s gut flora is off balance and/or one developed systemic yeast overgrowth because of that (CANDIDA) then it needs to be addresses. Candida needs to be dealt with first- in its presence cancers and other illnesses begin and flourish… I think the most important thing is to understand HOW OUR BODY WORKS- how it get nutrition, and how it gets affected by lack of it, or eating food-like products and what processed sugars/carbs do to it. If you get that you will then make the right choices. i can help people case by case- each one is completely different and one needs to find out health history, food habits, etc in order to give any particular advice. BUT the point is- if we just go back to BASICS – we will get healthy. There is no doubt about that. That’s all there is too it. cheers :) * Sylvie totally Tammy! It’s ridiculous but you start to get why once the whole money/profits-making by the ‘health’ INDUSTRY becomes apparent. It cant make a dime by addressing bad food habits. Only by selling drugs. If we want to be healthy and not die of cancers etc we need to start opening our eyes, get educated, and start the changes from the ground up. Im not kidding. The status quo- the lies, the denials, the brain washing of the masses for the sake of money- makes me rage. * Sylvie there is more you can do but you’re totally on the right path! awesome! :)) + tammytnt Got suggestions? Can’t do strengthening exercise, not suppose to walk much. I have post polio and exercise destroys my nerves, which will destroy my muscles. That makes it even harder to keep things in check. Any other idea’s, am open to trying things * Joan Meijer And now with Tuna Sushi you have to think about irradiated tuna from the Fukushima accident – since America’s FDA is not testing Pacific Tuna – but reports of highly radioactive tuna showing up have been released by responsible individuals. It’s very much time to take this off your menu. * Eohippus617 What is wrong with the Palo diet and their ilk is that the meat we eat today is nothing like the meat our ancestors ate. Wild buffalo, deer, even mammoth had a much higher percentage of Omega 3 fatty acids and a much lower amount of saturated fat then current domesticated beef, lamb or pork. Same thing when comparing Chicken to any poultry of the past. The other thing we all forget is that the caveman (paleo) had a life expectancy of 40 years tops on average. Now maybe it was not the diet that was the main contributor but I expect the lack of vitamins and fiber in the diet had a significant part in it. So cut down on the red meat and increase your (wild) fish intake. Eat Tuna, salmon and Swordfish in moderation (Mercury). Eat cod, haddock, tilapia etc more often. Increase your use of fresh (ideally raw) nuts and use legumes (peanuts, Beans) as a big source of your carbs and proteins. Eat fresh fruit in moderation and cut out highly processed carbs. I eat only bread that has 4 or more grams of fiber per serving and only once a day. * Sylvie The Omega 6 – cheap seed oils sold to us by food moguls consumed by gazillions gallons are the biggest culprit here that you haven’t mentioned. they are inflammatory and create environment for diseases to develop. So if you eat Omega 3 meat but cook it on Omega 6 oils like Sunflower, Corn, Soy bean and Cotton seed, Peanut oils then no point in that. Butter, coconut oil, lard, palm oil and olive oil (watch burning point of that one as it will turn acidic!) No one says all food has to be eaten raw. I said -do the cooking yourself -that way you know what goes in the food you eat. cheers + Matt Totally disagree with all of you. The best diet for humans is Twinkies, Snickers, French Fries, and anything where high fructose corn syrup is the first ingredient., veggies only when in Fries. Trust me I work for a big food conglomerate, I should know. ;) * Pat Why is soy not on this list? + Helen Tam-Semmens Soy being bad was not based on facts to begin with. Recent scientific studies show that soy actually reduces the risk of breast cancer. o dazyduck Could you provide a ”source” for this statement please? * PJL Snack bars and trail mix can be fine for their intended purpose and contents are balanced. 10 mile hikes, backpacking, trips, x-country skiing and trail biking will burn up those calories you need. * Mike List Because only some of what you eat is metabolized into things you need. Fat is turned to sugar and metabolized just as surely as sugar is. The body must do some extra work to process it, but as long as you don’t eat in excess of what you need, caloriwise, you won’t store it. protein can also be converted to sugar. * bromide1 Try reading the ingredients on the container. Packaged pasta sauce doesn’t have to contain sugar. The further down on the ingredients list, the less the item content in the sauce. Hunts makes several types that list no sugar (or very little) in their mix. Substtitute ground turkey for ground beef to reduce fat and use whole wheat pasta for a healthier spaghetti dinner. Add fresh mushrooms and spice to taste. This won’t eliminate calories, but it should reduce them significantly. It should also reduce the carb loading because of the lack of sugar in the souce. You’ll still get carbs, though, so watch portions carefully if you’re diabetic (like me). + Richard Williams Real red sauce takes about 10 minutes to prepare. Why ANYONE would eat that Bilge water tasting hunts stuff is beyond me * Guest Once a year I get fritters made of Bing cherries from Washington state. YUMMIE! * scesc A balanced diet but not to much of it is the best diet. * suibneg not to mention a steady diet of Obxma and the mass media. * OC I’m surprised about muselii snd the tomato sauce. Dr. Oz just did a segment on Everyday Foods Experts (obstetrician, oncologists, ect.) Won’t Touch”. * mplo One also has to bear in mind, too, that not all fats are bad for you. Some fats, in fact, are very, very beneficial. Avocados and Salmon, for example, contain a great deal of Omega-3 fatty acids, which increase one’s HDL (the good cholesterol) and help prevent heart disease. Avocados are also an excellent food for a person who’s trying to lose weight, because they slow down the glucose uptaker in the body. * Arturo Montenora Our whole society is addicted, strung out, on carbs and sugar. + biophys Sugars are carbs, but not all carbs are sugars * Ry Look into the mercury versus selenium interaction in ocean fish. Pretty interesting. Apparently selenium attaches itself to mercury and makes it in-absorb-able for humans. The plus; you don’t absorb the mercury. The minus; you also don’t absorb the selenium. Decent trade off though. And tuna sushi is sooo delicious. * Common Sense I think the bottom line is eat whatever you want but eat reasonable portions and do a cardio workout for 45 minutes 5 days a week. * CaptainMike1 If you’re concerned about Mercury in your tuna – stay away from the red tuna and order Albacore – white tuna. NOT “Super White” which is not a tuna at all and shouldn’t even be allowed for sale, but Shiro Maguro – Albacore. It tastes better than most red tunas anyways imo. Bluefin used to be the Cadillac of the tuna fisheries, but it’s mostly ocean-ranched and pellet-fed these days – looks great, tastes like cardboard to me. The Albacore used for sushi are the smaller/younger fish that haven’t had the opportunity to accumulate great amounts of mercury in their systems yet. But even with the highest possible mercury loads, one would have to eat a LOT, I mean a BIG FAT LOT of tuna, essentially nothing but tuna, before coming down with mercury poisoning. There are two very scary cases of seafood mercury poisoning of local populations (google it). One on the Faroe Islands where folks used to eat a lot of Whales (mammals, not fish), the other in Japan where local seafood was heavily contaminated with mercury following an industrial mishap. + Anon Not to mention the radiation. o CaptainMike1 you must be talking about the radiation that’s been seeping into the groundwater since WWII at the Hanford Reach in Washington? Or the radiation we unleashed during that war while performing our nuclear tests on the islands in the pacific which finally culminated in our bombing of 2 Japanese cities? These incidents ensured that EVERYTHING we eat these days is radioactive. Yes, your milk & spinach are as radioactive as our tuna. * Mags Kavanaugh Life is a banquet, and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death- LIVE! Auntie Mame * Dan Lewin Precisely. Most raw veg keeps it nutrients locked away in its cell walls until cooked. + Cinnamon Chestnut i like raw veggies. tastes so much better — lighter and just delicious! if i cook them, it’s microwaved. o StarDustz Sad to tell you that cooking your veggies in the microwave zaps/kills the good nutrients. We can’t win, can we?! # Smart_Tech_Spinner How can you “kill” a nutrient? They are still alive even being picked off the tree weeks ago? @ IEatRawMeat You can kill a car, and it was never alive to begin with! He meant it destroys them and therefor voids the health benefit of said nutrient. @ WingedWolfPsion It doesn’t destroy them anymore than other forms of cooking. @ PDuncan12345 Exactly right. Just another myth being unnecessarily spread around by StarDustz. @ PDuncan12345 Right on! You CAN’T kill a nutrient. They CAN be lost in the water that gets pour off if the food is boiled though. # PDuncan12345 Ad to tell you that no it doesn’t. Where do you people get these weird ideas? BOILING vegetables makes them lose their nutrients in the water. Microwaving preserves them. o Robert W better of steaming them microwave disrupts the water molecule in a bad way i need to test boiling water by stove and microwave and let it cool and water two different plants at same growth stage and see if it matters they were comparing tap water and distilled water saying distilled water is dead but add couple drops trace minerals and should be fine it makes me laugh at the war on drugs and culprits like hfsc get into our food chain it a drug at that point liquid fructose up to 90% also agave necter no good either unless using small amounts let suck the juice out this plant and reduce it down sound no better then converting coca leaves or extracting coffee liver handles it either way right keep things in their natural forms and we wont have any problems # PDuncan12345 Huh? You’re not making any sense. How about using a computer instead of your iPhone, and most of all, USE PUNCTUATION! + Bina Wigand Not all need to be cook. When u cook certain veggies. U kill the nutrients. Some are better raw then others. Like Bell peppers and broccoli. * Dan Lewin Beans, man. Beans. * Tomanydiffering Opinions If you were to follow every “food expert” opinion, you would die of starvation, so my motto is eat, drink and be merry, for you going to die soon anyway, so may as well enjoy life while you can. Ill health only takes off the last years of your life, which are the worst years, so why worry. + anon They don’t have to be the worst years if you are healthy enough to enjoy them. People here are mostly just trying to offer their help. My grandparents are in their 80’s and they still have a lot of fun. Why would you want to die at 50 and miss the chance to say whatever you want and get a free pass when you’re old? I myself want to ride on a rocking horse on wheels that’s attached to a shopping cart, and have someone pull me around while shopping. Oh, I should also have a very long whip. That one’s going on the bucket list. =) * Terry Parker We would still be small bands of nomads trying to find prey and killing each other if you were even remotely correct. Drink good whisky, who wants to live forever? * krocklin 75% of TOTAL cholesterol can be LDL in a healthy person. * Helen Pattskyn I’m tired of seeing “don’t eat fat free yogurt” — what it should really read is “read your labels!” Fage 0 (and several other great fat free yogurts) are a) lower in calorie than regular yogurt (yes, LOWER) and don’t contain sugar at all (unlike flavored yogurt). A cup is 100 calories, 7 grams of carbs (natural to dairy products), 18 grams of protein and ZERO grams of fat. And the ingredients are all “in English” (i.e., nice normal things like, milk and yogurt cultures, not this or that gum.) * JK Humbert I have a big problem…. I drink 12 to 24 cans of 12 oz. Coca Cola PER DAY. I am 5 ft 11 inches and weigh 165 pounds so weight is not my problem. I just realized my sugar levels double to 175 after drinking a few cold ones… Other than that I am completely healthy for a man of 52 years. No high blood pressure, high cholesterol (ratio), or other blood test result abnormalities. I just do not know how to stop my “addiction”. The only illness I have had since childhood and pre-soda days is migraines. The caffeine does help resolve such headaches. The sad thing is that I am a health professional and know the risks but I just can not stop despite many futile attempts to change to water. Anybody else have this problem. “Hi my name is Michael and I am addicted to refined sugars” sounds petty and lame. Thanks * valerie There are no hard and fast rules with health. Some foods are toxic or indigestible raw [like kale]. Others you may be allergic to [like I am to eggs]. Some things are healthy for women but deleterious to men [like soy products]. This is what I found works for me [after 13 years of experimenting] I eat mostly fatty animal proteins and veggies, healthy fats [like olive oil] and some grains, I exercise outdoors for an hour a day, take high quality vitamins, digestive enzymes, probiotics. I also take nootropics like Centrophenoxine, caffeine, and [provigil on occasion] and have stimulating hobbies/work. Doing all of the above has changed my body and my mind dramatically. I used to be severely depressed and had ADHD and unhealthy body composition. I still eat the foods mentioned above sometimes, I drink soda and alcohol a few times a week. As long as I stay under my caloric needs and pair sugar with protein whenever possible I stay slim and healthy. Health is highly personal and gene-dependent. Doctors are too busy treating the symptoms, and dieticians are often caught up in their own fads and personal belief systems. Americans could do four things to improved their health: up their healthy fat intake, sleep more, drink less alcohol, and exercise outdoors. We might, one day, catch up to Europe. * Foxgirl With al due respect to a Vet, I you’ve got the molecule size issue reversed. According to the books “Wheat Belly” (pages 152,153) and “Grain Brain,” it’s the small cholesterol particles that are dangerous, while the large particles are safe (i.e., unless you’re eating wheat, sugar, and the other carbs that spike our blood sugar dangerously: e.g., rice starch, corn starch, potato starch, and tapicoa starch, along with wheat, are the worst offenders). In fact, the books explain how our bodies actually NEED cholesterol (which is why statin drugs–intended to lower cholesterol–are so dangerous!). Please read the aforementioned books. (No, I’m not affiliated and get nothing for saying that.) They’re life-changing. (Look up “Wheat Belly” on Amazon and see check out the thousands of customer reviews–and read the stories of people who gave up the carbs: not only effortless weight loss (I can attest to that–and I didn’t even WANT to lose the weight), but reversal and/or prevention of all manner of ailments and diseases. Giving up these carbs will make you so much healthier! + ArooMadazda I can vouch for what you say. Lay off the wheat and carbs, lose weight, fell better, sleep better. Pretty simple. * Tom Look folks, the best eating plan is the one that works for you and that you’ll stick to. Low fat is what works for me and what I can enjoy. Low carb doesn’t work for me. Was on Atkins for 4-5 weeks. Lost very little weight, felt bad frequently, and never shook the craving for carbs. I can’t give it all up potatoes, bread, pasta, etc. I did have the occasional allowable carbs, but it just didn’t cut it for me. So, again, if that works for you, great, but it doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. It’s like exercise. The best one for you is the one you’ll do. Doesn’t much matter what it is if it burns calories. * freeman27 make your life with walking or cycling everyday either slowly or fast (depend on your ability)..then you will not concern about any calories..although you want to eat 9 to 11 pieces of chicken everyday..and you can enjoy all type of food in the world.. * angleyes I eat everything on this list, but in moderation. I’m 51, in good health, exercise at least 4 to 5 days a week. I watch what I eat 6 days a week. On Sunday, I do not exercise and eat whatever I want. * Hannah Cochran Go vegan, tastes better! Also, makes you feel a ton better. #Earthlings Watch the video Forks over Knives. * K Rowland You are all going to die tomorrow if you keep eating these things. So stop eating anything that tastes good, and make sure you live a long, incredibly boring life. * Laurelishish Nish Yogurts taste really great just on their own w/out any sugar or flavorings added. I buy nonfat plain yogurt, and it’s very refreshing and tasty. If you like tangy flavors, non-fat, unsweetened, unflavored Yogurt with nothing else added to it is the way to go. My dog loves it too, seriously LOVES it. It’s a total dessert for her. * Pat Patterson Sushi obviously doesn’t hurt the Japanese. * sunburnspecial IT’S CARBS– SUGAR, SUGAR, SUGAR. YOU CAN’T GET IT THROUGH PEOPLE’S THICK HEADS THOUGH. WE LISTEN TO WAY TOO MUCH ADVERTISING $$$. * Zforce To the copy editor: When referring to the nutrition content of a food, you say, “healthful”. Healthy means that you are in a good state of health. Healthful means something is good for you. You don’t say amount of calories, you say NUMBER of calories. You use number to define quantifiable items. Amount if for non-quantifiable quantities. For example, you say number of calories, but amount of fat. + Cherry You do not say “you say.” It invokes an empty imperative, but an empty imperative that has a sense of authority. It makes it difficult to understand that these language rules are arbitrary, constantly open to change, and self-reinforcing (through use we come to take them as the only acceptable means of expression). Why you or some special board or committee has authority over proper use of language, and then think everyone else will blindly follow as you issue dictates about others’ use, is beyond me. At most you can say, that these language police have sampled wide use, suggested ways to remove inconsistent use, made suggestions to force different uses into a logical system . . . all well and good. But to turn around and speak in a problematic way (e.g., closing off of best understanding through emotional imperatives of authority), means that these people should have never proliferated. Lastly, everything is quantifiable, most definitely “fat.” Fat here is not being used descriptively, “you look fat.” * southmpls lowering intake of carbohydrates (white flour, white bread, white sugar, white pasta) is the key for women. we convert carbos to fat much faster than men do. * HighCholesterol Have a family history of high cholesterol. My father died of his 7th heart attack at 46. His farther died the day before him. My little brother has 4 stents in him. Im 44 going on 45. Just transferred to a new doctor that took me off all my meds, Lipitor included and put me on a high protein low carb no sugar no grain no dairy diet :-) We will see what the results are at my next testing. Feel better though I must say. * EatWellNotDiet Paleo is not about eating everything edible raw. The flaw with Paleo is the version where people believe they should only eat what hunters and gatherers did originally. That a huge range in variety when geographical differences are accounted for. The grass fed thing is key however, the biggest and most successful concept of Paleo is just removing the processed foods and focusing on grass fed/organic (as needed) and removing grains from our diet among various other things that tend to be hard for us to digest as well as insanely caloric dense. + PDuncan12345 Are you people smoking something? Remove GRAINS from our diet? Really? No more Oatmeal, no brown rice, no whole wheat cereals, or corn (that has recently been found to have serious health BENEFITS. Not corn syrup… CORN). I think there may actually be something wrong with you. One post here stated, “Look how people used to eat,” I believe referring to those who were adults in the 1950s and 60s since that’s when butter was great, eggs were good for you, and milk was essential in building strong bones and helping kids grow. Those are the people today who are in their 80s and 90s! Those are the people too though who ate half as MUCH as people do now, and they WALKED everywhere. There is no fad diet, no forbidden food, no magic formula that equals the best diet for a person except the one that is varied, small-portioned, and low on salt and sugar. Please stop touting fad diets that were only “invented” so people could make money off of them. Paleo, South Beach, Mediterranean, or whatever. You will spend your entire lives in grocery stores and farmers markets reading, weighing, checking, and deciding, and before you know it, it’ll all be over. o SandyTodd I’ve removed grains/carbs from my diet and they are right. My blood sugar improved within days. I felt better. Ultimately, I can’t afford to eat that way and it gets old. * Peter Feldmann The ‘Muesli” mentioned here and marketed in the USA is a far cry from the original, created by Dr. Bircher-Benner at his clinic on the Sonenberg above the city of Zürich in the 1920s. The clinic, basically a fat farm for wealthy celebrities, was located two blocks from my childhood home. The good doctor believed in eating only raw foodstuffs (including raw meat, such as steak Tartare BTW), sleeping on spartan cots, cold water bathing, exercise, etc. His Muesli (Swiss-German word for mixture) was formulated fresh ever morning from shredded apples, grated hazelnuts or almonds, rolled oats soaked in water for 15 min., and a little lemon juice and honey. Fresh or dried fruit was added as available, and it was served with whole, raw, milk. My mother learned the recipe from Dr. Benner and fixed it often for us. Truly delicious and very healthy (she was 94 when she died). Bircher Muesli, ask for it by name! (My American friends now know it as “Beer Commercials”) :-) + John Harvey Kellogg Sounds like the movie “Road To Wellville”. * borninmombasa I just eat what Michelle tells me to eat. * BioPhys There is a great amount of confusion and mis-understanding in all of these posts. I am a physician and biochemist, so let us get it straight. There is only one kind of Cholesterol, its proper name is 2,15-dimethyl-14-(1,5-dimethylhexyl)tetracyclo[8.7.0.02,7.011,15]he ptacos-7-en-5-ol. Cholesterol made in the body, mostly in the liver, intestine wall, some is eaten. Cholesterol is a major component of every cell membrane in the body, as well as other structures. There is no “Good” or “Bad” Cholesterol. Cholesterol is mostly transported in the body bound to proteins. Most protein bound cholesterol that leaves the liver is bound to low density protein (LDL) and the complex is known as Low density lipoprotein. The high density Lipoprotein is mostly responsible for transporting cholesterol to the liver. None of these are “Good” or “Bad”, both are essential for life. BUT high levels of LDL in the blood reflect a large amount of cholesterol going to cells, and low levels of HDL reflect less transport back to the liver. Both are associated with build up of plaque in artery walls that lead to heart attacks, strokes and loss of circulation especially in legs and kidneys. “Apolipoprotein a” LP(a) is a component of LDL, along with , which might be responsible for the buildup of cholesterol in artery wall plaque.There are various types which are genetically determined, lighter forms are thought to be more dangerous that heavier forms. There is also confusion about what is fat. Fat ONLY occurs in animals. Fats include cholesterol, triglyceride and phospholipid found in nerves and brain. Fats are a subset of a big group of water insoluble compounds called Lipids, which include fatty acids. Not all lipids are fat, but all fats are lipids. All sugars are carbohydrates, but not all carbohydrates are sugars. The body uses mainly the sugars glucose, ribose and deoxyribose, and also converts glucose to Fructose on the way to producing other molecules, some of these processes release energy. Sucrose is stores in the body as starch, mostly in Liver and Muscle. High levels of sucrose in the blood cause release of the hormone Insulin, and if the sucrose is not immediately used up, the balance is pushed by Insulin into storage cells in a complex series of chemical reactions which convert sucrose to fat (this is an over simplification). The faster the rise in blood glucose, the faster the Insulin response to keep blood sugar levels in a tight range. Eating refined sugars like glucose and Sucrose is dangerous, because they are rapidly absorbed from the intestine into the blood, causing a spike in Insulin levels. Complex “carbs” need to be broken into simple sugars before they can be absorbed from the intestine into the blood, delaying the Insulin rise. Fructose is worse, because it causes the same Insulin spike as Glucose, but unlike blood glucose levels which turn off the hungry signal to the brain when levels rise, fructose does not. This is used by unscrupulous processed food makers to eat more of their product, since it does not signal “I am not hungry any more” to the brain. This is a gross oversimplification, but I hope that it dispels all the myths and mis-information * BioPhys correction, Sugar is stored a glycogen in animals, starch in plants * Biophys You are correct. The myth is a reversal of the truth, If you have kidney failure, then you need a low protein diet. This is because failing kidneys will not be able to excrete enough of the toxic byproducts that the body makes when it breaks down proteins. High protein diet will not cause the kidney failure. * biophys Your grandfather was truly blessed, but there are 7.5 billion people on the planet, and one fortunate man (0.00000013%) is not significant when assessing risk. * Val Holladay JUST EAT IT!! I am 75 years old, drink 4 high fructose Pepsis a day along with potato chips, donuts, potatoes, steak, milk, vegetables, bacon,(oh yeah, lots of bacon) literally, any thing I want. I have never weighed more than 145#. I take no prescription drugs and have no illness except for the inevitable cold. It is very probable that this diet may kill me in another 10-15 years but I will not have spent a miserable life eating tofu and rice cakes. I irks me to no end how what is good for you one year will kill you the next and what will kill you today will give you eternal youth tomorrow. Why the hell can’t ‘experts’ make up their minds? + Drone Henley Yes! Anecdotal evidence trumps science every time! Look at George Burns. One guy lived to 100 or whatever and smoked the whole time. Ergo, SMOKING IS NOT BAD FOR YOU! * Brian Fruits, vegies, nuts, grains seeds, and plain greek yogurt (w/ live/active cultures). Nothing cooked above 109 degrees F, and no foods w/ psuedo estrogens (like soy). Haven’t been sick in over 13 years besides occasional airborn allergies, was about 30 lbs underweight, w/o changing my fitness habits I am now in the normal range for active adults and show no signs of the type I diabetes I was diagnosed with when I was 2 and haven’t taken an insulin shot in 12 years or a glucose tablet in 10. I don’t count calories, pay attention to fat content of any kind, and if I’m a guest at someone’s house I just eat what they serve (meats, confections, pastries, breads, etc). * Gemma Thank you! I try to point that out all the time. There is no indigenous vegan diet on the planet. * StarDustz Great advice Michael, appreciate it. Only thing I’d say differently is to skip “cow’s milk” altogether and, instead go for Coconut or Almond Milk, GMO of course. * Alexander I was glad to see this post- I always found it strange that so many people are of the opinion that our digestive tracts most closely resemble that of an herbivores.But for the matter of the eyes that face forward, I think that evolved in primates because of our need to have depth perception to swing between branches, not to hunt animals (not that primates never hunt other animals, which they do). * DChrls Like most things in life, moderation is the way to go. Also exercise, stretch and get outside. Unless you live in a big city. In that instance, accept that you live in a place that the air will probably do more harm than a little snack eating. That you are more likely to be attacked by a criminal and disease will spread faster where you live too. So if you are one of those people who feel you are more intelligent than those who live in the “flyover states” or heaven forbid ” The South”. Remember these things about where you live and PLEASE stay where you are. Accept the environment the you and politicians you voted for have made for you. Have the decency to not move to areas who have got it right. If you do, observe how the people live where you moved to and don’t repeat the same acts that shaped the last place you lived. That is all and have a blessed day. :D P.S. if you can’t handle a little humor, like this post was intended to be. Learn to lighten up and don’t take yourself so seriously. You’ll probably live longer. * JaiGuru The one and ONLY good diet is the one that includes a balanced protion of all three macro nutrients. There is no substitution. + Trillstar Duh. + jdege This is wrong on two levels. First, there is no dietary requirement for carbohydrates, so to say they must be part of the balance is simply wrong. Second, there are huge differences between the types of fats, so to say that you need some portion of your diet to be fats, without discussing what kinds of fats, is dangerously ignorant. o Robert W i dont know what to believe anymore 0/50/50 0/25/75 we need glucose for our brains to function ketosis isn’t a good way to go thru life is it it not good for diabetics is it why should it be good us helathy people maybe cleaning purge once in awhile keep your body alkaline for the most part 7.5+ o PDuncan12345 You know what’s ignorant? Discussing issues you know very little about. Ever study Nutrition in college? I did. And there is no fad diet that is worthy of this discussion. ALL of them leave out vital foods and nutrients in the name of sales. They pander to people who can’t think for themselves and who MUST watch Dr. Oz each day in order to survive. And the latest and greatest food discovery is also just to keep people watching because sooner or later it ALWAYS comes down to the exact same thing: a varied diet, smaller portions with little salt and sugar, along with normal exercise like walking IS ALL ANYONE NEEDS. Every time you read something about the latest and greatest food fad, it turns out later not to be true. The Atkins Diet? Didn’t Atkins die at a relatively young age? You cannot live on protein alone! The Paleo diet where you only eat “grass-fed” meat. Come on! If THAT isn’t a fad diet, nothing is. Remember when eggs were terrible for us? Now they’re great. Remember when margarine was going to save us from heart attacks? Now it CAUSES them! And now fruit is bad for us!!! That’s where fructose comes from you know. Did you know apples contain cyanide? And Almonds contain arsenic? You will drive yourselves stark-raving mad if you don’t put down all the idiotic claims people come up with every single day, and just… eat. Eat SMALL amounts of VARIED foods, and walk. That’s my diet book. It won’t make me any money though since there isn’t any kind of fantastic, stupendous, miraculous, magical, or sensational component of it. I hope MyDiet actually posts this. + Robert W 80/10/10 or i like to promote 65/25/10 also 75/15/10 for lower fat diets eliminating fat totally isn;t good all food should have three macro nutrients , carbs protein and fat even brocooli has like .5 per cup but foods like tofu 0 so we need to incorpersate some within the meal eating protein laden food like rabbit can harm ya if thats all ya eat some fancy name i forgot because it so lean we meant to eat our food whole i think up to what fits in our mouths isolating parts from the animal makes us deficent i think protein shouldn’t be more then 12.5% diet we have 32 teeth right out of those 4 are for meat eating the way i look at it for us omnivoire’s we aren’t true carnivores nor true grass eaters either. + PDuncan12345 That’s what I said, only in a few more words :o) * Francisco Castro Anyone with a basic high school nutrition class education should be able to surmise all of these things. They were trying a little too hard to make these really broad and generalized “facts” fit into this “7 healthy foods that turned out to be unhealthy” topic. Yes, for the most part they have the right idea and direction but it all comes down to moderation. There are too many sensationalized opinions embedded within these 7 foods that it’s hard to take it seriously when half of it holds validity while the other half completely negates the purpose and value of a balanced diet. (That is of course, assuming everyone needs the EXACT same diet which is completely ludicrous.) A majority of our American population just need to start consistently eating better rather than diving into the deep end of extreme diets. Gradually build yourself an improving habit of well balanced foods, exercise, rest and a healthy sex life and your life will transform. All of these things are intertwined and will balance out if you make the intention for it. The road to a great body and mind is exactly that, a road. Milestones are the greatest to help affirm that journey. * BW You are somewhat incorrect about the life expectancy of cavemen. The life expectancy was quite low, but that was mainly due to the high infant mortality rates, if you lived beyond childhood, the life expectancy was much much higher than 30. and with no hospitals, it was easy to die of an infection from an injury(probably very common), doesn’t mean their diets were causing them problems. There are still a few cultures around the world who eat this way (plenty of protein and fat, no grains), and guess what? they have almost zero incidence of heart disease and diabeties and most other chronic disease. New research is showing that many types of fats are GOOD for you…like “essential” fatty acids like omega 3, and even saturated fat is now being shown to actually be healthy(kinda like eggs) There is nothing in grains that you can’t get in much greater abundance by eating something else instead. You’d be 100 times better off replacing your grains with an equal amount of healthy veg or meat. Grains are “filler” food, meant to take up max. volume for min. price, they have very little in the way of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, micro-nutrients etc. they do have those things, but in very minimal quantities compared to equal calories of veg or meat. So it’s very hard to make any kind of case that a food so low in overall nutrition is somehow good for you to eat in any kind of substantial quantities. Concentrated and highly processed grain oil specifically is what promotes heart disease, notice that decades ago the usda started recommending people replace their lard with vegetable oil, their butter with margarine…and what happened? heart disease went exponential, those dietary guidelines made the situation far worse, not better. America has gotten more unhealthy since we started on this high carb diet that the usda recommends. Do yourself a favor and replace the grains with something more nutrient dense. * Trillstar 13,000 years is nothing, compared to the history of humanity. It’s no surprise we haven’t evolved to properly process these “foods” we grow for ourselves. * moderate brunei mercury toxicity eh? oishikatta maguro! * dupkaman Fat is two to three times higher in calories than protein or carbohydrates. Eat a pound of fat and you will be much heavier than if you ate a pound of carbohydrate or protein. That’s just the way it is……look it up. + Raven Storm Really? Then explain the success of the Adkins, South beach and paleo diets?! That diet not count calories and allows the dieter to eat fat and proteins. The fact that “calorie suppression diet” work because you are removing large quantities of food and inducing starvation. The same medical industry professionals who advocated hi carb low fat are the same ones who told you to count calories. The fact is that a calorie is a unit of energy and no proof that our bodies know how to “count”. Scientists applied calories to food but still don’t know what that means to the body’s metabolism function. Yes it is true there are 9 calories in fat compared to 4 in both protein and carb, which is the basis for the idiotic hi carb low fat diet, but it is also known that the body cannot digest fats and it converts carbs to fat for the body to store. So what people have been told,you included obviously for the last 40 years has been counter productive and the skyrocketing obesity rates are the telltale signs of this failure. Yet ironically during the same time our supermarkets have gotten larger in the “pantry” food area…..carbs. who is benefitting? The same food corporations that sponsored you “fat makes you fat, buy our fat free food instead” campaigns. Fat free foods need sugar and carbs to replace the flavors taking the fat out removes. Perhaps instead of telling me that’s just the way it is you should shut up and ask yourself where has listening to these ideas of hi carb diets and counting calories has gotten our nation in the last 40 years. My friend is currently on the Adkins diet and in 1 1/2 months is down over 30 lbs. She is counting carbs not calories. + Raven Storm Your body doesn’t count calories and it also can’t digest fat. What your body does do is convert what you eat into fuel, starting with the easiest form. Your body runs on sugar and carbs and that is what sugars are. Your body burns that, and stores that. If it has to work harder to break down a food into a sugar like protein, it will not be able to store as much. Look it up, because THAT is the way it actually is. It’s called a glycemic index, you might not have heard of it while you were thinking that a pound can weigh more than a pound simply by what it’s made of. * John Moser Breakfast comes after a long period of energy-consuming sleep in which the body repairs muscles and joints, consolidates memory (intensive), and consumes sugar (from stored glycogen) to produce ATP. The demand for energy is high at this point; 500kcal is quite low, and is especially good when brought as a balance of sugar, fat, and protein. I find normal breakfasts–pancakes, french toast, fried potatoes–provide too much caloric intake at around 1000+ kcal in the form of bread and sugar (syrup!), and had switched to eggs and meats and mushrooms fried in butter and lard as my primary breakfast intake. There is no documented increase in birth defects or any documented harm from mercury in fish. The FDA standards are set specifically for pregnant women, and are arbitrary: they’re set to 1/10 of what was arbitrarily deemed to be potentially toxic, although no evidence of toxicity has ever been found. They just guess it’s probably toxic because it contains an amount of mercury known to be toxic which, strangely enough, has failed to show to actually be toxic for unknown reasons. Because they don’t know why it appears to not produce toxic effects, and because they haven’t established hard-line evidence showing particularly a lack of toxicity, they suggest caution. Energy bars and trail mixes should have a high amount of fat and sugar content, with a modest amount of protein and a lot of micronutrients. You eat these when you are burning energy; they need to immediately supply usable sugar, as well as fat source for slow-burn energy, and protein and micronutrients which the body consumes rapidly under load. Often I intake straight sugar (100g directly) and water with magnesium, sodium, potassium, manganese, and calcium ions; energy bars are better. * Smart_Tech_Spinner > there aren’t any studies that prove fats make you “fat” Why do a million doctors tell you otherwise? + Raven Storm Because doctors are taught very little in the way of nutrition in med school, and thankfully that is slowly changing. No sooner do they put carbs at the foundation of the ‘food pyramid’ in the 70’s do obesity rates rise. In the meantime, they demonized any food that had ‘fat’ in it. The “it’s fat, so you’re fat” logic….really isn’t rooted in logic. Doctors are also turning away in droves from this fat makes you fat ‘wisdom’ because they are learning that it is incorrect. * ArooMadazda cholesterol lowering drugs are also associated with an increased risk of dementia. * Gstrine While grass fed animals do produce a healthier, more nutrient dense food source, its not THAT big of a deal if you eat conventionally raised meat. The amount of fat actually in the meat (Omega 6) isn’t at a dangerous level, and you can just supplement with fish oil so your omega 3/6 ratios are in line. Yes, there will be more harmful substances in the meat but that is mostly in the fat, which can be cut off. Telling people you MUST eat grassfed animals for paleo/primal eating to be healthy is just wrong and will turn away many people who would otherwise be able to afford it. Just eat leaner cuts of meat and wild caught fish (canned wild caught fish is extremely cheap). In general, removing all of the processed foods, grains, legumes, and LOWFAT dairy WILL make you much healthier than those eating the SAD (standard american diet). You will also feel like a new person, this is coming from experience. If you’re interested in the paleo/primal lifestyle check out marks daily apple .com … it’ll change your life. + JBart @Gstrine – I don’t agree on the balancing your omega-6 with omega-3. Balance doesn’t help your body deal with too much of a bad thing. The majority of your protein and fat should come from naturally fed animals. Also, most people eat only the lean cuts of meat and this is a mistake as well. Our bodies are designed to eat the whole animal; fat, skin, sinew, organs, etc. You don’t get essential nutrients like glycine from eating muscle meat. * Patrick “Eel” O’Brian removed. * LindaL This list keep repeating the BS that fats and particularly saturated fats are bad. Newer studies show this associated is incorrect. Watch out for the carbs (particularly processed) and your blood sugar wont rise as high, thus your body will produce less insulin and then be less likely to store fat instead use it to fuel your cells. * Ron Couples In addition to the mercury problem, Pacific salmon may soon contain material from the Fukushima Daiichi radioactive plume heading toward the west coast . * Greg Schlosser What you should and should not eat: Eat a variety of animal fats and protiens throughout the week for lots of good cholesterol. Cholesterol supports good brain health. Eat eggs every day, steel cut oats, natural sweetners (raw honey, raw sugar, pure maple syrup), always add butter to steamed vegetables, variety of fruits. Saturated Fat enables digestion of nutrients from vegetables and fruits, so don’t be afraid of saturated fat. Consume a variety of unsalted, unsweetened raw nuts throughout the week. Do not ever eat white flour, deep fried food, canola, soybean oil, vegetable oil, margrine, cereal, white rice, white sugar, artificial sweetners, corn syrup, dextrose, sucralose or any food that has any of the previous mentioned garbage. Never eat boxed dinners and seriously…avoid boxed cereal. If you love cereal, then cook steel cut oats with butter and pure maple syrup for sweetness. * Bccamrtn I eat super low fat, extremely high carb and high fructose vegan diet and consume over 2000 calories a day. I work out everyday for about an hour. I limit my sodium intake to 500 mg. per day and eat an all natural plant based diet. I weigh 115 pounds and I’m 5’4. My weight never fluctuates and I feel amazing. High fat low carb diets do not work long term and they suck! + mark98115 Add some avocados to your diet. They are high in fat, but it is very good plant fat. Yummy too. * mike932 I used to think that way. Now my goal is the maximize the number of my HEALTHY years on this earth. Would you rather be healthy for 30 years or 70 years? * Walt Wagner Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease1,2,3,4,5 Patty W Siri-Tarino, Qi Sun, Frank B Hu, and Ronald M Krauss +Author Affiliations 1From the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute Oakland CA (PWS-TRMK)the Departments of Nutrition (QSFBH)Epidemiology (FBH) Harvard School of Public Health Boston MA. +Author Notes ↵2 PWS-T and QS contributed equally to this work. ↵3 The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the National Center for Research Resources (http://www.ncrr.nih.gov) or the National Institutes of Health. ↵4 Supported by the National Dairy Council (PWS-T and RMK) and made possible by grant UL1 RR024131-01 from the National Center for Research Resources, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research (PWS-T and RMK). QS was supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from Unilever Corporate Research. FBH was supported by NIH grant HL60712. ↵5 Address correspondence to RM Krauss, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, 5700 Martin Luther King Junior Way, Oakland, CA 94609. E-mail: rkrauss@chori.org. Abstract Background: A reduction in dietary saturated fat has generally been thought to improve cardiovascular health. Objective: The objective of this meta-analysis was to summarize the evidence related to the association of dietary saturated fat with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and cardiovascular disease (CVD; CHD inclusive of stroke) in prospective epidemiologic studies. Design: Twenty-one studies identified by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE databases and secondary referencing qualified for inclusion in this study. A random-effects model was used to derive composite relative risk estimates for CHD, stroke, and CVD. Results: During 5–23 y of follow-up of 347,747 subjects, 11,006 developed CHD or stroke. Intake of saturated fat was not associated with an increased risk of CHD, stroke, or CVD. The pooled relative risk estimates that compared extreme quantiles of saturated fat intake were 1.07 (95% CI: 0.96, 1.19; P = 0.22) for CHD, 0.81 (95% CI: 0.62, 1.05; P= 0.11) for stroke, and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.89, 1.11; P = 0.95) for CVD. Consideration of age, sex, and study quality did not change the results. Conclusions: A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD. More data are needed to elucidate whether CVD risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat. * Jase the amount of sushi you would have to eat to be poisoned by mercury is a ridiculous amount. some of these are nonsense. its not like people are out eating these foods all day everyday. * Christopher Pennington IIFYM: “empty calories” is an anitquated term these days. A calorie from a cupcake or a banana is the same to your body. There is no evidence to the contrary. * Sam Government hogwash * Buttercurl Did this article fall through a worm hole from 1982? * Jeff The section on mercury in tuna is very inaccurate. Please read http://www.greenpasture.org/fermented-cod-liver-oil-butter-oil-vita min-d-vitamin-a/mercury-myths/ and get your facts strait. * drsebby the sushi/tuna thing is complete garbage….the FDA sets the ‘tolerance level’ to 500% of what it actually is just as a safeguard!!! Go to their site and read it for yourself! Also, the limitations assume…3 portions per week (or whatever)…EVERY week, for your entire f-ing life!! There’s more mercury in a coca-cola than in a sushi dinner – stop the fear mongering …READ, people…just research honestly. + mark98115 Problem with Coca Cola isn’t mercury. It’s the blasted corn syrup. My rule number one – if t has corn syrup, it is not going down my pie hole. * phillyfanatic Well eggs were bad, coffee was bad, alcohol was bad. Perhaps grandma’s view that all things in moderation was not wrong. I try to eat right but once in a while have eggs, salad dressing , even fried chicken without the fried skin. Hmmm. I note that most young people speak and act like M. Bloomberg on health foods but still smoke whether it is weed or cigs. Hmm. Moderation and common sense should suffice but with so many Low Info voters on politics, rel, cultur. and health things out there, education should be at least put out there and choices have to be made. Unless of course, one is a progressive which limits choices. You know, freedom??? Oh and I am 75, go to the gym and have bad DNA in my parental and family backgrounds. I do take HBP pills but that is it. Moderation. * LlarryLLama “may develop systems”..don’t you mean symptoms?Not only is this article absurd in it’s quantity, but it’s quality as well. * Rick Baumann The references you make to mercury in tuna is almost totally bogus. Most of the bad publicity and “studies” about mercury content were funded by the meat, pork and poultry lobbies with the intent of reducing seafood menu shares in the nation’s restaurants. I have owned a gourmet seafood market and distributorship for decades – and have been privy to many seminars and classes on food safety etc. A typical sushi platter may contain an ounce of tuna or less. The implication that there is a higher mercury content in tuna sold at restaurants is absurd – and completely unfounded by unbiased studies. That statement is also extremely void of any logic whatsoever. I sell the same tuna to restaurants that I sell in my store! * Tom King Fish is fine to eat (even tuna). Just ignore the TV cooking shows and remove the skin BEFORE cooking. Mercury levels will drop 70% or more. The mercury alarm comes from the way the government tests the fish. They take the whole fish (skin, bones, guts, et al.) and grind it into a paste for analysis. A test was done with lake trout from Lake Ontario a few years ago- the standard tests showed levels of mercury that would limit someone to one serving a week. Testing fillets (skin, bones & guts removed) the mercury levels dropped almost 90%. That’s because fish build up mercury in their skin & scales, not their flesh. * CANDYF77 . Let me tell you the truth. Unsaturated fats are what a person what’s in order to lose weight and to increase energy. It is more effective as a source of energy with its 9 calories/gram vs the 4 calories/gram in protein and 4 calories/gram in carbs. And if you add exercise in your diet, the carbs you will sweat out! And not only did I lose weight & gain energy but also all of my blood test were excellent!!! * Ghenghis john If you eat any of those foods, even once, you will surely die. It is a proven fact. * NorthboroughDan Processed “health foods” are not so great? Shocking. Never trust Industrial Food. And go light on the tuna. Check. * HowardLane Y’all are so lucky to have the ability to pick & choose your diets. I’m lactose intolerant, allergic to wheat ( not gluten ), allergic to pepper & sugar raises my blood pressure. You cannot imagine how many times I just stand in the kitchen scratching my head. + http://www.hookedonhealth.co Hooked on Health Sounds like you need to go paleo. There are lots of blogs with great recipes. Just google it. * Rhett J D. Fats and proteins is what we really need being lied to about the other shit for years, cholesterol is not affected by fats its by sugar that spikes it. * Steven Bilbo ummm,,,, so you all fallow this????? * Steven Bilbo show me a 100 year old vegan or vegitarian rofl * Erohiel Just because yogurt contains lots of sugar does NOT make it bad for you. Not EVERYONE consumes too much sugar. Sugar, like most things, is not inherently bad for you. Dairy is extremely good for you, whether it contains lots of sugar or lots of fat. And an ENERGY bar is for ENERGY. You can’t get ENERGY without calories. If you’re trying to reduce your calorie intake, anyone with a brain should know not to eat things that are supposed to increase energy only. The idea is a BALANCE not ‘avoid this ingredient like the plague’, and then everything comes down to what an individual needs. We need to get away from all this horrible misinformation like these articles. * tammytnt Like your dog * thisfoodcultureisshit because energy bars are “small”, people will feel hungry soon after eating them. Is that really how you think food works? * Vulcanlogix This article is dumber than even the average Yahoo article, and that isn’t easy. Anybody who knows anything at all about nutrition wouldn’t think that any of these “food” items, except for the yogurt, is healthy or nutritious. As for no/low fat plain yogurt, taste isn’t the issue as much as texture – watery with soft clots. Switching to fat free greek yogurt is a major improvement in that regard. Surprisingly, Walmart’s Great Value brand is, IMHO, one of the better brands available because it isn’t nearly as sour as everything else I’ve tried, has a thick, smooth texture, and it tastes a bit like cream cheese. The common denominator with these products is that they’re manufactured. If you really want to sharply reduce your intake of bad things such as chemicals, hormones, allergens, refined sugar, sodium and anything else on your personal list, then don’t eat manufacured food, and stay out of restaurants. Make things yourself from whole, fresh ingredients, organic when available. Wash fruits and vegetables, even locally grown and organic. And do your own research. Most of the so-called studies and the conclusions drawn from them are irresponsible, poorly thought out bullshirt, as is obvious when they reverse themselves weekly. * John L. Lee 55 years ago I grew up dining on fast food on the weekends, which was not as toxic as today’s McCrap! There were NO chain fast food places in those years. I’m 71 now and still like a little junk burger now and then, but do not make a steady diet of it. As a kid, I used to go to a place in Berkeley called Bobo’s; you could get 10 burgers or 10 milkshakes for $1 when they had a sale. Otherwise everything was normally 15 cents each. You could feed a car full of hungry teenagers for $3-$4 and have enough left over for 1/2 tank of gas We called them Ratburgers, but they did the trick! By the way Gas was 18 cents a gallon when on sale at Simas Bros. * http://enria.org/ Zee Flynn Energy bars, trail mix, etc. are all fine. The problem is most “dieters” wash them down with soda and eat mountains of it or other items and claim the “diet” food doesn’t work. Chew each bite 100 times, eat to 80% full and no food after 7 pm and you’ll lose all the weight that is unhealthy in short order. Only in America are portions “super sized”, along with the people. See a connection here? * tevra Ever hear of moderation? no food is healthy or unhealthy in and of itself. take and imbibe all things in moderation and you will be fine. and most important don’t pay much attention to articles from the internet * josephz2va The protein bars vary on who is marketing it. Quest Cravings / Quest Bars I buy from my gym contain almost zero sugar. * Ronnie S Houser A majority of this list is complete BS… It comes down to portion size and knowing what not to eat at certain times. Everyone’s body is different. * stangmfl There is so much nebulous ambiguity in all these lists, no wonder even if one is REALLY trying to lose weight, after reading a few of these ,from different studies, you can explode from frustration. One that always is imbedded somewhere in the info. is diet sodas. No empirical evidence for it contributing to weight gain, or stopping weight loss, always that shaky ‘it may cause you to want more’. I know how I lost and gained weight, and everyone’s story and remedy is valid if it works/worked for them. * WakeForestYankee Positive net calories = weight gain; negative net calories = weight loss. It’s no more complex than that. * ModernCaveFamily Per Mark S. everything you eat should be edible raw means: Don’t eat food that MUST be cooked to be consumed (i.e you can not eat uncooked wheat, rice, barley) it is just a metric of judging what you “should ” eat. beets are edible raw, but we prefer to eat them roasted therefore beets are “Paleo approved” Sweet potatoes can be eaten raw but we like them cooked-sweet potatoes = “paleo approved” The rule I follow is, if it is food we eat it, if it is a food like product we don’t. We eat a lot of vegetable (cooked and raw) We don’t eat food product bread, pasta, fruit gummy snacks, candy, frozen things that come in boxes, frozen Chinese, or Mexican dinners, lasagna, pizza. + WingedWolfPsion Yes, you’ve repeated the big flaw I was talking about – the idea that everything should be edible when raw. That’s not how our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate, and it’s not how the species that came before them ate, either. There have always been some foods in the human diet that were toxic or unpalatable when raw, but edible when cooked. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with those foods. Paleolithic peoples would have, and likely did, cook and eat them. List of foods toxic when raw: Cashews Bitter almonds Kidney beans Lima beans Soybean Elderberries Cassava guelder rose fruit Unpalatable raw: Plantain quince crab apple some cherries sloe The list goes on. Just a few examples, here. + PDuncan12345 Oh my god, here we go again. How is rice, or wheat, or barley not food but only “food like”? And pasta isn’t food either? Will you eat a cow… that has been FED grain? I bet you do. You poor poor family. Never a blueberry pancake, never an English muffin. No Cheerios, no turkey spinach lasagna. No tuna sandwiches, no garlic bread. Not a corn dog in the house. Or are frankfurters food? They’re not a grain, they can be cooked but don’t have to be, and they incorporate every part of the animal they’re made from. I’ll bet you’d eat a wiener but you won’t eat a pizza… even though pizzas have been proven to be extremely nutritious. The total and utter brainwashing that goes on in the diet industry just astounds me. For the record, when you eat a piece of meat, you also eat whatever that animal eats!!! * http://gigieatscelebrities.com/ GiGi Eats Celebrities I could not agree MORE with this list!!!!! * disqus_N4ylfpodZI The best way to make popcorn is to put a couple of handfuls of organic popcorn in a brown paper bag and put it in the microwave for about three minutes. I add a little butter (not margarine) and sea salt and it’s better than any of the prepackaged crap they sell and a lot cheaper. * paul koester Organic natural foods . Raw and unprocessed whenever posable Plenty of water and sleep. And 30 minutes a day banging the heavy bag ! * Keith B. Rosenberg And why are all of those unhealthy things added to so-called “healthy” food? Because so much of the healthy food is more or less inedible all by itself. Rolled oats are a lot like cardboard before making them onto oatmeal and cookies. * Robert W so butane and propane are ok octane heptane might as well use alcohol then seem more food grade * Robert W i think we need to add mushrooms back into our diet that monotonous ubiquitous white button mushroom seems unnatural doesn’t it + spunkysmum Gross. * JOHN JONES Regardless, anything in EXCESS IS BAD FOR YOU. No matter what they say. You too much..you’ll gain. * SandyTodd Fat, per serving, has more calories. I can eat a cup of Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream, 430 calories. I can eat a cup of Umpqua Nonfat Frozen Yogurt, which is very creamy and tasty, 164 calories. The fat content matters. I’ll use my fat to butter an English muffin for breakfast. * Manuel Uribe Eat like Jack LaLanne, do a little exercise, and you’ll be fine. The rest of everything else here is just noise. 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