{"id":35,"date":"2010-05-05T15:43:45","date_gmt":"2010-05-05T22:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leanmeanvirilemachine.com\/?p=35"},"modified":"2010-06-06T09:43:57","modified_gmt":"2010-06-06T16:43:57","slug":"warning-these-health-foods-are-making-you-sick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/05\/warning-these-health-foods-are-making-you-sick\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning: These “Health Foods” Are Making You Sick"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When it comes <\/span>to<\/span> healthy eating, it\u2019s hard <\/span>to know what to choose and what to avoid<\/span>. Between low<\/span>-fat and low-<\/span>carb<\/span>, vegetarian and <\/span>carnivory<\/span>, it seems like we just can\u2019t come to a consensus on which foods are truly the healthiest<\/span> and which we should steer clear of. How can anyone possibly make any sense out of all the conflicting information floating around?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Truth is, a lot of foods get tagged as “healthy” and are promoted by mainstream experts even though it later turns out they have many harmful effects. <\/span>Here are a few of the items you may want to think twice about the next time you reach for them at the supermarket.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Spinach<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Dark, leafy greens get a lot of respect on this site. They are loaded with vitamins and minerals<\/span>,<\/span> and <\/span>humans have been thriving on vegetables similar to these <\/span>for a long time. Spinach, however, stands out as the most problematic due to its high levels of oxalates.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Oxalates are natural compounds that pose a double-pronged<\/span> problem. First, it binds to the calcium in the leaves, drastically reducing the amount of this important compound that gets absorbed by your body. <\/span>Second<\/span>, 80% of all kidney stones are composed of oxalates and studies have found that dietary oxalates are at least partially to blame!<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you <\/span>are<\/span> eating spinach every <\/span>day, it would be wise to vary things up<\/span> a bit by <\/span>occasionally <\/span>replacing it with other greens. If you like raw spinach salads, start <\/span>making them with<\/span> lettuce half the time. If you like a side of cooked spinach with dinner, replace it with other dark greens such as collards, kale, and chard. The lower oxalate content makes the high levels of vitamins and <\/span>minerals much more <\/span>bioavailable<\/span>, plus they taste much better, too!<\/span><\/p>\n

Whole Grains<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>One trend that is really picking up is the \u201chealthy whole grai<\/span>n\u201d movement. This is largely <\/span>a response to the growing amount of evidence that implicates <\/span>high<\/span>ly-refined<\/span> grains as the main<\/span> contributors <\/span>to the obesity epidemic<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Since our bodies break down the<\/span> carbohydrates found in whole gr<\/span>ains<\/span> much slower than <\/span>those in refined grains<\/span>, there is a smaller insulin spike in the bloods<\/span>tream and therefore less fat <\/span>stored in the body\u2019s tissues. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Additionally<\/span>, whole grains are supposedly<\/span> healthier than refined ones because they retain all the nutrients found in the bran and germ, parts of the plant removed in the refining process.<\/span><\/p>\n

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First off, <\/span>grains<\/span>, like beans and dairy, are <\/span>a relative newcomer to the human diet.<\/span> As such, we have not yet evolved the ability to process this type of food in the same way that ruminants such as cows, with their multi-chambered stomachs, can. <\/span>Gluten <\/span>intolerace<\/span>, celiac disease, leaky gut (<\/span>ewwww<\/span>\u2026), these are but a few of the gifts that grain consumption has given to the human race<\/span> due to its rapid adoption<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As for all those nutrients?<\/span> Sorry to ruin the party, but whole grains also contain loads of <\/span>phytic acid<\/span>, which binds to the nutrients and effectively blocks them from being absorbed by your body. Let me say that again: <\/span>Even though whole grains have more nutrients than refined grains, your body is unable to absorb them<\/span><\/span>. You would be much better off replacing these grains with such vitamin-rich sources as meat and vegetables.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you absolutely love your grains<\/span> and can\u2019<\/span>t stand the thought of giving them<\/span> up, you can l<\/span>earn a valuable lesson from <\/span>modern hunter-gatherer <\/span>societies, many of which prepare<\/span> grains<\/span> in a way that maximizes nutrient <\/span>absorbtion<\/span>. Soaking, sprouting, grinding, and souring whole grains <\/span>has<\/span> been shown to <\/span>reduce the <\/span>phytic acid<\/span> conten<\/span>t while preserving the vitamins and minerals<\/span>. So if you need a grain fix, it’s best to spring for sourdough or sprouted bread instead of 7-grain, and soak your rice until it sprouts before cooking it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Vegetable Oils<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Plant foods<\/span> have a certain<\/span> amount of<\/span> sanctity in our culture. Most nutritionists <\/span>advise<\/span> substituting plant products for animal products in your diet. As a result, most people have cut back on fats such as butter and lard in favor of their \u201chealthy\u201d counterpoints in the plant world: processed vegetable oils.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t get me wrong, SOME vegetable oils have a proven track record of health benefits, and these tend to be the more ancient oils that can be easily obtained without industrial processing. (Olive oil, <\/span>coconut oil, and sesame oil, these are the MVPs of the vegetable oil world.) The cheaper corn, sunflower, and soybean oils are essentially made in a factory, with massive amounts of processing necessary in order to extract the oil. (Think about it, do you think it is easy to get oil out of a <\/span>corn cob<\/span>?)<\/span><\/p>\n

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The primary problem with vegetable oils is their sky-high omega-6 fatty acid levels. <\/span>Excessive omega-6 causes inflammation and blocks the many benefits of omega-3 fats, which are currently (and rightly) getting a lot of attention in the media. There\u2019s also solid evidence pointing out that an excess of these fats can lead to homicidal behavior<\/a>!<\/p>\n

These are \u201cessential fats\u201d only in the sense that our bodies cannot produce them on their own. We get WAY too much omega-6 in our diets. The ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats based on modern hunter-gatherers and anthropological evidence of our ancestors\u2019 diet <\/span>is between 1:1 and 4:1. Most estimates of modern American diets put our ratios at something more like 1<\/span>0:1 to 30:1! <\/span><\/p>\n

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So get rid of your vegetable oils (except for olive oil) and pick up some coconut oil and sesame oil. While <\/span>you’re<\/span> at it, get some butter as well. Plenty of it. The more you use, the better your scrambled eggs taste! <\/span><\/p>\n

But Wait, There’s More!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In the next post, I will look at a couple more “health” foods that you’d be best avoiding. In the meantime, let me know if this has changed the way you’ll shop for groceries in the future!
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When it comes to healthy eating, it\u2019s hard to know what to choose and what to avoid. Between low-fat and low-carb, vegetarian and carnivory, it seems like we just can\u2019t come to a consensus on which foods are truly the healthiest and which we should steer clear of. How can anyone possibly make any sense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14,22,21,23,8],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nutrition","tag-confusion","tag-grains","tag-greens","tag-oils","tag-real-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions\/267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}