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| Weight Loss | Raw Food Diet-what do you think? | Sep 07 2007 20:09 (UTC) |
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| Technically, a raw food diet, you do eat "cooked" food, just not
above I believe 102F, bc past that some of the nutrients can "cook
out". That would be pretty much impossible, since a lot of raw restaurants serve "gently warmed raw soups" at 105 or 110 degrees. Most raw foodists have chosen 110 or 118 degrees as their magic number. If you're thinking that raw foodists eat "cooked" food because they do more with it than just eat raw tomatoes off the vine, then the word you want is "prepared". No raw foodist would ever agree that their food is "technically cooked". Back on the temperature thing -- I've had a fever temperature of about 105 degrees, and I don't consider myself "cooked". :) Also know that "raw food" includes bread, and EVERYTHING that has to be made at over that certain degree limit. Raw diets very rarely include bread. Conventional bread is definitely not raw, and all of the sprouted loaves in the freezer section of natural food stores have been baked at around 150 degrees (minimum). You CAN make a raw bread called Essene bread, but it's very preparation-intensive and for most raw foodists is more of a special treat than Other items that have been labelled "bread" in the raw diet have nothing to do with their conventional counterparts -- not made out of wheat or rye or anything like that. They are more like chips and crackers, e.g. dehydrated flax crisps, onion flatbread made from onions, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds, stuff like that. With a raw food diet, there's a lot you can't eat. Well that's kind of a "glass half empty" viewpoint. :) I tried it for about a week and just couldn't do it, because I loveee granola too much, haha! THere is such a thing as raw granola. I made some out of sprouted buckwheat and brought it to Burning Man. It was a popular gift. If you have the will power to do it though, more power to you! I eat fruit all day and chocolate smoothies whenever I want. Who needs willpower? |
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| Weight Loss | Raw Food Diet-what do you think? | Sep 07 2007 07:56 (UTC) |
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Some foods are actually healthier in a cooked state... like tomato and
broccoli. The cooking breaks them down, so the body can better
absorb the nutrients. "Healthier"? Heat turns fibers from indigestible carbohydrates into somewhat-digestible carbohydrates. So, you get more calories from it. Uh, great. Fewer fibers do generally mean less stuff standing in the way of micronutrient absorption, but unfortunately the application of heat tends to reconfigure minerals locked in organic molecules into inorganic compounds that aren't as easily used and absorbed. Calcium and iron are two such minerals that are susceptible to this effect. Inorganic iron compounds in the diet can be a major problem for some people, usually to the tune of laxative abuse to relieve its effects. Certain compounds are apparently made more bioavailable by cooking, such as lycopene in tomatoes. But simultaneously, heat denatures many cofactors in the vegetable that assist in the use of those compounds. "Healthy" is a very relative term. If you wanted to build the most theoretically optimal diet using the available scientific research, I would advise eating about 70% raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, 10 to 15% raw or nearly-raw animal foods, and 15 to 20% cooked vegetables (including starchy roots). I'm basically describing the Paleo Diet. I eat a lot more raw than this, but I admit that my more-raw-ness is based on faith that the current trend of raw-affirming research is going to continue well into the future. |
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| Weight Loss | Raw Food Diet-what do you think? | Sep 07 2007 07:32 (UTC) |
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| It is my experience that extreme diets are a big problem. Yes, that's been my experience too. That's why I reject the USDA food pyramid. By the way are cheese and yogurt really "raw"? Cheese and yogurt are considered "raw" when they are made from unpasteurized milk. From a purely hedonistic perspective, try raw-milk brie when you get a chance. TOTALLY different beast than pasteurized milk brie, even in texture. When you see the difference between these two products, it's hard to maintain the assertion that there's no fundamental chemical difference between raw and pasteurized milk. Besides, you can overeat whether the food is raw or cooked or includes or excludes meat. Nuts are a good example. Do you have any idea how many calories a handful of nuts packs -- around 180? Yeah, in terms of calorie balance, there's nothing magical about raw foods... except for the fact that most people feel far more satisfied eating far fewer calories when eating raw foods. The reason for this -- and I can only speak on high-level terms here -- seems to be the fact that the human body seems to experience increases in appetite for food beyond calorie needs when faced with deficits in vitamins and minerals. A proper raw diet is so fantastically abundant in micronutrients that it's pretty easy to wind up with the unexpected problem of undereating! |
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| Weight Loss | Raw Food Diet-what do you think? | Sep 07 2007 07:30 (UTC) |
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| Alissa Cohen is one of those raw foodists who's trying to engage cooked food eaters on the "you don't have to give up the foods you love" angle. Unfortunately, this approach generates a menu of foods that are completely unrealistic, both from a time-and-effort standpoint and from a proper diet / digestive health perspective. I can describe exactly my opinions on Cohen's recipes, but it requires a lot of background info, i.e. writing time I don't have at the moment. :) As a raw foodist, I pretty much never eat Alissa Cohen's idea of a raw diet. I'm also not a vegan, and I eat raw fish, raw egg yolks, and (very rarely) some raw red meat. |
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| Vegetarian | help me! i need ideas - gluten free vegan diet | Aug 13 2007 09:27 (UTC) |
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| The basic recipe for sunflower seed cheese (fermented) -- you can use this procedure with dozens of different ingredients. Cashews are tastiest, in my opinion, but they're hard and expensive to get raw. Sunflower and sesame seeds are pretty universally cheap (and easy to find raw). If you don't want to use rejuvelac (I don't!), you can use a non-dairy yogurt starter or even a good quality probiotic pill -- just break open the pill and empty it into the mixture. (This is also a great test to find out just how active your probiotic supplement is!) Another tactic for getting a cheese-like product from nuts and seeds is to skip the fermentation and use a recipe that calls for vinegar or lemon juice. Here's a very good recipe for almond-sunflower seed cheese. Let me know if you try it and what kind of results you get. |
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| Vegetarian | help me! i need ideas - gluten free vegan diet | Aug 13 2007 01:23 (UTC) |
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| One difficult thing for veg*ns is cheese. There really aren't any good
substitutes for cheese. Tofu can be used in place in some recipes but
you can't cut it up and serve it with crackers. Mourn your
cheese-eating days, if you need to, and move forward in the interest of
your health. Lies! :-D I eat raw nut-based cheese on a regular basis. It's most often made from cashews and sunflower seeds, though I've had great success fermenting pine nuts and pecans too. Oh, and fresh coconut will readily ferment into a really great yogurt. If there's anything you can take from your switch to vegan-ness, it's that MILK ISN'T SPECIAL. It's just a combination of protein, fat, and sugar. You can make cheese and yogurt from anything with same profile. |
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| Vegetarian | help me! i need ideas - gluten free vegan diet | Aug 13 2007 01:18 (UTC) |
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Most raw vegans are 100% gluten-free with no problems. I'm not 100% vegan, but I eat vegan-ly about 90% of the time -- and I never eat wheat, oats, rye, or any other glutenous grain, at all. And no, I don't crave it. Not bread, not anything. Raw foods taste way better than paste. :) I'm not able to do milk at all, either. But who cares? I can eat homemade ice cream for breakfast every day if I want, because it's made of fresh coconut or almonds or something. You will easily release a lot of that weight when you go gluten-free. Gluten is a slow-digesting protein that comes packaged with other digestion-slowing compounds (fiber and starch, not to mention addictive exorphins), giving grains the slowest transit time through your system. That means your body picks up the most calories from grains, so not only are they highly caloric, you're getting every single one of those calories. Contrast that with fresh foods like fruits and vegetables, which have the fastest transit times and are the least dense in calories -- and yet result in high satiety -- and you can easily see why most people who go raw release a lot of weight completely effortlessly. So if you're looking for ideas and inspiration about food, check out GoneRaw, a website dedicated to raw recipes of all shapes and sizes. There are thousands of recipes now; you're sure to find a few that will replace your gluten-, milk-, and egg-based comfort foods -- and probably taste way better anyway! |
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| Foods | Are there ANY low fat nuts/seeds? | Aug 12 2007 09:24 (UTC) |
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| Pumpkin seeds are so great. They're also high in omega-3 fats (the anti-inflammatory sort), actually -- especially the organic varieties that come from colder climates like Michigan, rather than from, say, Mexico. Seeds are indeed easier to digest than nuts, in general. Both nuts and seeds are best soaked prior to use, because they contain enzyme-inhibitors that block their digestion (by design -- they're supposed to propagage the plant, after all). When you soak them, changes occur in the seed that turn it into a sprout, breaking down the enzyme-inhibitors and releasing lots of amino acids. If I were a body-builder, I'd definitely be taking care to eat all my seeds sprouted. Since I'm not, and I don't worry about optimal digestion and amino acid absorption 100% of the time, I probably do the sprouting thing with my seeds about 50% of the time. |
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| Vegetarian | deleted thread | Aug 12 2007 09:13 (UTC) |
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| I have mixed feelings about dehydrators. They're totally unecessary for success in raw foods... but they do provide an outlet for converting cooked recipes to raw, and a tool for being creative with raw foods. Dehydrated foods don't tend to be terribly healthy to base your diet around, so -- and I know you've already identified this but I'm saying it anyway -- don't let the lack of having one stop you from going raw. I was going to post a whole lot more about this, but I turned it into a journal post instead. As for your question about oddities along the way: Personally I just underestimated how often my body's needs and appetites would change with regards to food as the seasons changed and my activity levels fluctuated. I would go a week or two eating similarly every day, feeling like "hey I've got this under control, it all makes sense to me now!" But without fail, somewhere along the line I'd feel very differently and have to respond by eating differently... and by the third or fourth week, the weather would have changed enough that the same fresh foods either wouldn't be available or just tasted differently somehow. Hard to explain. :) Just be prepared to change as the seasons change, as your emotional states change, as you exercise more or less, as you go through your menstrual cycle, and so on and so forth. Get really in tune with your intuition, if you aren't already, because going raw means you're going to be relying on it. |
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| Foods | Bananas and feeling sleepy... | Aug 11 2007 04:39 (UTC) |
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Sometimes bananas give me a weird kind of stomachache, especially if I eat them first thing in the morning. I've heard that complaint often. There are a few different reasons for this, having mostly to do with the state of human digestion in the morning. 1 - try them organic if you've only been eating conventional. Many people are sensitive to the sprays on conventional bananas, *especially* in the morning. 2 - morning digestion is not well-suited to starches. If you absolutely think you should have a banana in the morning, try eating much darker bananas or even black ones -- those have the least starch, as it's been converted into simple sugars. 3 - you as an individual, due to genetic heritage, don't deal well with high-carbohydrate breakfasts. Whatever the case, the fact that your stomach feels weird is a good instinct to pay attention to... i.e. "don't do that". :) Most people feel much better starting the day with acid fruits like oranges and grapefruits anyway. Acid/sugar digestion is something your body does best in the morning. |
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| Vegetarian | deleted thread | Aug 11 2007 04:34 (UTC) |
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| Yeah, MSM is great. I mix about a tablespoon of powder into my glass liter-bottle of water and drink from it all day. It's improved my digestion considerably. I also take a little bit extra after workouts, because it really does decrease workout recovery time and reduces soreness and all that good stuff. Other than MSM there aren't any "specific" supplements I do on a regular basis. I'm a big believer in getting as much as you can from whole, fresh foods... which of course is what being raw is all about. |
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| Health & Support | very very very confused about bingeing and depriving yourself of binge foods | Aug 10 2007 18:59 (UTC) |
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| Cereal and bread addicts: You may want to consider that wheat is actually chemically addictive. Perhaps there is a *reason* that grains are your downfall. Don't beat yourself up over your "lack of willpower" until you see what science has to say about the foods that are holding you down. |
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| Vegetarian | Only soy protein? | Aug 10 2007 18:54 (UTC) |
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| Almonds, walnuts, sprouts, avocados, coconuts, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, leafy greens, goji berries... I could go on. Who says you don't have choices? |
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| Vegetarian | deleted thread | Aug 10 2007 18:51 (UTC) |
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| Oh hey. Umm, let's see, experiences... experiences... I've been raw for 4.5 years now, you'd think I had a few to share. Actually, I'm curious about how many people out there doing raw are taking supplements, and if so, which ones? There are some pretty great choices out there these days, hundreds more than when I got started. I would have loved to have Thor's Raw Power and Nature's First Food back then. |
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| Vegetarian | eggplant, wonderful eggplant... | Aug 10 2007 18:48 (UTC) |
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| I like to use raw eggplant as the basis for "pasta" and "pizza". Someone mentioned thinly slicing it as lasagna -- you can marinate these thin slices in salt and herbs and oil overnight to turn the eggplant into soft but firm layers of pasta. Add sundried tomato pasta sauce or pesto, maybe some basil pesto, maybe some pureed nuts... yum. As for pizza, I will use a thick, wide round of eggplant, lightly salted and left to "weep" for a few hours, as the "crust" for a pizza. The fastest pizza I've ever made was as follows: 5-minute Personal Pizza 2"-thick slice of eggplant 2 Tbsp raw almond butter 1 large beefsteak tomato, sliced handful basil sprinkle oregano Spread almond butter on salted eggplant round. Cover this in slices of tomato. Add chopped basil and sprinkle on some oregano, salt, and pepper to taste. It was actually pretty damn tasty. |
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| Vegetarian | haven't gotten my period sence become veg. | Aug 10 2007 18:39 (UTC) |
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| Your period will only occur when your body feels it can spare the energy necessary to release the uterine lining and start over. So if you're cutting calories -- particularly fats -- and increasing exercise, then quite possibly your body thinks it can't spare the energy to create and/or eliminate the uterine lining. There's nothing in this to do with protein. If you're worried about having lost your period, just increase dietary fats -- especially avocados, walnuts, coconuts, and other healthy whole foods. High protein foods aren't necessarily high enough in fats for your own personal needs. You could also be facing a magnesium shortage, a zinc shortage, or an iron deficit. But most likely it's simply the energy issue. |
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| Foods | Carotino Oil | Aug 10 2007 17:58 (UTC) |
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| ...any nutritionist will tell you that good fats are necessary to good health... Yes, but not "any nutritionist" will say that adding what is referred to as overt fat -- fats and oils -- to your food is at all healthy. There is considerable debate as to how much fat is really necessary in the diet. Dr. Douglas Graham, for example, advocates an 80-10-10 system: carbohydrates as 80% of the diet, and fats and proteins as 10% each. If you added as much overt fat to your food as people typically find necessary for cooking, you'd easily sway your percentage to 25% and totally defeat the diet. "The World's Healthiest Foods" is a good site, but it doesn't represent the cutting edge in nutrition research, and it certainly doesn't convey the degree of nutrition science debate that is currently going on. The goal of the site is to get the reader to feel that nutrition is well-understood, cut-and-dried topic with clear judgement calls on individual foods. In nutrition science, however, nothing could be further from the truth. What people don't seem to understand is that no individual food is particularly healthy unless it is part of a system. Similar to the "I'd rather eat a piece of steak than this overt fat" argument above, the assertion that any particular food is "healthy" can be dangerous when taken out of context. |
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| Foods | keeping salad fresh??? | Aug 10 2007 17:44 (UTC) |
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| Shop at farmer's markets instead of the grocery store. The quality of your food, the distance it has travelled, and the time it has spent out of the ground before it gets to your plate are all factors in food spoilage. Most food in grocery stores has travelled 500 miles or more, has been harvested over a week before getting the store, and has been sitting on the shelf for three days or more. It's no wonder your food won't last long in your fridge. Contrast this with farmer's markets, where the food has been picked and delivered usually on the same day, and brought to a location near you where you can buy it for an average of $1 less than grocery store retail! If farmer's markets aren't an option, and you aren't willing to shop every other day for your salad ingredients, then I suggest investing in a really good green supplement that you can add to water every day. |
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| Foods | What do want on your burger? | Aug 10 2007 17:29 (UTC) |
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| How about just eating the avocado? Forget the burger and the bun, you don't need them. Avocado beats the pants off of those things in nutritional quality. Try this for a change: Get a big jicama root. Cut it into "bread" slices. Cover it in avocado, sprouts, and whatever else you like. I like using pineapple salsa on this. As a happy consequence, the "just eat an avocado" plan is significantly cheaper too. |
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| Foods | agave | Aug 10 2007 17:25 (UTC) |
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| Nope. Agave nectar is similar to honey -- around 60 calories per tablespoon. That said, it's still a way healthier choice than sugar or artificial sweeteners (which are not calorie-free, by the way, and seem to increase the risk of diabetes and obesity). You can find two main types of agave nectar, dark and light. The dark (sometimes called "blue") agave nectar is very mineral-dense, like real maple syrup; that's good news because most sugary things actually strip minerals from your body as they are digested. It can also be used in diabetes management because it is low-glycemic. |
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| Foods | Bananas and feeling sleepy... | Aug 10 2007 04:10 (UTC) |
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| I've read a little about food combining before. I don't understand why
a banana sandwich is a bad combination if bananas are starchy and bread
is also. Because grains aren't just starch, and bananas are mostly simple sugars and only a small percentage starch. Grains are generally around 30% protein. Grains are, in and of themselves, a bad food combination. At one point i went maybe a month or two, eating probably 50% of my diet raw fruit and veg. I found that I had so much more energy and felt brilliant! The only thing was I am bordering on underweight anyway and lost around a stone in this time which freaked me out a fair bit. That's a frequent story in raw food. At that point i started eating the chocolate croissants again every day and cookies lol which helped me put the weight back on but seemed to sap my strength somewhat (unsurprisingly). I still try and keep the general principles of food combining and eat as much raw food as i can but still eat lots of biscuits and the like. Well, that's unfortunate. Add other things like eggs, even cooked, instead of grains, and you'll feel a whole lot better and keep your weight on. Is it possible to eat healthy and not lose weight? without having to spend lots of money Of course. Find out what kinds of fatty foods are plentiful and cheap where you live. For me, those are avocados, eggs, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, and occasionally fatty fish like salmon. I live in California; your mileage may vary; but eggs and seeds are almost universally cheap sources of fat. |
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| Vegetarian | Superfoods for energy in non-supplement form? | Jul 22 2007 07:32 (UTC) |
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| Hey pandajenn19, I'm going to assume you're looking for foods that are going to encourage your body to produce natural energy, as opposed to nerve-stimulants and endocrine disruptors like caffeine and refined sugar -- those are energy loans, not real energy, as I'm sure you've already found. You have to pay back energy loans, with interest! The problem is, if you're doing something unnatural -- like staying up really late working, and then not getting enough sleep -- then just eating a few extra special things at the moment when you feel the need for them most isn't really going to do you good. Natural herbs and foods don't typically work on that immediate level; they work as part of a lifestyle. Probably the best change you could make in your diet would be to decrease empty calories -- switch to mineral-dense foods, especially leafy greens. Ideally, everything you put in your mouth should be vitamin- and mineral-dense, with no empty calories whatsoever. Eat at least one all-fruit meal, the best time being in the morning. In fact, most people find that eating only fruit until early afternoon creates a huge boost of energy all throughout the day. People who switch to an all or mostly-fruit diet often find they need to sleep much less (it's also a very good diet for mental focus). Another way of decreasing the energy burden of digestion would be to engage in proper Food Combining. In particular, avoid eating proteins with starches -- that's one of the biggest energy-draining combinations. Read up on food combining and you'll start looking at most sandwiches as if they were bricks. Finally, you should look into green smoothies. That's a fast, effective way to make up for any mineral deficiencies that are keeping your energy low, and also consume some sweet fruit at the same time. Of course you can mix in raw cacao, raw honey, goji berries, and any other "superfoods" you care for. Some people feel more energetic directly after consuming these; other people need a day or two for their bodies to adjust to this new fuel. Someone mentioned maca. It's something to try, but it affects everyone differently, so it has to be treated with caution. It does have some effect on the endocrine system, and it's very high in certain amino acids. It's also, quite simply, a mineral-dense carbohydrate... so that's good. Try it slowly, starting in the morning or afternoon. If it sends your heart racing like a caffeine overdose, it may not be a good choice for you. If you feel "up" and full of mental focus, on the other hand, then continue with it. (If you feel nothing, increase the amount.) But honestly, food doesn't give you energy. Changing your life does. Reduce your energy burdens (digestion, stress, overwork). Increase your energy generators (proper nutrition, exercise, rest and sleep). It's almost as simple as losing weight. :) |
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| Vegetarian | Body Produces it's own Protein? | Jul 12 2007 09:45 (UTC) |
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Speaking of gout and high protein diets. A young man I know was on Atkins and got gout!! OUCH! Yep. My father did too. He wasn't on Atkins or anything. He just decided, based on current fad dietary advice, that he should make every meal a high-protein meal. Pretty soon his knees, toe joints, and wrists hurt. His doctor, traditional MD, said "uh yeah... cut back on the protein." And the gout just went away. Some people will not be so fortunate to have it just go away, if their detoxification pathways are not strong enough. The urea crystals will stick in the joints even after lowering dietary protein. It takes a while to clear them out, especially when a person's lifestyle and health history have created tons of blockages to healing. Unfortunately, many people interpret their slow, imperceptible recovery time as meaning that the dietary changes aren't working. They go on prescription drugs that merely cover up the symptoms, or simply revert to their old ways in frustration and spend the rest of their lives popping pain pills. That's why healing is an emotional, mental, and even social process as much as it is physical. People need support on all levels. |
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| Vegetarian | Body Produces it's own Protein? | Jul 11 2007 10:01 (UTC) |
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| My point, I really dont think our bodies can produce the essential
amino acids, it has to have an external source. Yep, exactly right. The 8 essential amino acids are those that must be obtained from external nourishment. Most other amino acids can be produced in the body. However, sometimes (depending on genetics, environment, lifestyle, and overall health level) an individual doesn't produce enough of one or more of the "non-essential" amino acids, and greatly benefits from the intake of these through the diet. This is one of the reasons why the Goji berry is so revered in traditional Chinese medicine. As a carrier of every major amino acid, it has the potential to relieve amino acid deficiencies that are impairing good health -- to fill in the gaps, as it were. Less well known is the concept of amino acid proportionality -- it can actually be bad for your health to get too much of certain amino acids and at the same time not enough of others. But that's a huge subject. |
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| Vegetarian | Body Produces it's own Protein? | Jul 11 2007 09:52 (UTC) |
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| My boyfriend has a problem where his kidneys can't handle protein or
something. He never craves it. All he eats is bread and chocolate
pudding. He is still lean. Stupid lucky people. Bread is a high-protein food, being about 30% protein. All grain-based food is high in protein. (Protein quality is another issue -- I'm just talking about quantity here.) As for the kidney problem, it sounds like excess protein consumption for him is a problem because of the waste products of metabolism of proteins into glucose. When proteins are digested for their energy (because better fuels are not available), urea is released and must be excreted through the kidneys. This urea excretion pathway is perfectly normal, except that just like overusing a ligament can damage it, overusing this pathway can damage the kidneys. The effect is worsened in cases of chronic dehydration, i.e. not drinking enough water in general. It's a dangerous misconception these days that a high-protein diet is a healthy diet. Carbohydrates, especially fruit, are the natural first fuel for the human body, followed by fat. Protein metabolism is extremely "messy", producing many waste products that have side effects like gout and kidney disease. |
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| Fitness | Cellulite. | Jul 10 2007 16:35 (UTC) |
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I'm not saying anything different from what Elizabeth (ehalo1), our resident Medical Esthetician for a Plastic Surgeon, said above. I'm just going to say it a little differently. Cellulite isn't something that humans are supposed to have, and the fact that some people get it and some people don't means that there is either a genetic basis or an environmental (diet and exercise) basis. Well, it's both. Some people's genetics manifest the results of their environmental choices (what they eat, what they do) as cancer, diabetes, obesity, and other diseases. Some people manifest it as cottage cheese thighs (and maybe a selection of other things as well, later in life). There IS a way to eat and to live that clears up cellulite over time simply by removing the environmental conditions around fat cells that are causing the cellulite. There are many cultures around the world whose women get NO CELLULITE. Good genetics? Or do they just live more closely connected to the natural way for humans to eat and live? Consider that the US and Europe have the highest rates of cellulite, but not for any particular ethnicity. It seems that all racial backgrounds across the board experience higher rates of cellulite when switching to a Standard American Diet and lifestyle. If you could change one thing about your diet to prevent and perhaps even start to clear up cellulite: DRINK MORE WATER. More than a gallon a day. |
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| Foods | Sunflower seeds | Jul 10 2007 08:25 (UTC) |
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| The thing with sunflower seeds and nuts is that they are high in
healthy fat and calories but they seem to keep you fuller longer. I
personally can't snack on them because I go overboard with the
portions. I would find healthier alternatives and maybe have sunflower
seeds a couple times a week as a snack ;) Eat nuts and seeds raw and without salt. The cooking and seasoning interferes with your body's natural appetite-limiting mechanism and makes it more likely you will eat more than you should. Salt especially dehydrates, as we all know, and can cause an increase in appetite which is actually a sign of need for water. But usually while we are eating, we have a tendency to fulfill a water need by simply eating more. Obviously that doesn't help! |
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| Foods | Sunflower seeds | Jul 10 2007 08:23 (UTC) |
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| They're not high in sodium if you get them raw. Raw sunflower seeds are high in omega-3 fatty acids (good) and many amino acids. You can snack on raw hulled sunflower seeds -- which are quite cheap, especially in bulk. You can also use them in tons of yummy recipes, from herbed pate to chocolate cookies (ask me for recipes). Sunflower seeds are very easy to sprout at home. If you eat the very young sprouts (i.e. before the greens show up), they're very high in amino acids and enzymes. If you eat them as long green sprouts, they're really delicious greens. |
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| Foods | Soda... Support for addicts... Step 1, admitting the problem exists | Jul 09 2007 06:16 (UTC) |
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| This is a straight-up marketing question: How many people out there would be interested in a time-tested, proven method of quitting soda in 60 days or less? I'm co-authoring a book called "How to Quit Soda". It will be a pocket-sized book with "workbook" pages where you can write down what goals you achieved in your quest to conquer soda. And at the end of the book there's a certificate you can fill out and sign to put on your wall, demonstrating how you kicked soda's a**. :) Sound good to anybody? |
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| Foods | Synergy Kombucha Fruit Drink | Jul 07 2007 19:29 (UTC) |
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| like
I've posted, I've never had a buzz from synergy, so I've been drinking
the stuff like it's the nectar of the gods, one or two a day. Hmm... I developed a lung condition similar to asthma last year from forest fire smoke that rolled through here last summer, and have been paying very close attention to my diet, eliminating everything that could be taxing my system so it could focus its energy on healing. Have you looked into bromelain? It never occurred to me that my beloved kombucha could be one of the things I should eliminate (one of the results I found said kombucha has been linked to pulmonary edema, or fluid buildup in the lungs, definitely not a good thing for someone like me with a lung condition and a long history of allergies, and taxing your liver isn't good for anybody who's healing). Kombucha really shouldn't be taxing your liver. If your liver is strong (not diseased), the liver should be performing its function to help the damaged parts of your body heal. Kombucha provides extra liver products and pre-products that a normal healthy liver can use to amplify detoxification pathways. While I've never noticed any negative effects, I'm definitely hooked on the stuff. Ironic as it seems, that's often a sign that you have a sensitivity, or even an allergy, to a particular food. True, and having a lot of allergies in general is indicative of having a weakened liver. I'd continue the kombucha if you're feeling good with it, but backing off it as a test is probably the best idea. geez, first I had to give up coffee, now kombucha? {sigh} While I would certainly argue much more for the healthfulness of the latter, coffee and kombucha are tools, not unconditional health tonics. A touch of caffeine can be a good thing; a ton of caffeine, as we all know, suppresses good health. There are very few people out there who recommend drinking more than 4 ounces of kombucha per day. Drinking the full 8oz commercial bottle (labeled as 2 servings, by the way) every day may be the trouble some people are running into. |
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