What is the best diet for human beings?

metamorphosis

A little article from msn fitness: shows that there is not a 'one diet fits all'

http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100241585&page=1

excerpt:

People have lived and thrived on high-protein, high-fat diets (the Inuit of Greenland); on low-protein, high-carb diets (the indigenous peoples of southern Africa); on diets high in raw milk and cream (the people of the Loetschental Valley in Switzerland); diets high in saturated fat (the Trobriand Islanders) and even on diets in which animal blood is considered a staple (the Massai of Kenya and Tanzania). And folks have thrived on these diets without the ravages of degenerative diseases that are so epidemic in modern American life—heart disease, diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, osteoporosis and cancer.

The only thing these diets have in common is that they're all based on whole foods with minimal processing. Nuts, berries, beans, raw milk, grass-fed meat. Whole, real, unprocessed food is almost always healthy, regardless of how many grams of carbs, protein or fat it contains.

ntlbell

ULstudent wrote: »

A little article from msn fitness: shows that there is not a 'one diet fits all'

considering the amount of food allergies etc alone I'd hope not!

metamorphosis

ntlbell wrote: »

considering the amount of food allergies etc alone I'd hope not!

true true but there are sometimes influxes of people around here who know nothing about nutrition and think they should stick to a rigid and specific diet plan like very low fat or no carb. This article makes it easy for people who generally know nothing about diet and nutririon that they don't have to follow specific diet plans if there is no need to and that it's a good idea to eat whole fresh, minimally unprocessed foods rather than pre packaged ****e all the time.

ntlbell

ULstudent wrote: »

true true but there are sometimes influxes of people around here who know nothing about nutrition and think they should stick to a rigid and specific diet plan like very low fat or no carb. This article makes it easy for people who generally know nothing that they don't have to follow specific diet plans if there is no need to and that it's a good idea to eat whole fresh, minimally unprocessed foods rather than pre packaged ****e all the time.

the problem for a lot of people seems to be if you remove a specific plan and give them choice they choose cake.

metamorphosis

carrot cake ftw

all_smilz

I dont mean to drag this off topic but this is JUST why I think that ALL kids should be taught how to eat right and cook some basic stuff.
I overheard a total twit in college say how she couldnt cook PASTA.... she tried one day and nearly broke her teeth....
THATS RIDICULOUS.
I learned a LOT from my granny and from my own experimentation and did home ec in school but 75% of H.E is Sh!t and totally irrelevant.
*i also believe in teaching driving and Cpr skills in school but thats another thread*
Cooking is a basic lifeskill, for many a valuable hobby.
My basic skills in kitchen allowed me to RUN a busy B&B at the age of 21!
Scrambled eggs, pasta, rice, soup, stew and grill-able burgers and rice, salads are SO easy.... and you dont need to use fancy equipment or ingredients or anything.

thats my two cents rant over!

jumpguy

I agree, but tbh it's a joke if cooking simple food must be taught in school. What's so hard about putting something in an over/grill for a set amount of time? How can someone not BOIL an egg? When you say "I can cook" people seem to think of bloody sufflaes and cakes. It just takes patience and you actually have to keep an eye on things. People are afraid of abit of responsibility.

metamorphosis

Just slap what you want onto the george foreman or into the microwave:D:D No excuses not to be able to make yourself a dinner with these 2 contaptions

El_Dangeroso

One other common feature of traditional diets is that they are low in Omega 6's and low in wheat. They also eat saturated fat, yes even the Japanese.

How flora ever came to be perceived as healthy is the greatest con of the century.

EileenG

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

How flora ever came to be perceived as healthy is the greatest con of the century.

There's a really cool trick some food manufacturers do. They conduct a study using fish oil, which usually shows some health benefits, then publish it as "A study showing the XYZ benefit of polyunsaturated fat" It's in the small print that the oil used was fish/Omega 3 oil, but the headlines allow the average punter to think that any old polyunsaturated oil will do the same.

El_Dangeroso

Or they add a feeble amount of unabsorbable vitamins..

As the article says, unprocessed is the key.

Gurgle

ULstudent wrote: »

the Inuit of Greenland
the indigenous peoples of southern Africa
the people of the Loetschental Valley in Switzerland
the Trobriand Islanders
the Massai of Kenya and Tanzania

None of the above have been city dwellers, all hunter/gatherer types afaik (are any of them even farmers?).

Simple conclusion would be that plenty of exercise is more important to physical well-being than what you eat.

EileenG

Personally, I reckon city dwellers get more exercise than many farmers. I have no trouble clocking 10,000 steps or a lot more every day, just walking round Dublin, while my sister in the country drives everywhere. And she's a farmer.

white apples

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

How flora ever came to be perceived as healthy is the greatest con of the century.

Really?!! What would you recommend as a healthy spread?

ntlbell

white apples wrote: »

Really?!! What would you recommend as a healthy spread?

IMO if you're going to use butter then use real butter.

--Kaiser--

EileenG wrote: »

Personally, I reckon city dwellers get more exercise than many farmers. I have no trouble clocking 10,000 steps or a lot more every day, just walking round Dublin, while my sister in the country drives everywhere. And she's a farmer.

Hmmm, try farming for a couple of days and get back to me.

El_Dangeroso

ntlbell wrote: »

IMO if you're going to use butter then use real butter.

Or mash up an avocado, or nut-butter, the possibilities are endless!

white apples

What about Olive Oil (Golden Olive) spreads or soya spreads like Pure. Are they any good?

EileenG

Highly processed. With butter, you could make it yourself (and a couple of times, when I overwhipped cream, I have). Just try making Golden Olive or Pure yourself at home......

white apples

Jeez, that's mad. I suppose I've been brainwashed with all the ads etc saying it lowers cholestrol, blah blah blah and have it ingrained in me that butter = fat which clogs up your arteries.

But what you guys are saying is the complete opposite!!

metamorphosis

white apples wrote: »

Jeez, that's mad. I suppose I've been brainwashed with all the ads etc saying it lowers cholestrol, blah blah blah and have it ingrained in me that butter = fat which clogs up your arteries.

But what you guys are saying is the complete opposite!!

If ya think about it - we have been eating less saturated fat since the 70's and ever since then obesity and heart disease are on the rise. Just look at the ingredients on the flora and you will see how crap the stuff is. We NEED saturated fat in our diets. Just don't go totally overboard and people need to stop equating low calorie with healthy. Some of the healthiest foods are also very high calorie but they are not 'empty' calories. Butter is rich in Vit A, E and K, mineral selenium and is a highly absorbable source of iodine. Just donot go eating it by the spoonfull!!!:pac:

I just read this:
http://westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/butter.html

EileenG

white apples wrote: »

Jeez, that's mad. I suppose I've been brainwashed with all the ads etc saying it lowers cholestrol, blah blah blah and have it ingrained in me that butter = fat which clogs up your arteries.

But what you guys are saying is the complete opposite!!

As was mentioned earlier in this thread, the less processing a food has, the better it is for you. Butter is definitely something you could make yourself, while most low fat foods have a chemical factory of ingredients.

When they finally got around to looking at the composition of the plague that clogs arteries, they found it was about 70% polyunsaturated fats.

rubadub

EileenG wrote: »

you could make it yourself (and a couple of times, when I overwhipped cream, I have). Just try making Golden Olive or Pure yourself at home......

I think some other poster was blending butter with some olive oil so it was spreadable straight from the fridge.

El_Dangeroso

rubadub wrote: »

I think some other poster was blending butter with some olive oil so it was spreadable straight from the fridge.

Thanks for that, that's great idea!

white apples

So would the same go for say Whole Milk versus Skimmed Milk? In taking out the fat are they also taking out a lot of the goodness?

metamorphosis

white apples wrote: »

So would the same go for say Whole Milk versus Skimmed Milk? In taking out the fat are they also taking out a lot of the goodness?

Not really. You see skimmed milk does not have added ingredients to it , it just has some fat removed. Still has the same minerals and vitamins.
Skimmed milk as a result is usually higher in protein but also has more sugar/carbs as a result of the partial fat removal. not that much though

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/milk/i/05_milk_2.htm

FunkZ

ULstudent wrote: »

Just slap what you want onto the george foreman

The only problem there is teh fat falls off and then ya have to pour it back on for the food to taste