Now, I'm not saying that there's no point to the whole organic business, but take a gander at this:
http://www.themonkeyclub.org/2008/03...o-of-beef.html
The Omega 6:3 fatty acid ratio is often cited as a reason that grass-fed beef is healthier than grain fed. This analysis shows that there's so little omega-3 in any sort of beef that if you're truly relying on it for your omegas, you're going to get nowhere. Sea food may be more important when you're eating grain fed, but this isn't that great of a reason to choose grass fed.
It also strikes me as odd that I read somewhere else that a grass fed but grain finished (i.e. fed grain towards the last few weeks before slaughter) would revert to the omega ratio of grain fed. So, is that saying that all that time growing up on a healthier diet did not produce a healthier cow?
Well, not exactly. This analysis only proves that the omega ratio doesn't matter. What still seems irrefutable is that grass fed meats have more vitamins and minerals. Butter from pastured cows? High in all those essential fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K. If anything, it's more important to fry your eggs in pastured butter than eat pastured beef, but that's a personal decision. (There's also the decision as to whether you want to support the inhumane practices of family farms. But, in the great scheme of feeding the world, not every cow can be pastured, and cost is a factor. It's good to know you aren't costing your health too much if you can't afford grass-fed.)
On the veggie side of things, here's a post on organic produce:
http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/04/30/the...n-organic-foo/
The article states that organic produce is still often produced with toxins, they're just organic toxins. Some inorganic toxins are engineered to decompose quickly, meaning that organically farmed produce may have more toxins when it gets to your plate than its counterparts.
The same still holds that organic often beats the run-of-the-mill varieties in nutrient composition, but far more important is the freshness of your vegetables. A vine ripened tomato beats one that was picked early, often regardless of whether the soil was mediocre or not. Freshly picked spinach has double the folic acid as spinach that's been sitting there a week. So eating in-season is more important than organic, and often cheaper. Frozen veggies also have their nutrients packed at the moments they are highest, so there's no distinct health reason to go for fresh (and so often wilty) over frozen. (I do have to say, farmer's markets beat all in terms of taste, at the very least! I love the farmer's market.)
Just some food for thought.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Differences
My littlest sister has had way more health problems than the rest of us had. She's not as focused in school, doesn't have the best memory, and she's more like the Standard American Kid (though, still pretty smart), than any of us smartie-pants ever were.
So, what gives?
I figure part of it is that she has more time to be bored, seeing how she doesn't have siblings who interact on her level that often. She does have friends, though, and good ones.
I figure a bigger part of it is diet. Undoubtedly she gets more sugar than we ever did, and I guess that's it. She doesn't like the same foods we liked, but, then again, we didn't eat that great either. Lots of hot dogs in buns with ketchup, fries, chips, soda, cereal, corn dogs, mac and cheese. Mom's idea of a home cooked meal was frozen processed meat loaf with canned green beans and mashed potatoes from flakes, or mac-and-cheese with frozen peas and kielbalsa. How did our brains grow on that?
I have a theory that you might not like. Every night, we would have hot chocolate - Nesquik, with the vitamins and minerals. Yeah, it's commercial dairy and sugar, but you know what? That probably filled in a lot of gaps.
I'm going to see if my sister wants to get into that habit. She's 9, but it's never too late to make an improvement, right? Milk is better than corn chips and mac and cheese.
So, what gives?
I figure part of it is that she has more time to be bored, seeing how she doesn't have siblings who interact on her level that often. She does have friends, though, and good ones.
I figure a bigger part of it is diet. Undoubtedly she gets more sugar than we ever did, and I guess that's it. She doesn't like the same foods we liked, but, then again, we didn't eat that great either. Lots of hot dogs in buns with ketchup, fries, chips, soda, cereal, corn dogs, mac and cheese. Mom's idea of a home cooked meal was frozen processed meat loaf with canned green beans and mashed potatoes from flakes, or mac-and-cheese with frozen peas and kielbalsa. How did our brains grow on that?
I have a theory that you might not like. Every night, we would have hot chocolate - Nesquik, with the vitamins and minerals. Yeah, it's commercial dairy and sugar, but you know what? That probably filled in a lot of gaps.
I'm going to see if my sister wants to get into that habit. She's 9, but it's never too late to make an improvement, right? Milk is better than corn chips and mac and cheese.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Well, that sucks
I just found out that the kefir I ordered isn't real kefir. I have no idea what it is. So I ordered some real kefir grains and some mason jars. Ungh, what a waste of money.
In other news, my diet has relaxed a bit. The very low carb lifestyle is very good for those who have damaged their insulin producers/receptors/whatever. Having been very thin for most of my life, and catching the weight from high-carb veg rather early, I think I'm 'safe'. So, while I was never really low carb, I'm accepting moderate carb as my diet - 25-30% carb, 20-25% protein, 50% fat. This is still half the carbs of the average SAD, but it is much easier for me on a vegetarian diet, especially considering the fact that my family eats out every week, etc.
It's also good because I've decided to start training for ultra marathons, so my glycogen stores need to be reasonable.
Ultimately, I'm going to eat what's on hand that I want to eat. This experiment into as-low-as-possible carb has taught me that fat is GOOD! Add fat to everything! Nuts are the yummy fat candy of nature! It has also taught me that eating carbs with proportions of protein and fat (the same weight of each is a good estimate) seems to be ideal, and that all opportunities to not eat sugar or grains should be taken. Potatoes = okay; poptarts = bad.
That said, I'm still eating a ton of sushi and rice in Japan!
In other news, my diet has relaxed a bit. The very low carb lifestyle is very good for those who have damaged their insulin producers/receptors/whatever. Having been very thin for most of my life, and catching the weight from high-carb veg rather early, I think I'm 'safe'. So, while I was never really low carb, I'm accepting moderate carb as my diet - 25-30% carb, 20-25% protein, 50% fat. This is still half the carbs of the average SAD, but it is much easier for me on a vegetarian diet, especially considering the fact that my family eats out every week, etc.
It's also good because I've decided to start training for ultra marathons, so my glycogen stores need to be reasonable.
Ultimately, I'm going to eat what's on hand that I want to eat. This experiment into as-low-as-possible carb has taught me that fat is GOOD! Add fat to everything! Nuts are the yummy fat candy of nature! It has also taught me that eating carbs with proportions of protein and fat (the same weight of each is a good estimate) seems to be ideal, and that all opportunities to not eat sugar or grains should be taken. Potatoes = okay; poptarts = bad.
That said, I'm still eating a ton of sushi and rice in Japan!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Oscillating habits
Yesterday, I had a sort of binge. My calories went to around 1700, where they would normally rest before my dietary tracking, though it was more in protein and fat than the normal carbohydrates (though I got my fair share of those, too). I think a large part of that was having a whey shake early on in the day, which made me feel hungrier as I sat around the house. Compare this to the day I had a rice protein shake and did things with my morning, when I wasn't hungry until 3pm.
I figure it's just an oscillating part of life. My normal day is just over 1200 calories, short of the estimated 1425 I probably use in a given day, so a weekly binge day is built in. I am trying to incorporate a fasting day but I haven't gotten that far yet.
Today I am definitely recovering from yesterday - I've plotted out all I've eaten as well as all I can see myself eating for the rest of the day, even overshooting my estimated appetite, and come up with under the 1200 calories. However, I did have a milky way bar while we were out and am paying for that in lack of fruit and thus being lower on nutrients than I'd like, but still. That's why I take a vitamin. I can't cover all my bases while living and interacting with carnivorous sugar addicts.
ETA: Okay, back, at the end of the day, and I have gone over 1200 by a few calories. I shouldn't have had that milky way bar, but ah, well. Still, I'm glad to report that my day went fairly well.
Breakfast: 1 egg + spinach frittata, along with a half cup of orange juice to accommodate my multivitamin
Treat: Milky Way bar
Lunch: Romaine lettuce with 1/4 cup pecans, baybel cheese, and some balsamic vinaigrette.
Snack: 1/4 cup almonds
Dinner: 3.5 oz mahi-mahi, a few sweet potato fries, a large portion of parmesian green beans
Post-post dinner workout: an attempt at consuming a protein shake, but I wasn't hungry
And that brings me almost exactly where I want to be. Without the MW, that's 51g carbs, though I probably would have had a few carbs worth of cranberries or something. Ah, well, the extra carbs are worth it now and again.
I'm still trying to work out how not to rely on protein powders for a large percentage of my protein, but, outside of half a dozen eggs a day, I don't know if that'll be happening. I'll try adding in yogurt - the cultures are something I want to add, too.
I figure it's just an oscillating part of life. My normal day is just over 1200 calories, short of the estimated 1425 I probably use in a given day, so a weekly binge day is built in. I am trying to incorporate a fasting day but I haven't gotten that far yet.
Today I am definitely recovering from yesterday - I've plotted out all I've eaten as well as all I can see myself eating for the rest of the day, even overshooting my estimated appetite, and come up with under the 1200 calories. However, I did have a milky way bar while we were out and am paying for that in lack of fruit and thus being lower on nutrients than I'd like, but still. That's why I take a vitamin. I can't cover all my bases while living and interacting with carnivorous sugar addicts.
ETA: Okay, back, at the end of the day, and I have gone over 1200 by a few calories. I shouldn't have had that milky way bar, but ah, well. Still, I'm glad to report that my day went fairly well.
Breakfast: 1 egg + spinach frittata, along with a half cup of orange juice to accommodate my multivitamin
Treat: Milky Way bar
Lunch: Romaine lettuce with 1/4 cup pecans, baybel cheese, and some balsamic vinaigrette.
Snack: 1/4 cup almonds
Dinner: 3.5 oz mahi-mahi, a few sweet potato fries, a large portion of parmesian green beans
Post-post dinner workout: an attempt at consuming a protein shake, but I wasn't hungry
And that brings me almost exactly where I want to be. Without the MW, that's 51g carbs, though I probably would have had a few carbs worth of cranberries or something. Ah, well, the extra carbs are worth it now and again.
I'm still trying to work out how not to rely on protein powders for a large percentage of my protein, but, outside of half a dozen eggs a day, I don't know if that'll be happening. I'll try adding in yogurt - the cultures are something I want to add, too.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Still don't know what I'm doing
As much as I research, as much as I experiment, as much as I try to make and follow rules, I still don't really know what I'm doing. I'm not avoiding dairy like I said I would, I'm not incredibly low carb, I'm going heavy on the protein and I don't know how that's working out, it's just a big confusing mess.
I'm going to sort out the tenants of what I've discovered so far:
1. The most vital of my diet from here to eternity: grains are for never. Only in the most unavoidable situations (i.e. eating out in Japan) will I have rice, and even less wheat. There's nothing for me in those empty, bloat inducing carbs.
2. Sugar is another as-seldom-as-possible item. It is only to be used sparingly to make unpalatable things palatable; but, then again, why would I be eating something so bland in the first place? Natural and artificial sweeteners (honey for the primal, Splenda for the low-carb-er) are to be used sparingly as well, but they are permitted in my loose definition of a diet. Focus should be placed on the flavors of the food itself.
3. While protein powder is an important to a moderate-to-high protein vegetarian diet, it should not be an always thing. Place more emphasis on eggs, nuts and seeds.
4. Dairy is a sometimes thing. 1-serving-per-day or so, with priority on cheeses and yogurt over milk.
5. Fish, while permitted and encouraged, is limited by preference and ethics.
6. Fruit (especially bananas) should be eaten sparingly.
7. Veggies are a free-for-all.
And now I'm kinda just trailing off. I'll probably go to the store later for nuts and coconut milk. I've disliked coconut all my life, but I guess I can give it another shot.
I'm going to sort out the tenants of what I've discovered so far:
1. The most vital of my diet from here to eternity: grains are for never. Only in the most unavoidable situations (i.e. eating out in Japan) will I have rice, and even less wheat. There's nothing for me in those empty, bloat inducing carbs.
2. Sugar is another as-seldom-as-possible item. It is only to be used sparingly to make unpalatable things palatable; but, then again, why would I be eating something so bland in the first place? Natural and artificial sweeteners (honey for the primal, Splenda for the low-carb-er) are to be used sparingly as well, but they are permitted in my loose definition of a diet. Focus should be placed on the flavors of the food itself.
3. While protein powder is an important to a moderate-to-high protein vegetarian diet, it should not be an always thing. Place more emphasis on eggs, nuts and seeds.
4. Dairy is a sometimes thing. 1-serving-per-day or so, with priority on cheeses and yogurt over milk.
5. Fish, while permitted and encouraged, is limited by preference and ethics.
6. Fruit (especially bananas) should be eaten sparingly.
7. Veggies are a free-for-all.
And now I'm kinda just trailing off. I'll probably go to the store later for nuts and coconut milk. I've disliked coconut all my life, but I guess I can give it another shot.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Takeaway from food tracking: servings
Servings are quite a bit easier than tracking every meal. Instead of plugging in weights and numbers, you can estimate "Have I already had X servings of Y today? No? Let's add one in." From the past few days of tracking, I've devised my perfect system.
For a total of 1100 calories (someone with higher caloric need would want to increase it proportionately), it came to:
8 servings of 6-8 gram portions of protein
3 servings (~80g/serving) of colorful veggies, with the focus, as usual, on dark, leafy greens
2 servings of fruit, with at least one being berries
1 serving grains or starches
~2 servings added fat
This is just a basic list; a skeleton diet, if you forgive the irony. If I feel like having more spinach, that's probably a good thing. And it's hard to eat too many berries. (Larger fruit, on the other hand...) I almost always find myself low on fat, so there's another lenient point. The biggest restriction is the carbs, of course. With the above plan, 1/2 cup of brown rice in addition to everything else brings me to 85g carbs total (ftr, it's around 70g protein and 60g lipids when I add up this example; a little more fat and cals in that would be perfect) which is under my limit of 100g. So, while it's not particularly something I want to increase, a carb here and there won't hurt. Someone with no meat and/or animal products would probably want to make this a high-protein carb like quinoa, for a little extra oomph. Also, for a very low carb diet, this could be omitted and more veggies, fruit, and protein added.
In the protein category, one 3oz portion of fish would count as 2 servings because it tends to pack 15+ grams of protein. Same goes for a half scoop of protein powder. Other options would be a serving of nuts or seeds, an egg, a serving of dairy, or a serving of soy/seitan based product. 8 servings is a lot, but there are many sources to get it from. Variety is an important part of this system - it's fine to have half the servings in one day be from eggs, as long as you vary it and be sure to have more than just protein powder, or else you'll be low on lipids.
As has been happening, the above leaves me (slightly) deficient in folate, B5, E, calcium, iron, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, and zinc; though very high in other categories. 600mg of calcium in a mineral supplement, plus some occasional iron/folate/E supplements would round it off nicely. I have a hard time finding phosphorous, potassium, and B5 in anything other than small amounts or in complexes with urine expensifiers, but deficiencies aren't a usual problem, so I should be fine.
For a total of 1100 calories (someone with higher caloric need would want to increase it proportionately), it came to:
8 servings of 6-8 gram portions of protein
3 servings (~80g/serving) of colorful veggies, with the focus, as usual, on dark, leafy greens
2 servings of fruit, with at least one being berries
1 serving grains or starches
~2 servings added fat
This is just a basic list; a skeleton diet, if you forgive the irony. If I feel like having more spinach, that's probably a good thing. And it's hard to eat too many berries. (Larger fruit, on the other hand...) I almost always find myself low on fat, so there's another lenient point. The biggest restriction is the carbs, of course. With the above plan, 1/2 cup of brown rice in addition to everything else brings me to 85g carbs total (ftr, it's around 70g protein and 60g lipids when I add up this example; a little more fat and cals in that would be perfect) which is under my limit of 100g. So, while it's not particularly something I want to increase, a carb here and there won't hurt. Someone with no meat and/or animal products would probably want to make this a high-protein carb like quinoa, for a little extra oomph. Also, for a very low carb diet, this could be omitted and more veggies, fruit, and protein added.
In the protein category, one 3oz portion of fish would count as 2 servings because it tends to pack 15+ grams of protein. Same goes for a half scoop of protein powder. Other options would be a serving of nuts or seeds, an egg, a serving of dairy, or a serving of soy/seitan based product. 8 servings is a lot, but there are many sources to get it from. Variety is an important part of this system - it's fine to have half the servings in one day be from eggs, as long as you vary it and be sure to have more than just protein powder, or else you'll be low on lipids.
As has been happening, the above leaves me (slightly) deficient in folate, B5, E, calcium, iron, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, and zinc; though very high in other categories. 600mg of calcium in a mineral supplement, plus some occasional iron/folate/E supplements would round it off nicely. I have a hard time finding phosphorous, potassium, and B5 in anything other than small amounts or in complexes with urine expensifiers, but deficiencies aren't a usual problem, so I should be fine.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
I feel really good today
Can I chalk it up to what I have eaten, what I haven't, or just general lifestyle choices?
I woke up 6:30 like normal to get ready for work. I decided to have a protein shake, seeing how the one from yesterday went so well. Filled up a magic bullet cup with water, plopped in a scoop of rice protein, a dash of strawberry flavor, a handful of frozen raspberries, and turned on the bullet. It was okay - not delicious, but not terrible. I'm trying to figure out ways to make it taste better - I'm going to try canned pumpkin, I think. Yum.
Before work, I snagged a spoonfull of peanut butter because I needed the fat. Then off I go to walk the dogs, getting home around 10:30, at which point I turn right back around to go with the fam to the Newseum. (Oh, and I ate a Kinder Egg. My sister wanted to see what was inside!) On the metro ride back, around 2:30, my siblings were complaining of hunger, but I was still doing good. I started to feel hunger around 3, and we stopped at Wendy's where I got a side salad. Left me craving fat, so I had a handful of sunflower seeds and pistachios when we got home. Delicious.
You'll notice that up until this point, it's largely vegetarian, mostly vegan for the big stuff.
The hungries came back, but this time I overdid it. 3oz rainbow trout with some some stalks of asparagus and a bit of onion and more sunflower seeds, plus some green tea. Now I'm left rather full and contemplating when the best time to take my calcium would be. (I'll give it another hour to digest.)
CRON-o-meter says I've got a ratio of 25:24:51 protein:carb:fat. That's pretty perfect. I notice that this means pretty much equivalent weights of each macronutrient. That seems like a good guide to follow. Protein Power recommends like 30g carbs to reach ketosis, and then up to 100g after weight loss is achieved. Seeing how I've got no weight to lose, the 50g I've consumed today is pretty good.
I've had 771 calories today and am feeling quite full, to the point where some days I would eat no more. But I'm only at about 65% of my micronutrients, so I'll have to figure out what I'm missing and see how to fix that. Probably fruit - 10 raspberries isn't much fruit for one day. Maybe some broccoli...
I woke up 6:30 like normal to get ready for work. I decided to have a protein shake, seeing how the one from yesterday went so well. Filled up a magic bullet cup with water, plopped in a scoop of rice protein, a dash of strawberry flavor, a handful of frozen raspberries, and turned on the bullet. It was okay - not delicious, but not terrible. I'm trying to figure out ways to make it taste better - I'm going to try canned pumpkin, I think. Yum.
Before work, I snagged a spoonfull of peanut butter because I needed the fat. Then off I go to walk the dogs, getting home around 10:30, at which point I turn right back around to go with the fam to the Newseum. (Oh, and I ate a Kinder Egg. My sister wanted to see what was inside!) On the metro ride back, around 2:30, my siblings were complaining of hunger, but I was still doing good. I started to feel hunger around 3, and we stopped at Wendy's where I got a side salad. Left me craving fat, so I had a handful of sunflower seeds and pistachios when we got home. Delicious.
You'll notice that up until this point, it's largely vegetarian, mostly vegan for the big stuff.
The hungries came back, but this time I overdid it. 3oz rainbow trout with some some stalks of asparagus and a bit of onion and more sunflower seeds, plus some green tea. Now I'm left rather full and contemplating when the best time to take my calcium would be. (I'll give it another hour to digest.)
CRON-o-meter says I've got a ratio of 25:24:51 protein:carb:fat. That's pretty perfect. I notice that this means pretty much equivalent weights of each macronutrient. That seems like a good guide to follow. Protein Power recommends like 30g carbs to reach ketosis, and then up to 100g after weight loss is achieved. Seeing how I've got no weight to lose, the 50g I've consumed today is pretty good.
I've had 771 calories today and am feeling quite full, to the point where some days I would eat no more. But I'm only at about 65% of my micronutrients, so I'll have to figure out what I'm missing and see how to fix that. Probably fruit - 10 raspberries isn't much fruit for one day. Maybe some broccoli...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)