Healthy Foods? Is that even a thing? - 3 must haves

[Sworder]

Hello Fellow Gents,
I have some strong opinions and interpretations that I would like to share and also hear your ideas.
Whenever I hear the word healthy in conjunction with diet I think to myself... What are you referring to? Foods that are high in saturated fats? Food that has a lot of "sugars(I have a problem with this word too") AKA fast carbs? Processed foods?

It has become a trend to flex your salads and make it seem like that is "healthy." I had an appointment with a nutritionist at one of our countries prominent universities. I posed the question to her what three foods she thought was the healthiest and most complete. My three foods were fish, milk and spinach. Hers were broccoli, spinach and eggs. Please share yours three choices too!

My reasoning is that if I was to eat broccoli, spinach and eggs then I would have to eat a figurative ton. That to me means that there is a low density in nutrients, to be very clear nutrients are vitamins, minerals, carbs, fats and proteins. If a food is considered healthy you can still eat that food to an unhealthy amount so that's another reason why it is, in my opinion, a poor choice to call something "healthy."

Do you guys agree or disagree about claiming foods to be healthy?
What foods do you consider "healthy?"
3 foods if you could only eat those things for the rest of your life?

Also, what's wrong with processed foods? How is that bad for us?

 

[johntt44]

Hers weren't bad but 2 out of 3 were veggies. Spinach is nutrient rich as are eggs but broccoli is average. Yours are probably a little better than hers for our purposes. I ate sirloin, white rice, peppers, spinach, green beans, bone broth and 2 pcs of fruit a day for 5wks and was amazed at how good I felt.

 

[Eman]

Of course there are healthy foods, but I disagree that there can be 3 "healthiest foods". I agree that a good standard to be set for how healthy a food is by how nutrient dense it is. I don't think I can pick 3 foods that are the "healthiest" because there are going to be another 100 foods that could arguably be just as good for you.

If we're talking about 3 foods that I can only eat for the rest of my life, which is different than the 3 healthiest foods, I don't like the game but I would choose steak, peppers and some sort of carb source... I hesitate to say rice because it's not the healthiest. Again, I don't like brain teasers like this... Desert island is the worst.

Processed foods get a bad wrap by the media... Most foods are processed in some way. It's a broad question but the simplest answer is typically that the more processed a food is the less nutrients they contain while having higher calories. But most foods are fortified with vitamins and minerals now, and most Americans would lack those vitamins in their diet if it weren't for the added nutrients... Hence the bad wrap.

 

[Sworder]

Of course there are healthy foods

What do you consider healthy? Do you agree you can eat an unhealthy amount of "healthy foods?"

I would have to eat a kilo of spinach to get 2200 calories from it. I think spinach is 220/100 grams.

Thanks for the reply on processed foods, I keep on hearing from people it is bad however I can not find any data when I am doing my Google Scholar searches!

 

[Sworder]

Hers weren't bad but 2 out of 3 were veggies. Spinach is nutrient rich as are eggs but broccoli is average. Yours are probably a little better than hers for our purposes. I ate sirloin, white rice, peppers, spinach, green beans, bone broth and 2 pcs of fruit a day for 5wks and was amazed at how good I felt.

Yeah, I think the body is on more of a 3-5 day or weekly schedule in regards to how often we should eat different varieties. I try to get a variety of different proteins and a variety of colors with vegetables and fruits.

I have just recently started to do the bone broth, I will boil some meat with bones on for an hour or two then take the meat out and throw some whole potatoes, carrots and onions in with bullion for a soup.
I love potatoes

 

[Eman]

What do you consider healthy?

Any food that promotes good health.

Do you agree you can eat an unhealthy amount of "healthy foods?"

Sure, over indulgence of anything can be unhealthy. Moderation is key with most things in life.

Thanks for the reply on processed foods, I keep on hearing from people it is bad however I can not find any data when I am doing my Google Scholar searches!

Probably because the term "processed" is extremely vague.

There is a nutritionist type service called avatar nutrition. They have an app that calculates your macros and tdee, etc. They promote flexible dieting and I think they do a really good job with some of their articles. If you Google "Avatar nutrition processed foods" you should come across some of their content that you might find interesting. They make a very good case for why processed foods are not inherently bad but also why they can be bad.

The biggest issue with processed foods isn't that they are processed... It's because they often contain large amounts of sugar, calories, etc. But then, is it really an issue that they're processed then? The real issue is what's in the food in question... Like inordinate amounts of sugar or fat that you're not going to be able to sustainably utilize.

Also, the anti processed food crusaders name off some of the chemicals from the nutrient lists to scare people but they're very misleading... Pyridoxine, for example might be listed on a nutrition label and they'll tell you the processed foods are filled with chemicals like this. However, pyridoxine is just the chemical name for vitamin b6. Lots of food chemicals have very unappetizing sounding names... But a lot of them are necessary for sustaining life.

 

[Human_backhoe]

Firstly
Wild game from the deer family that I have taken myself.

Spinach that I have grown myself.

Sour dough bread from my own grains.


I lump many foods into the "processed" category.

For example during WW2 through high speed mechanical agitation we figured out how to turn low protein wheat into bread. This practice has been carried on as a means to not be selective with the grains we use. This has been a huge cost savings for other reasons as well. Grain looses protein in rain after ripening. This is why we now have to add vitamins. Also it has become almost standard agricultural practice to actually "dry" wheat with roundup. This is done to obtain maximum dryness to coincide with a break in the weather As well as killing off weeds. Both moisture and weeds are docked at the elevators cutting into farmers profits!

This is not to mention that although not really proven to be harmful to us yet these chemicals kill the bacteria and fungi in the soil that are critical to growing nutrient dense foods. I could go on for days about the catastrophe this will cause in the next decade. Including a it's huge contribution to antibiotic resistance. Good soil containing a antibiotic fungi with no know resistance.

In 1980 a Apple had approximately 80 percent more vitamin content . Through genetic modifications and even more prevalent selective breeding we have further reduce the nutrient content of our fruits and vegetables. All for the sake of "taste "

Now this is not meant to open up a lot "left" vs "right" shit storm. ( I thing all idiologs are retarded)

Although CO2 is great for vegetative grown it has been proven to lower protein values and raise carb/sugar levels. There is no doubt that co2 is on the rise whatever the reason might be.

The prevalence of corn (I consider this to be a healthy food on its own in moderation) in almost every "processed" food. This is because it is an extremely cheap filler that adds a lot to flavor because of high sugar content. Well we all know where this goes. Also as a primary feel for cattle it will destroy the animals gut health leading to wide spread immune problems and high antibiotic dosing both for size and illness. This makes its way to us.

So although I don't have any real problems with "processed" food I also do not consider most foods anymore to be healthy!

I could rant forever as this part of agriculture is what I do with all of my free time when I am not working in a plant to cover my stupid debt load just to be able to own a farm haha.

This is a rabbit hole that could take a life time. I have a lot of experience on both sides.
I am a farmer as well as design build process control for food plants and other industries .

In short it's all garbage out there now ladies and gentlemen.

 

[Sworder]

Firstly
Wild game from the deer family that I have taken myself.

That tastes great. Makes my mouth water.

This is not to mention that although not really proven to be harmful to us yet these chemicals kill the bacteria and fungi in the soil that are critical to growing nutrient dense foods. I could go on for days about the catastrophe this will cause in the next decade. Including a it's huge contribution to antibiotic resistance. Good soil containing a antibiotic fungi with no know resistance.

There is so much crap added to the produce! That's my big thing about "organic" foods, it's all a marketing scheme. Organic foods allow for 5% to be pesticides. Most people don't know that, they think organic means "100% organic" and something might have a "100% Organic" sticker but that means still that they allow for 5%. Marketing, $$$.

Then there are organic pesticides that are allowed.

Not to mention that a lot of the marketing makes people believe that all vegetables are "healthy." For example, cucumbers mainly water. And the water they use to water the crops? I don't think it is the cleanest water ever made. So why am I going to spend money on a product that is 95% gross water? I would rather drink a water bottle.

If we look at our shopping habits I think we can find many flaws.

In 1980 a Apple had approximately 80 percent more vitamin content . Through genetic modifications and even more prevalent selective breeding we have further reduce the nutrient content of our fruits and vegetables. All for the sake of "taste "

We have ruined crops for sure. I don't know if it is for taste as much as for profit. Taste leads to profit

Do you know anything about gluten? From what I have heard is that they genetically modified wheat with different compatible genotypes of other crops to get a denser wheat. That way, 1 acre of wheat would yield a lot more because of the increased density.

By getting a "better" wheat that is more dense, farmers are able to maximize their acres however those proteins cause digestive problems for some people.
Gluten from my understanding is man made from the need to "better" our crops or rather make more money.

I thing all idiologs are retarded)

I agree. There are great things in life from a variety of sources. Restricting your thinking or habits to blindly follow one rule or agenda seems to stifle one's possibilities.

So although I don't have any real problems with "processed" food I also do not consider most foods anymore to be healthy!

I agree, and I think most people that say processed foods don't really understand what they are talking about. Same thing with frozen, people think something is "wrong" with frozen food.

The amount of preservatives in food here in USA is disgusting. Bread is soft for months/years on end. In Europe, the bread starts turning hard after a couple days.

I could rant forever as this part of agriculture is what I do with all of my free time when I am not working in a plant to cover my stupid debt load just to be able to own a farm haha.

Rant all you want! It is interesting to hear somebody's perspective that actively works in the field. What crops would you grow on your farm and why?

In short it's all garbage out there now ladies and gentlemen.

I have found the same to be true. Even the meats at the counter are frozen during transport. Well, it might be like one degree below freezing.

"Fresh" isn't a thing. I don't know if it ever was. It is funny to see food companies use the word "Fresh" in their business name. It is a psychology/marketing trick to make you think their food is fresh. It's typically some frozen dinner thing or something to that effect.

 

[Human_backhoe]

I honestly believe that soil management play more of a roll than most could ever imagine!

Organic is definitely better but the still a sham!

gluten is naturally present in all wheat . In Canada we have same problem even though genetically modified wheat is banned. The issue is with high speed agitation to turn the gluten into a "food grade solvent " this is what keeps the bread "soft and palatable" it is this process that makes it undigested! Not the raw protein itself.

Preservatives are a whole other shit storm hahah!

As for the farm it is a huge attachment haha. Over 100 types of tomato and tons of veg and grain.
5 acres of garlic
Hay
The newest project is to put in a press house and attempt to produce fine champagne apple cider / scrumpy and calvados

 

[Silentlemon1011]

Agree with all of the above.

The one thing I will add is....

I dont think all GMO is bad, and I dknt think all "Bad" food doesnt have a place in our diet.

I think a lot of things like the added estrogen in meat is blown out of proportion for healthy adult males... i for one dont care one bit.

I think the REAL danger comes into effect when we talk about developing children.

Slam them.full of roundup, estrogen, micro dosed antibiotics... and you get some weak kids.

I dont EaT organic...but when I have kids, damn right they will
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