Sunday, May 18, 2008

Food and immaturity

I am not someone who gravitates to a grown-up outlook on things as a first response to an event. And I am very all or nothing/intense about how I see things. So today I was thinking about something I read recently saying that vitamin supplements, in general, do little to promote health, and in some cases appear to actually be detrimental to health. The recommendation? Get your vitamins and minerals from WHOLE FOODS! (Shocking, I know!) And then I read something about how we should avoid all plants from the nightshade family (so tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers are OUT, according to this well-respected author). Ummmm, hello! I live right by Sacra-Tomato, and we grow our own tomatoes every summer. And besides, you are now saying that vegetables will hurt you???

So how is it that my brain goes, "Well if even vitamins and vegetables will kill you, we should all eat Twinkies!" I remember having that same thought years ago when the alar and apple thing was in the news. And again when the healthiest person I knew was diagnosed with leukemia. That immature, all or nothing thinking can drive me to Doritos and Diet Pepsi faster than you can blink. But really what it's about is abdicating responsibility for my own health and an unwillingness to do what I know works, which is EAT FOOD. MOSTLY PLANTS. NOT TOO MUCH!

So my decision is to keep eating tomatoes because I love them. Peppers too. And maybe I need to stop reading so much???

It's tough growing up in your late 40's, let me tell ya!

4 comments:

Jen said...

I know - it's insane. Lots of conflicting opinions and scare tactics. Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much. That's the best advice around. Love that guy!

ColeC said...

Well, when you have all the health care people saying how tomatoes are extremely healthy for you for various reasons, I tend to believe that ;) I don't think ANY fruit or veggie is going to bad for you. Yes, some are full of pesticides, which are of course not good, but organic is not going to hurt anyone. As soon as I hear quack stuff like that, I no longer find that person repectable.

Anonymous said...

Have you seen the new research into Lycopene?

Apparently, some kind of enzyme in
Red Tomatos converts it, but in yellow and orange coloured ones, it isn't present, and doesn't convert the Lycopene, making said Lycopene sources more effective than Red Tomatos are.

Suppelments are sometimes not great depending on what doses you have, but with Multi-vits, yes some are not that digestable, but the fact remains it's probably all a load of nonsense, designed to get people back onto the thought that Pharmaceutical products are ALWAYS the way to go.

Hence the attempts to reclassify supplements in Canada, to outlaw some, criminalise Herb growing, and suppress supplement usage, to supposedly favour drug companies.

The byword here is, supplement if you wish, just do the research first, to make sure there's no high dosage problems, or any side effects in conjunction with nutrition, or any medications you might be on at some point in the future.

Also Red Peppers are good for Quercetin, but I don't think any other types are.

As for the race. WELL DONE. You should be very proud of yourself.

Best wishes :-) :-).

Matt

As for a comment like Colettes, I agree pretty much, although obviously there maybe exceptions to the rule, like Watermelon or Parsnips for example, that are high GI. They may need to avoided if you're Diabetic, incase they produce too high a Bloodsugar risk.

Another slight side issues is, that organic is still at risk from contact with pollutants in the atmosphere, or contamminated rain water, but a good point, and I know she wouldn't think anything bad of what I've just said :-).

LizN said...

Long live tomatoes!
Leslie, can I ask what you made your green smoothies out of :)
Cheers
Liz;)