10 'Healthy' Foods That Aren't So Healthy

12/11/07
List continues

I heard that eating too much Chocolate will turn your hair Blonde and shorten your life by making you an ADMIN!!!

There might be some truth to this..

Pizza is on that list. Is there really any one that thought pizza was a health food? Sure it is probably better for you than 90% of what you get in a truck stop restaurant but that hardly makes it health food.

How about a Tortilla shell w/ pizza stuff on top.......what t-tstop makes that................here I go again..........best open up a new chain of "Trukers Tights Abs,ect.." Truck Stop and Diner!

Cybergal, I usually agree with most advice you give but this article by Zuckerbrot does not steer us in the right direction concerning fats and oils, starting with the olive oil in particular and fats/oils in general; she even vilifies avocados. We need fats and oils in our diet but we need the healthy ones not the ones that have been manipulated and promoted by companies who's bottom line is profit. Not only do our bodies need fats and oils but they are what makes us feel fuller faster and and stay fuller for a longer period of time.

Saturated fats such as animal lard, coconut oil, and palm kernal oil are the best for cooking in high heat as they are saturated with hydrogen atoms and are more resistant to bending (they have no double bonds), or forming trans-fats. They are the most stable. Our grandmother's generation was pretty much the last one to save and cook with bacon grease. Cold pressed, virgin olive oils are better for use in salad dressings and drizzling on your leafy greens but they are suitable for sauteing as well.

These fats and oils had served mankind well up until around the 1950's when the polyunsaturated oils began to be promoted as healthier for you than what mother nature had provided us all these years. There was money to be made and the Lipid Theory was born. An excellent website to go to is the Weston A Price Foundation managed by Mary Enig PhD, an expert in cholestoral and fats, and Sally Fallon. This site will explain the importance of cholesterols, fats, and oils in our diets, the Lipid Theory and why the public was told that oils like corn, cottonseed, and safflower were better for you than saturated fats. These "liquid at room temperature" oils go through a process to make them clear, yellow and appealing and are heated to a high temp which makes them oxidize; they are actually already rancid when they get to the store shelves.

Another big money-maker is the "lower your cholesterol to ridiculous and even dangerous levels" by taking dangerous statin drugs. Sure, they lower your cholesterol levels but haven't been proven to prolong your life which was kinda what the whole idea was about.

If we want to lose or maintain weight our diets should include a preponderance of low calorie but highly nutritious vegetables, fruits, and legumes and a modest amount of healthy fats, oils and proteins. What we need to stay away from or, eat much less of, are processed foods as these are where you are going to get your trans-fats. Also, avoid high calorie carbs; pastas, pastrys, desserts, breads and the like as they might as well be sugar as far as the body is concerned when breaking them down. In general, a good rule of thumb is, what would my ancestors have eaten about a thousand years ago?