Question about natural foods, eating habits & exercise

[superseiyan]

What are your opinions on the following foodstuffs:

- Whole grains (whole breads, pastas, rice, etc). Why is it different from white/processed carbs?

- Sucralose

- High Fructose Corn Syrup

- Condiments like ketchup, food seasoning, marinades….are the traces of "processed" stuff in there enough to ruin good eating habits? (I'm not talking about drenching salad in ranch).


My other thing I'm curious about is if one, like myself lifts weights and does a lot of cardio (I burned 1,000 calories the other day in one cardio workout), how can I keep from getting hungry all the time? Celery or lettuce is not very filling.

[StephanieShine]

Poeple reccomend that whole grains are better than processed carbs because whole grains have tons of nutrition. Proccesing them takes most of it out of them. Sure most companies add back in certain B-vitamins but who knows what they are actually stripping out. Science hasn't discovered all the phyto-chemicals and other little things in foods that all work together. We are still in the process of identifying more anti-oxidants and there are probably more nutrients on a smaller level than that. So while white carbs arent bad, they arent optimal sources of the most complete nutrition.

[superseiyan]

Originally Posted by StephanieShine

Poeple reccomend that whole grains are better than processed carbs because whole grains have tons of nutrition. Proccesing them takes most of it out of them. Sure most companies add back in certain B-vitamins but who knows what they are actually stripping out. Science hasn't discovered all the phyto-chemicals and other little things in foods that all work together. We are still in the process of identifying more anti-oxidants and there are probably more nutrients on a smaller level than that. So while white carbs arent bad, they arent optimal sources of the most complete nutrition.

Thanks.

In terms of 1. Weight and 2. Energy levels, what makes brown/whole carbs superior to white carbs then....seems like the nutrition gains could be recouped with other food or (organic) vitamins.

[StephanieShine]

How people react to simple vs complex carbs, or any carbs at all is a personal thing and greatly varies. Some peoples moods, blood sugar and fullness factor can all be greatly or minimally effected by carbs. So as far as energy goes, this one you'll just have to expirament with for yourself.

Sugar is the bodies best source of energy. And by best I mean only. Everything you eat is broken down to sugar (or ATP but thats another story.) Some argue that because your body will turn everything you eat into sugar anyways, why not just eat sugar and fruits all the time and that will be best for your body. While this train of thought is not necessarily wrong, people with insulin sensitivites may always feel hungry, as sugar digests quickly because it doesn't need to be broken down as much. This can provide people with instant energy or put people into a slump and sometimes even both, hence sugar crash.

The other side of the argument favors eating minimal simple carbs (quick digesting sugars) and only eating complex, whole carbs. They digest slower so keep you full for a longer amount of time. They are broken down to sugars in your system and are then used for reactions and energy just like simple carbs. From a weight loss perspective, eating foods that keep you fuller, longer will make you eat less in the long run, and eating less drops weight. Pretty simple. If you are dieting but dont get hunger pangs, and arent insulin sensitive or diabetic, have any type of carb you want - the only difference is digestion rate. Some people also talk about fiber when talking about whole carbs but fruit has fiber aswell so I didn't touch on that topic at all.

[JuleeQ]

Hi superseiyan,

StephanieShine has some good information there. I eat a little differently. I don't eat grains except for sprouted ones. I like to make sprout cereal out of them by adding some cut up dated and nuts and pouring sesame seed milk over the whole thing. I do miss reading the ceareal box.....

I don't eat processed sugar and I have found good energy ability from nutrient dense foods rather than calorie dense. I like to lift weights and eat a lot of chorella and coconut oil for muscle growth.

~JuleeQ

[JuleeQ]

My cat was trying to help me type........!

~J

[StephanieShine]

How does coconut oil make your muscles grow?

[Herbivore]

OP, are you saying there's nothing left but celery and lettuce? It took me 15 years to realize how humans should eat, and now it seems obvious. We like sweet things and we're primates. So eat fruit meals. You will be hungry in 90 minutes. So you get to eat fruit again.

Grain uses up a lot of energy to digest(and enzymes which are made of protein). Fruit doesn't take anything away. see: "80-10-10"

[funchy]

Originally Posted by superseiyan

What are your opinions on the following foodstuffs:

- Whole grains (whole breads, pastas, rice, etc). Why is it different from white/processed carbs?

White or processed carbs are basically the starch (sugar) separated from the rest of the grain seed. You may as well eat plain white sugar. Whole grains are where the nutrition is. They also tend to have the fiber, which is good for you and may make you feel fuller longer.

- Sucralose

Sucralose here is called Splenda, a chemical sweetener. Some people are worried about it being toxic. However, if you're removing HFCS or plain sugar when you use sucralose, the benefits of splenda might outweigh the drawbacks. IMHO it's better to avoid both plain sugar and fake sugars like sucralose, if possible.

- High Fructose Corn Syrup

No need for this ever in your diet. It's a really cheap, really low quality form of sugar.

- Condiments like ketchup, food seasoning, marinades….are the traces of "processed" stuff in there enough to ruin good eating habits? (I'm not talking about drenching salad in ranch).

Depends on why you're concerned about processed foods. Contaminants? No nutrition? Trying to stick to a raw diet?

One argument against lots of condiments is that once you start eating good, whole, fresh, raw foods your palate should adjust... and you shouldn't need to cover up the good foods with processed flavorings.

I've personally also noticed the sugars, chemicals, and flavor enhancers such as MSG put me back into bad-food mode, craving more of the concentrated flavors. But that may not apply to you.

My other thing I'm curious about is if one, like myself lifts weights and does a lot of cardio (I burned 1,000 calories the other day in one cardio workout), how can I keep from getting hungry all the time? Celery or lettuce is not very filling.

Are you asking about raw food ideas? What do you want to include/exclude from the diet?

I'm a big fan of smoothies. Throw in some bananas and other fruit and I can end up with 500 calories of healthy energy in just one blender pitcher (= 2-3 big glasses).