How can you tell what "natural" foods are actually healthy?

[tomn8er]

Just read your articles Steve of the vegan diet. I'm certainly no expert on nutrition, although I am generally quite health conscious compared to the normal North American, so I'd love it if someone could tell me how to be certain that the foods you are eating are actually as healthy as they are cracked up to be.

For example, I've heard a lot about how supposedly healthy natural foods like raw fruits and vegetables that you'd find at any grocery store are typically contaminated with pesticides and other harmful chemicals, or they are genetically altered so that they aren't really natural at all any more. I've noticed this a lot with most tomatoes nowadays - they all are lacking in colour and flavour and just taste like mush.

Similarly, how can u tell what are healthy, unrefined grain products? Is soy milk a good substitute for ordinary milk? Are organic foods overrated - are they just another marketing scam?

I'm seriously considering adopting a vegetarian diet, or at least cutting out dairy products (which have actually been the mainstay in my diet for most of my life ).

I know Steve mentioned "the China Study" as a good source of nutritional information, and I'll definitely check that one out, but can anybody give me some advice on the above questions (which are in bold)?

Thanks in advance!

[dor]

here is my favorite writer on the subject
Nina Planck: Food Writer & Expert on Farmers' Markets & Local Food

meat isn't bad, fat isn't bad, its the types - grass fed beef and the fat in it is actually quite good for you

I feel very lucky living in the state i am in, that i can get raw milk easily - raw milk has lots of things homegenized/pasturized doesn't - good bacteria, enzymes, almost as much viatmin c as orange juice, ect.

[escapee]

Hi , before you make the plunge into vegetarian or veganism, consider cutting off the following fake food to see if it helps

1) Flour based food
2) Refined sugar (soda , sweet and etc)
3) Refined grain
4) Refined carbohydrate loaded with trans fat and Acrylamide ( Potatoe chips, Biscuit and etc )

5) Fried food with Vegetable oil (denatured due to unsaturated bond)
6) Fried / over cooked protein/ meat
7) Alcohol and cigaratte

I agree with Dor that our body needs healthy fat from grass fed animal/deed sea unpolluted fish or uncooked plant based oil (olive,coconut) to function optimally.

I have read China study a few times. IMHO, the proposal that all forms of animal protein/fat is to be blamed for all chronic diseases is inconclusive.

I believe trans fat, refined carbohydate, refined sugar, stress, the way that you cook your carbohydrate and meat, deprivation of healthy fat, alcoholism and etc play a much significant role in chronic diseases.

[Antiventurecapital]

See if you can grab that recent NYT article Unhappy Meals by Michael Pollan.

[Antiventurecapital]

Unhappy Meals - Michael Pollan - New York Times

Quick while it's still free!

[Narz]

Originally Posted by Antiventurecapital

Unhappy Meals - Michael Pollan - New York Times

Quick while it's still free!

Michael Pollen's cool, I like him.

Still have 'The Botany of Desire' on my shelf waiting to be read.

[Logicseeker]

It's difficult know what is scientificully proven healthy, what's only market hype (especially true in the US) and so on. I think that a sound thing to do would be to approach it in the same way that you would approach the stock market. Eat a little of "everything" and decrease the risk of getting ill from some bad product...

[escapee]

I think eating is different than stock market. The way to earn BIG dollars in stock market is to concentrate on a few valued stocks rather than >20+ counters. But i know it's difficult to know the actual value of the stock without significant research or "business network" ( a better words for ins*der ...... ) .