Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Refined Food - Unrefined Results

An interesting program that I found worth mentioning today:

http://urbansprouts.blogspot.com/

In case anyone hasn't noticed, America is fat. I am not sure if we are getting any better on this front of if we are getting worse, but I know that if you look at the stats from the last 20 years, it isn't good.

We have a schizophrenic attitude towards this. We celebrate the consumption of a huge ice-cream sundae, amazing pizza pie, donuts, double-cheeseburgers and my personal favorite, french fries. However, we also shun the results of that activity, and try to promote "looking good" and getting into shape.

My take? If you are willing to use your brain, you can have the best of both worlds. For anyone who isn't an active person, I would say that I am 99.9% sure you are missing out. Simply moving your body around isn't an issue. You have energy on a daily basis. You can breathe better. You sleep better. And hey, you look better. You can go do whatever you want to do - its amazing the everyday things that people miss out on because their bodies physically can't do it.

So, if you do want to treat your body better and feel healthier than ever before, I am telling you that you can do it with two things.

One: Exercise. And yes, it will probably be hard for a while if you aren't active. Do it, regardless of how much at first. Starting small is fine BUT you can't miss it entirely, and once you start, you have to progress to doing more and more each time. Unless you are over 50 or getting over a medical condition, don't count just walking. Once you get into a healthier mindset, walking will no longer be thought of as an "exercise" you did, it will simply be what happens when you want to go somewhere on foot. The only catch-22 about exercise is as the better your body gets at something, the easier it becomes for it (more efficient) and therefore, burns less energy doing it. That's why you have to progress upwards. On the good side, the more strength you build, the more good mass you will have. This extra muscle (less fat too) will consequently burn more energy for you.

If anyone needs any ideas on what exercises could be fun, I've got a million ideas. Also, you can just take up a rec sport you like, or if you want to get serious, check out crossfit.


Two: Eat unrefined foods as your regular routine. What kills people isn't that they eat ice cream on Sunday night, or order a Pizza on Friday night, or drink 6 beers Saturday. Sometimes people actually eat so much bad food in one sitting that the body doesn't absorb a lot of it anyway, and once it passes through the body it doesn't do that much damage. HOWEVER, what people screw up with is drinking 4 cokes a day (me), putting 3 sugar packets in their coffee instead of one, eating fritos or cheetos with lunch instead of a giant pear or banana, eating white bread instead of 7-grain/wheat bread, having donuts for breakfast instead of one bowl of cereal, getting fries with their Big Macs instead of getting a salad, and the biggest, shopping and eating out of boxes, bags, and cans, instead of what is in the produce section and fresh meat section.

Pay attention to this, because you need to understand this concept. Companies refine the sugars in their processed foods. The fiber that fills you up usually and passes through the body gets replaced by simple sugars that the body can digest. Food sometimes tastes better because of it (usually not) but either way, what happens is that what FEELS to your body like 2500 calories of food in a day is actually 4500-5000. This information is out there, but it actually takes a little digging and for some reason this isn't mentioned often at all. This isn't always about avoiding sugars, chocolate, bread and candy. Its much more about avoiding refined"regular" foods in your daily routine.


As for the original link about the school kids (if you haven't clicked it, I'd do so), and getting people to live healthier at an early age, I have to say some of the funniest progress is being made. Recently in Illinois soda-machines were banned. Which I guess is a good step - except that fruit juice boxes/bottles were being substituted in many of the schools I've seen for myself. (Hint: It's usually not real fruit juice, and which one do you think has more refined sugar in it? You guessed it.) Also, the average school lunch I've seen made includes:

white breadsticks and butter glaze (almost gauranteed to be made with refined flour)
fruit snacks (100% refined sugar)
Grilled cheese (POSSIBLY a good choice, except that its pretty likely the cheese and bread are both refined)
pizza (ok)
ice cream bars (sometimes, but everyday?)
frozen fruit popsicles (see fruit juice boxes to understand if that makes you fat or not)
french fries (oh boy)


Now, I understand, bread and cheese and fat are cheap. But so is corn, so are carrots, so are apples, so are baked potatoes - chicken is a pretty inexpensive meat, and bread can be sold and bought with all of the grains, fibers, and minerals still left inside. Don't forget that even fried food wouldn't be 1/2 as bad for you if we always used oils without trans fats and we always used unrefined flours to batter them in.

If we replaced the word and the concept of "dessert" with "refined foods", and treated all other kinds of food as our typical meals, we'd get to keep all the stuff we love, eat until we were filled up, and have the energy to burn and the waistlines to be proud of.

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