Food: Enemies or Friends

[Alan Armstrong]

Food can be your friend or can be your enemy; which foods do you consider to be good for you or bad for you?

Good: Salad. From a Chinese point of view, salads are eaten at the end of a meal, reason is that salads will balance the PH level in the mouth...

Bad: Butter. Can cause cholesterol issues for arteries...

Good: Cranberry juice. Can remove bacteria's from the body.

Bad: Crisps. Contain saturated fats from commercial cooking process that is hazardous to clogging arteries...

Good: Cereal. Helps to clean the colon and is a known contributor to help prevent cancer...

Bad: Soft Drinks. Contain high levels of sugar and or artificial flavouring that can contribute to diabetic issues...

Good: Olive Oil. Contain antioxidants known to help slowing down the ageing process...

It is fine to say that fast foods taken in moderation is OK. Do we really have the control to not exceed the junk food feed limit?

Salt and sugar are two ingredients that are usually high in manufactured proccesed foods. To prepare our own foods is recommended because then these two tasty enemies can be better controlled or regulated...

I'm not a doctor or dietitian and don't hold any qualification on health...

I do however consider the body to be maintained responsibly with healthy living habits...

I do see many people in the health profession smoking and suffering from obesity. Therefore as a none health professional at least I practice what I preach...

There is a great need in our societys, for all of us, to take full responsibility for maintaining a healthy lifestyle...

Unlearning can be beneficial especially bad eating habits.

Small improvements regarding lifestyle changes is never a waste of time or effort.

Every failure will make you stronger; remember the easy way is not an option, never give up trying to improving yourself.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Solid post Alan.

It's interesting as butter they're (Researchers) have actually found that having around 1 tablespoon (from memory) a day was actually beneficial for heart health. Then again depends on the type of butter you use.

When i'm at work tomorrow i'll find that piece of research and share here. If i'm wrong due to me misreading it then i'll redact my statement above.

Salads are great, but the real kicker is the dressing you use due to the sugar content of most comercial dressings. Personally i make my own dressings so i know what is there.

Cereal is a double whammy; i am assuming you're more talking about fibre enriched cereals and the like? Still worth reading the side of the box listing whats in there.

[Alan Armstrong]

Solid post Alan.

It's interesting as butter they're (Researchers) have actually found that having around 1 tablespoon (from memory) a day was actually beneficial for heart health. Then again depends on the type of butter you use.

When i'm at work tomorrow i'll find that piece of research and share here. If i'm wrong due to me misreading it then i'll redact my statement above.

Salads are great, but the real kicker is the dressing you use due to the sugar content of most comercial dressings. Personally i make my own dressings so i know what is there.

Cereal is a double whammy; i am assuming you're more talking about fibre enriched cereals and the like? Still worth reading the side of the box listing whats in there.

Great response Nidan.

Just raising some healthy controversy about food!

[LLLEARNER]

Ooooh. Food controversy. Let me get the popcorn and beer.

[Alan Armstrong]

Going to the movies in USA and Canada, there are many toppings to put on your popcorn, being totally spoilt for choice, while in the UK a night out to watch the latest James Bond 007 flick "would you like salt on your popcorn sir?"

Beer has changed considerably, now strawberry and lime beer from Sweden and ginger beer from Scotland.

Food is most definitely a cultural subject. In the Philippines for instance, children eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In Thailand it is possible to buy ready to eat eggs, with a baby chick inside. Spanish eat fish with the head still attached, something that the Brits consider repulsive.

Insects are considered the food of the future. Ironically enough I was given a 50.00 food voucher from a restaurant, because a cockroach was walking about on the table, while I was eating a meal there.

[DWx]

Insects are considered the food of the future. Ironically enough I was given a 50.00 food voucher from a restaurant, because a cockroach was walking about on the table, while I was eating a meal there.

Insects are an interesting one as they are quick and cheap to produce, a good source of protein and their impact on the environment is considerably less than commercial meat farming. A number of cultures already practice entomophagy or eating insects but the West struggle with the concept.

[Alan Armstrong]

60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams in chocolate is normal.

30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams in peanut butter is normal.

All FDA approved, and is actually considered to be good for you.

one person's rodent is another person's burger. Rat burgers in China.

Also in China, rat meat sold as lamb.

In the UK horse meat sold as beef.

While in France eating horse meat is acceptable.

Zebu steaks from Africa sold in UK pubs as steaks.

In Canada road kill is a common practice. An animal gets run over and killed. Not long after it's is converted in to a sausage or barbecue steaks; a little wild tasting for my taste buds.

Wikipedia states that humans consume 25 million dogs a year.

In Vietnam it is normal to eat cats and dogs. Considered by most Western cultures to be a shocking practice.

Pet food sold in stores such as cat food or dog food, has been mistakenly bought and eaten by those that thought that the picture on the outside of a cat or dog represents the meat contained inside.

Rabbits are an acceptable food in Mediterranean cultures.

One Sunday afternoon as a child happily playing with the bunnies in my grandmother's garden, the next week to my horror I was expected to eat them. This was my first culture shock.

Friendly food seems to have many interpretations depending on the country.

Fast food has different connotations, might be considered as something that moves very fast and is difficult to catch!

[sensei8]

For the moment, I'm prediabetic, and in that, I am very cautious as to what and how much I eat as well as it affects my current diet, in which exercise is also quite important to my quality of life.

Many of what has been spoken here already are pretty accurate, and in that, I've not much more to add, if anything at all, because I'm still learning what is good and what is bad. The one thing I can add is this...mixing of the two is bad!!

If I take a food from the "good" list and I then mix it with a "bad", then it becomes an oxymoron, so to speak. I.E., oatmeal with sugar, that's against the fight that I'm fighting. Oatmeal with fresh strawberries or some honey, well, that is the good fight.

[bushido_man96]

Part of eating is eating what you enjoy. Insects, I would not enjoy eating. Steak, I do enjoy eating. Hence, I will choose steak over insects.

I like my whole milk, some salad (and I never worry about the dressing I put on it), and some vegetables. I particularly fond of carrots, green beans, creamed corn. I also like potatoes. If I had my way for breakfast, I'd have bacon, eggs over medium, and toast every day (and would probably make it all into a breakfast sandwich), and follow it all with black coffee.

[DWx]

Part of eating is eating what you enjoy. Insects, I would not enjoy eating. Steak, I do enjoy eating. Hence, I will choose steak over insects.

how do you know insects don't taste as good as a steak? Deep fried cicadas for example are supposed be pretty close to lobster (which coincidentally were once upon a time the food of poverty).