Good foods that are bad for you
Politically Incorrect Nutrition
has changed the way we eat by pointing out foods we thought were good
for us that are actually harmful. Like all of nutrition, the
science surrounding these recommendations is a bit controversial, but I
thought you'd like to see a rundown on the "healthy" foods Michael
Barbee says you should be avoiding.
- Unfermented soy --- I
used to believe that soy was a great meat substitute, but soy
isoflavones are related to estrogen and can cause breast cancer,
disrupt our hormonal balance, change our menstrual patterns, and
trigger hyopthyroidism. The use of soy in baby formula leads to
zinc deficiencies and early puberty and has also been linked to
diabetes and learning disabilities. In both adults and
children, soy protein is hard to digest and causes pancreatic
disorders, and the type of vitamin B12 in soy can't be
absorbed and actually increases our body's need for that vitamin.
Soy also causes deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D and has been
to increase LP(a) in blood, which is a marker for heart disease.
In fact, it's simply a myth that healthy Asian diets are high in soy
--- the average soy intake in China is only 2 teaspoonsful per day, and
that is generally eaten in a fermented form like tempeh, soy sauce,
miso, and natto. If you want vegetable protein, you're better off
mixing and matching other high protein vegetables to find a balanced
set of amino acids rather than depending on soy.
- Many vegetable oils ---
Remember how butter is bad for you but vegetable oils are better?
Wrong! Polyunsaturated fats like corn, safflower, sunflower,
cottonseed, and soy oils are easily oxidized and contain too few
omega-3s. Trans fats found in partially hydrogenated vegetable
oils are even worse since they cause heart disease, cancer, obesity,
diabetes, allergies, asthma, and immune dysfunction. More on the
good fats tomorrow.
- Grocery store dairy and meat
I'll explain tomorrow, animal fats from pastured livestock are actually
on the good list.
Unfortunately, typical supermarket meats and dairy are generally full
of hormones, antibiotics, omega-6s, and are too low in the healthy
conjugated linoleic acid and omega-3. In addition, homogenizing
milk makes it easier for our bodies to absorb the bad xanthine oxidase
that can cause heart disease. No wonder when I started listening
to my body a year ago, I stopped drinking supermarket milk.
- Fluoridated water ---
topical application of fluoride to your teeth can be helpful, if you
eat flouride, it acts like a cumulative poison. Fluoride can
cause brittle teeth and bones, tooth decay, thyroid problems, learning
problems, joint pain, high cholesterol, depression, fatigue, weight
gain, early sexual maturation, and breast cancer. Fluoride also
interacts with aluminum in such a way that our body takes up more of
this problematic metal, so it's especially dangerous to drink any
liquid out of aluminum cans. I'm still pondering whether it's
safe to use fluoridated toothpaste and would love to hear your thoughts
- Green and black tea ---
We think of green and black teas as providing
helpful antioxidants, but the drinks also provide a hefty dose of
The tea plant is a dynamic
accumulator of fluoride, and a single cup of
tea usually provides more than the maximum daily dose of fluoride
recommended by the EPA. Poor Mark has decided to live without his
sweet tea, and after two weeks of withdrawal, he's starting to fell
- Aspartame --- Aspartame
is often found in sugar-free foods consumed by folks hoping to lose
weight. Unfortunately, studies have found that people who eat
artificial sweeteners tend to gain more
weight since they
crave carbohydrates. Although somewhat controversial, many
scientists also believe that aspartame can cause fibromyalgia,
dizziness, vertigo, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, depression,
anxiety attacks, slurred speech, memory loss, and cancer. We
never were fans of artificial sweeteners, but we do have sweet tooths
and have discovered that it's simple to recalibrate your sweet sensors
so that your taste buds think that desserts with half the sugar are
delicious. Just double
the cocoa content (or other primary flavor) and you can eat smaller
helpings of delicious foods and feel sated. The downside is that
we can't eat restaurant desserts anymore since they now taste
sickeningly sweet and give me a headache.
- Vitamin pills --- Do you
figure that you can eat whatever you want as long as you take a
multivitamin pill every day? Some studies are suggesting that
even water-soluble vitamins can cause problems in your body in excess
amounts. For example, doses of vitamin C above 500 mg/day
increase iron and decreases copper in your body. There is also
the question of whether your body can use vitamins in the synthetic
form provided by vitamin pills. To be on the safe side, it's
probably best to eat a well-rounded diet and get your vitamins and
minerals in your food.
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