The Calorie Myth - Thoughts?

I agree that more people deserve to be aware of what the effects of the items on the grocery store shelves really do to the body.

I appreciate your post JERF.

I see no problem with the wording, although quotes around "edible products" may have emphasized the point. I don't consider processed "cheese product" to be cheese. It may even have *some* cheese in it, but it is not cheese. In regards to food, I guess it depends on what you are willing to consider "food". Are the chemicals/preservatives in boxed mac & cheese themselves food? Or are they an additive included in a food product? What percentage of a food product's ingredients can/should be allowed to be non-food before it is no longer considered food?

I think the worst part, and the part we need to fight, is that so many people don't know the difference.

I haven't listened to the podcast yet, I was referring to what the OP said here:

"Why eating foods found in nature is better than eating edible products."

Edible products are, well... food. We shouldn't eat food? I only found the mis-wording amusing. She might have said 'processed foods' or something similar instead. (And she clarified above.)

A lot of points you and she, and likely the podcast mention seem common-sensical (yes you will be be fuller eating 140 calories of celery than drinking a soda), some I'm not 100% on (calories are calories in the end, getting good nutrition from them and using them to their full extent is the point which I guess is the argument here), but I'm not really informed enough to debate on it.

AIDA ~
I didn't watch the vid... but I've read plenty of articles and "research" on the topic... did the link say to eat "inedible" things? I think that our processed foods are closer to "inedible", if you want to use the term. Indigestible and unrecognizable as food to our metabolism, in many cases, at least.

The foods our (even recent) ancestors ate are still the healthiest ones for us. Where did I see a notation that it takes some *hundreds* of generations for an evolutionary shift to occur - and that includes diet. I don't think we've had that amount of time to adapt to the "foods" we're presently eating. Just consider our diets even so recently as in our grandparents' or great-grandparents' times. They ate whole real pasture-raised animal products (milk, eggs, AND meats), grew many of their own veggies and fruits, or bartered for any and all of these with local neighbors. They cooked with whole, full-fats: lard, bacon renderings, *real* butter... and heart disease and diabetes were mysteries in many cases to the medical experts of the time because they were, in most cases, so rare.

It can take some planning to stray from the ultra-convenience of the corner mega-grocery. That doesn't mean it isn't possible, preferable, or beneficial. You can join a CSA. If you have a yard, you can grow some of your own veggies - at least the ones you use most often. How about a lovely window-box of fresh lettuce?!? yum Fresh herbs can be beautiful garden plants, fragrant, attractive to lovely butterflies and hummingbirds... Some communities will accept poultry (I don't mean crowing roosters! LOL) as "pets." A few chicken "pets" can supply most of your egg requirement while they clear your yard of bugs and pests. Yes, they may nibble some of your veggies. But they're nibbling the bugs on them, and those little nibble-holes don't make the nutritive value of your harvest any less as a result.

I agree, in our hectic world, these can be challenges. But even the adoption of one or two of them would be a great boon to your health. How simple to join a CSA - all you need is a bit of freezer space! And local community co-ops provide mostly veggies in the same way. All that takes is driving yourself over to the outlet to carry it home. Sounds like grocery shopping to me! How about a pleasant excursion to local flea market produce aisles? I love flea markets anyway. You can have all that cheap import stuff - just leave me in the foodie aisles, I'm happy!

We can do it. Good for our bodies, good for our producers, and maybe not-so-good for exporters who probably don't have our health in mind so long as our dollars continue to flow into their wallets.

Seems like a reasonable plan to me.

We should eat real whole foods and not eat edible "food" products. You know the ones that are processed and filled with preservatives and other junk the body doesn't need.

Sorry if that's wasn't clear :)

So we should eat things that are... inedible?

I thought this podcast was really interesting and thought I'd share. It touches on;

- Why we shouldn't have to count calories.

- Overfeeding study results.

- Why eating less and exercising more fails long term 95.4% of the time.

- The laws of thermodynamics.

- Why eating foods found in nature is better than eating edible products .

- Why eating 140 calories from soda is treated by the body differently and causes you to feel differently than if you eat 140 calories from vegetables.

- Why eating different ratios of macro-nutrients even if total calories consumed is the exact same will result in different amounts of weight loss.

thesmarterscienceofslim.com/podcast/Jonath
an_Bailor_The_Calorie_Myth_MASTER.mp3<
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