Preparedness and your health.

[Spifflove]

It pays to be healthy. Whether surviving a downturn in the economy, unemployment, lack of health insurance or underinsured, or for increased productivity and overall happiness, the benefits of good health are endless. After all if you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything.

What I will be examining in this thread is the ways to achieve health transformation and examine the pitfalls therin. I invite open discussion and all angles of opinon both pro and con so that each of us can gather the tools that are right for us from this thread.

What I hope to gain in return are ways to reduce costs and reliance on "the grid," and sensible alternatives.

 

[Spifflove]

First of all, lets examine the basic and obvious. You cannot have good health if you eat junk food.



For example, if you go to a typical fast food chicken joint to eat everything will be deep fried in trans fats: The chicken, the corn, the fries, and the jalopeno bombers. On top of that, you will probably be served a tall sugary drink filled to the gills with high-fructose corn syrup [more on that later].

If you go to a typical burger joint, you will probably be served a soy-filled meat product [possibly horse meat based] that started out 50% bigger than the finished cooked size, the rest was fat that melted away. You will get a white bun which breaks down into starch [if it breaks down], and some high fructose red paste. Again fries deep fried in trans fat and a high fructose corn syrup drink.

It would be far better to go to a deli, select the whole wheat bread, get any meat even pork [avoiding the meatball low grade beef product and the tuna fish because its just mayonaise] and the 100% juice product, or better yet drink juice bought at home. Better still would be not to frequent fast food except possibly a pizza on payday.

 

[Spifflove]

Concerning diet drinks and low calorie drinks such as drinking gallons of splenda and ice tea:

Most people who drink diet drinks are overweight. There are several reasons for this. The first reason is that people trick themselves into eating more. For example they might say: "I had a super sized Texas double hamburger, super sized fries and a diet drink." The second is low calorie drinks make you hungery. The third is aspartame causes weight gain.
http://www.naturalnews.com/033110_diet_soda_weight_gain.html

So what to do? Drink two glasses of 100% juice (read the label) per day. One with lunch and one with dinner. Then you can stay hydrated with water or ice tea and argave or something similiar.

But thats alot of sugar you say? Compare that to 9-18 teaspoons of sugar in a 20 oz soda pop. I measured it out its about half the volume. Most soda pop is heavily carbonated preventing you from slamming it and getting ill. In addition, the micronutrients in whole juice are beneficial.

 

[Spifflove]

Eat 3 meals a day at least. Your body is like a fire. Do not let the fire burn low by skipping breakfeast or it will hold onto the weight. If your body thinks it is starving it won't burn calories.

Add "little sticks to the fire." Cereal for breakfast, a light lunch, then a sensible dinner. Skipping breakfast and then throwing a huge log on the fire will cause the fire to sputter and burn low. A sumo wrestler skips breakfast, works up an appetite, then eats a huge rice meal. A similar diet to this would be the typical American diet.

 

[Spifflove]

Diet means failure. If diet worked there would be one book on dieting and getting rich and everyone would be rich and thin. Plus its bad to lose weight rapidly.

Do 3 simple things:
1. Swap out kid cereals which are mostly sugar and swap in adult cereals.
2. Swap out hot cheetos and the like and swap in whole fruits. Cut them up and cut out the bad parts. Offer them to the whole family during lunch or dinner, two or more varieties.
3. Swap out soda, quick, kool-aid, sunny-D, gatorade etc and swap in whole juice.

Keep it simple. Pizza on payday. As an added bonus your constipation should disappear.

 

[Spifflove]

But aren't eggs bad for you? Fresh eggs are much better for you than processed foods. If your body doesn't get enough cholesterol it will make its own anyway. Of course everything in moderation. I'n my house its Saturdays and Sundays and lots of it. Typically 2 a day with some breaks is fine for most people who do not already have high cholesterol. Duck eggs are packed with more so be careful and find what works for you.

 

[Spifflove]

Pink slime and processed foods:

What is pink slime? It is when you take the carcass of an animal that has all the meat cut off, hit it with high pressure water, collect what sticks to the drain, and mash up into one big part. then you slice it up into a bunch of little parts. And parts is parts. You dunk it in ammonia to kill whatever is there. Then you make it into bologna, chicken nuggets, etc. It is also commonly used as hamburger filler. I find it makes a decent dog snack but I would not feed it to human beings. Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion about that.

Processed foods will be pumped full of carcinogenic preservatives and colors like nitrites [common in deli meats] and red dye. Also, genetically modified soybeans are in almost all processed foods, gravies, etc. Not only is unfermented soy an estrogen mimic but gmo soy has been shown in some studies to cause tumors in rats and reduce rat fertility, almost to nothing after two generations.

Eliminating processed foods and going back to whole wholesome foods is the cornerstone of good health. You are much less likely to become diabetic or get fatty liver disease if you avoid processed foods and drinks.

 

[Spifflove]

Why organic?

There are a myriad of reasons to eat organic. But the biggest reason is simply to avoid the sort of additives and other garbage that you don't want in your food.

Organic means no genetically modified organisms [gmo]. Since gmo is in most of the food supply, if you are not eating organic you can bank the fact that you are eating gmo. Is gmo bad for you? Studies have shown that gmo has caused cancer and infertility in lab rats. There are two heated camps in this issue. For a complete discussion of gmo with both sides of the argument represented refer to this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/758709/question-on-gmo-feed

Another major reason to avoid gmo is lack of food security. If you are dependent on a monocrop for your whole existance, you may find yourself at the mercy of a food shortage should that monocrop fail, for whatever reason. Heirloom seeds can be either organic or stabilized hybrids. Non-heirloom seeds are likely gmo and you are dependent on the supplier if you want more.

Organic does not mean pesticide free. It does however mean that no synthetic pesticides can be used. For example, BT toxin can be sprayed on organic crops since it is naturally derived. It does not prenetrate the crop. GMO BT corn produces BT right inside the kernel. About 50% of synthetic and non-synthetic pesticides are known to be carcinogenic.

Organic foods are significantly more costly than conventional foods. You can count on doubling your grocery bill at least. Ways to mitigate costs include:
1. Not eating out at gmo restaurants.
2. Baking your food instead of buying ready made processed food.
3. Getting off your blood pressure medication and selective seritonin reuptake inhibitors as soon as you are healthy enough that it is safe for you to do so, under consultation with your doctor of course.
4. Growing your own food.

 

[Ole and Lena]

Interesting reading. I've been on this line of thinking for a long time. I still like my soda pop though. Fortunately I have an active job so I burn off the calories. I've always postulated that Humans evolved to eat a diet rich in fruit sugars, nut, insect, small bird and mammal and egg proteins as those were the foods available to the early hunter gatherers. The Northern Europpean grain rich diet and the American corn/ red meat diets are relatively modern and not necessarily healthy. The Medieval Scandinavian diet, heavy in fish, berries and apples, honey for sweeteners, dairy, and egg with tubers for starch energy is much closer. That's the diet I tend to adhere to but it requires frequent exercise to avoid putting on weight as most of the food is quite high-octane.

I try to buy local as much as possible. Can't always guarantee the source, but although not certified organic, my local guys tend to not use a lot of pesticides and they grow a lot of heirloom strains because they taste and sell better at the farmer's market or roadside. I would highly recommend shopping for a local beef or pork supplier. Take a drive in the country, you'll see the homemade signs for beef for sale. Most of the farmers will be happy to give you a quick tour and answer any questions you may have. You're looking for pasture raised beef without growth hormones. It won't be certified organic but it will be considerably better and likely cheaper than that you find in the grocery store. It will also be a bit tougher to chew than cornfed so cook accordingly but the improved flavor will more than make up for it. You'll also be supporting a small family farmer and local butcher rather than industrial subsidized Ag. so thats another bonus. Take up hunting and fishing and gathering wild fruits and berries. They are rewarding hobbies and wild berries, fruits, fish and game are wonderful foods. Venison and wild fish make up most of my meat intake and I am very healthy in every way (just ask my wife).

It isn't always possible to avoid all herbicide/pesticide use in your garden but you can use very little by using what you need to strategically. I had to reclaim a patch of fallow land to start my garden, and there was no avoiding using 2 treatments of glyphosate to get a good kill initially. After that, I've been able to maintain the patch with timely weeding, fall burning to kill off weed seeds and frequent tilling. I have had to use a small amount of glyphosate to spot treat some especially recalcitrant weeds (creeping charlie and canada thistle) that are not practical to kill by other means but have not had to broadcast apply since the initial kill. Tilling, crop rotation (never plant tomatos or potatos in the same spot 2 years in a row) and the chickens have largely controlled insect pests. The only insecticide I have had to use was a spot application of pyrethrin (chrysanthemum based) to combat a potato bug outbreak.

With strategic shopping, growing some of our own, bartering with local producers and cooking almost all food from scratch, we eat very well on a pretty tight budget.

 

[Spifflove]

A very good post @Ole and Lena. Hunting and fishing are certainly very useful and areas. They could be your main source of food in a complete breakdown, and should be learned in addition to gardening and animal husbandry.

Some words about high fructose corn syrup from the free Wiki: "Health concerns have been raised about HFCS, which allege contribution to obesity, cardiovascular disase, diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease." It once possibly contained inorganic mercury. HFCS has been shown to deplete zinc and increase copper, which autistic individuals have trouble getting rid of. HFCS also bypasses saiety. Bottom line: Because HFCS is cheaper than natural sugar or even gmo sugar, they pump drinks with massive quantities of it. Far more than nature could ever put into an apple.