7 myths about food, vegetable juices really good? Not so sure...
1- Eating raw vegetables is better for your health
To understand this, we need to go back a long, long way. Let's remember that the advent of fire radically changed man and made us the «dominant» beings on earth. A good thing, but that's another story! What happened was that we started cooking our food. Meat, for example, became much easier to digest than eating raw. This extra digestive energy allowed our cerebral cortex to develop at top speed.
All this has a certain effect on our bodies, which means that humans, unlike other mammals, have a low enzyme capital. As a result, digestion of certain foods is very difficult when they are raw. The result: loss of energy, long-term fatigue and, above all, potentially poor nutrient absorption! Ouch! Note that there's nothing wrong with eating raw vegetables once in a while. What's more, some people are genetically predisposed to better digestion of raw vegetables.
For the others, cooking produces certain effects in food that make it easier to digest. (Like our good old potato, for example, which, once cooked, loses its hydrogen bond, making it looser and easier to digest).
But beware: overcooked vegetables can lose some of their nutrients. So opt for a cooking method that makes them a little «softer», while retaining a certain crunchiness.
2- Margarine, enriched with «good Omega-3s»
The famous omega-3 enriched margarine. Is it really? In reality, these are oils that have been solidified to enable them to be spread, much like butter. It's all done by hydrogenation, a process that forces open the molecular double bonds of polyunsaturates. Once hydrogenated, omega-3s lose their usefulness and become more harmful to the body. So, to answer the question, yes, there are omega-3s, but they are unfortunately unusable by the body. Kudos to all the marketing around this, which means that even my mother-in-law still believes that margarine isn't bad for you.
In the same quantities, good old butter is less harmful to your health. Especially if you want to use it for pan-frying. Margarine has a much lower «smoking» point than butter.
3- Are vegetable juices good for you?
To sum up the juice extractor concept quickly, imagine your kidneys having to deal with the equivalent of 3 carrots, 1 celery and 2 beet in just a few minutes. What a way to put them to the test and make them work very hard! This tires the body and overtaxes your kidneys enormously. Trying to eat all these vegetables in 5 minutes is impossible.
What's more, vegetables contain a lot of the fiber needed for slower, more balanced digestion.
This kind of technique should only be used as a therapeutic tool, not as a new standard of living. If you decide to do it, use it sparingly and in much smaller quantities. Prefer a small glass of this mixture to a pint.
4- Food supplements, yes, but...
Let's face it, eating a carrot or an apple in 2022 versus an apple from the 1950s is very different. We've only accelerated the process of growth and boosted what we eat with products and pesticides. Even in industrialized countries, vitamin deficiencies will become increasingly commonplace.
Solution! A dietary supplement. It's as simple as taking 2-3 capsules first thing in the morning. But not so fast. The problem with this kind of synthetic product is that some are so complete that they «compete» with each other, hindering their assimilation. What's more, over time, all this biochemistry can create an excess at cellular level, unfortunately becoming more of a factor of wear and tear and cellular stress than a real help. All this while accelerating cell renewal. (Cellular and potentially carcinogenic mutation studied in 1998)
It's best to take certain vitamin cures every year, without necessarily making it a 365-day-a-year habit. The key is to alternate and diversify.
5- Cure of lemon juice in the morning, CAUTION!
The fashion of drinking a small glass of water with a freshly squeezed lemon every morning may be good for some people, but not for everyone! Lemon is acidifying, yes, but our body will know what to do to neutralize it and get the benefits.
The problem is that there are 2 types of people. The biology of the former will neutralize the acids by oxidation. No problem, it's okay. The 2nd type of metabolism, on the other hand, will proceed by MINERAL SPOLIATION. This means that unoxidized acids are neutralized by combining with minerals such as calcium, potassium or magnesium. This is an important point to consider if you wish to avoid demineralization of the body.
6- Is meat bad for you?
If many people see their health improve after they've stopped eating any form of meat, it's perhaps more due to the fact that eating TOO MUCH animal protein clogs up the whole body! It's all a question of quantity and quality.
We need to get it into our heads once and for all that animal protein is probably one of the most complete proteins. Proteins are made up of 20 amino acids. Of these 20, 9 are said to be essential, as the body cannot metabolize them on its own and needs them to survive. And practically only meat or animal derivatives such as cheese or eggs contain them all in appreciable quantities. I can already see vegetarians and vegans beating me over the head. I'm not saying that your diets are bad, not at all! But this kind of diet does require a little more «management».» to ensure that you have all the amino acids you need, in the right quantities, to function properly.
And yes, I know meats are full of hormones, antibiotics and other things that are bad for your health. But I'm sorry to say that most of the fruit and vegetables we eat have the same problem, unless they're organic, and even then... The idea, I think, is to eat meat, but in moderation. Starting with a plate of cheese and cold cuts, followed by a big steak and ending with a dessert containing eggs or another protein source, that's starting to sound like a lot!
My recommendation? MODERATION TASTS BETTER, and if you like meat, 2-3 times a week should be enough to get your essential amino acids. (By the way, I eat practically no animal meat!!! 😜 I'm more of a “Mediterranean diet” type )
7- A little smoothie every morning! Really healthy?
A good smoothie with oats and fruit, add a dollop of honey, which is considered a superfood, and you're all set. Really? When you're drinking a smoothie, you shouldn't add up the ingredients on the pretext that this or that fruit or seed has this or that advantage and nutrient! Big mistake! For example, honey prevents any further digestion, yet taken on its own is a superfood. What's more, each seed or oat in turn requires specific enzymes to be digested. Fruits, on the other hand, normally go through more quickly and are well digested. On the other hand, if fruit is mixed, certain vitamins conflict with others and are poorly assimilated.
It's not a good idea to mix it all together. The result is sluggish digestion, fermentation and flatulence! Maybe that's why you're feeling a little full. The idea is not to over-diversify our smoothie, but to alternate ingredients from one day to the next.
Quite honestly, nutrition depends on diversification and lifestyle. An athlete will consume more protein than a sedentary person, and someone who tends to bloat with one food or another should limit their intake.
It's important to understand that diet is one of the pillars of overall health, but by no means the only one. Stress, friends, family and money are all factors that influence our health. A good meal with friends once in a while, with a few excesses, never killed anyone! Bon appétit! 😉
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