Log / Day One

[Luann]

Three highlights from this week :)

1. Quitting a nasty, chemical-ly job
2. Washing down mushrooms with creme soda. Yehh.
3. So, how's this for an interesting fact? Potatoes can be grown from their peels alone. Doesn't that make a potato peel a reproductive - and thus less Peaty - part of the plant? we all peel them already but this is like, incentive.

 

[tara]

So, how's this for an interesting fact? Potatoes can be grown from their peels alone. Doesn't that make a potato peel a reproductive - and thus less Peaty - part of the plant? we all peel them already but this is like, incentive.

I think Peat's comment refer to the seeds involved in sexual reproduction, which are in the above ground fruit of the potato plant (like other nightshades, it looks a bit like a tiny green tomato). When you grow potatoes from a tuber or part of a tuber (eg a bit of skin that has an eye in it), I think you are cloning it.

Not that I'd recommend eating the peels unless you can't get minerals from a better source.

 

[Luann]

@tara interesting

My brother has gone a somewhat predictable road and is now anorexic, we think. He started vegetarian, ate tons of peanut butter, now lives on pita chips. Like, actually, lives on pita chips and trail mix. It's just a vortex of pufa basically going into his body. He thinks caffeine and sugar are bad, he only eats plant fats, it's the whole nine yards. Please, anyone with a polite way to talk to him about this or experience with a loved one? This is a very personal and saddening issue
Oh and he's very thin and runs cross country.

 

[tara]

My brother has gone a somewhat predictable road and is now anorexic, we think.

Oh dear, sorry he's taking that route. I hope you can find a way to reach him that he can hear.
If he is open to science and reason, have you had a look at the youreatopia site to see if you can find a page that might speak to him?
Hopefully others have ideas.

 

[Luann]

Thanks Tara,
we haven't talked to him yet except telling him he needs more protein but dad's worried too.
Thoughts on safe starches: rice isn't one. It's a seed, it's got PUFA, it's less dangerous without its brown covering but not safe.

 

[CarbAppreciator]

Show a shirtless pic of him to your girlfriends and have them give him a 1-10 attractiveness rating, then give him those results.

 

[tara]

Thoughts on safe starches: rice isn't one. It's a seed, it's got PUFA, it's less dangerous without its brown covering but not safe.

Safe from what?
It's a lot safer than starving. (Almost any food is safer than starving.)
Some people do fine with rice, others seem to do better with less or no starchy foods. White rice has very little PUFA (Rice, white, long-grain, regular, cooked Nutrition Facts & Calories).

 

[Luann]

@tara, definitely safe-er than starving. i've been living on it for a week and a half, that's why the reflections on it as a starch source. And at the outset, it has little pufa, but often people want a "staple" food on the Peat (plan? ), and rice doesn't make a good one, PUFA wise, since you would have to multiple the fat content by like 6,7 times a day. To reach calorie goals.


@doorknobrob interesting lol

 

[tara]

And at the outset, it has little pufa, but often people want a "staple" food on the Peat (plan? ), and rice doesn't make a good one, PUFA wise, since you would have to multiple the fat content by like 6,7 times a day. To reach calorie goals.

500g rice (uncooked) gives about 400g carbs and about 1 one gram of PUFA - I can think of a lot worse options PUFA-wise.
I don't see Peat generally recommending everyone live on rice as a staple for half one's calories.
If you rely on rice as a major source of calories, you'd probably want to pay a bit of attention to getting lots of other nutrients from other foods.
Personally I'm eating some rice a few times a week, but prefer to vary it with other foods to get other minerals (and for flavour variety etc).

 

[Luann]

When FFAs mobilize, do they wind up out of the body, like in the pee or through skin pores? Or do they just lodge in the blood and stuff and hurt you?
Since broccoli heads are a "flower", should we not eat them, and just eat the stalks? Not that I mind. Eating the stalks, steamed in some salt water, is a cool midnight snack ^^

 

[Luann]

A family friend sent our house some supplements that were mostly wolfberry oil and orange and lemon oil. just picking them up and reading the ingredient list was enough to make my skin feel clogged and flushed; maybe it's psychosomatic.

 

[Luann]

Anyone have problems with liquids: coke, coffee, fresh fruit? They've been problematic lately, maybe it's low sodium. My mom dislikes water, cucumbers and melons (high in liquid), and my least favorite childhood foods were milk, HiC, and orange juice, whereas the solid form of these foods, (cheese, fruit) went down no problem.

 

[Luann]

This is just a random question. What are some sources for food profiles: fat, protein, mineral content? Most countries base their data on USDA SR 28 (source). Any other data bases that are good?

Update: found some countries that analyze their own foods rather than use the US's data. The Estonian and Danish do this more than the others, getting info from studies and some old books and journals, although some French, Greek, and Turkish labs also do their own work to collect food profiles.

This could be useful if ever there's a conflict about what is in a certain food.

 

[nikolabeacon]

Those food profiles that you can see on sites( nut.data, crono) are usefull only for rough proportions in my opinion.

I also doubt in all those recommendations about vitamins minerals and aminos.

Its useless to me to rely on it as a precise information especially when it comes to amount of pufa in grams( 4.5 or 5.5 g or maybe 7 ) or amino acid profile and proportions of certain aminos and minerals and vitamins. And also nonessential nutrients are not listed there wich gives food special value( bioavailability, therapeutic effects) and characteristic taste for different varieties.

You surely already know it. Just saying. These proportions varies considerably with composition of soil, breeds and varieties ov plants and animals and with a way of growing .

When plants and animals are stressed there is a disbalance of nutrients esspecialy increase in inflammatory ones because anti-inflammatory ones are often used to protect plant or animal functioning from stressors.

 

[Birdie]

@tara interesting

My brother has gone a somewhat predictable road and is now anorexic, we think. He started vegetarian, ate tons of peanut butter, now lives on pita chips. Like, actually, lives on pita chips and trail mix. It's just a vortex of pufa basically going into his body. He thinks caffeine and sugar are bad, he only eats plant fats, it's the whole nine yards. Please, anyone with a polite way to talk to him about this or experience with a loved one? This is a very personal and saddening issue
Oh and he's very thin and runs cross country.

How is he doing? I have a brother who causes heartache too. He is eating a lot of grains.. Big time emotional problems. At this point he is not looking for help.

 

[Luann]

Thanks for asking Birdie. He's eating much more now but still thinks the standard american diet is pretty much ok, pizza, eggrolls, and almonds and hummus to be healthy. But he is a lot happier and more adjusted since he started eating more in general.
What protocol or way of thinking is your brother after? wapf, vegetarian, or just on his own?

 

[Birdie]

Oh, that's important if he's happier and eating more. Whew.


Probably the last one. He changes around a lot.

 

[Luann]

Oh, ok. I hope he starts to eat healthier, too.
There are a few people in my family who think sugar is a vice or a weakness, I'm always relieved to catch them sneaking ice cream out of the freezer.

 

[DaveFoster]

I think it's better to drink only when you're thirsty.

A cool quote from "Eat for Heat":
"But, bless us, we're humans after all. We have these big brains that can do some neat things, but leave it to us to do something as stupid as drink when we're not thirsty. No other creature does this. No other creature is so removed from its own instinctual programming to the point of accidentally overdrinking."

It is, and when you have good thyroid function, you will get thirsty more often. The fluid intake isn't the problem; it's poor thyroid function that normally would evaporate the water intake. Salt helps to maintain fluid balance, but it also powerfully stimulates metabolism. High sodium and adequate magnesium can often "fix" hypothyroidism.

 

[Luann]

The fluid intake isn't the problem; it's poor thyroid function that normally would evaporate the water intake.

Dave, thanks for the input, food for thought.

Two thoughts from today.
1: Everyone should take time to walk outside in bare feet in wet grass for five minutes a day. It does wonders for mood and joints and is so easy, costs nothing, you can even do it with a coffee mug in hand! :)
2: "The increased activity of the delta-6 desaturase in this second period is a secondary and important response of the cell to maintain the unsaturated : saturated acid ratio and fluidity of the membrane", from this study of mice low in unsaturated fatty acids. Makes you wonder, what would happen if the desaturases were partly or mostly defunct...as they could become after a low iron diet...then the ration of UFA to SFA would really change.