Sugar, seed oils and my thoughts and some questions after reading four good health books.

[audreyh1]

Definitely it takes way longer to recover now!

 

[Golden Mean]

I enjoyed reading this thread. Here are my somewhat disjointed inputs:
...

About meat: apparently it is possible for people to get all the nutrients we need by eating exclusively animals (though we'd have to eat enough of the organs and not just the muscle meat).So obviously we evolved to eat at least some meat

I don't believe this (need for organs) is the case. Myself and my GF have not eaten organ meats in years and are not showing issues. We do eat eggs, some dairy though, not just beef. I believe their are many carnivores that are 5+ years without organ meats. That said, I think it would best to eat nose to tail, but I've not reached that goal myself.

ETA - FWIW, humans have a stomach pH of 1. More like a lion than a cow.

 

[MarieIG]

@aja8888 Ok, AJA - I have to ask, what is that thing I'm seeing in your latest Avatar.

 

[audreyh1]

@aja8888 Ok, AJA - I have to ask, what is that thing I'm seeing in your latest Avatar.

Yeah, full of sugar I expect!

 

[aja8888]

@aja8888 Ok, AJA - I have to ask, what is that thing I'm seeing in your latest Avatar.

Costco strawberry yogurt sundae which I had about three years ago. Wonderfull! At the time, it cost $1.69 and it was worth every penny of that price. When you know it's too late to save your body through diet and medical treatment, I suggest you go to Costco and have one (or two) of these.

(it puts the $1.50 hot dog and soda to shame)

 

[aja8888]

Yeah, full of sugar I expect!

Absolutely! And strawberries!

 

[audreyh1]

Ha ha, strawberries preserved in syrup!

 

[aja8888]

Ha ha, strawberries preserved in syrup!

But of course!

 

[MarieIG]

Costco strawberry yogurt sundae which I had about three years ago. Wonderfull! At the time, it cost $1.69 and it was worth every penny of that price. When you know it's too late to save your body through diet and medical treatment, I suggest you go to Costco and have one (or two) of these.

(it puts the $1.50 hot dog and soda to shame)

When DH and DS go to Costco, their lack of appetite when they get home is very suspicious.

 

[aja8888]

When DH and DS go to Costco, their lack of appetite when they get home is very suspicious.

 

[Koolau]

Now, if they could just take the sugar out of it!

 

[joejetski]

Over the last several weeks, I have been reading some popular health related books. They are as follows:

Sugar Crush: How to Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Nerve Damage, and Reclaim Good Health (Jacoby) - absolutely scared me about sugar intake!

Outlive, the Science and Art of Longevity (Attia) - Good book but really could have been ½ the size without Attia’s personal life issues. I am surprised his wife and kids are still with him..

Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine (Lustig) - A hard book to read, and confusing. Very technical and discusses the history of the food processing industry in the US. Basically warns on eating processed foods and says eat only Real Food, but doesn’t go into exactly what he would recommend for Real Foods.

The Ancestral Diet Revolution (Knobbe, Alexander) - This was a *mind blowing* book as to his take (with lots of graphs and charts) on the negative health effects of most seed oils in today’s food. After finishing the book, it’s clear to me that most seed oils (aka, "vegetable" oils) are going to be eliminated (minimized?) from my choice of foods going forward if I can actually do it.

This was a lot of reading, and I am trying to put all this information into a cohesive plan.

I’m 81, and have been in really good health all of my life (except for many broken bones and some new metal parts); No lipid or other organ issues (great blood work), no heart issues (other than a SVT issue 7 years ago and fixed), BP normal, slightly over ideal weight, and so on. Plus, my level of activity has been great with no mobility issues. I’m playing golf weekly and workout at the gym twice a week. So, in a nutshell, I have been lucky for my age.

Until last July, I have been taking one med (Flowmax generic) for BPH which is common in older men. Plus, I take vitamin D3 and a small baby aspirin.

July Issue

In July, I had a temporary loss of vision in my right eye (known as Amaurosis fugax) which was the result of an eye artery becoming temporarily blocked due to a particle of plaque getting into it.

This led to a hospital stay and dozens of scans and tests over a week's time. Out of this, I ended up with a small stent being placed in my right carotid artery as it was 70% blocked. Subsequent tests (stress and others) resulted in the fact that my heart arteries are clear and my pump (heart) is good, but the electronic stuff needed some help (pacemaker install) due to low resting heart rate (30 - 40 BPM). Heart Ejection Factor is 80% at rest and 74% under load which is excellent for my age.

So with clear arteries (except for one in my neck), I am on a statin (Lipitor), even though my recent/historical cholesterol is 160) and I am starting to suspect my diet is not sufficient to keep me healthy for another 10 years or longer, if I believe one half of what's in the books I just read..

My goal in reading the above books is to 1; evaluate my current diet (if you could call it that), and 2; re-establish an eating plan and eliminate the bad stuff to maximize my longevity.

A review of my fridge and pantry shows that most of my food here contains some form of sugar (or several forms), some oils like palm, sunflower, canola, soybean, etc. and even my recently bought ½ gallon of Almond Milk has soybean oil in it! I would like to minimize or even eliminate the sugar, HFCS, and seed oils as a goal, understanding that this is near impossible without moving into the woods, shooting wild game and growing vegetables and fruit trees. I'm looking for some discussion or thoughts on your experiences if your thinking about sugar and seed oil dangers is aligned in this manner. Some opening questions:

Anyone here trying to eliminate bad seed oils (high Omega 6 loading) and sugar from their diets?

If so, what is your success and do you have any recommendations as to where to get foods that are very low (or zero) in bad oils and sugar. And with respect to important vitamins like A, D, K2, etc, do you use supplements or eat food that is rich in them?

Are "pasture raised" eggs bought from Costco, for instance, really as good as a local farmer's eggs? How do we know what the chickens were fed?

What about beef from grocery stores and butcher shops. Are Prime cuts fed differently than Select?

Etc,

I use exclusively olive oil and avocado oils. Read the labels like a hawk. Eat whole foods, meat fish poultry veggies and a little fruit.

 

[Healthy Lifestyle]

Not certain if I am helping myself as a senior male (68yo), but I consume small amount of meat and fish and much larger portions of Veggies, Fruits, and Nuts.

I buy and prefer Whole Foods when possible

 

[skipro33]

I use exclusively olive oil and avocado oils. Read the labels like a hawk. Eat whole foods, meat fish poultry veggies and a little fruit.

Me too, plus coconut when I use an oil. Mostly I use pure lard or butter though. It's only been the last century that pretty much all there was. Olive and avocado oils have been around for thousands of years. Seed and veggie oils came about during the industrial revolution when Proctor and Gamble figured out how to hydrogenate cottonseed oil, creating Crisco in 1911 as an alternative to lard and butter.
With most processed foods using hydrogenated seed and veggie oils, I've pretty much quit buying any that contain those and started cooking for ourselves. We watch cooking shows mostly now, instead of more traditional evening TV series.

 

[Chuckanut]

Definitely it takes way longer to recover now!

The #1 reason we older guys get injured while exercising is that we think we can exercise like a younger guy. That and the know-it-all gym rats who constantly issue challenges to lift more, work harder, break down your body so it will rebuild itself better, etc. Avoid them.

 

[audreyh1]

I have found canned artichokes with only citric acid and salt added. Maybe another brand had a bit of vinegar. So keep looking.

Steaming artichokes is straightforward. They take a while to maybe 35-45 mins depending on the size. I use a temp probe making sure the heart is at least 190 to be done. I basically cut a bit off the top, pull a few leaves off around the stem end. Cut a bit off the stem, rub over with a cut lemon, and steam in a big steamer with the stem end up.

The big artichokes this summer have been a bit tough. I’ve had to steam longer and had to take them to 200 degrees probed into the choke to be sufficiently done/soft.