Kelj
Member
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2019
- Messages
- 299
These quotes really bother me honestly.
So all of the additives which are not "food" like carrageenum gum, food coloring, brominated vegetable oil, poor quality synthetic added vitamins, "natural flavors", plastics, (and many more I could list), none of this matter? Some ultra-processed foods have as much as one hundred or more ingredients that are either synthetic or proven goitrogens/toxins. Look at "Food Babe". She wrote a great book about the toxic ingredients in our foods and how she only made recovery from her health issues removing, not adding, these ingredients to her diet. Sorry, but that just loses all credibility in my head. This stuff indeed makes digestibility worse, not better. How can one, in a sane mind, say that toxic additives are "better" than unprocessed foods? Does all of the research Ray Peat do not count for anything? To say that food selection "does not matter" or worse yet to say "processed foods are better than health foods" is horribly misguided IMO. There absolutely is a massive difference between grain fed meat and grass fed meat (as a random example), and to tell people "just eat the grain fed meat because, orthorexia" is silly and to ignore the effects of things like estrogens in grain fed meat (as example) is folly.
But if by refined you mean like refined coconut oil that removes the fiber, then I am on board with that, and that's different. Refined sugar even maybe has some benefits, but its devoid of minerals.
Now one thing is that people eating a refined diet DOES have going for it as they are less likely to be deficient in calories, that is true. And if someone does have a history of caloric restriction, I can see the value in it. I sincerely doubt anyone is constantly eating "junk" food each and every day and in optimal health though. Sure, I acknowledge that some people ate these for a time and found recovery. But here's the thing -- maybe they started off eating foods like this in order to get out of a hypo-caloric condition, but eventually they start to switch to better, higher quality foods and its at this point that full recovery occurs.
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Food Fears I: Food, Family and Fear — The Eating Disorder Institute
"In this context, processed food refers to any number of alterations we regularly apply to raw foods: cooking, pickling, canning, jarring, drying, smoking…"
"Ultra-processed foods are best identified as almost everything found along the inner-aisles of a grocery chain store: things in boxes, packages and bags. They are also the foods offered at any fast-food restaurant and also many chain restaurants where the food is shipped pre-prepared and frozen to the various restaurant outlets."
"Ultra-processed foods are ideal in the early phases of recovery where the body seeks to reverse huge energy deficits as efficiently and quickly as possible. However, once energy-balanced, you will not continue to have the same marked preference for these types of foods and will naturally veer back towards a broad omnivore diet that includes predominantly processed foods, a significant intake of raw and unprocessed foods, and a modest intake of ultra-processed foods."
"The hierarchy of beneficial foods during recovery will be: ultra-processed foods, processed foods, and an incidental amount of raw foods. The hierarchy of beneficial foods in remission (and for non-ED folk) will be: processed foods, raw foods, and incidental ultra-processed foods. You don’t have to consciously manage the shift from recovery to remission—these are things your body will identify for you."
"In controlled trials, there is clear evidence that trans fats negatively impact the ratio of high-density to low-density lipoproteins (HDL/LDL). Unfortunately the evidence that this then translates into an increased risk for coronary heart disease is not conclusive [RM Krauss, 2010; GA Francis, 2010; WR Ware, 2003]. Given that the average American diet gets about 2-3% of its energy from ultra-processed trans fats, and the rate of coronary heart disease has steadily decreased from 1960 to 2006 [Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2010 Update] it seems that whatever increased risk may or may not be present with the addition of trans fats in ultra-processed foods it is not measurable within the overall trend in the lowering of both the incidence and mortality of cardiovascular disease."
"an eating disorder is a deadly chronic condition to the point where you and your medical team may not be able to consider removal of foods from your diet when managing your secondary chronic condition (such as rheumatoid arthritis) because it drives progressive restriction and hastens overall disability and early death as a result."
An eating disorder trumps most things in its deadliness. Most people presenting in their doctors offices with puzzling and/or common chronic illnesses have these illnesses as a result of calorie restriction whether from an eating disorder (14-33% of the population) or repeatedly dabbling in restrictive behaviors.
Of course, it is not the addition of gums and preservatives that contribute to the health restoring effects of ultra- processed foods. It is just that a well-nourished body handles these things better than we think. It is the abandonment of food fear, allowing a person to access vital calories that is health restoring. If you can eat enough of "health" food and grass-fed beef to exceed your body's minimum calorie requirement, fine. Remember net calories, though. Deficits of energy must be rectified. The sooner the better. Maybe you are privileged to have a kitchen, to know how to cook, to be able to afford grass-fed beef. Not everyone is. Those folks can restore health too, if they can access the minimum calorie requirement.
I would hardly call misguided a path to complete wellness and weight optimization.
I wouldn't call it insane, either. Those of us who have restored our health have never felt more sane. And considering how the brain is effected by calorie restriction, it's no wonder.