Couple of unrelated Food Questions

Dutchie

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Hello everyone,

Here's the situation; I'm on a financial really tigth budget. I lift weigths (although it feels like I'm not really pushing that hard and/or doing much) and lately I've noticed that I lost more retented water?(don't know if it's bc of protein in general or B6 since I seem to crave some specific high B6 foods like banana,chickenbreast etc.)/look more defined when I ate some more protein than I did. I still have no clue if I'm eating enough protein,so bc of my situation I'm looking for good cheap general foods&proteinrich.
(I'm even thinking that I should go back to eating more veggies in order to get more nutrients in.:/ )

So,I've got a couple of questions to look out for when shopping and trying to save some money. (I didn't make seperate threads for each question,since I thougth that would be a bit unnecessary.)

1.) What foods are ok non-organic/non-pastured grassfed etc. and what foods are too toxic regular? Like I'm personally still wary&don't buy non-organic cowmilk&dairy,but is it legit bc I've heard several times that especially regular (skim).milk&dairy is estrogenic. Is that true?should I stick with purely organic regarding dairy? (I do buy goatcheese non-organic but I think it's less toxic bc goats generally don't get fed grains and stuff.)

2.) How about other proteins? I know it's said that animals store toxins in their fat except for pigs,so would conventional lower fat meats be ok? And what about eggs if I'd only eat the eggwhites,would the chicken's diet still matter?

3) Commercial chickenbreast usually lists PUFAS between 0.3 to 1grams per 100gram (depending on the brand. Is the fat/PUFAS only in these white pieces&strands? so,if I'd cut it away it's gone....or is the fat/PUFAS also in the pink flesh?
It's not just PUFAS in general but chicken&turkey contain mostly O-6 Pufas even organic and I've noticed that the past couple of days I've been eating quite some Alaska Pollock bc it's cheap and berries (not together) and I noticed I always feel more positive afterwards,so I looked it up at Cronometer and it said that the little PUFA it contains is mostly O-3. So,I think the Paleo crowd migth be rigth in regards to O-3 and O-6,migth be why most people have problems with nuts bc it's not just high in PUFAS but the O-6 kind.

4) Unfortunately the ethnic market where I go to get Lamb Liver rarely has some bc it's always sold out fast. So,at the regular supermarket I saw Beef Heart which was really cheap but from conventional raised cattle. Would that be a problem?
What I saw on the label,they listed 2grams of fat per 100gram of which 0,7 saturated,0,7MUFA and 0,2PUFAS. But when added you only get 1,6grams of fat,so what's the remaining 0,4....trans-fats? I see this kind of thing on more labels,why do they do that?

5) I sometimes see on bodybuilding channels that they use yoghurt,cottage cheese or quark?/soft-curd cheese? to use in sauces instead of sourcream and such. I figured it's great to get some extra protein&calcium in,but I was wondering if the heating kills the pro-biotic bacteria? bc that would suck.

6) Are there people here who use commercial gelatin(powder or sheets)? Bc it seems most conventional gelatin is made from pork and I'm kind of wary of porkproducts bc of it's inflammatory abillities.

As for fruit&veggies I'd think that most that can be peeled are safer to buy non-organic? (apart from the ripeness issue)

And if people have more protein and general food/nutrition saving tips,lower fat/high protein recipes etc.,please feel free to post them.:)
(I'm sorry if this is kind of a messy post.)
 

tara

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2. Get what you can if you can get organic grass-fed great. If you can't you still have to eat. I'd favour ruminants like beef and lamb over other animal meat. I've found their fat to be very variable, depending on the cut. Ribs and spine much more saturated than knees and tail. If you only eat the egg whites you miss most of the benefits of an egg - the vitamins etc are in the yolk.

3. In chicken breast I think there is a small amount of fatty acids in all the cells, so even removing visible fat there may be a small amount of PUFA left, but probably not much. Peat is very clear that the omega 3 fatty acids are destructive. Read his fish oil article.

4. I haven't tried beef heart yet - I'm also curious about whether others would recommend it for occasional meals.

5. Peat does not usually recommend probiotic bacteria. I use easy homemade farmer's cheese to make a baked cheesecake. I don't know if I lose anything by the heating process, but I assume I still get most of the protein.
Peat seems to consider lactic acid a metabolic burden. There is a lot of it in yogurt, and a lot less of it in quark and cottage cheese, I think. The cheeses and quark (and strained yogurt) also have less of the whey protein, which is an advantage. Quite a bit of the calcium is lost when the whey is strained out.

6. I use commercial gelatine, but the one in my local supermarket is from beef. Does it not say what it is on the label? Some people seem to have trouble with pork gelatin, others seem fine with it.

Personally, I tend to think that eating enough trumps eating perfectly, though I would definitely think it's worth keeping PUFAs as low as you can. If I have to choose because of financial constraints between getting enough nourishment but from slightly lower quality, and getting a starvation diet of high quality food, I know what I would generally choose. But other than PUFAs and obvious poisons, which foods are bad enough to be really rigorous about avoiding probably varies from person to person. Others might make different choices, depending on what stresses they are most concerned about.
 

Amazoniac

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Hi!

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

But remember that the benefits from organic produce go far beyond pesticides.

Just adding to what tara said, try to buy organ meats from a reliable source. Seafood, depending where you live can be a decent choice, but make sure to choose those who are lower in the food chain, they usually don't have enough time to store significant amounts of toxins.
I would buy all the vegetables organic and if you consume fruit, those that have a hard peel. There is this rumour that you have to prioritize meats over vegetables if you can't have both. But the problem is that animals have detoxifying systems that are way more efficient than plants. I would prioritize vegetables over meats, with the exception of organ meats.
And just like tara suggested, ruminants and lean if not reliable.
 
OP
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Dutchie

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Amazoniac said:
Hi!

http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

But remember that the benefits from organic produce go far beyond pesticides.

Just adding to what tara said, try to buy organ meats from a reliable source. Seafood, depending where you live can be a decent choice, but make sure to choose those who are lower in the food chain, they usually don't have enough time to store significant amounts of toxins.
I would buy all the vegetables organic and if you consume fruit, those that have a hard peel. There is this rumour that you have to prioritize meats over vegetables if you can't have both. But the problem is that animals have detoxifying systems that are way more efficient than plants. I would prioritize vegetables over meats, with the exception of organ meats.
And just like tara suggested, ruminants and lean if not reliable.

Thank you for the additional info Amazoniac.:)
Although I'm not sure whether I'm gonna read the info of the link soon,about what I assume the pro's&cons of organic vs conventional food,not bc I'm not interested but bc I know I'll go into OCD thougths too much.
What's interesting regarding the organ meats,last week I bougth some lamb liver after a long while from the same source I always buy from and I have always loved (lamb) liver.....but when I ate it last week,the smell/taste&texture put me off so much,I felt ligthly nauseated and my mood tanked and couldn't finish it so I did,what I usually never do&hate doing,I threw the remaining away. It was such a weird experience,bc on the one hand I suddenly was disgusted by it,yet simultaneously it also felt as if part of my body was:"Finally!".

That's the thing....lately I've been eating the same meals everyday and they make me feel good mentally and slowly I'm starting to see some fine defenition in my muscles/bodycomposition simultaneously my bowelmovements are less frequent,but I keep thinking about beef now&then. Yet when I eat it my mood especially tanks but sometimes it speeds up my bowelmovements. (I also noticed that the amount of time I sleep slowly increases after a couple of days only eating these meals,though the amounts of the ingredients can vary to craving).
I'm guessing that it's an iron problem and/or that the fish (Cod&Pollock) with the goatcheese aren't sufficient in certain nutrients.....
The thing that I've also noticed is that most of the foods I eat,ofcourse are low in PUFAS,but the little PUFAS they do contain are higher in Omega 3 to Omega 6. So,I'm thinking that the little amount of PUFAS in meat cause this reaction bc it's mostly Omega 6. And that the Omega 3 in food is actually beneficial unlike the Fish OIl supplements.
All these studies they do are based on Omega 3/unsaturated fats in supplemental form,so I wonder if the natural occurring omega3 in foods are that bad to the metabolism.

Also bones for making broth,is it that bad when they're not organic?

So,in short I'd probably eat these meals until I'd become really tired of it if I could bc I like eating them....but the problem's that I seem to run into problems.
 
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Dutchie

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Amazoniac said:
Forgot to mention fatty parts and bones should be the priority when it comes to opt for organic, since those are the main toxin disposal places.

Thanx!:)
Yes,I knew about the part that animals store toxins in their fat,except for pigs. I've never liked fatty cuts of meat,like ribs and chops anyway.

So,that would mean that I can't make broths bc organic bones aren't for sale.:/ (hardly any bones)
The only place where I sometimes can get bones really cheap is from this little Turkish Deli that sells Beef/Veal and Lamb meat,but they're all non-organic.
 

Amazoniac

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You can try to find meats that come attached to the bones, asking for soup parts/bones. Unnecessary to buy them separately.
It depends on what do you want from the broth.
Regarding toxins, this is only a significant concern if you choose commercial cuts.
 
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Dutchie

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Amazoniac said:
You can try to find meats that come attached to the bones, asking for soup parts/bones. Unnecessary to buy them separately.
It depends on what do you want from the broth.
Regarding toxins, this is only a significant concern if you choose commercial cuts.

Usually cuts don't come with bone-in over here. You'd have to go to a real butchery for that and they're not around a lot anymore.

Anyway,I ate some of the lean commercial Beef (cut),that I usually have again. And while eating and after it,I've felt different the last 2 times...better/less lethargic,no racing heart,no bowelmovement problems...than when I used to. I'd noticed that both these times the package mentioned that the Beef is born&raised in Ireland.
I've heard several times that Irish cows in general are fed grass&silage...so I'm thinking that the cow's diet,even over possible antibiotics usage,is an important factor for me.

Dutch cows get fed some grain/wheat and usually afterwards they inject the meat with some sort of glucose-water mixture so that'll have a dark red color. So,it's probably the grains/gluten through the meat that cause problems...and that's why I keep being stuck on fish mainly.
Alas...they don't always have meat from Ireland available,so it's a bit luck of draw but I've seen they also have beef from Germany, The UK and Denmark.
I have no idea what they cows are mainly fed over there (and the possible AB usage,though I heard it's supposed to be fairly low in EU countries).

Does anybody know about the feeding practices of cattle in these countries (Germany,UK,Denmark)?
(Google isn't being much help)
 

Amazoniac

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If space is not a problem for you, you can buy a freezer and find some place around where you live and buy in bulk from a reliable source. This way you'd be able to find high quality with lower prices and freeze in portion sizes.

Edit: when I say near, I mean even a country that's close to yours.
 
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Dutchie

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Amazoniac said:
If space is not a problem for you, you can buy a freezer and find some place around where you live and buy in bulk from a reliable source. This way you'd be able to find high quality with lower prices and freeze in portion sizes.

Edit: when I say near, I mean even a country that's close to yours.

Thanx for the suggestion.
I have a freezer,but the problem's that I can't buy in bulk bc of budgetary reasons. I'm basically tied to buying&eating (bc of a daily budget) mostly whatever I can day by day. (I basically go grocery hauling every day and I try to hunt for (appropriate) foods that are on sale in general or bc they're close to expiry date. There are days when it's surreal that I've (basically been forced to) become this person who makes a deal at the cashier/checkout when they've calculated a couple of cents too much.:/ )
 

Jenn

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Ruminants detox the food they eat, be it cow or goat and minimize the toxins in their milk. So you can feed a cow well or feed it crap and there is not going to be a lot of difference, milk can't have antibiotics in it either way. Fat soluble vitamins like K and D will vary depending on how much grazing they get to do, but that won't matter with regards to organic vs conventional....you can have pasture based conventional and confinement organic dairy. I would save your money on dairy products so you have more wiggle room elsewhere. Estrogen in NOT going to be higher in conventional vs organic. All milk will contain higher levels of progesterone to balance. Grass fed vs grain fed might have some benefit, but not necessarily worth the extra money compared to the stress involved in choosing foods. Think of avoiding stress as getting extra nutrition. ;)

You can live on dairy and potatoes. I am assuming they are as cheap in proportion to other foods as they are here.
 
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Dutchie

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Jenn said:
Ruminants detox the food they eat, be it cow or goat and minimize the toxins in their milk. So you can feed a cow well or feed it crap and there is not going to be a lot of difference, milk can't have antibiotics in it either way. Fat soluble vitamins like K and D will vary depending on how much grazing they get to do, but that won't matter with regards to organic vs conventional....you can have pasture based conventional and confinement organic dairy. I would save your money on dairy products so you have more wiggle room elsewhere. Estrogen in NOT going to be higher in conventional vs organic. All milk will contain higher levels of progesterone to balance. Grass fed vs grain fed might have some benefit, but not necessarily worth the extra money compared to the stress involved in choosing foods. Think of avoiding stress as getting extra nutrition. ;)

You can live on dairy and potatoes. I am assuming they are as cheap in proportion to other foods as they are here.

Thank you Jenn.:)
The problem's that milk and potatos don't agree with me,which really is a bummer for potatos especially during this cold&wet weather. The grey dark days do an extra negative number on my metabolism,especially on my bowelmovements and bodycomposition/fat&waterlevels. And I don't have the financial freedom to buy fancy lamps&such.

So,Ruminants would detox hormones/antibiotics but I do wonder if the gluten from the grains they're fed end up in the meat?bc that does seem to mildly cause some problems. I found that eating non-organic beef from Ireland seems to be ok and I'm guessing it's bc they're mostly fed grass&silage.
Btw,if they detox their food,would it then also mean that making broth from non-organic beef&lamb would still be beneficial?
 

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