Well, a new year has dawned (a cold one so far) and I figured now’s a good time to bring up some topics and get your feedback.
Item 1:
What do you guys think about a section devoted to health/diet/exercise?
Several times, such topics have come up – indirectly, so far – but the discussion has been interesting as well as educational and I’ve been thinking it might be worth expanding the site’s issue coverage to include this stuff officially. Is there anyone among you who might be interested in regularly writing articles along those lines? I mention this because though I am a ranting machine, my fingers can only do so much tapping – and besides, it might be good to get perspective from someone who knows more than I do about these topics, who can act as a leader for the discussion.
Item 2:
Related to the above, I have been entertaining the idea of seeking out a contributor who can write well and authoritatively about classic cars. I have not been able to produce enough new material to keep the sections we’ve got that are devoted to these topics current as well as actively generating reader responses. Again, I’d like to be able to write a classic car article at least once every other week, but simply haven’t be able to do it because of the time spent writing political columns and new car reviews.
This could be fun as well as a professional stepping stone for anyone out there who is interested in writing about cars “for real” (for money). Minimally, we (EPautos.com) can provide access to a respectably large audience and legitimate “clips” (as we used to say, back in the days of print media) to beef up the portfolio. If we get to the point that’s it’s feasible to pay in addition to this, we will absolutely consider it.
* Item 3
Marketing. Dom and I are maxxed out just trying to keep this machine oiled and running. We could use a hand with generating advertising business. What we’re considering is a commission-type of deal that would pay say 10 percent of the net monthly income from any ad contract secured by our Marketing person.
There’s a lot of potential here, especially in view of the fact that it would be part-time and do-it-whenever-you-have-time work. No pressure, either. If you can’t sell any ads, you’ve not lost anything except the time spent trying to sell the ads.
All the above is in the way of “food for thought.”
I look forward to your thoughts – and wish all of you a happy, successful 2014!
What To Do With Guar Gum
Guar gum mostly comes from India (80%). Yet another example of UK Commonwealth cooperative superiority over brute force American or Chinese militarism-industrialism. Texas being the American exception to the rule yet again.
The guar bean is principally grown in India and Australia, with smaller crops in the US, China, Pakistan and Africa.
India produces 1 – 1.25 million tonnes of guar annually, making it the largest producer with about 80% of world production.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guar_gum
The United States has produced 4,600 to 14,000 tons of guar over the last 5 years. As many as 50,000 acres of guar have been grown in West Texas. World production for guar gum and its derivatives is about 700,000 tonnes.
Industrial guar gum accounts for about 45% of the total demand. It is used as a controlling agent in oil wells to facilitate easy drilling and prevent fluid loss.
In 2012 guar prices increased by 900-1000%. (Further proof Americans are not capitalists. Who among us will rush out and plant guar beans?)
Guar cultivation in India
The main reason for this large scale price rise was the inventory build up by companies like Halliburton and Schlumberger, amidst the fear of shortage of guar gum for drilling due to an ongoing drought.
But What Will Be Done About… – Larken Rose
Tiny Dot Explained – Larken Rose
I Love My Country – Larken Rose
Dear Tor,
Rose remains in top form. I left an encouraging comment in support.
Stream
Bevin Chu
23 hours ago (edited)
As with so many other issues, the solution is always KISS! or “Keep it simple, stupid!”
This is what makes Mr. Rose such a compelling champion of liberty. He deliberately and wisely keeps it simple.
Higher level abstractions such as “social contract,” or “popular mandate” provide authoritarians way too much room to hide in.
By eschewing such terms as much as possible. Mr. Rose denies them opportunity to engage in word games. By keeping it simple, he leaves them no room to evade the plain truth behind his arguments. Namely, that if I don’t have the right to do something, I don’t have the right to “authorize” someone else to do it.
If I don’t have the right to come up to you and demand your money, then I don’t have the right to “authorize” someone else to print up a name card that says “Internal Revenue Service” and demand your money.
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Eric, I may be the lone dissenter here, but I think that there are enough sites dedicated to food, especially in the paleo realm. And although they say the more the merrier, I predict that the marketing leverage of a paleo diet angle is probably starting to wane. For example, the Costco magazine this month has an article featuring Mark Sisson dressed in is 8-pack talking about primal health. If that’s not a contrary indicator then I don’t know what is. I practice this way of life myself and it’s great to see so many others of like mind, but if you’re trying to increase the revenue of your site I might suggest focusing energy on other topics where you are expert. Just my two cents.
PS, I understand that you won’t “dedicate” the site to food. Poor choice of words. I meant, “devote space, time, energy, etc.”
And congrats on getting healthy! Savor it.
Hi Mike,
The main reason for having a section is to have a place to put articles/discussion of a given topic. It seems to me there’s enough interest to warrant it; whether it helps us get an ad (and so on) is of secondary importance.
Be on the look-out for food Clovers. There are a lot of them out there.
Might I suggest a connection to “Free the Animal”, by way of a book titles, “The Gnoll Credo”? I think it would resonate well with everyone here.
Free the Animal is a blog devoted to Paleo style living, though not survivalist or suich. Still modern world, just more on the “avoid refined foods” side.
Some nice recipes, though. 🙂
High protein/fat, low carb is what works for most people.
Sugar is for occasional (as in holiday) treat, and then in extreme moderation.
No grains. Very few starches.
Try it, it works.
This am, two eggs over easy and some bacon.
Later today, will graze a buffet for the meats, some salad, maybe a few green beans.
It works!
First started this ten years ago when I had a wake-up moment, having gained 25lbs and looking like the stereotypical programmer–tire around the middle, pudgy face, sluggishness.
Did pure Atkins then. Strayed a bit in the intervening years, came back to it via Paleo/Primal in the last four years.
I’m consistently 175lbs, 5′ 11”. I let myself free-eat once every week or two; nothing extravagant, maybe some homemade chocolate cake or a burger (with bun) and fries.
It is absolutely amazing how much better you feel on a primarily fat-burning regimen! Much reduced need for sleep, greater wakefulness, more calm yet more aggressive when required, better concentration, better cognition overall, more energy, even mood throughout the day.
Not to mention weight control, reduced risk of chronic diseases esp. dementia and heart disease.
We’ve been doing exactly the wrong thing for 40 years; I wonder why the PTB and the medical establishment told us to eat carbs–which make you sick, fat, sluggish, stupid, and docile?
Following the USDA “pyramid” has made us sicker and fatter than ever.
Same here, Meth!
Having dramatically cut back my intake of carbs (specifically, bread and pasta, rice) I find I can eat pretty much all the meat (including marbled steak) I like and still stay under 200 pounds (194.3) which is my college weight. I also noticed the “pudgy face” thing went away. I hadn’t noticed how puffy my face had become. But then I looked at some pictures my father-in-law took of me… and was pretty shocked. That’s not me!
Well, it was.
Not anymore.
PS: We’re hopefully going to have the new section up and running very soon. Your input (and your wife’s input, if she’s amenable) would be very much appreciated!
Eric, I’d appreciate a health section. As a couple others have said, I still like the current material here, but a health article every now and then would be refreshing. Also, I’d love to see the perspectives of everyone here on how they feel about certain health-related issues we all face, like if foods that are generally coined healthy (i.e whey protein powder), are okay even though they’re not organic.
I’d love to help with both items 2&3, but you’d probably be better served by someone who was alive during the time of classic cars (how do you define classic?), and someone who would be more effective at selling ads. Give me a few more semesters and maybe I’ll be able to help you out with no.3 😉
Thanks, Brandon!
I like the idea of a health/fitness/diet section, Eric. When I first discovered LewRockwell.com, I remember being a bit perplexed a libertarian site devoted so much “space” to health, nutrition, and fitness — but after a while, it made sense. Libertarianism, after all, is about living a good life, free from oppression — and that includes the oppression of the medical industry/Big Pharma/Big Agri. Not to mention freedom from pain and sickness. Being politically “free” while stuck in a hospital bed is not what I call freedom.
While no expert on the subject, I’d be willing to contribute from a layman’s perspective from time to time.
I like Ideas 2 and 3 too. Sounds like you and Dom are setting a good 2014 strategy for EPautos.
Thanks, Robert!
Look for the new section soon; I will post an announcement of some sort also.
diet and nutrition definitely isn’t a bad section to have, it goes hand in hand with freedom and surviving tough times. i have gone through my own transformation in the last year that made me decide to add a section to my site. First improving my diet and working out to lose excess weight while I am now focusing on strength.
“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, …” Mark Rippetoe
i wouldn’t want to “run” it on your site but would be more than willing to post some of hte stuff i write on the subject as well as articles written by others that might be useful.
one of the best sites for health/fitness in my opinion is Mark’s Daily Apple and recommend it to just about everyone.
Today’s Synaptic Misfires:
For all my blustering flamebaiting and maybe viciously open hostility, I really admire and learn a lot from everyone here.
The internet truly is an amazing thing, One minute I’m at work looking up random pages and composing pithy blogposts. The next minute I’m at home and looking for a new job.
Twins are born, but haven’t realized it yet.
When my kids were born, the older girl was fine, came out with no problems. The younger girl did not come out so easy. She wasn’t breathing when she came out. it took longer than a minute to get her breathing. I have never cried so hard in my entire life, and that was the longest moment of my life.
When they finally got her breathing, they gave her to us, and it was a whole different experience. Not to say I don’t love my older one as much, but I have a connection with my youngest I can’t explain.
I made a lot of changes because of that day, I used to be a lot more inhumane than I am now. She gets me and I get her. Children are a blessing, even though they are bad at times. Enjoy them every day because they grow up so fast.
Yeah, I forgot about that part–the Sta-Puft Marshmellow-Man Face!
That’s what shocked me; I saw some candid photos from a party circa 2002 and thought “Crap! I’m fat!”
I think it’s more than fat. One of the chief problems with carbs is they lead to chronic inflammation–your connective tissue especially…like the lining of your vessels. I think it leads to that “puffiness”.
Same here. My face looks much more like my grandfather’s.
You’ve seen all those old 1920’s pictures, where the Men look like Men, their faces lean and chiseled, eyes hooded, kindly, but with a hardy helping of “don’t-fuck-with-me” in them.
health section–that sounds great. Dividing the site into logical partitiions.
Huh? Sorry Tor, this was in reply to Eric’s post about Paleo/Primal diet elsewhere, dunno why it landed here.
Amen, Tor! Having kids has made me, paradoxically, a much more empathetic person; kinder, more tolerant.
And yet, much more aggressive, less likely to roll over. It’s a protective instinct primarily with its immediate roots in protecting the kids.
But it extends outward and you want the world to be a better place, too.
I’m getting that same itch Jean talks about. I don’t want my kids growing up like feudal serfs, Elysium-like. Or Hunger Games.
I suggest that you solicit articles from several people, since there are a great many competing ideas in this area. Not everyone needs or responds optimally to any particular diet, and the more strident “one size fits all” vegans or paleos probably need to be balanced with other views and experiences.
I’m a frank omnivore, and though I tend to stick with “whole foods,” avoiding most packaged and processed things, I don’t consider all of them rank poison either.
Even more important, as far as health is concerned, is the fact that diet alone, or diet and exercise alone is not enough. Human beings are the sum total of their physical/chemical body, their mind/emotions, and the very real and necessary energy/spiritual core. When one is ignored, all suffer.
I am an advanced practice RN, with 30 years of experience. I currently teach stress management through energy therapy based on acupuncture (without needles). My clients are all advised on the balance they need to seek among all of their life components. Each person must take the tools offered and build their own highway to health.
If you’d like a sample article, I’d be glad to send it in email.
Hi Mama,
Well-said. I agree that balance is important; that being “good” here doesn’t mean it’s ok to be “bad” there (e.g., the guy who works out like a fiend for two hours… and then goes to a fast food place and eats two double bacon cheeseburgers and a shake, followed by a smoke).
I’ve weaned myself off processed foods almost completely and do my best to eat only local-raised meat and buy local-raised vegetables, etc. I have dramatically reduced my wheat and complex/refined carb intake and have – along with exercise – dropped about 20 pounds of fat and feel a lot better overall.
My main remaining weakness is sugar. I probably eat too much – several spoons per cup with coffee (and I drink 5-6 cups a day) plus – god help me – chocolate bars. My crack.
But I’m working on it!
I’d very much like to get an article from you. You can either submit it here (as an already established “contributor,” you should be able to do that using the pull down menu up top; check out “Guest Posts”) or you can send it to me via-email.
Dom and I still need to discuss setting up the new section, so there’s no huge rush – but I’m looking forward to getting your article as I know you’re smart and informed on the topic, two things I esteem. That you also write well is the icing on top of the cake!
This topic overlaps our political discussions a great deal. 🙂 Who decides what is “good” or “bad,” for diet or exercise or lifestyle? Only the individual, for him or herself. The danger I see in starting something like this is the tendency of some to dictate, rather than educate. I watched one board go completely hostile and eliminate more than half their readers when the “paleo” folks took over and became vicious in their remarks to everyone else. Same thing has happened many times with other focused interest groups, of course.
That’s why I’d like to see this more as a sharing of experiences with some solid reference to established, reproducible research, of course, but maintaining overall a friendly atmosphere of give and take, live and let live.
I will explore the guest post options, and if I’m not bright enough to figure it out… I’ll send in email. 🙂
I basically agree with you here — but I suspect the culture here is sufficiently rugged and individualistic that we wouldn’t have too many “enforcers” trying to make everybody else toe the line. So: I agree, but I’m less worried. 🙂
I’d be happy to provide a bit of whatever if it’s any value. I’m not anything I’d consider an expert on the health/diet/exercise field, but I know a lot about cooking; maybe I could focus on providing people with ways to eat stuff that’s still *yummy* while simultaneously moving away from grains / sugar / refined vegetable oils.
Hi Darien. I am one of those who have eschewed grains, sugar, and vegetable oils. The past couple of years I have been developing my personal cookbook, adapting recipes as necessary to avoid those nasties. One source that has been invaluable, requiring little or no adaptation in many cases, is a 1956 edition of the Betty Crocker cookbook that I found among my mother’s possessions after she passed last year. Lard, butter, eggs, and cream are freely used in this book, for example.
Always wondered how that woman cooked so well; now it’s clear: Betty Crocker was her secret kitchen helpmate. lol
Anyway, I’d be happy to share any recipes/techniques/ideas in a diet section.
Hi Mike,
I recently finished reading “Wheatbelly” and recommend it highly. The author’s theory is that modern wheat – which has a much higher gluten content than “old” (non-engineered) wheat causes blood sugar spikes that trigger excess insulin production and visceral fat accumulation. He backs this up extensively.
I believe he’s identified a ubiquitous component of the typical person’s diet that, like high fructose corn syrup, is seriously bad news for our health.
Hi Eric. I skipped Wheat Belly because I was already off of wheat when it came out. It sounds like an excellent book, but it appears from the reviews that it mainly adds details to what I have read elsewhere.
Another recent book along similar lines is Grain Brain, by Dr. David Perlmutter. The perspective of a neurologist would be interesting.
Hi Mike,
Apparently, the problem isn’t so much wheat per se, it’s modern wheat – which has been bred/modified to be a very different sort of plant from the wild wheat our ancestors ate. Modern wheat (according to what I’ve read) has a different chromosomal structure (as well as physical structure) and the gluten it produces is very different from that produced by “wild” wheat. It is the gluten, more than anything else, that’s causing problems – worsened by the average person’s excess consumption of it.
Darien, If you could come up with some kind of something (that taste great) to replace pizza crust, that would be gold.
Or a good primal/paleo cracker?
Or a primal hamburger bun?
Or some kind of chip?
I’ve tried a few of the recipes around and a few products at the grocery store, So far, they all fall a bit short. Maybe I’m seeking the impossible? Although, even if they fall apart real easy, I had some great tasting paleo tortilla type things. They could be more, ah, durable?
Thank goodness bacon is primal.
Roth:
Pizza crust is currently a black hole for me. I haven’t found anything that’s primal (or even gluten-free but made with like rice and corn), holds up well, and doesn’t taste like wet cardboard. Still searching, though!
On your other topics, I can shed some light. I have found these bacon pancakes to be an excellent bread / roll substitute: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/bacon-pancakes/ . They’re not quite as sturdy as normal bread, but stronger than you think, they’re completely primal (on Mark Sisson’s site, no less), and they’re delicious and easy to make. The only drawback is that they’re a bit expensive.
There are some simple primal crackers down this page: http://libidiny.blogspot.com/2010/08/there-have-been-many-times-since-began.html after the hummus recipe (which I haven’t tried yet but sounds delightful). I’m assuming you’re just after something crisp and snackable, yes?
Thanks for the links, Darien. I’ll check ’em out and hand them to the better half.
Bacon pancakes, they seem like they might be as good as the pumpkin pancakes she makes. … Hmm, pumpkin bacon pancakes?
Also, yes, crisp and snackable, isn’t that what most westerners seek in a snack? Terra brand has some pretty good chips out, sweet potato, and their mixed bag are ok. The better half likes plantain chips of a different brand, but I just can’t find get myself to like them.
Aren’t potato chips one of the biggest downfalls for most westerners? I found myself eating some last week with some sour cream dip mixed with a spicy mix that tasted good but I knew it was with bad every bite.
Hey, that’s another one to seek an alternative for, sour cream dip. …At least the chives part was good. Maybe? GMO bastards are everywhere these days, eh? Ha. It’s hard to find things you like that aren’t bad for you. K2!
Quick note: I’m having a friend of mine (who owns a pizza place) whip up a batch of her gluten-free crust, made primarily from rice and tapioca flour, and I’ll give that a whirl on Tuesday and report back to you. It’s not primal (rice, tapioca, corn, sugar), but it’s gluten-free, and that’s a start!
Re: pizzas
I’ve taken to always order the thin crust type.
That way even if it is wheat flour, at least one is drastically reducing the amount one is ingesting relative to the topping.
I never order Chicago style thick crust pizza!
Bevin, Relative to the toppings, the crust on a deep dish or stuffed pizza is smaller than with a thin crust pizza.
Pizza update: I have tried the gluten-free crust, and it was pretty good. Not a perfect replacement, but good flavour and acceptable texture. Not primal by any means — guar gum in addition to everything I mentioned earlier — but no wheat at least.
Cold, it remains edible, but the crust toughens a bit (as of course does regular pizza crust, but it’s more noticeable with this one). The other oddity is that it doesn’t fold like a regular crust does; it just cracks and splits if you try.
I do have the recipe if anybody wants it, but not with me right now; I’ll have to post it later.
Darien, guar gum is just a vegetable product. Mark Sisson has mentioned it favorably over at MDA.
Guar gum is definitely a legume derivative, and legumes are usually something primal types try to avoid. Regardless, I’m not one to set myself up as the High Potentate of Primality, and if you don’t mind the guar gum, go ahead and use it. But I figured people should be aware of it regardless. 🙂
Eric – I had a serious sugar in my coffee weakness too. I switched to Stevia. I know, I know it tastes like crap…at first…but after a few days you adapt and it tastes fine. You just have to reprogram your tastebuds. The other issue I had was the same as you, chocolate bars especially with almonds. The answer for me was Lindt 90% cocoa Supreme Dark chocolate. Hereagain, at first it doesn’t taste sweet, it doesn’t taste bad, just not sweet; but after a few days… The big plus for me is high cocoa chocolate helps reduce blood pressure. I do limit my intake to 1 square a day and it is a real treat for me now.
90% cocoa – high in anti-oxidants, too. More than a glass of wine.
I have yet to try them together. …Pretend I’m dipping an Oreo in a glass of milk?
RAH – I don’t think Eric drinks much if at all. But from what I’ve read, the folks around the Mediterranean who drink 3 to 5 glasses of red wine (5 oz. ave.) a day have the highest longevity. So I not only drink red wine, I’ve started making our own. I had enough grapes from my vines this year to produce five gallons. Sadly, even “new” it was so good it didn’t last long. I squirreled away a couple of liters to age so I could see what it is like after a few months. Now that January is here, it’s time to prune the wines. I’m hoping for twice the yield this year.
The other thing the folks around the Med consume in large quantities is extra virgin olive oil. I used to slather my salads in blue cheese dressing or ranch. I’ve switched to herbs, spices, olive oil and red wine vinegar. It is REALLY good and good for you too. You don’t have to deprive yourself to lose weight, feel good and be healthy. You just have to adjust to a different way of eating.
Natural fats like olive oil, butter and even bacon grease are things our bodies are designed to deal with. By cutting out sugars (and carbs like wheat, corn, barley, rice, etc.) we can train our bodies to burn fat instead. With just a little exercise we will lose weight. But hydrogenated vegetable oils and trans-fats are practically poisonous. They are cheap and lend themselves well to mass produced processed foods and the same for goes high fructose corn syrup (a.k.a. corn “sugar”). But our bodies respond to that crap with a massive insulin spike, store it as fat and eventually we turn us into obese diabetics. Sound familiar?
The Allopathic medical community makes a fortune off of this type of dietary misfortune, because the average Amerikan doesn’t want to modify their lifestyle, they want to take a pill so they can keep doing what they’re doing. I find it sad and disgusting.
Boothe, I’d be interested to read your ingredients list for your salad dressing on the new blog page. I haven’t created a good one yet.
I switched to using guacamole as a salad dressing. I like it, but I don’t always have avocados on hand and a backup would be good.
I mentioned the benefits to drinking wine to a twenty-something awhile back. She looked astonished that there was any goodness to drinking and she had no clue about wine varieties so I filled her in and it seemed like she was interested in checking it out. It was like there was a spark in her eye that wasn’t there before. It was good seeing that spark.
Also, making wine seems cool. I keep trying the local wine makers products but it always tastes too syrupy sweet. When you make it yourself I imagine you get to make it the way you like it? Maybe.
RAH – You can determine the potential alcohol content of the wine ahead of time by measuring the specific gravity of the “must” (the unfermented substance that will become wine). If your starting S.G. is between 1.070 and 1.090 you should finish at about 0.990, which is “dry” wine. At that point you can add conditioner (basically sugar syrup with potassium sorbate in it to prevent restarting fermentation) to sweeten to taste. Look up the winemakers academy on the web. There’s a lot of good info out there as well as supplies and even kits to get you started. If you’re on a budget, check Craigslist for kits and carboys too.
Boothe:
The one thing to watch for with “extra virgin olive oil” is that a lot of the stuff you get at the supermarket is adulterated with lower-quality, refined oils. It can be a bit tough finding 100% real extra-virgin olive oil. I have a supplier up here that provides an excellent product, but she’s a local vendor with one outlet, so that’s unlikely to be of any help to anybody else. Her oils are supplied by Veronica Foods, which is a known supplier of actual good extra-virgin olive oil, so if you can find a vendor near you that orders or CAN order from Veronica, you know you’re getting the real thing.
Which, incidentally, tastes WORLDS different from fake oil.
Stevia / Yerba Dulce
http://www.commonsensehome.com/stevia-grow-your-own-sweetener/
http://faculty.ucc.edu/biology-ombrello/POW/Stevia.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Botanical-Interests-Stevia-Certified-Organic/dp/B005DTNLWW
– preppers gonna prep
Hey Boothe,
Specifically on your recommendation of chocolate, I’d recommend if you can find it a German brand of chocolate called Vivani. It uses no soy lecithin, just cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter and cocoa solids. I like the 72% with ginger……one or two squares are the bees’ knees. Eric, et al,
I do like the idea of a regular exchange of ideas on diet. For people with an interest in paleo/primal/caveman lifestyles, I suggest having a look at marksdailyapple.com. Anyway, I’m back to eliminating grains and most carbs and the effects for me are quite impressive. Not only is the wheat belly dissipating, but also mental clarity is improving and I seem to be more immune to the crap going around than my processed food gobbling friends. WRT exercise, as Mama Liberty mentioned. If anybody has a truly crappy diet, no amount of exercise will overcome that. I see people at the gym all the time who are following that old, incorrect model of “no pain, no gain”. It’s what is taught to a whole generation of “personal trainers”, much like the FDA food pyramid is taught to licensed physicians and dieticians. ML, you are right, food freedom, even the freedom to eat crap, should be defended by any real libertarian, but it still makes a lot of sense to exchange ideas here……meanwhile, out in the desert, the Arabs were eating their dates…..
Guissepe Crowe – Thanks for the tip on the Vivani chocolate. I can get Lindt (Swiss) 90% cocoa Supreme Dark locally, It’s ingredients are chocolate, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, sugar and bourbon vanilla beans. It’s really good (after you get over years of sugar addiction).
I’ll put in a word for Valrhona’s Manjari chocolate–easily the best I’ve had.
Coming from what my wife calls a “chocolate whore”, it’s high praise.
I may eat primal, but I won’t give up my dark chocolate.
I have heard, but have not tested, that if you eat a spring onion (which can’t be too bad) everything you eat or drink for a while after that will taste sweet anyway and won’t need added sugar.
Sunshine is excellent stuff also. Vitamin D (I forget at the moment whether it’s D2 that’s good and D3 that’s worthless or vice versa, but it’s easy to find that out) is only a poor substitute what our bodies can make for themselves.
1) Eat less, move more. Cook your own food so you know what’s going into it.
Done.
Don’t overthink nutrition.
Like poetry!
Seems to me you’re under-thinking nutrition there a bit, Eric_G .
Magnesium deficiencies in the soils is just for starters. The depletion of the soil nationwide (even worldwide) is a big thing. Lacking in certain minerals and vitamins you cannot get from food, is even bigger.
But it’s not the stuff healthy and/or younger guys think about.
Knowing what you’re putting in your food is good.
Knowing what those ingredients do – and are lacking in – is even better.
Sugar toxic? Carbohydrates inflammatory and disease causing? Some people will say, “Bah!” to all that. …It’s their life.