Wow! All this an pictures too!
ou folks are something else! Photo's, software code, and food too! All in once place! I should'a been here years ago!clapclap
Anyway. I did a quick read through of the thread and would like to add a few personal opinions on the topic. Hope I'm not too verbose!!
Fat: Seems folks are too worried about quantity of fat over quality. Nuts and seeds, for instance. These are an A1 source of the all-important omega fats. Secret is to get 'em FRESH -- if possible still in the shell -- because these oils oxidise very quickly. Once oxidized, I'm told, these fats become not good for you. Olive and other fresh nut/seed oils are an essential part of a good diet and, in my humble opinion, a far better source of calories than sugar/starch.
Which brings me to the Vitamix topic:
Seems to me that the best food is the least processed food and Vitamixed food is about as processed as one can get. Once you break a cell's wall, you let in oxygen and that's bad news. (Oxygen is bad news anywhere but in your respiratory system.)
To top that, by smushing everything up, you are making the sugars FAR more quickly available to your system and that can cause problems with your insulin levels. (In other words, you're raising the glycemic index of the food.)
Soup and fruit juices fall into a similar category.
The only other point I'll add is one about 'live' food. Watch for what I call 'the placebo effect.' Foods that are pitched as wholsome but have been beaten to death before they get to you.
Beer, yoghurt, pickles and so on are a very important way of keeping your innards in good shape but note that most the commercial versions of these foods are 'dead' long before we consume them. Pasteurised beer in dead. Stirred yoghurt is, I'm told, 'dead' because the good bacteria cannot live in a high-sugar environment. And, if you read the label, you'll note that MOST brands aren't really yoghurt anyway. They are filler with sugar and flavour. Pasteurised pickles are, well, pasteurised. Get the ones that are sold from the cooler.
Perhaps we need a SugGut site??
X www.thepicturetaker.ca
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
Seems to me that the best food is the least processed food and Vitamixed food is about as processed as one can get. Once you break a cell's wall, you let in oxygen and that's bad news. (Oxygen is bad news anywhere but in your respiratory system.)
To top that, by smushing everything up, you are making the sugars FAR more quickly available to your system and that can cause problems with your insulin levels. (In other words, you're raising the glycemic index of the food.)
I think about that a lot and believe you have a good point.
I avoid most juices for the reasons you mention but also because they usually have the fiber removed (but not in a Vitamix).
What I use a Vitamix for is to hide kale and collard greens and spinach among some whole fruit to get 'em down. So this a.m. I put a whole head of kale in with persimmons off our trees, some pumpkin and soy milk. Hey, it's Halloween. And I'm a freak.
But leafy greens are so low in glycemic index and so hard to digest, my understanding is when they're Vitamixed you absorb more of their nutrients but the glycemic index is still low.
Vitamixed food is about as processed as one can get.
This strikes me as a bit of an overstatement. Strike that: downright ridiculous.
Pop Tarts
Bacon
Twinkies
Breakfast Cereal
even Soy Milk
+ a million other foods most people eat every day are way more processed than what I put in my morning smoothie.
Would I be better off not VitaMixing it? Possibly, but I also wouldn't be eating as healthy overall, I don't think. It helps me eat healthier, in the big picture, I think.
For 10 years my breakfast as I drove to work was 2 PopTarts (frosted brown sugar/cinnamon) and a can of Coke. For lunch we would all go out to local restaurants. The available choices were: McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell or Wendy's. On Fridays we would go for pizza.
So I'm really not all that worried about rupturing some cell walls and letting in oxygen. It's still 1000% better for me than what I used to do.
It is amazing the abuse that the human body can absorb, and I can't believe I was "only" 30 pounds overweight. Thank goodness that way of eating is in my past! Still working on the 30 pounds but it's coming off bit by bit.
Seems to me that the best food is the least processed food and Vitamixed food is about as processed as one can get.
As a diabetic that has had one hell of a hard time with controling my blood sugar levels.......I can tell you this........I seriously started using my vitamix to make fruit smoothies and also vegatable smoothies ( I also cooked some of the vegatable in a crock pot for variety and it brought back that deep red color of the tomatoes)......I was able to start reducing my insulin.......running apples, berries, nectarines and spinach thru it I created meals that were great tasting and also healthy......
For me that is good enuff....now if the weight starts dropping off I will be ecstatic...........
Vita mixed food isn't truly processed.....it is mixed and if done correctly doesn't get aerated very much at all and if consumed at that time it doesn't oxidize either..................
Mostly very good points about the Vitamix. Almost bought one in the 1970s. At that time it was called the 'Vitamix Bread Maker' because the blades created enough heat to cook grains into bread right then and there.scratch
I'll have to take another look at it. But, at the time, it struck me that if you have the smash the heck outta your food just to get it down -- well, something's gotta change.
Kale is cool. All the cabbage (wild mustard) family are cool. Kohlrabi, sprouts, broccoli, etc. But how much of it do you need? Try a bit of gentle steam. Or even fry it ,very briefly, in a bit of good quality olive oil with some black pepper. Or put it into a stir-fry. Or use a bit of it raw as greens on a sandwich?
One leaf goes a long way.
Good point about the sugar, though. How much is there in a bunch of kale?
Persimmons? Always wondered where the heck they came from and what they were used for. I always joked that they were what was left over after they pulled the red stuff out of the olives to put the pits in!!
And Art. I agree that Blood sugar is a weird thing to get a handle on. Black art my brother tells me. But those fruits you mention are all very high in available sugar, even without the Vitamix. Does it put your blood-sugar out of whack if you just just eat 'em as they are?
Theory is that if you eat a food whole, the body has to work to release the sugars, thus releasing them to the blood more slowly. But if you beat the food to a pulp (literally), the sugar is released to the blood stream much more quickly because all the fibre has been ripped apart long before the food gets to your digestive system.
It's basically pre-chewed food without the saliva?
ugh, I just couldn't do it. $500 for a blender? :nono We went with a £70 blender that got top ratings from Which? (the UK version of consumer reports). I can think of lots of things that $360 can go towards.
Y'all don't want to hear me, you just want to dance.
ugh, I just couldn't do it. $500 for a blender? :nono We went with a £70 blender that got top ratings from Which? (the UK version of consumer reports). I can think of lots of things that $360 can go towards.
Yerbut its sort of like 'name your poison' I drop $30/month on coffee which shocks a lot of people but its MY coffee and god knows i enjoy it.
And Art. I agree that Blood sugar is a weird thing to get a handle on. Black art my brother tells me. But those fruits you mention are all very high in available sugar, even without the Vitamix. Does it put your blood-sugar out of whack if you just just eat 'em as they are?
The fruit is very sweet to the taste but.......low to mid range on the glycemic index amd as far as eating it all whole...no it doesn'r put me put of whack....but takes up a lot more room in a lunch box and a lot more time to eat...as opposed to downingg a 32oz smoothie (winds up having a little over 5 servings of fruit or veggies in each one)....dang work beckons --- must go now.
And on the sweet fruit comment, this is why it pays to keep fresh fruit around. All that candy floating about last night gave me a serious sugar jones. Until I quenched it with a nice big Gala apple.
"Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to. Oh well."
-Fleetwood Mac
I've been following the China Study for the past year and have seen tremendous changes in my blood chemistry's, I just got a copy of Eat to Live and am really looking forward to making the dietary changes outlined in it...this is gonna be good!
ugh, I just couldn't do it. $500 for a blender? :nono We went with a £70 blender that got top ratings from Which? (the UK version of consumer reports). I can think of lots of things that $360 can go towards.
I think I stated this somewhere upline in this thread.....I did not pay retail for my Vitamix....even tho I got it brand new and with a 7 year warranty.....to start with I had already burned up over $300.00 worthj of Cuisine Art and other brands of blenders the year I bought mine and I was almost ready to drop another hundred for one from a resturant supply .......until I walked into the local Sams' Club and there were the Vita Mix Hockers standing on their little stage doing their demos.....I spent $200.00 for it and I am glad I did.....I have no excuse for not using it and I did not get the bread and grain attachment as I do not eat even a loaf of bread a year........
I've been following the China Study for the past year and have seen tremendous changes in my blood chemistry's, I just got a copy of Eat to Live and am really looking forward to making the dietary changes outlined in it...this is gonna be good!
Hi Q, welcome aboard!
I've been lurking a bit on Fried Quads and I know you are very active there. I think your obvious interest in excercise is just as important as the diet changes - you are right, this IS going to be good!
I'm trying to get motivated for excercise but it hasn't come as easily for me as the nutrition part has.
I've been lurking a bit on Fried Quads and I know you are very active there. I think your obvious interest in excercise is just as important as the diet changes - you are right, this IS going to be good!
I'm trying to get motivated for excercise but it hasn't come as easily for me as the nutrition part has.
Hi DJ, thanks for the welcome!
The exercise part comes a little easier when you SO is an exercise freak. Keep reading (and even post a bit) over at FQ, the place could become a great motivator.
The exercise part comes a little easier when you SO is an exercise freak. Keep reading (and even post a bit) over at FQ, the place could become a great motivator.
I'll definitely keep reading, but posting is a bit daunting for someone like me. I'm more of a walker, not a marathoner, ultra-marathoner or tri-athlete like Baldy!
I'll definitely keep reading, but posting is a bit daunting for someone like me. I'm more of a walker, not a marathoner, ultra-marathoner or tri-athlete like Baldy!
Heck, I'm a fat middle aged woman but I post away! My feeble attempts at bike riding will probably help make someone just as lame as me feel comfortable posting over there.
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
I'm nearly 1/2 way through The China Study (thanks Smugmug!), and my husband has already read Eat to Live and is right behind me in his library copy of The China Study. We have started to make some changes...more veggie meals and we bought tons of fruits and veggies this weekend to work on this week. He has begun having giant salads at lunch and we're trying to be creative about what to put on them. I'm still planning to have salmon now and then, though. And even though my husband is not a big cheese eater, my son and I have it occassionally. Even with these small changes, we're feeling better.
Trying to figure out how to get my six-year-old to try salad is another issue. He's great at eating raw veggies, just not anything lettuce related (texture thing). Has anyone posted some of their smoothie recipes that include kale or other greens, covered over with fruit? I'm sure I could get him to drink a smoothie, as long as it tasted of fruity goodness!
Thanks!
Elaine
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
I'm nearly 1/2 way through The China Study (thanks Smugmug!), and my husband has already read Eat to Live and is right behind me in his library copy of The China Study. We have started to make some changes...more veggie meals and we bought tons of fruits and veggies this weekend to work on this week. He has begun having giant salads at lunch and we're trying to be creative about what to put on them. I'm still planning to have salmon now and then, though. And even though my husband is not a big cheese eater, my son and I have it occassionally. Even with these small changes, we're feeling better.
Trying to figure out how to get my six-year-old to try salad is another issue. He's great at eating raw veggies, just not anything lettuce related (texture thing). Has anyone posted some of their smoothie recipes that include kale or other greens, covered over with fruit? I'm sure I could get him to drink a smoothie, as long as it tasted of fruity goodness!
Thanks!
Here's what I do for a smoothie. First get a blender. Then put in a banana, an orange (or something like an orange, I tangelos!), and another fresh fruit like a kiwi (whole, skin and all) or a peach or something. Then put in a handfull of frozen blueberries, a handfull of frozen blackberries, a handfull of frozen pineapple, and 4 or 5 frozen strawberries. Top it off with a big handfull of frozen greens (mustard greens, turnip greens, kale, whatever). Add a teaspoon of milled flax seed and blend until smooooooooooooth.
Start with one. You'll probably have enough for you and your son and maybe even your husband. I drink the whole thing though.
Y'all don't want to hear me, you just want to dance.
I use whole flax, since my blender pulverizes them, anyway, I figure they stay fresh longer.
Good idea. ivarivar
You sometimes have to be careful of pre-prepared foods and flax is a great example. Flax oil is 'em 'em good for you, but once the seed shell is broken the oil goes rancid (oxidized) real fast. And the rancid oil has the opposite effect. But unbroken seeds won't be digested properly, so the seeds should be mashed or qround just before being eaten. (You'll notice most processed omega oils have preservatives added. Why not just use the real thing?)
Rape seed is a another case in point: Good for you, but goes rancid real fast. So a selectively bred and gene modified version, called -- get this -- "Canola," was created.
What I can't figure out is why Canola never seems to make it on any of the lists of genetically modified foods?
"Recent varieties ... have been produced by gene splicing techniques .. Today 80% of acres sown to canola are sown with genetically modified canola." (wikipedia).
You sometimes have to be careful of pre-prepared foods and flax is a great example. Flax oil is 'em 'em good for you, but once the seed shell is broken the oil goes rancid (oxidized) real fast. And the rancid oil has the opposite effect. But unbroken seeds won't be digested properly, so the seeds should be mashed or qround just before being eaten. (You'll notice most processed omega oils have preservatives added. Why not just use the real thing?)
Rape seed is a another case in point: Good for you, but goes rancid real fast. So a selectively bred and gene modified version, called -- get this -- "Canola," was created.
What I can't figure out is why Canola never seems to make it on any of the lists of genetically modified foods?
"Recent varieties ... have been produced by gene splicing techniques .. Today 80% of acres sown to canola are sown with genetically modified canola." (wikipedia).
Canola is actually CanOLA - Canadian Oil Low Acidity. It's a science project - Woo!
At any rate, I was wondering about the milled flax seed. Unfortunately, it's my only option besides flax seed oil (uh, no). I figure I'll use it quickly and keep it in the fridge (which the box recommends) and hopefully it won't go bad before we finish it.
By the way, oatmeal with a smashed banana and a tablespoon of flax seed is freaking delicious. My 13 month old absolutely chows that down - the whole big bowl full ... plus most of a piece of toast with peanut butter.
Y'all don't want to hear me, you just want to dance.
Comments
are good for you!
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
ou folks are something else! Photo's, software code, and food too! All in once place! I should'a been here years ago!
Anyway. I did a quick read through of the thread and would like to add a few personal opinions on the topic. Hope I'm not too verbose!!
Fat: Seems folks are too worried about quantity of fat over quality. Nuts and seeds, for instance. These are an A1 source of the all-important omega fats. Secret is to get 'em FRESH -- if possible still in the shell -- because these oils oxidise very quickly. Once oxidized, I'm told, these fats become not good for you. Olive and other fresh nut/seed oils are an essential part of a good diet and, in my humble opinion, a far better source of calories than sugar/starch.
Which brings me to the Vitamix topic:
Seems to me that the best food is the least processed food and Vitamixed food is about as processed as one can get. Once you break a cell's wall, you let in oxygen and that's bad news. (Oxygen is bad news anywhere but in your respiratory system.)
To top that, by smushing everything up, you are making the sugars FAR more quickly available to your system and that can cause problems with your insulin levels. (In other words, you're raising the glycemic index of the food.)
Soup and fruit juices fall into a similar category.
The only other point I'll add is one about 'live' food. Watch for what I call 'the placebo effect.' Foods that are pitched as wholsome but have been beaten to death before they get to you.
Beer, yoghurt, pickles and so on are a very important way of keeping your innards in good shape but note that most the commercial versions of these foods are 'dead' long before we consume them. Pasteurised beer in dead. Stirred yoghurt is, I'm told, 'dead' because the good bacteria cannot live in a high-sugar environment. And, if you read the label, you'll note that MOST brands aren't really yoghurt anyway. They are filler with sugar and flavour. Pasteurised pickles are, well, pasteurised. Get the ones that are sold from the cooler.
Perhaps we need a SugGut site??
I avoid most juices for the reasons you mention but also because they usually have the fiber removed (but not in a Vitamix).
What I use a Vitamix for is to hide kale and collard greens and spinach among some whole fruit to get 'em down. So this a.m. I put a whole head of kale in with persimmons off our trees, some pumpkin and soy milk. Hey, it's Halloween. And I'm a freak.
But leafy greens are so low in glycemic index and so hard to digest, my understanding is when they're Vitamixed you absorb more of their nutrients but the glycemic index is still low.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/email/idUKL3118158720071031?pageNumber=1
This strikes me as a bit of an overstatement. Strike that: downright ridiculous.
Pop Tarts
Bacon
Twinkies
Breakfast Cereal
even Soy Milk
+ a million other foods most people eat every day are way more processed than what I put in my morning smoothie.
Would I be better off not VitaMixing it? Possibly, but I also wouldn't be eating as healthy overall, I don't think. It helps me eat healthier, in the big picture, I think.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
For 10 years my breakfast as I drove to work was 2 PopTarts (frosted brown sugar/cinnamon
So I'm really not all that worried about rupturing some cell walls and letting in oxygen. It's still 1000% better for me than what I used to do.
It is amazing the abuse that the human body can absorb, and I can't believe I was "only" 30 pounds overweight. Thank goodness that way of eating is in my past! Still working on the 30 pounds but it's coming off bit by bit.
As a diabetic that has had one hell of a hard time with controling my blood sugar levels.......I can tell you this........I seriously started using my vitamix to make fruit smoothies and also vegatable smoothies ( I also cooked some of the vegatable in a crock pot for variety and it brought back that deep red color of the tomatoes)......I was able to start reducing my insulin.......running apples, berries, nectarines and spinach thru it I created meals that were great tasting and also healthy......
For me that is good enuff....now if the weight starts dropping off I will be ecstatic...........
Vita mixed food isn't truly processed.....it is mixed and if done correctly doesn't get aerated very much at all and if consumed at that time it doesn't oxidize either..................
I'll have to take another look at it. But, at the time, it struck me that if you have the smash the heck outta your food just to get it down -- well, something's gotta change.
Kale is cool. All the cabbage (wild mustard) family are cool. Kohlrabi, sprouts, broccoli, etc. But how much of it do you need? Try a bit of gentle steam. Or even fry it ,very briefly, in a bit of good quality olive oil with some black pepper. Or put it into a stir-fry. Or use a bit of it raw as greens on a sandwich?
One leaf goes a long way.
Good point about the sugar, though. How much is there in a bunch of kale?
Persimmons? Always wondered where the heck they came from and what they were used for. I always joked that they were what was left over after they pulled the red stuff out of the olives to put the pits in!!
And Art. I agree that Blood sugar is a weird thing to get a handle on. Black art my brother tells me. But those fruits you mention are all very high in available sugar, even without the Vitamix. Does it put your blood-sugar out of whack if you just just eat 'em as they are?
Theory is that if you eat a food whole, the body has to work to release the sugars, thus releasing them to the blood more slowly. But if you beat the food to a pulp (literally), the sugar is released to the blood stream much more quickly because all the fibre has been ripped apart long before the food gets to your digestive system.
It's basically pre-chewed food without the saliva?
Am I off base here?
About a pound a day, the way I'm eating.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
Yerbut its sort of like 'name your poison' I drop $30/month on coffee which shocks a lot of people but its MY coffee and god knows i enjoy it.
There are no pockets in shrouds mate.
.
The fruit is very sweet to the taste but.......low to mid range on the glycemic index amd as far as eating it all whole...no it doesn'r put me put of whack....but takes up a lot more room in a lunch box and a lot more time to eat...as opposed to downingg a 32oz smoothie (winds up having a little over 5 servings of fruit or veggies in each one)....dang work beckons --- must go now.
Bookmark this! He said, not me!
And on the sweet fruit comment, this is why it pays to keep fresh fruit around. All that candy floating about last night gave me a serious sugar jones. Until I quenched it with a nice big Gala apple.
-Fleetwood Mac
I think I stated this somewhere upline in this thread.....I did not pay retail for my Vitamix....even tho I got it brand new and with a 7 year warranty.....to start with I had already burned up over $300.00 worthj of Cuisine Art and other brands of blenders the year I bought mine and I was almost ready to drop another hundred for one from a resturant supply .......until I walked into the local Sams' Club and there were the Vita Mix Hockers standing on their little stage doing their demos.....I spent $200.00 for it and I am glad I did.....I have no excuse for not using it and I did not get the bread and grain attachment as I do not eat even a loaf of bread a year........
I've been lurking a bit on Fried Quads and I know you are very active there. I think your obvious interest in excercise is just as important as the diet changes - you are right, this IS going to be good!
I'm trying to get motivated for excercise but it hasn't come as easily for me as the nutrition part has.
The exercise part comes a little easier when you SO is an exercise freak.
It's what happens when you do down on spinach and lose the bacon.
As soon as we get back from FL (a week from Saturday) we dive into the new plan 100%.
http://philu.smugmug.com
My Galleries My Photography BLOG
Ramblings About Me
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Trying to figure out how to get my six-year-old to try salad is another issue. He's great at eating raw veggies, just not anything lettuce related (texture thing). Has anyone posted some of their smoothie recipes that include kale or other greens, covered over with fruit? I'm sure I could get him to drink a smoothie, as long as it tasted of fruity goodness!
Thanks!
Comments and constructive critique always welcome!
Elaine Heasley Photography
Start with one. You'll probably have enough for you and your son and maybe even your husband. I drink the whole thing though.
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
Also: frozen mango, papaya, cherries
I like fresh figs when I can get them, apple, pear, as well.
frozen broccoli, spinach
I use whole flax, since my blender pulverizes them, anyway, I figure they stay fresh longer, being whole.
I also add water.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
You sometimes have to be careful of pre-prepared foods and flax is a great example. Flax oil is 'em 'em good for you, but once the seed shell is broken the oil goes rancid (oxidized) real fast. And the rancid oil has the opposite effect. But unbroken seeds won't be digested properly, so the seeds should be mashed or qround just before being eaten. (You'll notice most processed omega oils have preservatives added. Why not just use the real thing?)
Rape seed is a another case in point: Good for you, but goes rancid real fast. So a selectively bred and gene modified version, called -- get this -- "Canola," was created.
What I can't figure out is why Canola never seems to make it on any of the lists of genetically modified foods?
"Recent varieties ... have been produced by gene splicing techniques .. Today 80% of acres sown to canola are sown with genetically modified canola." (wikipedia).
At any rate, I was wondering about the milled flax seed. Unfortunately, it's my only option besides flax seed oil (uh, no). I figure I'll use it quickly and keep it in the fridge (which the box recommends) and hopefully it won't go bad before we finish it.
By the way, oatmeal with a smashed banana and a tablespoon of flax seed is freaking delicious. My 13 month old absolutely chows that down - the whole big bowl full ... plus most of a piece of toast with peanut butter.
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/