If you have ears and/or eyes you might be confused about what to eat.
The opinions vary, the warnings vary, and the scientific facts are not even consistent. This may leave you in a state of constant agitation worrying over what to eat to preserve your current healthy state, what to eat to improve your current state of health, and what’s going to kill you (if not immediately in the near future!)
No doubt you know that some foods are grown with seeds that have been modified by modern chemistry. They are sometimes called “Frankenfoods“ and that is a pretty scary word. It implies that benign fruits and vegetables are really monster foods that will destroy your body from the inside out. Eventually they will take your life.
Wow! Is that true? How will you know what you’re eating is or isn’t a Frankenfood? Maybe it would be better to ask, “What would Rachel Carson do?”
In case you don’t know who Rachel Carson is, she is the woman, with Maine roots, who made the world wake up to the dangers of some pesticides. She discovered the correlation between pesticides and birds’ eggs. The eggs were brittle and were breaking before the baby birds could successfully grow and hatch.
“A truly extraordinary variety of alternatives to the chemical control of insects is available. Some are already in use and have achieved brilliant success. Others are in the stage of laboratory testing. Still others are little more than ideas in the minds of imaginative scientists, waiting for the opportunity to put them to the test. All have this in common: they are biological solutions, based on the understanding of the living organisms they seek to control and of the whole fabric of life to which these organisms belong. Specialists representing various areas of the vast field of biology are contributing—entomologists, pathologists, geneticists, physiologists, biochemists, ecologists—all pouring their knowledge and their creative inspirations into the formation of a new science of biotic controls.” – Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, p. 278
One scientist (and probably many more) firmly believe that Rachel Carson would embrace Frankenfoods.
I didn’t exactly answer the question if Frankenfoods are good or bad. That’s because I don’t have the answer. I have read the arguments both pro and con and the conclusion I came to for myself is “all things in balance and moderation.” I won’t tell you what to eat, but I will tell you that your and my ancestors ate a lot worse things and somehow the human race is still surviving.
You may now wonder about “bad carbs.” What are they and should you never eat them?
As far as I’m concerned “carbs aren’t bad!” Some carbs are better for you than others, and if you have diabetes, carbs have to be carefully monitored to avoid dangerously high levels of blood sugar.
The better carbs are the complex carbs. They are the ones you find in whole grains and are broken down and used more slowly by your body as an energy source. They happen to be your body’s best way to get its fuel. When your body needs energy, it will first use glucose from carbohydrates. It’s efficient.
If it has an inadequate supply of carbs then it will burn fatty acids and finally it will convert protein to energy. Protein, or amino acids, are chemically similar to glucose except that they contain nitrogen. This means your body digests the protein and then must go through additional steps remove the nitrogen. When the nitrogen is gone, the amino acids are converted into glucose or fatty acids. Either can give you energy, but the nitrogen puts more wear and tear on the liver and kidneys.
Then there are the sugars or simple carbs. They are quickly broken down and can cause blood sugar levels to rise quickly. Foods made with added sugar such as sweets are typically considered the “bad carbs” although I disagree that they are bad. They’re good – very good, in fact, for most healthy people when they are enjoyed sparingly. People with diabetes, however, must be very careful about all carbs, especially simple sugars.
If you’re still with me, you are probably wondering when I’ll get around to telling you what are the foods you should never eat.
Okay, here it comes…..
Never eat food you don’t like because it’s supposed to be a healthy choice! No food is so healthy that it can provide 100% of the nutrients your body needs for good health. It takes a variety of foods to fulfill all your body’s nutritional needs and you can meet those needs without ever eating any food you don’t like!
Final word: If you’re reading this and you’re flipping out because I didn’t address gluten, chemical additives and artificial flavors and colors, and tell readers to avoid them at all costs, please know it was not an oversight. If you want to avoid them, please do so. As far as I’m concerned there are risks in everything we do as humans and simply being alive puts us at risk of disease and death. I believe in balance and moderation in my food choices, plenty of exercise, stress management and a good night’s rest to keep myself well.