By Tom Venuto, Competitive Bodybuilder & Personal Trainer
Yes, it's true. It's a scientifically proven fact that muscle proteins are broken down and used for energy during aerobic exercise. But don't worry, you are constantly breaking down and re building muscle tissue anyway. This process is called "protein turnover." Your body is constantly alternating back and forth between anabolic (building) and catabolic (breaking down) cycles. That's just a normal part of life. Your goal is simply to tip the scales slightly in favor of increasing the anabolic side and reducing the catabolic side just enough so you stay on the anabolic side and you gain or at least maintain muscle.
This fact of human physiology has often been taken out of context and used to scare people into not doing cardiovascular exercise for fear of losing muscle. When you fast overnight as you sleep, you lose muscle too, but that doesn't mean you should stop sleeping!
Sure, it's possible for you to lose muscle from doing too much cardio, but it's highly unlikely. Shying away from cardio completely because you think you'll lose muscle is a huge mistake. Only excessive amounts of cardio would cause you to lose muscle because over-training tips the scale towards the catabolic side. It's difficult to generalize and pinpoint one specific amount as too much, but I think it's safe to assume that just about anyone could do up to 45 -60 minutes of cardio a day, 6 to 7 days a week without losing any muscle - as long as the proper nutritional support is provided.
Trainer John Parillo has always been an advocate of lots of aerobics, even for his bodybuilder clients who are trying to gain muscle mass.
"Aerobics can enhance your recovery from weight training by promoting blood flow and oxygen transport to your muscles," says Parillo. "Aerobics forces oxygen through your body, increasing the number and size of your blood vessels. Blood vessels are the 'supply routes' that transport oxygen and nutrients to body tissues, including muscles, and carry waste products away for muscular growth, repair and recovery. The expansion of this circulatory network is called 'cardiovascular density.'"
So, according to Parillo, aerobics can actually enhance recovery from weight training and increase muscular growth by developing the circulatory pathways that provide nourishment to the muscles. Cardiovascular training is important for fat burning, for good health and for muscle-building.
Losing muscle has more to do with inadequate diet than with excessive aerobics. If you suspect you are losing muscle there are four likely causes:
1. You are not eating enough protein. Protein is the only nutrient that is actually used to build muscle. To stay anabolic you must eat five to six protein containing meals. Each meal should be spaced out approximately three hours apart. Research has proven that if you are physically active, you need a minimum of .8 grams to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.
2. Your carbohydrates are too low. Low carb diets are often used for fat loss, but it is a mistake to cut your carbs too drastically. Carbohydrates are protein-sparing, so even if you are eating large amounts of protein, you can still lose muscle if you your carbs are too low.
3. You are not eating enough calories to support muscle growth. This is the most common cause of muscle loss. When your calories are too low, your body goes into "starvation mode." Your metabolism slows down and your body actually burns muscle tissue to conserve energy. Muscle is metabolically active tissue, requiring a great deal of caloric energy just to maintain it. That's why your body will shed muscle if it thinks you are starving.
4. You are not training with weights. It is a common misconception that if you want to lose weight, you should start with cardio only and add the weights later - another big mistake! It is the weight training that keeps you from losing muscle while you are dieting.
You are much more likely to lose muscle from not eating enough than you are from doing too much cardio. All too often, people are afraid to eat a lot and do a lot of cardio at the same time. It doesn't seem to make sense. Logically, it seems like the two would cancel each other out - but the opposite is true. Many people believe they must "starve" the fat by drastically lowering calories. Unfortunately, this approach can cause you to lose muscle along with the fat. The only way to maintain your lean mass while losing fat is to feed the muscles with plenty of nutritious calories and at the same time, burn the fat off with cardio.
Whether your goal is muscle development, fat loss or both, you should always include some form of cardiovascular activity as part of your training program. Unless you're doing some kind of ultra-endurance regimen, AEROBICS DOES NOT CAUSE MUSCLE LOSS, in fact it supports the pathways that help you build it!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Pesticides and Bees
Humans aren't the only ones affected by the poisonous and dangerous pesticides and chemicals. This article from Natural News sheds a little bit of light on the subject.
Haagen-Dazs is a supporter of bees and you can visit them here to learn a little more. While ice cream is definately not a healthy food, I am definately not perfect and I indulge from time to time. I do, however, choose ice creams with natural ingredients, preferably five or less ingredients, rather than some cheap ice cream with 30 ingredients I can not pronounce. I encourage every one to do the same!
Haagen-Dazs is a supporter of bees and you can visit them here to learn a little more. While ice cream is definately not a healthy food, I am definately not perfect and I indulge from time to time. I do, however, choose ice creams with natural ingredients, preferably five or less ingredients, rather than some cheap ice cream with 30 ingredients I can not pronounce. I encourage every one to do the same!
Monday, March 22, 2010
7. Shower Every Day, But Don't Bathe (Take a Bath).
In his book, The Maker's Diet, Jordan Rubin devotes a chapter to 27 recommendations on how to GET sick and suggests that if you want to remain as healthy as possible, go AGAINST these 27 suggestions if at all possible.
7. Shower Every Day, But Don't Bathe
Excessive showering - even in the purest water - can actually rob your hair and body of the natural oils. It can also alter your body's pH (especially if you're using certain alkaline shampoos and soaps). Then you have the added problem of heavily chlorinated public water supplies. If the Maker has a preference, it might be the use of ritual bathing that combined bathing (washing in a shallow bath) with sprinkling (showering for brief periods).
7. Shower Every Day, But Don't Bathe
Excessive showering - even in the purest water - can actually rob your hair and body of the natural oils. It can also alter your body's pH (especially if you're using certain alkaline shampoos and soaps). Then you have the added problem of heavily chlorinated public water supplies. If the Maker has a preference, it might be the use of ritual bathing that combined bathing (washing in a shallow bath) with sprinkling (showering for brief periods).
Monday, March 15, 2010
Weight Watchers and McDonald's....Seriously??
A friend in my neighborhood suggested some really great sites (thank you!) to read. As I was perusing through some articles I noticed one titled "Weight Watchers says eat at McDonald's to lose weight." What??? Well, apparenty Weight Watchers has put their stamp on chicken mcnuggets and a few other menu items as 'healthy' food!! Okay sure...and I weigh 90 lbs and model for Victoria Secret. Read the article - I love how the writer puts it all into perspective with words and my favorite part is this right here:
We live in a world where corporate promotional lies are disgusting at best, and criminal at worst. We're told that psychiatric drugs will make you happy, that chemotherapy will make you healthy and that eating at McDonald's will make you lose weight. We're told that sugary junk drinks will give you "energy", that toxic vaccines are necessary for your immune system to work correctly and that buying silly pink-ribbon products will somehow cure cancer.
At the same time, we're told that vitamins are dangerous, that sunlight causes cancer and that there's no such thing as a cure for type-2 diabetes. Everything that's good for you is discredited as bad while everything that's toxic is hyped up as "healthy."
I suppose in light of the corporate-sponsored sick-care insanity that passes for medical advice these days, the idea that eating at McDonald's will make you lose weight doesn't seem as insane as it really should.
But that doesn't make it any more true.
In a world gone mad with dietary misinformation touting fictional foods, insanity can now be marketed to the intoxicated mainstream as if it somehow made sense.
... and people swallow it.
We live in a world where corporate promotional lies are disgusting at best, and criminal at worst. We're told that psychiatric drugs will make you happy, that chemotherapy will make you healthy and that eating at McDonald's will make you lose weight. We're told that sugary junk drinks will give you "energy", that toxic vaccines are necessary for your immune system to work correctly and that buying silly pink-ribbon products will somehow cure cancer.
At the same time, we're told that vitamins are dangerous, that sunlight causes cancer and that there's no such thing as a cure for type-2 diabetes. Everything that's good for you is discredited as bad while everything that's toxic is hyped up as "healthy."
I suppose in light of the corporate-sponsored sick-care insanity that passes for medical advice these days, the idea that eating at McDonald's will make you lose weight doesn't seem as insane as it really should.
But that doesn't make it any more true.
In a world gone mad with dietary misinformation touting fictional foods, insanity can now be marketed to the intoxicated mainstream as if it somehow made sense.
... and people swallow it.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Cayenne Pepper
The other day I had some friends over and I made a Cajun pizza. I threw together a bunch of spices for the Cajun flavoring and one of them was Cayenne. I love the kick you get from the spice and thought I would look into its health benefits.
If you can stand the heat, Cayenne pepper is more than just a spicy spice! It has plenty of health benefits - as all Chili Peppers do. It's the substance called Capsaicin in the peppers - which is also used to measure how hot a chili pepper is.
Some of it's benefits include:
increased bloodflow
fights inflammation
natural pain relief
reduce blood cholesterol
lower chances of forming blood clots
clear sinuses and congestion
boost immunity
prevent ulcers
And...
weight loss!!
Chart adapted from whfoods.org
For further detail click here. It's such a wonderful site and holds so much information - it's where I learn a lot of my stuff.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Truth About Cereals
When I go to my parents home for lunch, I can usually find one of my brothers waking up (yes, waking) and having a couple big bowls of cereal with tonz of milk. Bad. Bad. Bad. But they are young and invincible - so I am apparently crazy.
I, myself, love cereal. I grew up on it for breakfast along with some breakfast made from scratch a couple times a week. Growing older and getting more health concious, I branched out and only bought 'healthy cereals'. You know...organic, 100% whole grain, low sugar, blah blah blah.
Now, however, is altoghether different. I don't believe any commercially made cereal is good for you and I have always been against the homogenized, pasteurized, full-of-sugar milk that goes over it. I haven't bought cereal in months and I don't miss it.
Here is some literature I found, some taken from Fighting The Food Giants by Paul A. Stitt - a book I plan on obtaining soon and some information that was presented at a Candaian Health Forum. It's kind of long but it is very interesting!! Please read!! It goes along with everything I believe about the food industry.
"Cereal makers first create a thin mud like mixture composed of water and grains. This mixture is then put into a machine called an 'extruder'."
"The extruder forces the grain mixture out of little holes at high temperature and pressure. Depending on the shape of the holes, the grains come out as little 'o' shapes, flakes, animal shapes, or shreds (as in shredded wheat), or they are puffed (as in puffed rice). Each little flake or shape is then sprayed with a coating of oil and sugar to seal off the cereal and give it crunch."
"In his book Fighting the Food Giants, Paul Stitt tells us that the 'extrusion' process used for these cereals destroys most of the nutrients in the grains. It destroys the fatty acids; it even destroys the chemical vitamins that are added at the end. The amino acids [Definition: the molecules that form proteins] are chemically altered by this process, thus diminishing and destroying their original qualities and properties."
"This is how all the boxed cereals are made, even the ones sold in the health food stores. They are all made in the same way and mostly in the same factories. All dry cereals that come in boxes are extruded cereals [Editor's Note: except some basic cereals such as 'rolled' oats or 'steel cut' oats]."
The rat experiments that were never published:
"Let me tell you about two studies which were not published. The first was described by Paul Stitt who wrote about an experiment conducted by a cereal company in which four sets of rats were given special diets."
"One group received plain whole wheat, water and a synthetic vitamin and mineral solution. A second group received puffed wheat (an extruded cereal), water and the same vitamin solution. A third set was given only water. A fourth set was given nothing but water and synthetic vitamins."
"The rats that received the whole wheat lived over a year on this diet. The rats that got nothing but water and vitamins lived about two months."
"The animals on water alone lived about a month. But the company's own laboratory study showed that the rats given the vitamins, water and all the puffed wheat they wanted died within two weeks -- they died before the rats that got no food at all."
"It wasn't a matter of the rats dying of malnutrition. Autopsy revealed dysfunction of the pancreas, liver and kidneys and degeneration of the nerves of the spine."
"Results like these suggested that there was something actually very toxic in the puffed wheat itself! Proteins are very similar to certain toxins in molecular structure, and the pressure of the puffing process may produce chemical changes, which turn a nutritious grain into a poisonous substance."
"Another unpublished experiment was carried out in the 1960s. Researchers at Ann Arbor University were given 18 laboratory rats. They were divided into three groups: one group received corn flakes and water; a second group was given the cardboard box that the corn flakes came in and water; the control group received rat chow and water."
"The rats in the control group remained in good health throughout the experiment. The rats eating the box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. But the rats receiving the corn flakes and water died before the rats that were eating the box! (The last corn flake rat died the day the first box rat died.)"
"But before death, the corn flake rats developed bizarre behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions. The startling conclusion of this study is that there was more nourishment in the box than there was in the corn flakes."
"This experiment was actually designed as a joke, but the results were far from funny. The results were never published and similar studies have not been conducted."
"Extruded cereals sold in the health food stores are made by the same method. It may come as a shock to you, but these whole grain extruded cereals are probably more dangerous than those sold in the supermarket, because they are higher in protein and it is the proteins in these cereals that are so denatured [Definition: made unfit to eat] by this type of processing."
Excerpted from a presentation at the conference of Consumer Health of Canada, March, 2002, given by Sally Fallon, Nutrition Researcher
Instead of having cereal, make a really nutritious breakfast of eggs (fried, scrambled, or omelet with meat, cheese or vegetables) with bacon, sausage, hamburger patty or steak. If you feel you must have cereal to make it through the day, "rolled oats" or "steel cut oats" are still real food.
The idea that there are breakfast foods, lunch foods and dinner foods are something we learn when we are young at the dinner table and from our parents.
In fact, when you wake up in the morning your body usually tells you that it is hungry. Your body does not care whether you feed it a juicy steak and steamed broccoli or a plate of scrambled eggs. As long as it is real nourishing food, you will be on your way to improved health and vigor!
I, myself, love cereal. I grew up on it for breakfast along with some breakfast made from scratch a couple times a week. Growing older and getting more health concious, I branched out and only bought 'healthy cereals'. You know...organic, 100% whole grain, low sugar, blah blah blah.
Now, however, is altoghether different. I don't believe any commercially made cereal is good for you and I have always been against the homogenized, pasteurized, full-of-sugar milk that goes over it. I haven't bought cereal in months and I don't miss it.
Here is some literature I found, some taken from Fighting The Food Giants by Paul A. Stitt - a book I plan on obtaining soon and some information that was presented at a Candaian Health Forum. It's kind of long but it is very interesting!! Please read!! It goes along with everything I believe about the food industry.
"Cereal makers first create a thin mud like mixture composed of water and grains. This mixture is then put into a machine called an 'extruder'."
"The extruder forces the grain mixture out of little holes at high temperature and pressure. Depending on the shape of the holes, the grains come out as little 'o' shapes, flakes, animal shapes, or shreds (as in shredded wheat), or they are puffed (as in puffed rice). Each little flake or shape is then sprayed with a coating of oil and sugar to seal off the cereal and give it crunch."
"In his book Fighting the Food Giants, Paul Stitt tells us that the 'extrusion' process used for these cereals destroys most of the nutrients in the grains. It destroys the fatty acids; it even destroys the chemical vitamins that are added at the end. The amino acids [Definition: the molecules that form proteins] are chemically altered by this process, thus diminishing and destroying their original qualities and properties."
"This is how all the boxed cereals are made, even the ones sold in the health food stores. They are all made in the same way and mostly in the same factories. All dry cereals that come in boxes are extruded cereals [Editor's Note: except some basic cereals such as 'rolled' oats or 'steel cut' oats]."
The rat experiments that were never published:
"Let me tell you about two studies which were not published. The first was described by Paul Stitt who wrote about an experiment conducted by a cereal company in which four sets of rats were given special diets."
"One group received plain whole wheat, water and a synthetic vitamin and mineral solution. A second group received puffed wheat (an extruded cereal), water and the same vitamin solution. A third set was given only water. A fourth set was given nothing but water and synthetic vitamins."
"The rats that received the whole wheat lived over a year on this diet. The rats that got nothing but water and vitamins lived about two months."
"The animals on water alone lived about a month. But the company's own laboratory study showed that the rats given the vitamins, water and all the puffed wheat they wanted died within two weeks -- they died before the rats that got no food at all."
"It wasn't a matter of the rats dying of malnutrition. Autopsy revealed dysfunction of the pancreas, liver and kidneys and degeneration of the nerves of the spine."
"Results like these suggested that there was something actually very toxic in the puffed wheat itself! Proteins are very similar to certain toxins in molecular structure, and the pressure of the puffing process may produce chemical changes, which turn a nutritious grain into a poisonous substance."
"Another unpublished experiment was carried out in the 1960s. Researchers at Ann Arbor University were given 18 laboratory rats. They were divided into three groups: one group received corn flakes and water; a second group was given the cardboard box that the corn flakes came in and water; the control group received rat chow and water."
"The rats in the control group remained in good health throughout the experiment. The rats eating the box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. But the rats receiving the corn flakes and water died before the rats that were eating the box! (The last corn flake rat died the day the first box rat died.)"
"But before death, the corn flake rats developed bizarre behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions. The startling conclusion of this study is that there was more nourishment in the box than there was in the corn flakes."
"This experiment was actually designed as a joke, but the results were far from funny. The results were never published and similar studies have not been conducted."
"Extruded cereals sold in the health food stores are made by the same method. It may come as a shock to you, but these whole grain extruded cereals are probably more dangerous than those sold in the supermarket, because they are higher in protein and it is the proteins in these cereals that are so denatured [Definition: made unfit to eat] by this type of processing."
Excerpted from a presentation at the conference of Consumer Health of Canada, March, 2002, given by Sally Fallon, Nutrition Researcher
Instead of having cereal, make a really nutritious breakfast of eggs (fried, scrambled, or omelet with meat, cheese or vegetables) with bacon, sausage, hamburger patty or steak. If you feel you must have cereal to make it through the day, "rolled oats" or "steel cut oats" are still real food.
The idea that there are breakfast foods, lunch foods and dinner foods are something we learn when we are young at the dinner table and from our parents.
In fact, when you wake up in the morning your body usually tells you that it is hungry. Your body does not care whether you feed it a juicy steak and steamed broccoli or a plate of scrambled eggs. As long as it is real nourishing food, you will be on your way to improved health and vigor!
Organic All The Rage
With everyone turning green and organic, it makes sense that huge companies that sell us crappy dead food and make billions of dollars would want to get in on that chunk of change. Where people can make a buck, they will - and they will do it at the cheapest cost to them which means that the product you buy will be compromised. For example, Stevia has been around for ages. Real, pure Stevia isn't cheap. But the 'health' industry has caught onto Stevia and now you see it on the shelves in regular stores and I'm sure everyone is aware of the recent commercials advertising juice drinks (like Sobe) that now contain Stevia and no sugar. Well, this is what my head has put together. 1) Look at the ingredients if you buy Stevia. Is it just Stevia?? Or are there other ingredients...like other artificial sweetners and/or fillers that will make the product and cheaper - and unhealthy. Most of the different brands I see on the shelves do contain things other than Stevia - and I put it right back on the shelf. 2) All these sports/juice drinks that advertise the use of Stevia are still NOT GOOD for you. And I would bet a pretty dollar that they aren't using straight pure Stevia - because that would cost more.
So what I am getting at here is that everyone wants to make money off the health industry so be careful when you go to the store and you pick up, say, a box of organic health cereal. I'm not a fan of cereal but that is a post all in itself, but how do we know what's really in there? Yes you can look for the USDA approved organic seal - but!
Check out this chart that shows who owns some of the popular organic food products out there. You'll be surprised!! I know I was. My brain says: "If Kellogs really cared about making 100% healthy, organic, enzyme-full food...wouldn't they make ALL their cereal like that?? Why would they make sugar cereal which is literally killing people from the inside out?? How are we, as consumers, supposed to believe that Kashi is going to be healthy for us, when their other cereals are so very not??
Food for thought.
So what I am getting at here is that everyone wants to make money off the health industry so be careful when you go to the store and you pick up, say, a box of organic health cereal. I'm not a fan of cereal but that is a post all in itself, but how do we know what's really in there? Yes you can look for the USDA approved organic seal - but!
Check out this chart that shows who owns some of the popular organic food products out there. You'll be surprised!! I know I was. My brain says: "If Kellogs really cared about making 100% healthy, organic, enzyme-full food...wouldn't they make ALL their cereal like that?? Why would they make sugar cereal which is literally killing people from the inside out?? How are we, as consumers, supposed to believe that Kashi is going to be healthy for us, when their other cereals are so very not??
Food for thought.
Friday, March 5, 2010
What's The Difference?
I was chatting with my college roommate the other day about healthy choices and she had a lot of questions - I told her to email them on over and I would do my best to answer them.
Keeping in mind that I am not a professional - nutrition was once going to be my profession but now it is just a hobby - I will answer what I know and what I think:
-Where do I shop for healthy foods if I don't have a whole foods-type store near me?
If you don't have access to a Wild Oats or some equally awesome health joint, it should be fairly easy to find your healthy foods in grocery stores or even Walmart. People are becoming more aware of the health hazards that are associated with the food that is commerically prepared and stocked on the shelves and there is a great demand for everything natural and organic, therefore most stores, in order to improve or keep up with their sales, offer natural and organic sections in their stores. If their isn't a designated 'section', then you can usually find a natural version of whatever it is you are looking for right next to the regular version. For instance when I buy my chicken, whether frozen or fresh, I can find the organic chicken right next to it at my regular grocers. And if that doesn't help, it's a matter of knowing what 'healthy foods' to buy. Which I can tackle in another post.
Beans are very nutritious and full of fiber and even though they have their health benefits even when canned, I BELIEVE that canning does more harm than good.
Reasons being:
There is a substantial reduction of vitamins and minerals that are sensitive to heat during the canning process. Think vitamin C and folic acid, two important nutrients.
The amount of sodium, salt, sugar and other preservatives ARE DEFINATELY harmful to health.
And the presence of the bisphenol A (BPA) in the cans lining has negative effects on human health and environmental condition. Besides BPA, you also have the metal toxicity to worry about. Aluminum can and will find it's way into the very food that it contains.
So - I hope these help and if there are more questions that stem off these answers, then leave me a comment or email me! I'll be glad to put in my two cents or even consult with a professional that I trust to find out!!
Happy Health Endeavors!
Keeping in mind that I am not a professional - nutrition was once going to be my profession but now it is just a hobby - I will answer what I know and what I think:
-Where do I shop for healthy foods if I don't have a whole foods-type store near me?
If you don't have access to a Wild Oats or some equally awesome health joint, it should be fairly easy to find your healthy foods in grocery stores or even Walmart. People are becoming more aware of the health hazards that are associated with the food that is commerically prepared and stocked on the shelves and there is a great demand for everything natural and organic, therefore most stores, in order to improve or keep up with their sales, offer natural and organic sections in their stores. If their isn't a designated 'section', then you can usually find a natural version of whatever it is you are looking for right next to the regular version. For instance when I buy my chicken, whether frozen or fresh, I can find the organic chicken right next to it at my regular grocers. And if that doesn't help, it's a matter of knowing what 'healthy foods' to buy. Which I can tackle in another post.
-Just looking at the word organic makes me wary. I associate it with extreme measures that are unnecessary. Why in the world are people buying organic clothing? Isn't that a little extreme? When I go to the supermarket and see organic veggies, they almost always look sickly and are more expensive. I'd rather just buy from a farmer's market. In the winter, I don't see harm in buying regular produce. In my mind, that is still better than buying canned veggies. And are frozen veggies bad for you?
I was thinking about this question - whether buying organic is extreme or not - and I think it depends on your view on our environment and how deep you really want to go into your health. For instance, I had the opportunity to associate with a Bio-Meridian technician, one who actually knew about health and didn't just learn the computer program, and it was very common for people to come in and find out after testing that their system was full of chemicals, pesticides, metals, and all sorts of toxins. That comes from so many things around us - including our environment. While some things may be out of our control, people still want to control what they put in and on their bodies. Buying organic clothing means buying clothing that has been processed with little chemical and harmful impact on the environment as possible. Buying organic food means nourishing your body with food that hasn't been tainted with herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and many other cancer-causing chemicals. Because farmers want to prevent loss by disease or insect, they heavily treat their fields with chemicals and those chemicals come home to you in whatever you buy whether it goes in or on your body. Some people don't go as far as buying organic clothing - I know I don't - but it is true that whatever chemicals that are on your clothing can in fact find their way into your body.
As far as buying organic food in the store, it is more expensive and that's the part that sucks. It should be the other way around but whatever. Depending on what you buy you might find your produce in a slightly sadder shape. But I think it depends a lot on your grocer and their standards. Harmons has great organic produce and even Macys does from time to time. Another reason it may look that way is because it is more expensive and people on a budget will pass it up in favor of something cheaper so it may be sitting there a little longer.
A local farmer's market is a great way to shop - and a local farmer marker who believes in growing organic is even better! I buy regular produce when the organic version isn't available - veggies are still extremely important to the diet and it is far better than buying canned. As far as frozen veggies being good for you - some of it depends on how they are processed before they are frozen BUT the vegetables do get picked and frozen within a short amount of time. When you go to use those vegetables, they are still pretty nutrient packed. I found a pretty good article that goes into further dept about that here.
-You told me beans are better if fresh, frozen or made from scratch. What about when I want to use them in a recipe and it calls for several types of beans? I really like the ease of opening a can and dumping it in. Do the benefits of beans outweigh the risks of them being from a can? (This question could probably be applied to many things.) What about rinsing? Does that do anything to reduce the sodium content? What about if I buy beans with no salt added?
If you are using beans in a recipe and you need several different kinds, unless you are cool enough to have your own bean garden growing, then I would say just used the canned ones and, yes, rinse well - that is, if you are going to ease and convenience.Beans are very nutritious and full of fiber and even though they have their health benefits even when canned, I BELIEVE that canning does more harm than good.
Reasons being:
There is a substantial reduction of vitamins and minerals that are sensitive to heat during the canning process. Think vitamin C and folic acid, two important nutrients.
The amount of sodium, salt, sugar and other preservatives ARE DEFINATELY harmful to health.
And the presence of the bisphenol A (BPA) in the cans lining has negative effects on human health and environmental condition. Besides BPA, you also have the metal toxicity to worry about. Aluminum can and will find it's way into the very food that it contains.
So - I hope these help and if there are more questions that stem off these answers, then leave me a comment or email me! I'll be glad to put in my two cents or even consult with a professional that I trust to find out!!
Happy Health Endeavors!
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