Carbs are Killing You (infographic)

Be mindful that the U.S. market allows companies to trick people into thinking that there are no nitate/nitrites in store-bought bacon, sausage, and hot dogs when there is, and sometimes even more of it compared with externally added nitrates/nitrites. It's due to a loophole in the labeling laws in the U.S. regarding pork. This was discussed in another thread.

Bacon comes from pork belly. For nutrients, it would be better to simply eat pork belly meat before the the salt and nitrates/nitrates are formed/added and without the combustion products. This is done in Asian cultures and in the Okinawan culture. Convincing people to switch to pork belly is problematic in part because of acquired tastes that people have developed for smoked, cured products over their virgin starting meats.

 

The Japanese culture is known for an unusually high incidence of esophageal and stomach cancers relative to other parts of the world. One explanation is damage done by smoked meats and salted and pickled foods that are eaten regularly in that culture.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/stomach-cancer/about/stomach-cancer-risks-and-causes

The point is that results and markers of a short-term diet study don't reflect all the possible unhealthy aspects of the foods that people eat and their long-term effects. People can misinterpret results and unwittingly use them in a way that could damage health in the long-run.

 

lol.... that made me laugh for some reason

Well, I pretty much don't eat any type of hot dog- the nitrate free kind of not, at all. Maybe once a year I'll eat a better quality hot dog so not super worried about it.

I like pork belly btw! But I also like bacon... not that worried about bacon though either because I don't eat it that often.

 

Nitrates aren't much of an issue as long as you're not gorging yourself on cured meats on a daily basis. Cured meats make up about a 10th of a person's nitrate consumption. Besides, the harmful effects of nitrates can be easily negated by getting enough vitamin C in your diet. When it comes to bacon, that which contain hormones and/or other preservatives is more of an issue for me than nitrates. I barely think about nitrates. It's pretty much a non-issue for me when it comes to bacon.

 

Are you still not smoking weed?

Or vaporizing or anything, that is?

 

Yes, that I still do.

 

wait, you still smoke? Or still don't?

I remember you stopped after being arrested. What ever happened with that? If I was here when it was resolved, I don't recall.

 

I did temporarily stop for a number of months, but I still smoke.

As far as what happened, I had to plead guilty -- had my license suspended for about three months But that is off topic.

 

Do you consider weed, in a similar way to the rest of your diet? I thought you were pretty into beer, too - would you smoke regardless simply because it's important to you, and either way, I'd assume you consider it reasonably healthy, at least a fair trade between positives and negatives? You don't vaporize or anything, to combat the lung effects?

I've been feeling old as of late - thyroid burnt out, diabetes has begun to have noticable effects (including but not limited to, said thyroid problem), and even though I don't really have the money to do it much, smoking causes me more uncomfortable side effects than it used to. And I have some degree of cognitive fuzz that I didn't used to, I think - or placebo. Sometimes I think weed and caffeine help or don't hurt, other times I wonder. (not to say anything bad about them in general, just in my specific case) (and to be fair to substances and diseases, stress is probably one of the biggest problems - it's not to be trivialized in terms of health and mental effects)

 

I split it up between vaping and smoking. Since I try to smoke quality stuff whenever possible, I don't really feel the need to smoke in mass quantities. My work schedule makes it hard to smoke any more than once or twice a day anyway. I sometimes indulge on non work days, but I feel that, considering my lifestyle is otherwise in check, there isn't much of an adverse effect on my health since there are plenty of health conscious people who smoke cannabis fairly regularly without ill effect.

 

In recent days low carb diets have gotten some positive attention in the lamestream media because of a recent study showing that low carb diets are exceedingly more effective for weight loss than low fat diets. Cholesterol levels and blood pressure also greatly improved on a low carb diet.

http://youtu.be/rS6a7WB-14k

 

People are considering anything under 30% to be a low carb diet??? If so, then I've been on one all my life.

I consider a well-balanced diet to be one that doesn't get more than 30% of its calories from any one source or category or food group. You can't go that high in one area without neglecting something else.

 

I don't consider it to be low carb, but it appears just reducing carbs works for a lot of people.

 

Manufacturers started adding vitamin-C to meats with nitrates/nitrites to alleviate the risk of nitrosamine formation. Even better is to consume a vitamin-C food with the meal.

 

The tendency to frame diet studies in the context of limiting a particular macronutrient is curious. It's not the only way to test a weight loss diet but it seems to be a common test method in diet studies. The mainstream media seems to talk about this type of approach the most, perhaps because it creates an 'us vs. them' atmosphere, which makes for good ratings. Book and magazine publishers like to see issues sensationilzed and polarized. After a sensationalized article he wrote for the New York Times, Gary Taubes received $700,000 up-front for his GCBC book from Knopf publishing, which again took a polarized view of carbs vs fats and a polarized view of the medical establishment vs. the lone dissident.

 

I like Barbara Ehrenreich see carbs as a vehicle for eating more butter.
http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/lowfat-capitalism/

 

I would agree if those carbs are, say, Brussels sprouts, spinach or broccoli. When you eat something that spikes the blood sugar in conjunction with fat, that fat is not readily burned off and used for energy as it would be in the context of a low-carb diet. So I would disagree with some of these people who say fat is good no matter what. I would say fat is good in the context of one's overall diet, granted they're keeping their carbs under 100 grams per day (at most). The problem with the Standard American Diet is not that it's high in fat (and often the wrong kind of fat), but high in carbohydrates, which completely change the way fat is metabolized.

 

Asia beats America, too, in diet....look how thin most of them are and healthy......

 

Yeah, and interestingly enough, they consume most of their calories from carbs. The difference between Asians and Americans is that Asians don't consume nearly the amount of sugar that Americans do, and the carbs they eat are natural, unrefined ones. In America, most carb consumption comes from sugary beverages (soda) and processed foods, which are also high in nasty, pro-inflammatory trans and omega-6 fats and chemical additives.

 

Even that is changing in China in regions that have become urban and industrialized.

The rapid rise in obesity in the urban areas of China is too quick to be a result of genetic changes, which happen over many generations. The obesity epidemic is probably not caused by a sudden widespread increase in metabolic disorders, although metabolic orders may develop along with obesity. The environmental factors that enable and encourage over-consumption and lack of exercise seem like a more probable cause.

The recent rise in obesity in China shows a strong preference for urban regions where wealth is higher, larger meals are affordable to the wealthier, fast food is readily available, and the lifestyle is more sedentary. It's difficult to attribute the cause of that obesity pattern solely on metabolic problems, insulin resistance, or genetic problems that just happened to pick the urban areas and ignored the rural ones.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-china-obesity-bcomes-a-problem-thats-foreign-to-survivors-of-its-great-famine/2012/12/28/7e746dc4-4872-11e2-820e-17eefac2f939_story.html\\

From the article:

"Obesity has tended to be an issue that grows along with affluence. Prosperity means bigger paychecks, which can mean more meat, fast foods and bigger meals. Meanwhile, long hours at desk or factory jobs instead of agricultural ones mean less physical activity. The obesity problem is primarily an urban one in a population that is rapidly urbanizing.

China also has particular problems, French says, that can promote obesity. A survey he did found that recent scares about contaminated milk, fruit and vegetables have made consumers feel more safe buying and eating packaged foods. “It’s perceived to be less tainted,” he says. “If it’s packaged and done by Nestle, they’re thinking and hoping that there is not going to be poison” in the food. Yet, the fat and sugar content of many packaged foods is often much higher than that of fresh food."