RE: The Make It Healthy Project MAGAZINE: Issue #5 - NEW Graphics & Categories! (Lots more to digest!)
Wow, that became meanwhile a pretty good ezine, you should get a publish button instead of a post button :) Thank you for summarizing all the initiatives, contests and projects.
I wouldn't flatter processed food and chemicals by calling them MSG's though.
It's true, MSG is a flavor enhancer, in particular for the umami or savory taste. But so is salt, sugar, and vinegar, it's a condiment and as good or bad as the others.
MSG is a naturaly occurring non-essential amino acid found for example in tomatoes and as food additive it is produced through natural fermentation of starches. So at least it is a substance that the own body produces, there are by far worse additives.
Cooking enhances the flavor too, so strictly speaking only the consumption of one kind of raw fresh and always equally ripe fruit or vegetable does not create addictive flavor enhancement :)
Sadly I can't find the article anymore, but in an interview the Yogi Dharma Mittra said once that for half a year he ate only sprouted peeled almonds, so someone went that route already:)
Thank you for the clarification @steet.yoga :-) I refer to the synthetic MSG added to processed foods today, and use it as many people do as an umbrella term for artificial flavour enhancers (not strictly correct but it seems to be how most people understand it). Foods that contain naturally ocurring MSG are ok because it's part of the whole food, but the MSG we find in processed foods is sythetically derived and composed of nearly all glutamate, and our bodies don't react in the same way to it as the naturally occurring compound. The same is true for other synthetic glutamates, which come under a whole range of names.
I can't imagine eating sprouted peeled almonds for 6 months... or even 6 days! But it would be interesting to hear his interview and how his body reacted to this diet :-)
As I wrote, as good or as bad as salt or processed sugar. The list you posted also excludes all fermented products, so no wine, vinegars, pickles, tempeh, miso, natto, kimchi, sauerkraut, soy sauce, tibicos, kombucha...
His body had no problems, he said almonds have all the body needs. There was also this guy in Australia, after reading McDougall's Starch Solution were it is written that potatoes have all the essential nutrients, he ate only potatoes for one year, he lost 117 pounds, his blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar dropped
at regular health checks.
With fermented products yes sugar is used, but the sugar is pretty much 'fermented out' as it feeds on the bacteria. Also because the sugar is broken down in the fermenting process, it doesn't affect blood sugar in the same way, and doesn't put stress on your body trying to break it down. But it's also possible to make many of the products you mentioned using natural alternatives and avoiding processed sugar entirely.
I'm not trying to tell people what to do or pretend to be the expert of all these things... just trying to raise awareness of the differences between natural foods and processed foods, and how they affect the body in different ways. I try to research very thoroughly before offering advice :-)
You know your share and care :) Neither am I an expert, but I like to discuss topics to crossreference, firm and actualize my knowledge :)
The fermented products are excluded in the food additive list, how nice it would be to ferment everything at home, but that is a lot of products :)
On the other side Dr. Cousens writes in his book Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine that people predisposed to fungal infections like mycosis or candidia should avoid fermented food altogether.
It is a thin line between a healthy lifestyle and orthorexia, and there is no food or peparation process which is considered exclusively healthy, that is the dualistic nature of humans :)
You're absolutely right @street.yoga! Even people who seemingly eat all the 'right' things can still end up with disease, and then they find out that such-and-such-a-thing within certain natural foods they're eating is having adverse affects... It seems to be dependent on so many factors that what's a perfect diet for one is not so good for another! I guess that's why listening to our bodies is so important... which a lot of people aren't confident to do in this age of relying on doctors and so-called 'experts' :-)
You're right too - it's a lot of work to make everything homemade, and when it's not possible then some compromises sometimes have to be made. I guess it's a case of whether we feel able to compromise and permit ourselves a bit of sugar or other 'bad' ingredient, or whether we can just live without our favourite products. I make as much homemade as I can, and usually if I can't make it myself or find a healthy product, then I just do without! But admittedly this has been a gradual process rather than cold turkey with everything all at once.
It's good to discuss things! Thank you for the conversation... I enjoy it!