But whatever brain power I have left (after using it at work), it got me thinking about food. Well, being hungry all the time, I always think about food. But no, seriously, it made me think about how the average Americans "gather" food today and how the foods we eat affects us.
First, to explain a Paleo challenge or a Paleo diet. In a nutshell, it's a method of eating as if we were almost back in the "paleolithic" era, where humans were just starting to use tools to hunt for food and gather food. Most people also call it the "caveman diet". Agriculture hasn't been invented yet, so within this diet, there are no grains or even white potatoes. (Somehow, sweet potatoes are okay, I guess because the sweet potatoes can be found in the wild.) There are also no legumes (aka beans), as beans can upset your stomach. There are no dairy products either, as man haven't quite figured out what cows or goats are for. You're practically eating just meat, vegetables, fruits, and nuts all day long. Oh, and no sugars, no sodas of any kind (regular or diet), and no artificial sweeteners (not even xylitol or stevia). But since we're in the modern age, we do use modern things to cook our foods, like pots and pans and ovens. And the occasional microwave to reheat the food we have just cooked for that week.
The Paleo challenge has been going well so far, apart from the thinking problem I'm having but this final week, I feel better. I have probably shed 5 pounds by now and an inch or so off my waist as well as other areas of my body. I feel tired sometimes, but if I get enough sleep, I feel fine usually. And overall, without the gluten and grains, my joints don't feel as achy or swollen, and my back feels pretty good for the most part (I have back problems - another story to tell)...
So, the little thinking I have been doing during this Paleo challenge:
1. How did we get here? As a growing nation, I feel the food industry found ways to make food at less cost. I mean, that is the free market. Try to make profit. So many of our food production practices have been grandfathered in from previous regulations. It's not really anybody faults though... I think back then, especially the early 1900's, America faced an influx of immigrants. Without really thinking through or maybe just out of plain ignorance, people and scientist tinker with substances to see how we can make a lot of food with the least amount of money. That's why some of the off-the-shelf food products have chemicals and things we can't pronounced on labels. Europe, on the other hand, is more conscience of what goes into foods. A lot of substances in American foods are banned in Europe (maybe except for Great Britain, which shares a lot of the food struggles we have here).
A good amount of foods in America are processed. Some marketing genius out there has made it so that food not only looks good, but also taste good, and cost less than if you were to buy healthier groceries. I mean, we're talking McDonald's, Hardee's/Carl Jr, KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway, etc. Something comes from a box or a can or a fast food place. Where a few things from boxes and cans are okay, most of it is processed in a factory somewhere and trucked thousands of miles away, or even across the ocean.
Sounds digusting? I think most of us know about the pink slime nuggets and plastic soy burgers from fast food places. A lot of us may know about the yoga mat flame retardant substance in most sub/deli breads and even in dough of some pizza chains.
Since even before paleo and even this year, I have slowly steered away from processed foods. I still crave things like fried chicken, or even Spam (yes, I like Spam, but it's no where near good for you). Knowing what goes into foods and things in cans and boxes, I try to stay away from these things, and cook most of my foods or eat fruits and nuts for snacks.
2. GMO. Some vegetables are genetically modified to resist germs and molds, which yields more crops. That may sound like a good thing. A lot of plants are spoiled by these bacteria and molds. But if they can resist germs and molds, can it resist us? Or a better question, do we resist it as a foreign object? Do we get enough nutrients from it? A few articles I have seen so far is that these GMO foods are no different from non-GMO foods when it comes to nutrients. But from the micro-level, does it change our body chemistry? There hasn't really been a conclusive study; some of these studies can take 25 years or more, because it takes time, a whole generation, to study people once a food product has entered the food chain. But many people have linked GMO foods and chemicals to causing cancer.
GMO definitely has taken off since the 90's, thanks to patenting the DNA sequences into the seeds and making these GMO vegetables grow and essentially mass produced crops. Most notably, wheat, corn, soy, and most vegetables we eat in America are GMO. That's partly why paleo doesn't allow grains: it's all GMO-ed but also agriculture hasn't been invented yet in the paleolithic period.
From an early age, I stayed away from wheat. I think because I knew if I ate too much cake and breads, it turns into stored sugar = fat. Also, cancer feeds off sugar. Wheat/gluten is also known to make auto-immune disease worst, such as arthritis.
3. Non-organic vs organic foods. Non-organic foods are foods grown with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Organic foods uses fertilizers from actual animals. Organic foods may not necessarily be non-GMO.
Being in the treatment of wastewater, I actually know where the fertilizers come from. Can you guess? Yep, the wastewater treatment plant. Well, one of a few places, at least. The fertilizers actually have to go through a regulated process to ensure that the fertilizer is okay for use of growing crops. In summary, the wastewater going into the treatment plant is all mixed up, it goes through mechanical straining, before a finer product goes through even more clarification, settling, etc. After that, some of the "filtrates" than go through a chemical process (yes, a chemical process using polymers) to coagulate into sludge, and then the sludge goes through a strained press to "squish the poo". Then the sludge goes through a drying process, where the final material is the fertilizer. The polymer chemical has to be food grade and "organic friendly", and the drying process has to be to a science (temp and exposure time in the oven or solar dryer). If it were regular sludge, anything coming out of the strain press is fine. But the treatment to reuse the fertilizer is regulated.
Although organic foods is not bad, knowing how the plants are fertilized makes me rethink about my decisions on buying organic foods. Vegetables with pesticides or vegetables fertilized with human poo that has gone through a chemical process? Yummy...
Conclusion
In these last 3 points, do you ever wonder if America (whether it's a doctor, a nutritionist, a science, the average American), really looked at the regulations and the science behind the food? What if we didn't use chemicals, GMO and conventional foods? Would our food cost be the same or would it be as high as organic food prices?
Some marketing genius out there also figured out that organic/natural foods is a premium item. Why not make money off of it? Look at Whole Foods. It's no joke it's nicknamed "Whole Paycheck"; it's quite expensive. But some organic foods and natural personal care products actually last longer. The "natural" deodorant (no aluminum, parabens, bad chemicals, etc.) I bought in February, I haven't used it up yet! It's July folks! Almost 6 months of using the same stick of deo.
The real conclusion is that Paleo really does work for me but it also made me think about food and health a lot more and how processed foods affect me. It's the ultimate goal to change your eating habits and eating lifestyle because as Americans, we are overweight and eat too much processed foods. I felt a lot better and more energetic, after the initial headaches. Paired up with crossfit, I have been feeling stronger everyday.
So, the little thinking I have been doing during this Paleo challenge:
1. How did we get here? As a growing nation, I feel the food industry found ways to make food at less cost. I mean, that is the free market. Try to make profit. So many of our food production practices have been grandfathered in from previous regulations. It's not really anybody faults though... I think back then, especially the early 1900's, America faced an influx of immigrants. Without really thinking through or maybe just out of plain ignorance, people and scientist tinker with substances to see how we can make a lot of food with the least amount of money. That's why some of the off-the-shelf food products have chemicals and things we can't pronounced on labels. Europe, on the other hand, is more conscience of what goes into foods. A lot of substances in American foods are banned in Europe (maybe except for Great Britain, which shares a lot of the food struggles we have here).
A good amount of foods in America are processed. Some marketing genius out there has made it so that food not only looks good, but also taste good, and cost less than if you were to buy healthier groceries. I mean, we're talking McDonald's, Hardee's/Carl Jr, KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway, etc. Something comes from a box or a can or a fast food place. Where a few things from boxes and cans are okay, most of it is processed in a factory somewhere and trucked thousands of miles away, or even across the ocean.
Sounds digusting? I think most of us know about the pink slime nuggets and plastic soy burgers from fast food places. A lot of us may know about the yoga mat flame retardant substance in most sub/deli breads and even in dough of some pizza chains.
Since even before paleo and even this year, I have slowly steered away from processed foods. I still crave things like fried chicken, or even Spam (yes, I like Spam, but it's no where near good for you). Knowing what goes into foods and things in cans and boxes, I try to stay away from these things, and cook most of my foods or eat fruits and nuts for snacks.
2. GMO. Some vegetables are genetically modified to resist germs and molds, which yields more crops. That may sound like a good thing. A lot of plants are spoiled by these bacteria and molds. But if they can resist germs and molds, can it resist us? Or a better question, do we resist it as a foreign object? Do we get enough nutrients from it? A few articles I have seen so far is that these GMO foods are no different from non-GMO foods when it comes to nutrients. But from the micro-level, does it change our body chemistry? There hasn't really been a conclusive study; some of these studies can take 25 years or more, because it takes time, a whole generation, to study people once a food product has entered the food chain. But many people have linked GMO foods and chemicals to causing cancer.
GMO definitely has taken off since the 90's, thanks to patenting the DNA sequences into the seeds and making these GMO vegetables grow and essentially mass produced crops. Most notably, wheat, corn, soy, and most vegetables we eat in America are GMO. That's partly why paleo doesn't allow grains: it's all GMO-ed but also agriculture hasn't been invented yet in the paleolithic period.
From an early age, I stayed away from wheat. I think because I knew if I ate too much cake and breads, it turns into stored sugar = fat. Also, cancer feeds off sugar. Wheat/gluten is also known to make auto-immune disease worst, such as arthritis.
3. Non-organic vs organic foods. Non-organic foods are foods grown with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Organic foods uses fertilizers from actual animals. Organic foods may not necessarily be non-GMO.
Being in the treatment of wastewater, I actually know where the fertilizers come from. Can you guess? Yep, the wastewater treatment plant. Well, one of a few places, at least. The fertilizers actually have to go through a regulated process to ensure that the fertilizer is okay for use of growing crops. In summary, the wastewater going into the treatment plant is all mixed up, it goes through mechanical straining, before a finer product goes through even more clarification, settling, etc. After that, some of the "filtrates" than go through a chemical process (yes, a chemical process using polymers) to coagulate into sludge, and then the sludge goes through a strained press to "squish the poo". Then the sludge goes through a drying process, where the final material is the fertilizer. The polymer chemical has to be food grade and "organic friendly", and the drying process has to be to a science (temp and exposure time in the oven or solar dryer). If it were regular sludge, anything coming out of the strain press is fine. But the treatment to reuse the fertilizer is regulated.
Although organic foods is not bad, knowing how the plants are fertilized makes me rethink about my decisions on buying organic foods. Vegetables with pesticides or vegetables fertilized with human poo that has gone through a chemical process? Yummy...
Conclusion
In these last 3 points, do you ever wonder if America (whether it's a doctor, a nutritionist, a science, the average American), really looked at the regulations and the science behind the food? What if we didn't use chemicals, GMO and conventional foods? Would our food cost be the same or would it be as high as organic food prices?
Some marketing genius out there also figured out that organic/natural foods is a premium item. Why not make money off of it? Look at Whole Foods. It's no joke it's nicknamed "Whole Paycheck"; it's quite expensive. But some organic foods and natural personal care products actually last longer. The "natural" deodorant (no aluminum, parabens, bad chemicals, etc.) I bought in February, I haven't used it up yet! It's July folks! Almost 6 months of using the same stick of deo.
The real conclusion is that Paleo really does work for me but it also made me think about food and health a lot more and how processed foods affect me. It's the ultimate goal to change your eating habits and eating lifestyle because as Americans, we are overweight and eat too much processed foods. I felt a lot better and more energetic, after the initial headaches. Paired up with crossfit, I have been feeling stronger everyday.
