Plant Based Diet Thread

[Nobody]

[warthog1]

Basically a waste of money then. Thanks.

[Nobody]

Yeah I don't buy organic other than peppermint tea. Even that isn't certified, so who knows. It's all too expensive for me. I really can't see the value in AU where the prices are typically twice to four times conventional prices.

Below is a more positive, but still unconvincing take.
https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/organic-foods/

I do soak my cruciferous veg in an bucket of water with about 30g/L of sodium bi-carb. I find the water doesn't absorb much more than that easily. I soak it for about 20 to 30 mins. Then I rinse and soak with plain water for another 10 mins. Who knows how much that is doing, but it's similar to recommendations I've read for washing in regard to pesticide residues.

Veg that can be peeled, is peeled. But I don't kid myself that it's doing much in regard to pesticides. It may be doing more in regard to bugs/bacteria etc. But even then it may not be doing much. If I didn't peel, I'd still be washing which also takes work and time.

[cavebear2]

A few years ago my GP incorrectly diagnosed me with IBS. What followed was 18 months of exclusion in attempting to achieve a low FODMAP diet. Last year I visited a Gastroenterologist who then checked my bowel via a Colonoscopy. He described my bowel and 'long, complicated and tortuous' and tipped the FODMAP exclusion of high fructose fruit (stone fruit) out the door. I would find great benefit eating as much fructose as I liked as it would activate my bowel. My life has changed from a vicious cycle of constipation and diarrhoea to one where I am comfortable and can sleep like a normal human being. As such I eat any fruit that I feel like. Given that I am very active and generally ride 400-500km per week (493,000km in 19.5 years) I seem to have no problem with processing the sugars. I have always been a vegetable-aholic and eat way more vege than the average person, especially salads.

At the moment I am devouring huge quantities of green leafy vegetables and red meat, all instinctive eating driven by my incredibly low haemoglobin level which plunged from 129 to 85 in 2 days after a massive hematoma formed in my shoulder/back. Yesterday I had an Iron transfusion to aid my recovery and already feel a bit better. I had to wait 10 days for this from the date that the Hematoma formed (which was incredibly painful, caused me to faint, vomit and sent my Systolic blood pressure to around 50. (I was told this as I was near to a total melt down in ED before being bought back from the brink by some serious drugs)

Normally I eat very little red meat except kangaroo which is incredibly low in fat. Recently the floods in WA have ceased deliveries of kangaroo from the ES so I have been pigging out on lots of red meats including lamb and beef. Normally I rarely eat these, preferring chicken, pork, fish and kangaroo as my bowel can more easily digest these. I've always had low cholesterol, a gift from my Mother's genes. I've never been convinced of the benefits of organic food/bang for buck. Thanks for posting that video!
I've always thought that I could survive on a plant based diet as I really enjoy the vast majority of vegetables, however in my case I have no particular need to do so and eat mostly low fat meat and drink large quantities of Hi-Lo milk. At the moment I am also drinking more fruit juice than normal as the vitamin C helps absorb Fe better from the iron rich foods which I am temporarily targeting. This also helps my bowel to stay active!

BTW. a friend of mine who is a Botanist doubts the efficacy of leaching cruciferous vegetables with NaHCO₃.

[Nobody]

I found the video below somewhat enlightening. The more informative section is from about 10 minutes on.



It appears that he has a conscience problem with his occupation and the damage it's doing to people's health. Hence the path he appears to be going down now. Knowing what I know now, I couldn't be part of most food production industries, the medical industry, or the pharmacutical industry. There are probably a bunch of others like restaurant/take aways too - which incidently is my extended family's business. I also spent some time growing up an a fat lamb farm. Many farming industries I couldn't be involved with. Not only because of the animals' treatment, but the harm their end products do to people. Fortunately for me, my employment is unrelated to food and diet - much to the disappointment of my father who wanted me to be a famer - so I can speak freely.

Also I don't agree with his ideology that health foods have to compete with processed foods on taste. That may be beneficial for the initial move away from a poor diet with stepping stone foods etc. But it won't give the best health results over the long term. Better to allow one's taste to adjust to blander natural foods over time and get healthier faster.

[Nobody]

Resin type coatings on fruit & veg. Too early to say what health detriments may appear in the future from this, if any. Probably best to avoid for optimum health if you're going to eat the skin. Like almost all artificial/processed products, I can't see it being good for the microbiome.

[Nobody]

Lately I've been toing and froing with posting a number of videos or articles on subjects like the intake of total fat, oils, omega 6:3 ratio, fruit, sodium, EPA/DHA supplementation etc. All the harder stuff to quantify for optimum health that many of the experts disagree on.

This latest video touches on a few of those subjects. I want to highlight from 10:22 about fruit and in particular Brenda Davis' reply at the end. Pam Popper also agrees with Brenda's assertion about finding no harm in any studies on fruit. So Clement could be wrong or have a business agenda with making a point of difference between himself and everyone else. Clement may turn out to be correct in the end, but to me it's looking less likely. If fruit really is harmful, then why does he offer fruit at his business Hippocrates twice a week? Surely if it was that harmful he would never offer it. My current leaning is to back the science over Clement.

[Nobody]

"Environment wins", the immediate food environment of the home and the difficult conversations that may need to be had if one has a more addictive personality.



In many households the conversation is going to be too difficult, or agreements won't be reached. In those cases individuals may have to try making a virtual food ownership separation in their mind. To that extent I do my own food shopping, prepare my own food, have my own food storage place, and have a different fridge.

[Nobody]

I'm posting this video because of how it ends.

As usual, scientists like to get reductionist and try to figure out a specific chemical that causes a benefit, rather than taking a more holistic view of the whole plant food. All I want to know is the benefits of specific vegetables and the dose required for inclusion into my diet. As usual, most benefits are obtained by including a range of vegetables in one's diet.