Posted on 05/07/2003 4:42:57 PM PDT by tame
There are soooooo many nutrition books, and diet books on the market. It can be a bit overwhelming and confusing for a beginner like me to sort out the junk science, and voodoo gimmicks, from the well respected books, and web sites.
In the last couple of years I've been extremely tired, sleepy and fatigued for some reason. I've never really been into the nutrition thing, so I would appreciate any of your recommendations on good nutrition, and advice on the following:
1) Sodium. What's the story? How much is too much. How little is too little. Is it true that sodium causes water retention, and too much water retention is bad?
2) Aspartame. I love it in sweeteners (nutrasweek, etc.). I probably use between 100 and 200 packets a day. No joke. But I hear so many bad things about it. Is this junk science or not?
3) Water. I heard someone say you can actually drink too much water. Is this true? If so, how much is too much?
4) yams and sweet potatoes. I love them. I usually have a yam or sweet potato along with one broiled chicken breast for a meal. What are the draw backs on yams and sweet potatoes?
5) Body For Life Diet. I've lost a bit of weight on this diet, but I still lack energy. Any draw backs to this diet?
Please steer me away from the junk science and recommmend some healthy books and websites.
I appreciate it. tame.
Good to hear...I had the occasion to try a little Coke the other night when I was REALLY thirsty (and NOTHING else was available...). I thought I was going to barf...like drinking syrup.
I like it. But I don't like the bitter after taste of diet coke. I mean, I'll drink it, but I prefer Sam's club diet cola, and diet rite.
I'm the opposite. I like it to be sweet, which is my problem. I would guess you like Carl's Jr.'s drive0thru diet coke because it doens't taste "sweet", whereas I don't like their diet sodas.
Great point! Eat until your body is satisfied. If there is still something on your plate, DON"T feel obligated to finish it!
I've been using it for about 3 months and it has helped me get back to my younger energy levels.
I have not felt this good in a long time.
This stuff works!
Being a scientist, and therefore a questioning skeptic, I have to ask 1) is this true, since I have not seen this claim before; and 2) whether the soy consumption causes a reduced brain weight, or is the reduction in brain mass a result of the vegetarian diet that usually accompanies increased consumption of soy?
Personally, I feel that if the idea of eating something nauseates me, then I'm better off avoiding it. Therefore, no soy for me.
There is nothing removed; it is a sucrose molecule covalently bonded to a chlorine molecule; since the body cannot metabolize chlorine compounds, it passes through undigested. It cannot induce an increase in the level of insulin since it is not processed in the body.
Actually, all the studies that I am aware of had no relation to vegetarianism; they have been done in places where most people are not vegetarians but still eat varying amounts of tofu. There are two competing bioactive components in soy that could legitimately interfere with brain tissue that are being looked at, but genistein is the likely culprit.
People who consume tofu daily for decades show both measurably reduced cognitive ability relative to the general population and reduced brain weight in autopsies. The brain has a slow but steady regenerative capability, something that was assumed not to be the case until recently; destroyed neurons are replaced in many cases. There is evidence that genistein impedes this repair function (using an action similar to how it impedes the growth of some types of tumors), either blocking or reducing the "regrowth" capability of the central nervous system depending on the amount of soy consumed. Over many years of nearly continuous consumption the un-regrown sections of natural microscopic damage accumulate, whereas in most (non-soy eating) people this type of damage is repaired. It does take a couple decades before there is measurable deviation from the general population cognitively, and it is a smooth divergence so it often isn't noticed or attributed to other things.
So it isn't that soy destroys the brain, but more that it interferes with the cellular repair mechanisms of CNS tissue, allowing damage from other sources to accumulate. You can Google papers published in a few different countries on various aspects of this. Most of the vegetarians I know (who are pretty savvy about this stuff) switched over to similar types of grain protein when papers like this started to surface and eliminated soy from their diets. Not worth the risk to these people, particularly in light of other studies showing other systemic problems linked to soy.
What in the world are you using that much aspartame ON? Aspartame is safe in moderation, but 100-200 packets is not moderation, and as I asked above what are you ingesting with it?
Hi tame, sorry I'm late in my reply; haven't been online much this week. I see you've gotten some good advice on this thread. Personally, I agree with "all things in moderation."
We can buy Diet-Rite cola in our area and I do drink it at times. I like the flavor of Splenda better than the other artificial sweeteners. I do, however, try to limit my intake of artificial sweeteners. LOL, nothing takes the place of "real" Coke.
I have a friend who had serious health problems (symptoms similar to MS) that seemed to improve quite markedly once she gave up aspartame. For starters, it would probably be wise to start with reducing how much you use of that.
My problem is I know what I "should" do for optimum health, but I don't always do it.
Good luck in your quest for good health!
Okay. Any more info on it?
Go to www.seasilver.com
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