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| Re: Vegan couple gets *life* for starving their baby to death (214882) | |||
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Re: Vegan couple gets *life* for starving their baby to death |
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Posted by JPC on Sun May 6 12:06:36 2007, in response to Re: Vegan couple gets *life* for starving their baby to death, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sat May 5 16:39:45 2007. Most poor do not have access to such information,How do you not have access to that information? Here's my take on NUTRITION FOR DUMMIES. The nutritional content of most foods is listed on the label, and more information is available for free on the internet, frequently published in newspapers and magazines, and in books at the library. You don't need to spend more than a modest sum (if any at all) to get relevant nutrition invormation. Here's what you need to know: 3 types of fat: Saturated fat: Bad. Limit your intake of this stuff (i.e. add up the percentages on what you eat and don't go above 100% and preferably less). Unsaturated fat: The "good" fat. But you should still limit your intake to reasonable levels because fats, well, make you fat because they're high in calories. TRANS fats - Really, really, really bad. Avoid this completely. There is not a single redeeming virtue of trans fats, and it appears any intake above zero is deleterious to your health. Manufacturers are required to list on the label if TRANS fats are present. Saturated fats typically come from meat sources, unsaturated from plant sources. (There are a few exceptions - fish have some of both, coconuts have loads of saturated fat, and "hydrogenated vegetable oil" is really bad). Fried and otherwise processed foods may also contain significant quantities of trans fat. Dietary Cholesterol: Bad (although not as bad as saturated and trans fats). Add up your intake and don't go much above 100%. Sodium: Try to keep it within reason. If you have high blood pressure, even more so. Calories: Add up the calories - the label suggests a 2,000 calorie diet, which is a good place to start. Big guy = eat more. Little old lady = eat less. If you're very active, eat more. The only thing to know with calories: if you want to lose weight, be sure calories out > calories in. Ok - I'll admit doing that requires some knowledge of math (hard stuff like ADDITION and MULTIPLICATION). You can't expect Americans to know how to add and subtract - what is this, India or something? As far as the rest: Meat - I think everybody knows that certain types of meat (i.e. beef) are very high in FAT. Of course, skin and fat are very high in FAT. And in meat, virtually all of the fat is saturated. Healthier choices are skinless chicken (actually both light and dark meat are good choices) and fish. And you should eat smaller portions than typical restaurant fare, which is just excessive. 1 serving is the size of a deck of cards (or a hamburger), and you shouldn't have more than about 3 "servings" per day. Fruits and vegetables - eat lots of them, and in variety. It's better to eat whole fruits and vegetables rather than juice because juice doesn't give you the fiber and is very high in calories and sugars. One or two glasses of fruit juice a day at most; the rest should come from whole fruits and veggies. By eating in variety (color is a good discriminant - eat green, orange, yellow, red, white, and purple veggies and fruits) you ensure a well-rounded supply of vitamins and minerals, and the few that you don't get from fruits and veggies, you get from modest quantities of dairy or meat. Money's not an issue here, since fresh fruits and vegetables are cheaper than most of the processed crap out there. So by eating right you are actually SAVING money. Grain products - again eat a lot of them, preferably whole grains in preference to refined (white) grains. Fruits, vegetables and grains provide you with FIBER. Fiber for dummies: A. Fiber is like a sponge - absorbs the bad stuff in your intestines. B. Fiber also makes you shit. A lot. C. The upshot of this is that fiber intake results in the bad stuff winding up in the toilet rather than inside your arteries. Dairy - low fat or skim, because the FAT is usually SATURATED (you can get this info from the label), and SATURATED FAT is BAD, mmkay. Sweet stuff - Not too much of this, mmmkay? What else: Exercise: Yes. Get off your ass and do something. Anything. Ok, that's pretty much all you need to know about nutrition. One more thing: an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and if that doctor is Ron-In-Bayside, have 5 of them :) (Just kidding!) |
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