Tuesday, September 9, 2014

"why YOU should..."

Life has been busy here....  We're doing outdoor renovations and indoor ones as well.  And while it's all happening, life goes on -- even when we have water turned off and sewer-lines replaced, while we're running up and down stairs doing cutting on bead-board (table-saw is in the basement) and fetching the right tools for installation of wallpaper, plumbing and carpentry, we still have to wash and launder and cook and eat ... or sometimes go out for breakfast or lunch.  Steaks on the grill and frozen vegetables, thank heavens, don't require much work.  J likes bagged salad, too.  My lunch yesterday was a can of tuna and a tablespoon of capers, all mixed up with my own mayonnaise.  Dinner was Atkins-recipe beef stroganoff on shirataki noodles and a green vegetable.

Drinking my breakfast (black coffee and Nutreince vitamins) and reading "the latest" online this morning, I came across a "gem" of a blog-post on someone else's list -- X reasons why "you" should eat more ___(insert the name of goitrogenic vegetable here).

This kind of thing REALLY pisses me off.  Not only is it full of misinformation about said vegetable's nutritional value*, its message is not why the writer found benefit from eating it herself, but why YOU should do it.

Sorry, lady, your advice is full of shit. 

A mind-blowing proportion of the western-world population is hypothyroid.  The REASON they are is probably because the western world is SWIMMING in goitrogenic substances.  From the chlorine and fluoride in the water, bromine in the pool, hot-tub, bread, and citrus-flavored beverages, thyroid-toxins in the air and food, inadequate thyroid nutrients in diets, and BAD ADVICE, it's really no wonder.

Right, left and center, we're told that "well, yeah -- THAT food IS a goitrogen but there's so little in it that if you cook it, you don't need to worry."  YOU KNOW HOW MANY FOODS THAT INCLUDES?  That "technical term" known as a SHITLOAD.  There may only be a tiny bit of harm from a single source, but when you multiply it by the potentially-large number of goitrogenic substances you consume in a day, it's quite a burden.

ALL brassicas, aka cruciferous vegetables.  Millet and teff.  SWEET POTATOES (what, you thought that paleo-darling had no dark side?).  Cassava, aka yucca.  Peaches, nectarines, apricots, apples, pears, cherries ... all the stone fruits that have CYANIDE in their seeds.  THIOCYANATES -- yeah, the "antioxidants" you love so much.  Anthocyanins, too.

While i'm on a roll, i'll just make note of another piece of nutritional misinformation that makes me furious -- people who need to be careful of sulfur in their diets being told to avoid MEAT but to INCLUDE the problematic sulfur-containing vegetables!  Thiocyanates do more harm than good -- sulfur-containing proteins are literally ESSENTIAL in the diet.

If YOU have included more kale in your diet and you find it has done you nothing but good, that's great!  I'm happy for you.  Celebrate your joy of discovery.

Just don't tell ME that I should be adding these toxins to MY diet.  Don't tell one of the huge number of hypothyroid people in the world today, who hasn't done the reading I have, that that garbage is good for them, because with the prevailing canonization of healthyfruitsandvegetables, they're liable to believe it ... to the increase of their own misery.

_____
*  NO GODDAM VEGETABLE CONTAINS VITAMIN A, OKAY???  HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT???  ...and anyone who isn't familiar with the term "antinutrient" doesn't know anything about the vitamins and minerals in plant-foods.

10 comments:

  1. Brilliant.

    Excuse my ignorance, but what's the problem with sulfur?

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    1. thank you, Mr Chips! ...sulfur is an important trace mineral, but in people with raised cysteine, there's a problem with thiols and mercury loads and ... more details of which i don't have a strong understanding at this point. :-)

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  2. The insistence on stuffing yourself with veggies at every opportunity is second huge misconception of modern times (#1 is eating 5 fruits a day). It is better not to stuff yourself and not to snack. Fruits are treats, vegetables are important for variety and gastronomic value, that is it.
    Long time ago people were abscessed with founding a "fountain of youth", nowadays they are looking for something what they can eat in limitless amounts, like "healthy" pigging out. It is often forgotten that dose makes a poison.

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    1. i'm in full agreement, as usual! :-) produce-growers' advertising has been very, VERY effective!

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  3. The place where my thyroid used to be, where my goiter used to be is cheering your post, Tess!!!! I'm dairy free and nut free so when I hear how gooooood butter and nuts are- I think sinus infections and migraines... Sigh.. I know, they are good for many....

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    1. we all have things that we just DARE NOT eat, or we feel so bad we learn our lessons.... i AM sorry you have to forgo butter, but you still have tallow, lard and olive oil i hope! :-)

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  4. Great rant! I'm of the same mind...we are not all the same metabolically. Some of us can eat some cruciferous veg and some not. I 'm tired of hearing about how a plant based diet is best for everyone. There is no evidence of that at all. I can tolerate spinach but not kale...etc. We have to work through all this to find our own optimal diet.

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    1. thanks, Lauren! yes, the fruit-and-vegetable lobby has been VERY successful.... for a lot of people, increasing the green stuff means they're reducing the white stuff, which is definitely a step in the right direction, but OPTIMAL? hardly!

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  5. ......catching up - but don't we know every good whole fresh food is good for us ?

    Well it may be for some but if you are diabetic, allergic to eggs, can't eat too many mushrooms, are lactose intolerant + many others you have to choose what foods best suits you and your chosen healthy lifestyle.

    It gets easier as you get older I'm told LOL

    All the best Jan

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    1. i've found it easier with time, but then i'm lucky enough to have the time to experiment, observe, and think about the things i eat and how they affect me. :-) i wish everyone as much good fortune....

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