Issue #172: What's In Your Food?
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, April 18th.
Today’s Quick Win
From the Lab: Check the Ingredients First
Speed Read: The Tumbleator
Tuesday QR: Grilled Chicken with Quinoa and Broccoli
Bucket List: Monument Valley
“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”
The amount of your Daily Value (DV) to be considered high for that serving (good for Vit D - not so much for Saturated Fat & Added Sugar). On the flip side, 5% or less is considered low.
From the Lab
When looking at the food label - what’s the first thing to check out?
For my money it’s the ingredient list.
I get it - calories measure the energy we eat and we need to burn more energy than we consume in order to not gain weight.
And it’s definitely true that the quantity of food we eat matters.
But the type and quality of food matters more. 150 calories from a bag of Sweet Chili Doritos just isn’t the same as 150 calories from raw almonds.
Here’s the ingredient list of those Doritos:
Compare that to the ingredient list of a bag of almonds (ummm “almonds”).
What’s so bad about the Doritos? Well it checks nearly every box of what’s wrong with the current Western diet - grains, seed oils, additives, sugar, and chemicals.
Grains - so much of our agriculture is devoted to growing grains (fruit/veggies make up 1% of total acres farmed). These grains now emphasize yield, not nutrition - they’ve been stripped of fiber, doused in pesticides, and in quantities humans were never meant to eat. Corn is everywhere in the U.S.
More great great charts by Vox.
Seed Oils - these oils were supposed to be “healthy” but the processing creates toxins and added chemicals are no good for us. Just like Crisco used to be in everyone’s kitchen until we realized it was complete shit - it’s becoming apparent (see GQ) these oils aren’t good for us either (full list of bad oils from Chris Kresser).
Additives - you might not have recognized “monosodium glutamate” in the Doritos ingredient list because we all just call it “MSG” (not Madison Square Garden). This additive helps with flavor (food companies spend billions getting that addictive flavor for us to keep grabbing for one more chip), but also might crush our health. 5 Additives to Avoid from The Cleveland Clinic.
Sugar - we’ve talked about this for an entire week (Issues #45-49). Sugar crushes our metabolic health and is the top driver for all the top killers - heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease (brain health), and diabetes. The problem is that it’s in everything and hides in the ingredient list under many aliases.
Here’s a list of a bunch of ways to say “sugar”.
Chemicals - more than 10,000 chemicals are allowed in our food in the U.S. The term “generally recognized as safe” doesn’t mean these chemicals have gone through the FDA approval process. These are potential endocrine disruptors that mess with our hormones (one of the multiple reasons fertility problems are rampant). See the list from the EWG.
So what should you do? Wish there was more to it, but listening to Michael Pollan is probably best (see Quick Win).
But what’s the point of life without some chips & guac?? We all need to indulge once in awhile. Just remember - if you’re looking to thrive, then try to avoid these 5 categories as much as you can.
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Speed Read
Health & Longevity in the News
Step Right Up to the Tumbleator: We met Eluid Kipchoge in Issue #30, he’s just the world’s fastest marathoner. Now you can experience his mile pace of 4:37 on a large-scale treadmill 6 ft wide by 20 ft long, called the Tumbleator. The spongy treadmill, which looks like it’s prime for a TV game show, made its debut at the Boston Marathon yesterday, just like Kipchoge.* (NYTimes)
Saliva, Our Savior: Saliva protects our teeth, makes speech easier and creates a welcoming environment for food. Despite being 99% water, saliva is the key to our relationship with food - it influences how food moves through the body and sparks our senses. (Knowable)
Meteor Shower: You already know it’s important to be out in nature (Issues #161-165) - included in all those health benefits is awe. I often encounter awe by looking up in the sky and being absorbed by its vastness. Another opportunity is the upcoming Lyrid meteor shower. Visible for the next week, the shower will peak Friday and Saturday just after the new moon. Find out how to watch this year’s show. [Hint: look north and find Vega] (Outside)
*Kipchoge finished 6th, roughly 4 min behind the winners and 8 min off his world record pace
Tuesday QR | Grilled Chicken
Another simple one today - protein, no grain, one of the healthiest veggies, and the good kind of oil.
Bucket List | Monument Valley
Looking for somewhere to go after Zion (Issue #167) and the Grand Canyon - how about Monument Valley?
Ready for some awe? You can let your legs rest for a bit as you go on a 17-mile driving loop throughout the Navajo Tribal Park, eyes wide open looking at buttes towering above the plateau. There is a short hike available to tourists, but the best way to get up close with nature and see landmarks like “Ear of the Wind,” is through a guided Navajo tour.
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The information in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and may not be appropriate or applicable based on your individual circumstances. Thrive25 Labs LLC does not provide medical, professional, or licensed advice. Please connect with your healthcare professional for medical advice specific to your health needs.