Thoughts on my eating philosophy?

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  • qb63
    qb63 Posts: 88 Member
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    misskarne wrote: »
    What are you wearing right now?

    That turned quickly. ;)
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    You could make every one of those things you claim you cannot. I might take some further education, but it is possible.
  • SonofNorthernDarkness
    SonofNorthernDarkness Posts: 64 Member
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    Nakeshia88 wrote: »
    My new philosophy for food is that if you can't grow it, catch it, kill it or make it yourself then don't eat it. For example: I can grow fruits/vegetables/legumes/grains and nuts so these are OK; I can fish and shoot so meat is OK; and I can/could easily learn to do things like grow/grind my own flour, salt and coffee, I can brew beer, make bread and pasta so these are OK - however, I couldn't make something like Coca Cola or anything containing artificial ingredients/additives so I won't eat these things.

    So lately when I'm picking up food that's in a tin, bag or box I'll read the ingredients and ask myself, could I grow or kill these ingredients, process and mix them together myself to make this? If so, then I'll buy it, if not, back it goes! What do you think of this philosophy?

    must be cold up there on you're pedestal
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Read Blithedale Farm.

    Or Blithedale Romance, actually. Oh, well.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    HauteLlama wrote: »
    I wish people would stop moderating first and just try eating healthy as a first step. x

    I wish people wouldn't make untrue assumptions, here that "moderating" means that people don't care about or don't eat healthy and that making distinctions between "artificial" and not = eating healthy.

    Like I have pointed out before, if I were to take "eating naturally" seriously, I couldn't eat salmon or ocean fish. I couldn't eat tomatoes right now or olives or any number of other things that would not be in season or simply can't grow where I live. Why would this be better for my health?
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    Nakeshia88 wrote: »
    I think it's terrible. There's nothing wrong with foods you didn't make yourself, so why not eat them? Life is too short to constantly deprive myself of things I enjoy.

    I'm not saying I'll only eat foods that I make myself, I'm saying I'll only eat foods I *could* make myself. It would be way too restricting to only eat food that I'd made myself! For example, I'd still buy a pizza because it would only have ingredients that I could grow/kill myself - like flour, salt, milk, vegetables, meat etc, all things I *could* grow, kill or make myself if I needed or wanted to, but thankfully someone else has done all that for me! I wouldn't buy a Coca Cola because I couldn't grow and make my own high fructose corn syrup, caramel colour, phosophoric acid or natural flavours... I don't even know what half those things are!


    Anything that is made, you *could* make yourself.

    You have drawn a completely useless, arbitrary, and silly line here, right?

    You *could* grow an apple. But you don't, right?

    You *could* synthesize caramel coloring from its raw chemical ingredients, to - and it's probably easier than caring for an apple orchard, right?

    Arbitrary and meaningless.


  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    Carol_ wrote: »
    I am seeing what you are saying. You would eat only things that are natural, from the earth. That would certainly be healthier. As for me...it would be very hard. I find just keeping up with a calorie counting and choosing healthy food most days, is enough for me. I wish you the best!

    I dare you to name something edible that doesn't come "from the earth".

    I double-dog dare you.





  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    HauteLlama wrote: »
    I wish people would stop moderating first and just try eating healthy as a first step. x

    I wish people wouldn't make untrue assumptions, here that "moderating" means that people don't care about or don't eat healthy and that making distinctions between "artificial" and not = eating healthy.

    Like I have pointed out before, if I were to take "eating naturally" seriously, I couldn't eat salmon or ocean fish. I couldn't eat tomatoes right now or olives or any number of other things that would not be in season or simply can't grow where I live. Why would this be better for my health?

    +1,000,000

  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    When I have a half marathon come up I pretty much have to eat somewhat, "clean." It makes me sick to eat some processed foods before I run a long distance. If you don't think you will miss those yummy processed foods that you are taking out I say go for it!
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    misskarne wrote: »
    But what do you wear? Do you wear only animal skins and woven hemp?

    You know, both of your comments are pretty weird and have nothing to do with the subject matter. I've never met a person who eats their clothes.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    bulbadoof wrote: »
    it's misinformed and oversimplified.

    most pasta and breads, despite being something you could prepare at home, are just empty calories.

    Nah, I disagree. I make my own bread and the calories don't seem empty to me.

  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    misskarne wrote: »
    Nakeshia88 wrote: »
    misskarne wrote: »
    But what do you wear? Do you wear only animal skins and woven hemp?

    What does what I wear have to do with what I eat? I don't eat my clothing!

    Well, you just seem to be all super-hippy militant against artificial stuff, so I figured you mustn't be wearing any artificial things, right?
    What?
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    Nakeshia88 wrote: »
    Never mind, I see it's a faulty theory. Think I just contradicted myself as well, once post said I generally eat what I want but listen to my body... then I went and told y'all about the low fodmap diet I've just been put on which is full of restrictions! Should have said I used to eat what I want etc... Think I'm losing my mind!!!

    Ha! It may be a faulty theory, but I see nowhere in this conversation where you are trying to get others to prescribe to your way of eating, or where you are saying it's the right way, or even where you are demonizing foods. I just see you are choosing not to ingest certain types of food for personal reasons.

  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    This is a diet and health site. We don't take kindly to people choosing to eat real foods. We promote enjoying the decadence of processed garbage and anyone that thinks different from us must be orthorexic.

    :D Sometimes it seems that way. I like it when people share their dietary plan such as the OP has here- just saying what works for her.
  • fr3smyl
    fr3smyl Posts: 1,418 Member
    edited May 2015
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    SLLRunner wrote: »
    misskarne wrote: »
    But what do you wear? Do you wear only animal skins and woven hemp?

    You know, both of your comments are pretty weird and have nothing to do with the subject matter. I've never met a person who eats their clothes.

    They do make edible clothing, but I think it's only undies. My mom bought some for a friend wedding gift.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    edited May 2015
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    What about olive oil? Or any kind of oil, for that matter?

    Oh, don't get me started on olive oil! Every October we go to an olive picking party at a friend's house. In fact, people from all over the world come for this event, to help chuck the olives from the trees in this massive orchard. We work all day, take breaks for potluck twice a day, and we fill these huge bins with fresh olives, which are then pressed into olive oil. It's a magnificent event!
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    fr3smyl wrote: »
    SLLRunner wrote: »
    misskarne wrote: »
    But what do you wear? Do you wear only animal skins and woven hemp?

    You know, both of your comments are pretty weird and have nothing to do with the subject matter. I've never met a person who eats their clothes.

    They do make edible clothing, but I think it's only undies. My mom bought some for a friend wedding gift.

    Ha, ha, you're right! I forgot about that. :blush:
  • NewMeSM75
    NewMeSM75 Posts: 971 Member
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    I think it's a great philosophy. Good luck!
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    edited May 2015
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    I like Armageddon movies, and the drama of survivalists living on the edge after civilization collapses. I've imagined what it would take to start over again, and it would take a whole lot of hoisting. It would take generations to recover, and would those successive generations preserve the old knowledge? Would they recognize the value? We are dependent on this infrastructure to deliver our almonds, our oranges, electric toothbrushes, everything. Bless our infrastructure.

    With these sorts of reflections, once in a while I do a home-grown kick, like home-made sourdough or yogurt. I find I can keep the beneficial bacteria/yeast going through several generations and then inevitably, the community weakens and dies. I must then resort to the store-bought yogurt/yeast to start over again.

    Can you imagine if I had to try and replicate this IRL, after a disaster? Within a few years I'd be eating an unvaried diet of coarse unleavened bread and pemmican.

    If you want to try and eat a diet of foods you could "do yourself", why not try and follow through and do it yourself, one food product at a time? Grow and grind some flour. Nurture a beehive for the summer. Create a starter mash and leave it out to host wild yeast (hopefully the good kind). Add more of your precious home-made flour and knead the life out of that baby. Rise and bake.

    That will be one expensive loaf of bread.

    Imagine doing this over again every Sunday; your bread for the week.

    Mass food production has given us time; time to read, learn, contribute, walk, raise our children, and obsess about food. It's given us cheap bread and allowed us to feed masses of people. Bless mass food production.
  • Nakeshia88
    Nakeshia88 Posts: 119 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Cheers everyone. As I said it's just a theory and obviously it has its flaws if you follow it with a black and white mindset. However I believe nothing in life is black and white, so I think I'll try to stick with a simpler theory 80-90% of the time - if it can't be grown, caught or killed don't eat it - along with my low fodmap diet, so most of the time there will be no artificial colours, flavours or artificial preservatives, just wholesome, nutritious and simple food (with some chocolate every now and then!). How's that sound?

    I don't have the means to grow or kill my own food right now so obviously I'm buying from markets and stores, my produce may have some chemicals sprayed on but that's OK given the circumstances I'm in... I'll still buy bread and rice flour, I'll just try stick to the most organic types that use plenty of while grains... I'm certain I can make 80% of every meal non-artificial and most importantly nutritious :-) I'm never going to push this choice on anyone or even insist it works because I just don't know yet, there may be changes or times it's impossible to follow the theory, but as long as I'm making healthy choices most of the time then I'll see that as success.