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"Natural foods" vs "others"

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Replies

  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    Peas and beans (1100g of peas, and 1000g of red kidney beans prepared from dry)

    Thank you for the 3 of those. That was really interesting, and not exactly what I would've guessed.

    Too bad he didn't just say "legumes" . . . coulda snuck some peanuts in there. ;)

    I was also expecting it to be much worse, but there's no way that I could get that much food in to me every day.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    It’s too late. PCB’s and dioxins have been found in polar bears.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    nettiklive wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Y'know, as I was growing up, I was exposed to DDT in substantial quantities (it was sprayed by the pounds by a big tractor/trailer-mounted blower all around my house, as well as in most of the public parks, many times a season, to kill mosquitos). About a quarter mile up the road, a big dairy farm (sitting on the same aquifer as our drinking water well) lost not one but two complete herds of cows to the PBB contamination crisis in the 1970s. The second herd was buried on the site. I could go on.

    So, I figure I don't have to worry, I'm already dead.

    Nowadays, <squints, hitches up britches> I ain't skeered of any ol' dumb Doritos.

    ;););)

    Seriously: While some attentiveness and concern is rational about effects of the huge array of products that have come into being (and close contact with us) in the last few decades, often with an assumption that they're safe rather than testing, a state of constant obsessive anxiety about it is probably a bigger health threat in itself than whatever we're getting from McD's fries once or twice a week, polysyllabic preservatives in foods we eat by the teaspoon, the cleaning product we use a few times a year on the stubborn stain on our countertop, etc.

    As happened with DDT, the most dangerous thing is quite possibly something we don't even know about yet. (DDT was seen as a great savior back in the day: Got rid of the ubiquitous bed bugs, lice, fleas, and more; reduced the diseases they spread - or was believed to do so.) It could be anything. Maybe we'll discover that dryer lint causes cancer. ( ;) ).

    Will the chemicals get us? Global warming? One of the other many potential consequence of our modern life? Or not? Who knows. There's no big point in worry about the *baby-feline* Doritos, in any case, if you ask me. Mental health is important, too.

    Why do people assume that avoiding certain types of food or product equals living in a state of constant anxiety about it?? I feel absolutely zero anxiety about not eating junk food

    Where did I say this was about you?

    There are a few people around me who seem to regularly spend a surprising fraction of their intellectual and emotional bandwidth worrying about things like food additives, environmental toxins, cleaning products, "beauty" products, etc.

    It's not always necessarily "a state of constant anxiety" (I may've indulged in a bit of hyperbole ;) ), but IMO a waste of energy and time that leaves them less happy in their daily lives than they IMO reasonably could be, given their general high standard of living, reasonable state of health, etc. Most don't actually study up on this stuff (beyond the alarmist blogosphere and Facebook memes), become activist, or otherwise take action, they mostly just worry, in a poorly informed, perhaps anti-scientific way.

    At the same time, some of them don't seem similarly preoccupied about things that are statistically bigger threats to them and theirs, or (often) about things they actually influence or control that very likely are larger factors in their health and odds of longevity (driving habits, exercise, etc.).

    It just seems odd to me. I've said I think some of these things may be potentially of concern, but I find the energy devoted to worry disproportionate and not especially useful. If I don't have the interest or energy to chase down real science on a subject, I don't have the energy to fret about it.

    I wonder, sometimes, if there's a mental health analog to the immune system: There seems to be some reason to believe that those who over-sanitize their surroundings leave their immune system with too much time on its hands, so it goes off and creates allergies or some such thing to amuse itself. Maybe some people who lead too-fortunate lives manufacture themselves statistically trivial things to worry about?

    I'd admit that some of the things you write here remind me of some of the things I hear from "modernity-anxious"** people IRL. But I don't know you at all, beyond the few paragraphs you write. There's no basis for amateur psychoanalysis.

    ** For lack of a better summary term.

    You really don't have to ever say it's about a narcissist. They cannot comprehend a reality outside of their current feelings.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I've got just one life to live. People can do what they want, but I refuse to spend it being scared of burnt toast.

    But it has the carcengines!! Plus, it can burn you.

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I've got just one life to live. People can do what they want, but I refuse to spend it being scared of burnt toast.

    But it has the carcengines!! Plus, it can burn you.

    Or give you those little abrasions on the roof of your mouth . . . maybe the anti-toast brigade is on to something here.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Heck the sun is a top carcinogen.

    If you want to keep yourself up at night, consider the amount of odourless colourless, naturally occurring radon gas lurking in your basement.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    jgnatca wrote: »
    Heck the sun is a top carcinogen.

    If you want to keep yourself up at night, consider the amount of odourless colourless, naturally occurring radon gas lurking in your basement.

    Heck, I have granite countertops, guess I should stress about that.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    Heck the sun is a top carcinogen.

    If you want to keep yourself up at night, consider the amount of odourless colourless, naturally occurring radon gas lurking in your basement.

    Heck, I have granite countertops, guess I should stress about that.

    Why am I supposed to be worried about my granite countertops? That one is new to me.

    My AC still uses the old refrigerant that is being pulled from the market = Super Stressed
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    edited May 2018
    NovusDies wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    Heck the sun is a top carcinogen.

    If you want to keep yourself up at night, consider the amount of odourless colourless, naturally occurring radon gas lurking in your basement.

    Heck, I have granite countertops, guess I should stress about that.

    Why am I supposed to be worried about my granite countertops? That one is new to me.

    My AC still uses the old refrigerant that is being pulled from the market = Super Stressed

    Chances are your granite counter tops might have some residual trace of naturally occurring radiation...

    Feel free to worry. Or not. Doesn't make a smidgen of difference. :tongue:
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I thought everything had some degree of natural radiation.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I thought everything had some degree of natural radiation.

    Great, now I've got to get rid of everything.
This discussion has been closed.