Real vs Imitation

real fats, artificial sugars, real caffeine.

In the span of less than fifty years we've gone from eating (almost) entirely "natural" - plants, starches, vegetables, meat, fish, fruits, nuts - to eating food that is designed and manufactured to be addictive, cheap to produce, and tailored to whatever the prevailing nutrition fad of the day is. We've gone from eating whole grains to eating refined carbs with the fibrous outer sheathes shucked off. From natural raised pasture fed meat to animals fed on God knows what to beef them up. We've gone from natural tastes to factory produced chemical injections. There are entire factories where the taste of your food is "designed" - completely seperate from the foodstuff it ends up in.

All this change coincides neatly with the onset of, or increase in, a lot of western diseases - Obesity, atherosclerosis, chd, diabetes, numerous cancers etc.

If at first it seems like nutritionism and science-based food manufacture should actually be better for us, consider the saturated fat = heart disease fad that lasted the past three decades and led to the development of margarines loaded with partially hydrogentated trans fats, which are now understood (pretty solidly agreed on) to be very, very bad for you.

It's just common sense to me. We evolve with time, a million of years of hunter gathering, thousands of years of natural agriculture, and then a measly 50 years of lab-manufactured food products. Our bodies have developed to be healthy when eating what we were eating for the first million years of our existence, not for the last fifty.

I despise the taste of artificial sweeteners, so I don't use them.

I don't use anything with trans fats, which is in a LOT of margarines, but not all. I generally will go with butter, but either is OK in my book as long as it's made of "real" food. Think canola or olive oil-based margarine.

I prefer the taste of whole wheat breads, so that's what I eat. I can't tell the difference with pasta, so whole wheat because it has more fiber and protein and often fewer calories.

I don't care for soda of any kind, but if I did, see my opinion of sweeteners. :-)

I would rather use real food over fake lab food (e.g. butter vs. margarine) any day. I also use real sugar vs. artificial sweetener. Generally I just use 1 teaspoon a day in my coffee...that is 15 calories. If you are consuming so much added sugar where you need a 0 calorie alternative, chances are you should try and eat less sugar. The issue in your diet is not what type of sweetener you are eating but how much.

I choose whole grain anything over white (pasta, breads, wraps) because I would rather get the extra fiber and nutrients, plus it keeps me feeling full for longer (thanks, fiber!).

I do not drink decaf coffee as I am not sensitive to caffeine. Decaf still has some caffeine in it and I only drink one cup a day so it is a non-issue for me.

Natural peanut butter over the sweetened/oiled stuff (Jif, Skippy, etc.). My peanut butter better have no more than 2 ingredients: Peanuts and salt.

Full fat salad dressings- the fat free ones are loaded with sugar and sodium to make them palatable.

Don't even get me started on fat free cheese. What is that stuff made of??? It doesn't even melt. Scary.

#1, YES, this person is correctamundo! #2, I'm going to ask to be their friend.

There has been a lot of conversery about real sugar over sweetners and butter over margarine. Then too there is white bread, pastas , etc . over wheat. Regular sodas over diet or zero calories, decaffinated drinks over caffinated.Which is the best to eat when trying to lose weight or does it make a difference?
I have read wheat flour is better than white.
Diet sodas are worse than regular sodas.
Decaffinated is better than caffinated coffee & teas
Butter is better for you than margarine.
Sugar is better than sweetners.

What do you think and what do you use everyday?

I agree with every single one of those. My 450 pound mother thinks I'm insane for only using real butter. Really ma? :laugh:

We use sugar or honey, whole wheat flour (for baking muffins, waffles etc) whole wheat bread, and full fat products (cheese etc)- we buy nothing "low fat". But we do use margarine. We use margins because all 3 of my kids are dairy intolerant. One cannot handle even the smallest amount. So when it's between using butter (which is better) but having a crying sick child, or using margarine....we pick margarine.

I don't use artificial sweeteners generally. A couple times a year when sugar syrup isn't available and iced tea is oversteeped and bitter.

I do use stevia at home to sweeten tea and occasional other drinks. I use honey/sugar/agave/maple depending on what is convenient at the time

I use butter or earth balance (which is margarine, but not too bad. Lots of ingredients, no transfat). My fat of choice is olive oil. I only use these when I make eggs, toast or grilled cheese.

I don't think diet soda. I think it tastes horrible. I don't drink much soda anyway, and seek out ones sweetened with sugar.

I don't pay attention to caffeine. Generally drink decaf after 2 and whatever in the AM. But I don't consume much caffeine. A couple espresso drinks a week (2-3) or maybe black tea 1-2 times a week. Otherwise I stick to white, green or herbal tea.

I don't like fat free half and half. There are a lot of unknown ingredients. I just whole milk to save calories.

I have eaten one tasty low fat cheese. Reduced fat sharp cheddar from trader joes. It has normal ingredients.