#health - this post is my opinion. You are welcome to your own. I'm not really interested in debate, but small focused corrections are always appreciated. Inflammation is an important process that humans (and other life) evolved in order to combat problems (pathogens, foreign agents, and necrotic cells). Pro-inflammatory foods are necessary in order for the inflammatory process to work. Pro-inflammatory foods do not CAUSE inflammation they SUPPORT inflammation. The exception is if you have inflammatory bowel disease and are sensitive to the particular food. If your body doesn't need inflammation right now, pro-inflammatory foods won't cause inflammation. If your body needs to be inflammed, those foods will support that process. Pro-inflammatory foods are thus positively associated with inflammation, but that statement is too confusing for most people, so I said it differently in the prior paragraph. Do not try to control your body's inflammation by avoiding pro-inflammatory foods. Because if you succeed in that endeavour it means your body wanted to use inflammation for something (probably a good thing unless you have an autoimmune condition) and you starved it of the ability to do so. This tactic may be useful in people with auto-immune conditions though.

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The current pop-sci theory is that arachadonic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid common in seed oils and which your body produces from linoleic acid, another omega-6 fatty acid in very very high concentrations in seed oil) is pro-inflammatory. In my view, while this is not strictly wrong, it is misunderstood and people draw incorrect conclusions from this. The takeaway I would suggest is that you cannot possibly know and acount for all of the psychological processes involved in anything. Looking at one physiological process means nothing in a complex system like a human. Drawing some conclusion that "seed oils are inflammatory so you should avoid them" based on this fact in isolation is just folly. To know the truth you have to expose a lot of these complex systems to a lot of seed oils.... and that has been done. And nearly all of these studies show high seed-oil intake leading to longer lives, less heart dieases, less diabetes, and numerous other positive health outcomes. And no, I don't work for big-canola.
I appreciate you provide an alternative view, and its one that I may have mistakenly interepreted as a variation on the historical mainstream view of inflamitory oils and phytonutrients. My point may reflect the direction the wind is currently flowing on this tooic, but to me it too is descenting from the mainstream and thereby I regard past research on the voodoo branch of science we know as nutrician the same as I regard the Trinity: A self-reinforcing delusion based on circular logic. Regardless, I appreciate you expanding my horizons with the aspect that the polar opposite may be equally likely.
Fun fact: over the past few months, I realized my chronic migranes go away when I avoid carbs. I'm already largely seed-oil free, but just one handful of potatochips (I used to daily indulge in much worse) is enough to trigger a headache. Is this proof positive you are wrong and I'm right? By no means, only that keto has given me a way to manage my diet in a sustainable way while other diets do not.
I get that. A lot of mainstream things that turn out to be wrong are indeed self-reinforcing and circular and we only see it after we wake up from the delusion. I think some aspects of climate science suffer from that (but not all of climate science). I guess for me the pendulum swung anti-mainstream as far as it could swing, and now it is swinging back with less force and I'm correcting for over-correcting on some narrowly focused issues. I still think science is deeply corrupted and biased. But also that you can get some signal out of it. What is the Trinity?
I recommend avoiding potato chips whether they give you migraines or not. 😂 And there are lots of food sensitivies. You just have to figure out what works for you. I don't think medical science can tell you. I cannot handle whole wheat - my gut dumps itself... but I can have white bread no problem so it's not a gluten thing. In any case I gave up wheat for 3 weeks and my IBS is gone. I've had a full week of amazing poops. So I am definitely sensitive to wheat. For some people it is FODMAPS but on me they make no difference. Cabbage, beans, I handle these just fine. I'm not even anti-Keto. I think a 100% sardine diet is near ideal.
If people are associating seed oils with fried foods, potato chips, other fast foods, etc... then yes, get rid of that stuff. But it's not IMHO the seed oil itself, it is how that oil is used, brought far above 200C causing it to partially transform into trans-fats, being put in contact with starches which then create acrylamide, etc. Deep fried is deadly. But if you put seed oil on a salad, or eat sunflower seeds, or even saute with a seed oil (saute stays below boiling), IMHO they are fine (and we can disagree, I'm fine with disagreement). Anyhow, maybe that distinction makes a difference.
If i could make a short list of ubiquitous stuff I don't want my kids eating it would be this, and in this order: 1) Soy and flax anything 2) Artificial sweeteners, preservatives, flavorings, colorings & fortifications (e.g. enriched wheat) 3) Yellow prussiate of soda, anti-fungals and anti-yeasts (such as magnesium sulfate) 4) Oils high in alpha-lineolenic acid (but I repeat myself) 5) Any plant exposed to weed-killer (glyphysate) 6) Fluoridated or reverse-osmosis water 7) Hydrogenated oils 8) Shellfish, mussels, eels, pork and rodents (squirrel, raccoon, etx) 9) Wheat with bran and/or germ (whole wheat) Yes, I know, you didn't ask
Good point. From that link: "If you have a condition that causes chronic inflammation, it may ease some of your symptoms." I think I said something like that. Their list autoimmune diseases and inflammatory bowel disease -- I also listed both of those in my note. That page is far more complete. It happens to be that most anti-inflammatory foods are associated with preventing chronic diseases. But it isn't clear that this is the mechanism. What we know is what they say in their Takeaway section "there’s some evidence it may lessen symptoms caused by conditions such as arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease." My point was really that people shouldn't demonize a food otherwise known to be healthy just because it happens to be pro-inflammatory. That this pro/anti inflammatory thing has been taken too far IMHO.
I think the hypothesis that these "bad foods" cause inflammation is a good one. But there are counter examples where pro-inflammatory foods are known to be long-term healthy. Unfortunately humans are just way too complex to get good clear answers on sweeping generalizations like this.
Interesting list. My list is far too boring to compare to that one: tobacco products, hydrogenated oils, deep fried foods, high sugar foods, low fibre foods (except meats), alcoholic drink > 15%. Oh wait, I don't have kids so I don't have a list.
Ok I have to ask about reverse-osmosis water.... or am I opening Pandora's box? My understanding is that a membrane with tiny holes only allows water to pass through and so on one side you get pure water.
Pure water will kill you. You NEED specific minerals dissolved in your water. That link @jack posted a while back with the woo-woo "sailine" guy is closer to the truth than you might assume. Look up "The Water Book" for homebrewers written about a decade ago if you want to understand what "good" water actually is made of.
You mentioned anti-fungals and anti-yeasts. You should add anti-biotics. Here is a bacterium 70% of Americans don't have anymore, probably due to antibiotic use, which degrades oxalates and prevents kidney stones: Oxalobacter formigenes Who knows how many other good bacteria we have been slaughtering in order to wipe out Hamas... *ahem* I mean...
Yes exactly. There is too much money to be made in this business which opens the doors to the same problems we see in the pharmaceutical industry.
By the way, I learned the hard way, almost all bottled water is reverse osmosis. They do this to remove bacteria so it doesen't get skunky. And get this: "spring water" is also typically also reverse osmosis and treated with ozone (made into low concentration hydrogen peroxide). If its called "mineral water" they add minerals back in after all this. AND! its bottled in PET or HDPE which leeches microplastics and other zenoestrogenic and endocrine disrupting plasticisers. So: you can't drink tap water, you cant drink bottled water, you can't drink RO water,.. WHERE TF DO YOU FIND WATER? Ideally, get water directly from a deep aquafer or natural spring that has about 15 grains of calcium carbonate is free of heavy metals, arsenic and other poisons. Haul it if you need to. Buy a few 5 gallon glass carboys and a pottery, glass or steel dispenser. If this is out of the question, install a RO system and remineralize the water yourself. This is called "adding brewing salts" and "adjusting your water" for beer brewing. A third option, possibly the most expensive and produces safe but not necessarily ideal water (in my opinion,) yet is a good preparedness item, is a Berke with an activated charcoal stage and put tap water or low quality well or spring water through it.
The truth is everyone needs to find out what works for them - which simply means - there is no cookie cutter solution . One has to invest times to understand their bodies - experiment with it and have faith in their own intelligence .. For example - the popular myth these days is Milk is bad ! My personal experience is it is the best gift to mankind .. I can live on milk ..and may be some seasonal ruits :-)
Yes it can. High sugar can glycate the glycocalyx making cells be recognised as foreign thus inflammation. For example. And in modern times many of us have chronic inflammation. But I'd love if we found and focused on the injury/insult causing the inflammation rather than our bodies natural reaction to that injury.
Yes I understand that you would like this. But in some causes it is might the best part to eat less and healthy for lower inflamation. For example when the cause is alergies, diabetes or something like this where there is no faster way to treat them.
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mikedilger 1 year ago
staying humble is 💯 the hardest part 🤔