The Case Against Supermarket Fruits and Veggies
In this two part series of why never to buy food from the grocery store again, I will attempt to answer why we never have seasons in grocery stores and why the meat that we eat is not only killing ourselves, but the environment in which we live.
In this article grocery store fruits and veggies will be the topic of discussion.
Why we eat fruits and vegetables
Vitamins, minerals, fiber and countless other "phytonutrients" are the backbone of our world's current movement to eat more fruits and vegetables. Not to mention that these foods contain zero fat or cholesterol.
Considering that the majority of us buy our produce from a grocery store, I want to bring up a topic of great debate. How healthy are the fruits and vegetables sold at our chain supermarkets?
Many people around the world would agree that an apple is an apple and an orange is an orange, no matter where they come from. Wrong.
Vegetables and fruits found the grocery store faintly resemble their biological cousins that are found in the wild. Wild apples never grow to be the size of a baseball, yet many of the apples that are sold in a grocery store are the size of softballs.
Why is this bad? Well fruit is composed of two things, fiber and sugar (and other vitamins and nutrients) when we eat an apple the size of a bowling ball we consume far more sugar than nature ever intended us to eat.
Why is our produce so big?
All of the produce that is available on grocery store shelves are what are now popularly called GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms. These organisms are plants (and animals) that have their DNA altered by scientists in some way to express certain traits such as size, color or the repelling of bugs and herbicides. Although these may sound like god sends in terms of food production around the world, that is far from the truth. GMOs often require significant amounts of fertilizers, water and other chemicals in order to grow to their full potential.
Also, no significant research has been conducted to prove if the nutritional qualities of these plants and animals is affected.
I am not condemning these products by any means, I am simply leery of human beings messing with what mother nature has put in place.
Pesticides and Fertilizers
The produce that we buy at Wal-Mart or any other grocer does not come from mom and pop's family farm. These products are produced on global scales to provide our country with red tomatoes and white onions all year round.
In order for large amounts of these crops to be grown we must plant them in huge fields and spray them regularly with herbicides and pesticides to ward off any weeds and insects that will inevitably ruin a crop. Not to mention the airplane tanks full of chemical fertilizers that are unloaded on these crop fields to ensure that each onion, orange and mango becomes as big as humanly possible.
It would be convenient if all of these substances simply did their job and then left the piece of produce in its natural form. This is not the case. These chemicals are absorbed in the fruit and stay there until consumed, when our bodies are then left with the responsibility of figuring our what to do with them (cancer anybody?)
Where does our produce come from?
I bet you have a very hard time answering this question. And no it is not the grocery store, maybe I should have rewrote it to ask where was your produce grown?
Like I said earlier these crops are grown on massive farms, yet we never realize that these farms dot the landscape of not only our country but our globe.
This is very apparent in the winter months. Any fresh produce that is sold in a grocery store during winter, strangely appears to be the same as in the summer, travels a great many miles to reach your food hole.
I used to buy organic apples.... until I found out that they were grown and shipped from Chile! That is some 2,000 miles away. Needless to say, I decided that I did not need to eat apples.
This goes for countless other fruits and veggies in the grocery store. Oranges, mango's, pineapples, grapefruits, kiwis and bananas are all fruits that can only be grown in tropical climates. That means that the six pack of nanners you just bought, traveled over 1500 miles in order for you to eat them. Makes the $.50 a pound you paid for them seem insignificantly small huh?
Did you know that oranges are not even orange? They are picked green and then sprayed with gas in order to be turned orange. And that tomatoes are picked green and sprayed with gas to turn them red so that they will last longer in transit to a grocery store.
What can we do?
Well their are many things that we the consumer can do.
If you want to follow my lead, you can simply refuse to buy or eat vegetables or fruits from a grocery store. Only eat produce when it is in season and can be purchased from a local farmer, a farmers market or picked from your backyard.
In lue of this practice you can learn how to can certain veggies and fruits as well as freeze them if you have space and eat them in the middle of winter. Trust me when I tell you that eating garden fresh broccoli that I picked from my back yard during the dead of winter is quiet refreshing.
Only buy locally raised food, and if you can't get local, buy organic. Even though much of the organic produce available at large food retailers is shipped from great distance (apples from Chile). Always local over organic and if you can find it, organic local produce is even better!
So what do I eat in the winter?
I eat lots of eggs from my neighbor, beef from a local farm and organic and raw almonds and sunflower seeds*. I also eat spaghetti sauce and salsa that my mother canned in the fall and frozen veggies that I zapped when they were fresh in the summer.
*Ok I'm not an angel. The almonds and sunflower seeds are grown in California and the coconut oil that I fry my eggs in came from Florida. It is organic and extra virgin though!
I know this is inconvenient as our grocery store never has any growing seasons, ever. This idea is so out of whack with the natural ebb and flow of the world that it is sickening to think that apples can actually be available year round without the use of fertilizers, pesticides and the altering of DNA.
Reality is easy to over look, especially when our culture promotes the habit of pulling a veil on all issues that will deter us from our habitual day to day grind. I understand that it is not easy to go against the staus quo. I know that it takes self will and determination to change what you have been doing for the last 20 years. But know that the actions you carry out on a daily basis is the defintion of who you are. What makes you any different than everybody else?
Don't be afraid to take the jump, I recently went 5 months without eating a fruit or vegetable and I'm still healthy and fit. As of right now I am enjoying the fresh strawberries, asperagus, spinach, and brocolli that was grown within a 5 mile radius of my home.
-Ryan
Spring Break Special: Creating an Ab Canyon
Spring Break is on the horizon and so is the ever looming question of how to get that washboard stomach. Should we do yoga? Use an Ab Lounge, Roller or Twister (?)? Do we have to do crunches till we are blue in the face or run 5 miles a day?
The answer to all of these questions is a resounding no.
Absolutely no popular belief on how to get abs is true. Trust no one, except for me of course. And Drew Baye:
"Contrary to the idiotic recommendations of most current ab training books, courses and group class instructors, it is neither necessary nor beneficial to perform dozens of high rep sets of a wide variety of abdominal exercises. You also don’t need different exercises for your lower and upper abs, and you don’t need stability balls, special slings, benches, or any other gimmicky crap. In fact, you don’t need any direct abdominal exercise at all to get ripped abs. All that is necessary is to reduce body fat to very low levels, and that has far more to do with diet than exercise."
*My Bold
Conventional wisdom on ab creation.
Popular belief holds true that we can build up our ab muscles in hopes that they will magically break through our wall of stomach fat and shine through like a beacon in the night sky.
This is called "Spot Loss". Which is a fairy tale idea that by exercising one area of the body, we will intern force that area to become thinner. I'm sorry, but this is simply untrue.
Our bodies are whole, connected systems. When we lose weight, our entire bodies are affected, not just one area.
How funny would it be to see a human being with Queen Latifa thunder thighs and a Megan Fox torso? This obviously would never happen because our bodies won't let it happen.
Many gym rats tend to think that doing 30 minutes (or more) of ab work a day is necessary for their abs to become defined. Again, wrong.
The abdominal muscles are physiologically thin. Our abs cannot be built up and our belly fat cannot be minimized simply by working our mid-sections.
Drew Baye (who I mentioned earlier), an athletic trainer in Orlando, Florida, who also runs a great fitness blog at baye.com, attacks conventional ab wisdom by arguing: "People who recommend performing long abdominal workouts involving dozens of exercises either don’t know what they’re talking about or are making things more complex for the sake of sounding more knowledgeable than they are."
The Truth
When we view abdominal definition with only a shred of common sense, we see that the reason our abs are not seen is because of the layer of blubber that insulates them. How did this fat there? By eating of course.
The creation of fat is simple. Eating the wrong kinds of foods (sugar) equals excess energy and fat storage.
OK, it's not that simple. We do however understand the underlying causes of weight gain. Or so we think.
Neglecting to do crunches your whole life is not the reason why your abs are not protruding. It has everything to do with what you ate.
Unfortunately the human body stores fat in the stomach area. This truly sucks.
A close friend brought this phenomenon to my attention. She stated that our bodies are pre-programmed to store more fat in the stomach region. Why? Because many of our most important organs are located in the abdominal region. These organs are very delicate and must be protected in case of a traumatic event. Our bodies are in effect protecting us from harm by storing fat in the belly area.
Counter Argument
The argument can be made that "Hey, I'm burning calories when I do ab work!" All I have to say is this: Anybody who honestly believes that any significant amount of energy is needed to sit on the ground and contract their mid-section, needs to stop reading Men's Health and actually LEARN about how the human body operates.
Don't eat that bag of Doritos or get a 6 inch sub instead of a foot long at Subway and you will save yourself a lot of time pretending that you are "burning off" those calories.
I use the term "burning" because that is the term that we associate with exercise and calories. In fact, no burning of any kind happens. We like to believe this because it provides a nice visual, but in truth we are wrong.
This is a topic deserves the time and attention of an entire article, but I will give a quick preview as not to leave you all in the dark.
First of all what is a calorie? "The energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius." According to my MacBook dictionary. What the hell does this have to do with nutrition and exercise? Nothing.
Ever wonder how the amount of calories in food are determined? A machine called a calorimeter is used. A food product is placed in this machine along with a thermometer and proportionate amounts of water. The product is then burned. Each degree that the thermometer rises equals a calorie!
What has the world come to?
When we exercise, we do not burn calories. We simply use ATP (all living organisms basic energy molecule) as energy. The human body does not burn anything, we digest.
Their is much more I would like to write about this process so I will save it for another article.
Now that I have strayed completely off topic.... Lets get back to ab talk.
Ab "Exercises"
For those of you who exercise on a regular basis, you already work your abs enough. This comes without conscious effort. Performing lifts such as squats, standing presses, pull ups, chin ups, and pretty much all exercises that require us to stand engages the abdominal muscles.
I understand that this may come as a shock. So next time you lift weights or workout pay special attention to your abs. You will notice that they are not relaxed.
We do not need to finish a workout with an abs circuit or any other mode of what I like to call "peace of mind" exercises. The belief that our abs even need to be exercised separately than the rest of body, proves yet again that what we deem as correct exercise is far from the way the human body actually operates.
What muscles do you think keep us standing upright while running on the treadmill? The same muscles that prevent us from tipping over when we perform a set of squats.
Final Thoughts
What we eat is far more important than how we exercise. If your looking for a quick fix in terms of ab definition, you can either 1) Not eat for a week or 2) Come to the realization that all great benefits of the human body take time, be patient and eat right.
Always remember Oscar Wilde's quote "Everything popular is wrong." I love saying the words embrace it, so I will say them again...embrace it.
-Ryan
PS. I wasn't joking when I said that Drew Baye's blog was awesome. If you want to get more real, common sense fitness advice click here.
Do we have to eat 3 meals a day?
Somewhere in the transition from caveman to modern human, we lost our ability to listen to our bodies and eat when we need energy. Instead we listen to General Mills and other food companies who tell us to eat breakfast, lunch and diner at 8AM, noon and 6PM (roughly).
Our thinking is flawed. Eating is a simple biochemical process. We eat because our bodies tell us we need energy. True hunger is a result of an energy shortage. I use the term true hunger in terms of eating enough food to supply our bodies energy needs, and no more.
The problem with eating at set times during the day is that we often eat according to what time of the day it is and not when our bodies are telling us to eat.
The myth of 3 meals a day (and 6 meals).
Apparently every single person on earth is supposed to be hungry enough to eat in the morning, afternoon and at night. Considering that our bodies all operate differently, this makes little sense.
What makes a lot of sense is why we continue to follow in our parents footsteps and eat the same foods at the same times as they did. Humans are habitual creatures. Eating is no exception. For 18 years most people are fed the same foods at roughly the same times. This is why the habit of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner has handcuffed the world.
Breakfast
The belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day is a perfect example. I'm sure that I may be burned at the stake by all of the soccer moms out there for saying this, but oh well.
The benefits of eating a "healthy" breakfast are greatly exaggerated by one select group of people. Breakfast food companies. And why wouldn't they?
These companies have a product to sell you and if evidence (no matter how small or inaccurate) says that eating breakfast is beneficial, then they should promote the hell out of it. But their aim is at the uneducated consumer and because you are reading this blog you are not one of those people.
Our bodies are amazing. They tell us when we should go to bed, have sex and when to eat food.
It is a rather simple process. If our bodies need energy it will signal a nerve that tells the brain that it wants food. This feeling of hunger is felt in our stomachs, where a nerve is connected and our food inevitably ends up..
When we need energy we eat. Simple. Our bodies have no concept of what time of day it is.
If you are hungry, eat. If you are not, then don't. It's not rocket science.
I stopped eating my meals at a planned time every day. I now eat when I am hungry. In the process of doing this I realized, by no conscious effort, that I rarely eat breakfast anymore. I do drink a cup of coffee in the morning and that may have an affect on my hunger levels. This is not to say that I never eat breakfast. There are some days when I am hungry and other days when I am not.
By simply listening to my body, I fallen into a routine of eating twice a day. And because I eat foods that have little or no carbs and a lot of protein and fat, I never snack. I am seriously full for a minimum of 6-7 hours. It is awesome.
Some days I eat at 10 or 11 in the morning and other days I'm not hungry till 1 or 2 in the afternoon.
Other eating plans are also available.
The eat six meals a day plan is an example of one. The selling point for this kind of eating system is that eating 6 small meals, every 2-3 hours, will lead to less calories consumed and eventually weight loss.
I personally know individuals who have used this system and lost lots of weight. Unfortunately eating 6 meals a day has very little to do with why weight is lost. The kinds of calories and the amounts of calories consumed play vital roles.
Lets say I ate the same amount of food per day, yet I ate it in six small portions rather than three larger ones, and granted that the amounts would not cause weight gain, it would not matter when I ate. I would be consuming the same kinds and amounts of calories either way.
Do not feel bad for not eating a meal. I often hear that "skipping meals is worse for your health than actually eating." Really? I disagree. Granted that if a meal is skipped because of lack of hunger, this makes complete sense.
If hunger is not present, then there is a reason behind the madness. Whether it be an illness, injury or stress the body is saying that it does not want to go through the very energy intensive process of digesting food.
Again, do not fight it! If you are not hungry it is for a reason, let your bodies voice be heard.
A few other thoughts
Now I must say that if we consistently give our bodies more food that it needs, it will inevitably grow accustomed to receiving food in large amounts and at certain times. Which is why breaking this habit is so difficult.
How do you know that you are giving your body to much of a certain food or food in general? Love handles, man boobs, and double chins would be a good indicator.
Also, I would like to touch on the subject of metabolism increase that results from eating.
One common argument that many people who support eating breakfast use is that eating boosts our metabolism. Which is true. However, the benefits of this are not as dramatic as you may think.
For example, if we were to eat dinner at 6 PM and not eat anything until 8AM our bodies would go through a 14 hour fast. 14 hours is a very long time to go without food. Often overlooked is the fact that 7-9 hours of that 14 are actually spent sleeping. When we sleep, our bodies go into hibernation mode, if you will, and burn very little calories.
Think about it, the only things that our bodies need to do are actions in which we have no control. Heartbeat, breathing, snoring, ext. Our bodies do not exert any physical effort once so ever while we lay in our beds. (Unless you sleep walk. Then I guess that counts.)
Realistically, the amount of metabolism increase that results from simply eating is not significant enough to have any affect on weight loss. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat. We burn 500 calories by running for an hour. How much of an impact could eating honestly have?
Don't forget that human beings survived on earth for 1.94 million years before civilizations were even created. I'm pretty certain food was eaten when they were hungry. Cavemen didn't have Rolex's to check the time.
We sleep when we are tired, we pee when our bladders are full, why not eat when we are truly hungry?
If you have tried the 6 meals a day system or any other food eating system please let us know how it went by leaving a comment!
In the words of Oscar Wilde "Everything popular is wrong."
-Ryan
PS: If you are looking for an "easy" way to break your habitual eating cycle, try fasting. Fasting puts us in tune with our natural hunger system. We become more aware of when and what we eat and most importantly why we eat. If you would like to learn more about fasting, check out the following articles.
3 reasons why we shouldn't eat food
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