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Firlefanz
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Perfect Health Diet
Perfect Health Diet by Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet is an extremely interesting book. It upsets a lot of my common beliefs about food.
In a nutshell, they recommend eliminating:
- all grains (exept white rice)
- all vegetable oils (corn oil is especially bad)
- all legumes (beans, soy, peanuts etc.)
- fructose
from your diet. This follows a "paleo diet", in a way.
They also suggest eating fairly little carbs (defined as very starchy food like rice, potatoes etc.), moderate amouns of meat and lots of fat (everything counted as calories). Vegetables can be eaten as much or as little as feels good, they don't count as carbs. The authors suggest that the fibre of vegetables is converted into fat in the gut - *that* was complete news for me!
The most impressive part of the book is the amount of studies they quote. EVERY page is full of footnotes leading to scientific studies, so their claims are by no means unfounded.
This book is making me very, very thoughtful. I'm going to try this diet for a week or so and see what happens. They claim that following this diet will help with inflamation and infection (sinusitis!), will raise body temperature and ease a lot of other ailments.
At any rate, this is very, very different from many other diets and yet the claims are supported by science.
Last edited by Firlefanz, 2/2/2012, 8:34 am
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2/2/2012, 8:32 am
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TexasMadness
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Re: Perfect Health Diet
My cousin SWEARS by the paleo diet she started following about 2 years ago. It's a bit extreme for me, but if you can follow it, loads of people think it is amazing.
I'm more of the opinion that grains aren't horrible - it's just the shear quantity we eat of them right now. I think in reasonable amounts, you can still have a healthy diet.
Most vegetable oils I would have to agree with. They are a fairly new addition to our diets (grains have been around at least 10,000 years if not more) Corn oil, for instance, was first 'extracted' around 1900. It's the ultra processing that worries me. It's not *meant* to be food. Other vegetable oils that cultures have traditional used (because they are readily pressed) like olive oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, I have less of an issue with. Still, I cook with a lot of butter. I'm trying to convince myself to use lard but I haven't made that leap yet!
Sounds like an interesting book. I'd love to hear how the diet goes for you.
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2/2/2012, 3:14 pm
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Firlefanz
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Re: Perfect Health Diet
It will be very hard to give up grains. I want to try it for a week, and see if I can really manage - and if I see results.
Bread is an integral part of German life, much more so than simple toast in the US. German bakeries have declined somewhat with the advent of chains, but we still have thousands of varieties of bread and rolls. Bread is a firm ingredient in breakfast and supper. So I'm at a bit of a loss trying to plan for something different.
Still, the case they make in the book against grains seems fairly clear.
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2/2/2012, 3:25 pm
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Saijen SilverWolf1
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Re: Perfect Health Diet
I'm with Texas.....this is a bit extreme for me.
We use mostly olive oil for cooking, but I use canola oil in my cornbread. I really go through the olive oil...lol.
I personally don't like using lard to cook with. At least butter gives the food some flavor..lol.
Firle, much good luck on this endeavor. It will be interesting to hear your results.
--- "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
~~@Saijen@~~
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2/3/2012, 2:09 am
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Firlefanz
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Re: Perfect Health Diet
Olive oil is fine, I think. They suggest coconut oil and palm kernel oil, though. The food they identify as worst toxins are wheat, soy and fructose. I've avoided soy for most of my life (just never liked it), and I had to force myself to eat most fruit (except strawberries!), but ... I love wheat. Ah, well.
I'm working on shifting over and just bought a lot of potatoes. They will become my starch staple, rather than bread. I had some last night with lot of butter, and a small wedge of cheese, and it was so yummy and filling, I was amazed. I only had a small bowl, one biggish potato and one really small one. And I had a great night's sleep.
I'm still reading the book, and I'm constantly amazed they quote at least one study for every claim they make. It's by far the most scientific diet book I ever read. Sadly, they don't offer much in the way of recipes, so I have to experiment on my own.
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2/3/2012, 9:30 am
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TexasMadness
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Re: Perfect Health Diet
Just remember that food/nutrition science is still in its infancy. You can find studies to support contradicting claims because there are so many variable involved. That's not to say the author is cherry-picking bad science studies or anything. I've just been surprised at reading well performed studies that reach contradictory results.
In my opinion, the "proof of the pudding is in the eating". I don't think there is a one diet to fit every person on this planet. But if a particular diet makes YOU feel good, then it is a good one for you. So with that said, I'm quite interested to hear how this goes for you!
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2/3/2012, 4:10 pm
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Firlefanz
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Re: Perfect Health Diet
I'll keep you updated.
Today is my first grain free day, I hope I can actually stick to that for three days at least. It's HARD. All my quick snacks involve bread of various kinds, so I have to be creative. And that's not fun when you're really hungry. Hehe.
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2/3/2012, 6:14 pm
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Saijen SilverWolf1
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Re: Perfect Health Diet
I hope this works for you like you're expecting it to. I'm with Texas....no diet is a One Size Fits All deal, so you have to find what works best for you. If this is that one....then go for it sistah!!!!
And....squeezing my thumbs for you on this!!!!
--- "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
~~@Saijen@~~
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2/4/2012, 3:15 am
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Firlefanz
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Re: Perfect Health Diet
Thanks, Saijen! This is the first diet ever that made sense to me, and that actually tastes good!
So, now it's been 24 hours since I ate my last bit of grain. Feeling good and not deprived at the moment, in fact, what little I ate today really was satisfying.
I had a plate of gently fried potatoes with some bacon strips for breakfast. (Me! Me, who eats an apple and a slice of bread with cream cheese for breakfast! And that smallish plate was a bit too much already.) Then I had a really yummy small hard sausage (salami type) at the farmers' market and a cup of hot cocoa. And that kept me going until now, late afternoon. I snacked on some raw carrots, and plan on cooking cabbage and frying a piece of salmon I got at the market.
It certainly feels good.
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2/4/2012, 4:51 pm
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Saijen SilverWolf1
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Re: Perfect Health Diet
Glad to hear that so far you're doing well and it seems to be keeping you satisfied.
I've noticed when I do a bit more for breakfast, my whole day seems to go better. The potatoes and bacon sound really good.
--- "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
~~@Saijen@~~
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2/5/2012, 6:43 am
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