Hey everyone,

Hope you're doing great!

I'm new to this forum, and mainly on it for the "business" stuff.

At the same time, I'm a bit of a nutrition info addict.

About 6 months ago I started down a crazy rabbit hole of health info that's really blowing my mind. (No I'm not trying to sell anything here )

And because I'm a nutrition nut, I just feel like I have to share

Here's what I used to think:

-Sugar is bad
-Saturated fat is bad
-Fish oil is good
-Nuts and seeds are good
-Lean cuts of meat are best

Now I think almost the exact opposite:

-Sugar is good
-Saturated fat is good
-Fish oil is bad
-Nuts and seeds are bad
-Lean cuts of meat are best in moderation (gelatinous cuts are better.)

Why?

Well, you could literally read for years on the subjects, but a quick summary:

Sugar is probably good because sugar is half glucose, half fructose. Fructose doesn't stimulate insulin, and that means that even white rice has a higher insulin release than refined sugar. Fructose also can get into your cell to create cellular energy (increased metabolism) when your cell is being blocked by free fatty acids in your blood stream (that "effect" is called the Randle Cycle.) Fructose can also increase uric acid, which is one of the most potent anti-oxidants in your body, and has actually been associated with longer life spans. Fructose can also increase cholesterol a bit, and cholesterol is the precursor to good steroid hormones like testosterone. Overall the glucose/fructose balance is sort of a yin/yang effect on your metabolism and seems to do good things. And it does not seem to actually increase bodyfat when you eat it within "reasonable" calorie ranges.

Saturated fat is basically the most stable fat you can eat. If you care about free-radical damage, then you probably want to eat "stable" fats, because they don't oxidize very easily. You can observe how stable saturated fats are compared to say, fish oil, or poly-unsaturated fats by just leaving out a bottle of coconut oil (saturated fat) and a bottle of canola oil, or fish oil, or vegetable oil, etc. The unsaturated will go rancid much much quicker due to it oxidizing. Also saturated fat is solid at room temperature, and can cook at much higher temperatures without breaking down and burning up/smoking. When unsaturated fats oxidize they can cause "lipid peroxidation" which causes cell damage and is a really nasty thing to have in your system. And the more unsaturated fats you eat, the more you store in your cells, and the more they can break up and cause oxidative damage.

Fish oil is probably bad stuff due to the fact that it's highly unstable, and oxidizes super fast. It's quite possible that the anti-inflammatory effects you can get from fish oil is because it down-regulates your immune system due to the damage it's causing, after-all, inflammation is one of the first responses of the immune system, if you knock that down, you reduce inflammation. Fish oil was originally used as an ingredient in paint, until they realized there was better stuff because the fish oil went bad too quickly. So the "industry" re-invented itself as a "health supplement." Ever heard of Linseed Oil for furniture polish? Well, that's code for "Flax seed oil" which is also touted as a "healthy omega 3 supplement" but the only reason why they use it for polish is because it oxidizes so fast and turns hard. You probably don't want that happening in your body.

Nuts and seeds are bad for the same reason as fish oil, but to a lesser degree, they have lots of unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats as well, and can gunk up your system. Also this applies to the seed oils like soy oil, and canola oil, etc.

Lean cuts of meat seem cool and at the same time, if you want to avoid "refined" foods, then you may want to cut down on lean muscle meats, cause you're essentially "refining" the animal down to one specific type of meat and only eating that. Just like refining sugar down to one part, or taking off the husk of rice and calling it "refined white rice" etc. The possible issue with only eating muscle meats is that their is a high concentration of tryptophan and cystine which can overburden your system. Tryptophan can convert to serotonin, which can be good potentially, probably mostly if it's in your *brain* (but that's even under debate) but most of the serotonin ends up in your gut, and too much can be a not-so-good-thing. Also cystine can be a thyroid antagonist and slow your metabolic rate and lead to other issues. Better "cuts" of meat are probably gelatinous cuts, like stuff you have to slow cook, or BBQ to break down the connective tissues. Those are much less rich in tryptophan and cystine, and still have all the protein goodness. They also have lots of "collagen" which can be really good for you as well.

There's much much more to it, and I fully admit I could be wrong.

At the same time, I do believe lots of health info out there is super-misleading and I feel like I've grabbed onto a little truth.

If you've got other opinions I'd love to hear them.

And If you have evidence to back me up, that'd be cool too

I do like to debate sometimes though

Happy Wednesday!
-Sean