Leah wrote:Tex, what about antioxidants? Fruits and veggies are where most of them lie and I believe that they are an important way to help repair cellular damage. Thoughts?
I guess that I've done too much online research, and read too many conflicting research reports over the years. Because years ago, I used to believe all that stuff and worry about antioxidants and things of that sort, but one day it dawned on me that most of the recommendations for issues such as that are based on small to insignificant differences in evidence, gleaned from data that have been carefully selected to confirm whatever agenda any particular research project is designed to promote, and so I have kinda lost faith in most of those conclusions/promotions. As long as health-related research is virtually always financed by those with a financial interest in the outcome, it will always be of dubious value.
Like the nitrates in bacon, these days I just ignore most of those claims. Sure, if I were to eat a truckload of bacon every day, after a few decades, the nitrates in it would probably measurably increase my odds of experiencing an adverse event related to it. Similarly, antioxidants probably have some effect, and various foods contain various antioxidant levels. If we spent enough time trying to figure out an optimum way for us to safely ingest enough of them, that might even provide a measurable benefit, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort.
Until recent years, primitive societies living in arctic regions virtually never included fruits or vegetables in their diet (they lived on fatty meat), but as far as I'm aware, they never had to deal with the health issues faced by modern western societies.
The older I get, the more long-standing health claims I see making headlines, as some research group decides to check them out, and lo and behold, they find that the claims don't hold up to careful scientific scrutiny. Sooner or later, that seems to be happening to virtually every such health claim ever made. So I no longer get excited about any of it. As Ant said, "Follow the money". It's always about money.
No, I don't worry about antioxidants. I just make sure that I have plenty of meat and animal fat in my diet (incidentally, this is why the Eskimos get plenty of antioxidants in their diet). If you will compare the antioxidants in a serving of meat (or animal fat) to the antioxidants in any fruit or vegetable of your choice, you will see why I don't worry about antioxidants, and why the USDA and the medical community recommendations to limit intake of meat and animal fats is counterproductive for health.
http://antioxidants-nutrients.com/food/ ... grease.php
At 43 milligrams per serving, plain old bacon fat exactly matches the antioxidant level of a serving of cooked, drained, unsalted kale, for example. I'll grant you, some fruits and veggies have higher levels of antioxidants (spinach, for example), but many have much lower levels. Ground, cooked pork has 98 milligrams per serving. That leaves many fruits and vegetables in the dust. Beef does almost as well, and poultry meat is not too far behind.
As with most health issues, if you eat whole foods, regardless of the particular foods you choose, you will probably be OK (despite what the USDA and your doctor may think).
Tex
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It's gratifying to see that I'm not the only one with such "bad" dietary habits.