It’s time to talk about food and common sense again. Well, I am not sure how much I will actually talk about common sense but that’s what I want to call it. So buck up! Gear up! Get ready to pay attention!

What’s the point of writing about food? What’s the point about caring about what we eat? 

Some people say “we are all going to die anyway” (which I agree, of course) and others say “let’s not make too big a deal with what we eat” or “it doesn’t really matter”… all to which I say fooey! And I rarely say fooey… so there!

You are not going to spend one day more than what God has appointed for you on this earth. Also, you are free to eat what you want and have the consequences of those actions.

The purpose of this site, EAT TODAY TO LIVE TOMORROW, is to join in with me and you on the journey to make wise decisions with the food that we eat so that we can better fulfill the purpose of life, and that is namely to glorify God. I believe God will give each person the strength and resources they need to accomplish His will in their lives.

So when a person has understanding about eating correctly… or eating wisely (a better description), then that is a gift from God. Not everyone’s eyes will be opened to the benefits or even the desire to eat wisely. That is fine. But wisdom is worth pursuing… in all areas of life whether it is finances, food, family, friends, or faith. f f f f and f.

Eating wisely also has practical everyday benefits for which people do not normally connect the dots. Like being able to enjoy each day better because your body has the energy for the day, it has the strength for the day,  it is able to meet physical demands, it is not inhibited from doing things because of unhealthy weight issues, it doesn’t have a sore throat, it is free from headaches, it doesn’t have stomach aches, it doesn’t have toxic metals and chemicals, it doesn’t have cancer ravaging it, it isn’t overwhelmed trying to prevent diseases from taking over, and on and on.

God has created the body with the ability to continually fight off disease and infection. If the body is strong it has the ability to do its job, but if the body is weak then the disease and infection take over. Most people fail to realize that they are all infected with something. It’s like when you go to a different country and they say “don’t eat the street food”… all the while the locals eat the street food and are fine. The reason is because the foreigner (typically U.S. traveller does not have enough healthy bacteria to keep the ’scavenger’ bacteria at bay, while the locals do.

Many times there are people who are ‘carriers’ of germs and microbes who do not get sick. We all have pounds of bacteria in us. There are ’scavenger’ bacteria that feed on decay or harmful substances just like flies on… yeah. If you don’t “clean house” then you are just swatting at flies but the poop is still there. Get it? The people who do not get sick from such bad bacteria have a “clean house” (or prepared defenses) and their body is able to quickly deal with threats that come to the body and eliminate them.

So we are all infected and the body is continually working to maintain a state of stability and equilibrium (homeostasis if you will). The body works to prevent free radical damage from oxidation with anti-oxidants… yes we have all heard that word. 

So there is a wisdom in the choices that you make with what you put in your body. AND it takes reading and learning what is good and what is not. So for example, which of the ingredient lists will be the wiser choice for helping bring stability to your body:

A. Frosted Devil’s Food Donuts: Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Shortening (Soybean, Cottonseed), Water, Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour [Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Reduced Iron, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Folic Acid], Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Egg Yolks, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate), Glycerine, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Dextrose, Corn Syrup, Wheat Starch, Soy Flour, Nonfat Milk, Modified Food Starch (Corn, Tapioca), Soy Lecithin, Sorbitan Monostearate, Mono- and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 60, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Guar Gum, Cellulose Gum, Karaya Gum, Xanthan Gum, Tapioca Dextrin, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Sulfate, Agar, Carob Bean Gum, Sodium Phosphate, Caramel Color.

B. Blueberries (or pick any berry that you like)

I am not even going to tell you that B is the correct answer! Oh. Well. If you don’t want to take the time to learn, then a quick way to go about it is to not buy or eat it if you don’t know what it is or what is in it! That should help you a ton! Most likely you will be staying away from packaged and processed foods because they have plenty of things which you have no idea what they are… and for good reason.

I do not mean to come across too harsh by any means. I grew up eating lots of typical American fare. Heck, after band practice when I was a teenager we used to go to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and down a dozen. I had a major sweet tooth growing up… I know all about Entenmanns and Chips Ahoy and Oreo and little elf dude. BUT that was when I was a child, when I was uninformed, ignorant, stupid, and unhealthy. So were my parents. Most people are. BUT now I have more understanding. (There are much better ways to aid your sweet tooth: it’s called make it from scratch, at home, with good ingredients)

Too my knowledge I have never had a serious illness or disease (as I said we never know what may be in our bodies). My mom did though and passed away from it. That is one of the things that awakened me to the choices I make with my body… and that awakening is a gift from God. Maybe this will be your gift.

After changing my diet over 4 1/2 years ago so many things have changed. It is strange because on the outside, by all appearances, not much has changed at all, but on the inside I feel different and I am different. It is in the little things. I used to always be able to predict when I would get sick and I did about 4-6 times a year no matter what I did. Now I rarely do and if I do, I know how to make it easy for my body to get over it. Also, my digestion is way better.

Digestion is a good indicator of overall health (your gut is a good indicator). It doesn’t entirely matter if you never get sick or if you are “regular”… it matters how the process takes place. Are you able to assimilate (use or integrate) the food you eat? Are you getting value from it? Do you not get sick because your immune system is so weak that you do not show any symptoms when infected? Things are not always as they seem.

Things take time for most of us though. Years of ‘garbage in’ may produce ‘garbage out’ for some time to come. However eating today to live tomorrow will help with the process as you will put ‘good in’ and get ‘good out’… that is, you will reap what you sow.

So don’t ‘live to eat’… but eat today to live tomorrow and eat wisely with good food. “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (James 1:17)

Yes it takes time, money, and work, because fake and processed food is more convenient, cheaper, and readily available. Real food costs more than fake food and takes time to prepare (as it always has for thousands of years). I guess to sum it all up: When it comes to food most people have sacrificed understanding and health for ignorance and convenience.

Fast food is out, slow food is in. 

Feel free to email me if you have any questions or would like to chat. Tim (at) ettlt.com

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Food and Common Sense (numero uno, the first, volume 1, in the beginning)

It’s a real bummer that fish is getting more contaminated. Especially since wild caught fish is so healthy otherwise.

A new study by the US Geological Survey had some sad findings that I wanted to highlight.

-In the past 15 years, mercury levels in the Northern Pacific have increased 30% and are expected to rise another 50% by 2050.

-about 40% of all mercury exposure in the U.S. comes from eating contaminated Tuna from the Pacific, and roughly 75% of all exposure to mercury comes from eating fish. That’s a wowzer.

You can read the article here.

There are still some safe choices for wild fish… even in the pacific. Wild Alaskan Salmon is still the safest choice for salmon. Also, look for smaller fish that do not have as high levels of contamination. The larger fish such as Tuna, King Mackerel, Swordfish and other large fish are much worse than fish such as salmon, sardines, and herring.

Let’s talk about green beans. I am a huge fan of green beans… especially Italian style. Almost every time I go to visit my grandma she makes green beans cause she knows how much I like them. She knows I like them with some extra virgin olive oil, sauteed garlic, and tomatoes and then cooked down till tender.

Unfortunately most people’s experience with green beans is having a can of them dumped into a pot with pieces of bacon… blah. Canned green beans are just blah.

If you don’t know how good green beans are then let me help you get acquainted with them. Green beans are chocked full of vitamins, minerals, and goodies like: vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, manganese, magnesium, potassium, folate, iron, calcium, copper, phosphorus, tryptophan, protein, dietary fiber, and omega-3 fatty acids!

Wow. What a vegetable… I mean bean. Green beans are in the same family as shell beans but unlike them you can eat the whole thing (pod and bean) and eat them raw. I especially like this about green beans… they just seem so fresh. I mean… if you eat other beans raw you can get some nice/terrible stomach cramps… but oh no not with Mr. Green Bean. I especially like french green beans (haricot verts). 

Oh the days of cleaning and picking off the stems of green beans for my mom or grandma. Nostalgia. Sigh.

Hm. There was an interesting study that showed organic apples to have about 15% higher antioxidant capacity over conventional produce. AND not only that but they come without the pesticides and herbicides… how ’bout that.

The study from Germany was published in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. You can read the  write up at Nutraingredients.com.

So in case you hadn’t heard I thought I would let you know that new diabetes cases are up about 90 percent. Yeah, that’s right… 90 percent. Reuters reported it here.

And in case you didn’t know non-alcoholic fatty liver disease leads to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Check out this article. Diets high in fructose (especially with refined forms like high-fructose corn syrup) lead to fatty liver disease. Being that about 80 percent of things in the typical grocery store use high-fructose corn syrup… well that should simplify your grocery shopping!

I just read a recent article about red meat increasing mortality risk… ? I almost laughed when I read it. Let me just clear something up for everyone. Your risk of mortality is 100%. Here is the article I am referring to.

The problem with a study like this is that they do not take to account the quality of red meat in the study. As can be clearly seen, the benefits of red meat from grass-fed cows, lamb, and bison, are far superior to that of conventionally raised animals. Judging from the nitrates and nitrites in processed meats, combined with poor nutrition, it is pretty easily surmised that red meat would pose greater risks. BUT, it also has the potential for greater reward.

The levels of omega-3’s and CLA simply are not there when you study the typical meat that the typical person gets at the typical grocery. Ironic that a product of our advanced times is having nutritionally inferior food.

For some examples of people who are doing it right and doing it well (in their respective areas), check out:

www.organicpastures.com

www.gourmentpasturebeef.com

God knew what He was doing when He made cows to graze on grass.

There was an interesting article on Mercola that cited a study in the British Journal of Cancer that shows the correlation between vitamin D levels and prostate cancer. Men with prostate cancer were as much as seven times less likely to die if they have high levels of natural vitamin D (from sunlight).

Being that most men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime… this is pertinent to… well, most men. Having appropriate levels of vitamin D is an important thing you can do in fighting or preventing many different cancers.

The best way to obtain vitamin D is through sunlight. By getting plenty of sunlight you can get your vitamin D without overdosing and creating vitamin D toxicity (easily done by taking too many pills).  If you are unable to get enough sunlight, then taking a vitamin D3 supplement makes sense… it is just hard to know your blood levels of vitamin D unless you get tested… so it is much more advisable to spend time in the sun.

And no, you do not need to worry about getting skin cancer from the sun. In fact you are more likely to get it by avoiding the sun and using toxic sunscreens on your skin. That doesn’t mean you should go outside and fry yourself candy apple red, but it does mean you should gradually increase your sun exposure till you can regularly be in the sun without worrying of getting burnt. In fact, chances of melanoma decrease with greater sun exposure.

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