We love our cheese!

[at_anchor]

I've been trying to improve my diet fo the past many years with little to no success. Now I know that milk products are terrible, although I forgot exactly why. Yeah, they have a lot of choresterol, lactose and casein which are said to cause health problems, but I'm still not entirely convinced. Also, it is not ethical to drink milk meant for a baby cow. I don't buy milk products, but when I'm offered some cake or cheese at home, I rarely say no and stick to it for long. Life is such that I probably won't be able to stop consuming the wrong food articles for the rest of my life.

Do you have anything to add on this topic? If not, it's fine. Saying that something is unhealthy isn't gonna make someone stop consuming it, even with all the evidence and reasons laid flat on the ground for you. There are actual physical obstacles sometimes.

[Yarco]

There's a lot worse vices you can have in life besides cheese. 

Mediterranean diet (Greece, Italy) is quite healthy and people there live a long time. Despite eating a fair amount of cheese, olive oil, wine, etc. Simply not eating a ton of red meat or processed foods already puts you ahead of most people in Western countries.

Also not all cheese is created equal. A super artificial Kraft Singles slice is not the same thing as feta. The first one, they legally have to label as "cheese product" 

Something like Camembert or Brie vs. a $5 brick of processed cheddar are entirely different products. They both start with milk, but everything about the process of creating them, their nutritional profile, and how your body handles them is different.

[at_anchor]

@Yarco Great, I didn't know so much about cheese before reading your post. Camembert looks so delicious I simply have to try it.

But red meat might actually be more healthy than milk and milk products, I don't know. Milk has more cholesterol, lactose, casein and so on. Plus, it is just as unethical, cause a baby cow gets taken away from her mother so that they can milk her dry. I don't know, maybe there is more milk than needed so maybe we milk what is left.

[Superfluo]

@Michael569 Am I wrong or was your view of dairy products different some time ago? What made you change your mind?

[Superfluo]

@Michael569 Thanks

[Osaid]

Quote

I have a huge issue with modern nutritional reductionism such as "all seeds oils are bad bro" 

@Michael569

What's your take on seed oils?

More specifically, these concerns:

-The unbalanced omega 6 to 3 ratio

-How easily it oxidizes

-How high it is in polyunsaturated fat

-The extreme processing it often goes through

Thanks in advance.

[Osaid]

14 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Low intake of Omega 3 appears to be a much bigger issue than high intake of Omega 6. People with highest consumption of Linolenic Acid (main Omega 6 in oils) consistently show better health outcomes for heart disease, Alzheimer's & dementia, cancer and diabetes. I no longer think the ratio is important. Sufficient intake of Omega 3 is more important. 

Interesting. I also think the whole omega 6 ratio thing needs to be looked at much more holistically, and it's especially tricky when it comes to diets.

Nuts also have relatively higher omega 6. I find it hard to believe that something as nutritionally dense as nuts would be "bad" or "inflammatory" because of this unbalanced ratio. Actually, if we take nuts for example, nuts have a lot of anti-inflammatory compounds in addition to the unbalanced omega 6. I don't think we need to be worried about inflammation when eating nuts, that doesn't make sense to me, and I don't think anyone has experienced inflammation from eating nuts. There are compounds in nuts which we need to consider in addition to the omega 6. I think we have to be more holistic by looking at what is also being eaten alongside certain fats, like omega 6 fatty acids.
 

14 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Not something I'm concerned with anymore. If the oxidization was harmful, we would again see people who consume the highest amounts of seed oils have the worst health.....and we'll they don't. Once you start replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats, people get better (statistically speaking). We keep hearing about non-oxidising saturated fats yet highest consumption of saturated fats is associated with poorer health outcomes...I wonder why that is/ 

Well, I would wonder where the saturated fats are coming from and what they are being eaten with. Same thing for seed oils.

I actually read an article from The Nutrivore recently, and there was an interesting point about how vitamin E can actually slow down the rate at which fat oxidizes. It really emphasizes the idea of being holistic and seeing what is being consumed alongside certain fats.

14 hours ago, Michael569 said:

why is that a bad thing? 

Same reasoning as above. Polyunsaturated fats are less stable so they oxidize easier which leads to increased free radicals.

14 hours ago, Michael569 said:

half of the stuff we eat these days is processed but that does not make it bad either. Tofu is processed, dark chocolate is processed, canned mackerel is processed, and nutritional yeast is processed. I wouldn't say any of those are particularly unhealthy. Processing doe snot necessarily make foods worse. In fact, sometimes it makes certain nutrients more bioavailable and allows for a higher concentration of other components. It is overindulgence on sugar-loaded process foods or those that contain trans fats that I see as the real issue. Fibre deficiency as well perhaps. 

This is true, but seed oils in particular tend to have an especially concerning processing which involves hexanes and deodorizing methods and extremely high temperatures.

14 hours ago, Michael569 said:

But I am not yet as confident on this topic as I'd like to be. I would suggest you watch some of "The Nutrivore"'s content if you want to learn more from someone who has gone down this rabbit hole. 

I've seen a few articles of theirs here and there, I will definitely look into them deeper though.

[Thought Art]