You travel along the path we call life, grow up and take for granted many things as gospel. Unfortunately there are some learnings related to diet that are so incorrect and can damage your health. It is like walking into a health trap set up for you by society at large. Family members and friends all believe in the same “truths” that you once believed. Here are some that I had to test and then was forced to change my stance on them.
Weight loss, from a conceptual viewpoint is actually quite simple, but there are so many nuances that make it quite difficult to achieve and maintain an ideal weight. Your body is designed by evolution, with vestiges from long-past times. Your body will do all it can to not allow you to diet down and die because you ran out of energy. To understand how this mechanism works will help you reduce down to a healthy weight.
In my quest for nutrition information I have researched a lot. Mario Kratz, Phd, has a Youtube channel that I watch called “NourishedByScience”. He has published some really convincing arguments for understanding weight gain and how to reverse it. One of his theories is that we will naturally eat until we no longer feel hungry. Different meals can vary in the number of calories consumed, which has a direct bearing on weight gain. A meal can be satiating, where we stop early, and therefore consume less calories. Another meal can take a lot more food to make us feel full, therefore increasing calorie consumption and therefore gain weight. This is what he calls the satiety index
Legumes are an excellent food source because they are economical, have a low glycemic index, high fiber, high protein, sustainable, gentle on Mother Earth and is a base natural unprocessed food. They are a great alternative to meat, or as an addition. Beans don’t impart much flavour, so you need to be more creative with how you use them.
My family did not really grow up eating a lot of beans. We really only had kidney beans in stews, black eyed beans in rice and navy beans in tomato sauce, from a can. Learning more about beans was eye opening.
The decimation wrought by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 2022 Feb 24 has been immense. Ukraine has crumbled, its economy severely damaged and its people scattered across the EU and the Western world. On one hand Ukraine has a bully neighbour intent on destroying it, while on the other Western countries have continued to provide Ukraine with enough weapons to continue its fight, the result being even more destruction of Ukraine. Ukraine’s predicament has had many other global implications, almost all bad.
The Covid-19 pandemic slowed down the world economy by messing up supply chains, but the real kicker to the world was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the West’s response to it. Decisions by the West early in the invasion clearly helped Russia and decimated Ukraine, but no country and people will get off Scot-free. As oil and gas, and wheat prices skyrocket, coupled with supply chain problems with China, the world will soon welcome a global recession.
You would think that once you have attained sufficient resources to satisfy a specific need that, once satisfied, you would then redirect excess resources to a different need. For example if you needed a healthy snack and wanted to eat an apple, once you ate an apple or two you would be satiated and stop. Instead you would then look to your other needs, if you were still hungry, such as a sandwich, to balance out your meal. It would be illogical to simply keep searching for and buying various different apples for the sake of variety and interest. In my simple view that is not what I see in the world.
Yupin Brand of Fried Dace with salted black beans. There are 2 other flavours, but I didn’t try them.
Fried dace with salted black beans is a quintessentially Southern Chinese dish, one that I never grew up with. The dish was used to preserve food for Cantonese workers that were working in foreign countries. Fried dace with salted black beans comes in a uniquely shaped can, lasts a long time and can be simply eaten with white rice. The flavour is a savoury umami taste. I don’t think it is too salty. My Grandmother was said to eat it on a regular basis.
