Around where I live there are different kinds of trees, and flowers and grasses. Also there are squirrels, possums,raccoons, rats, cats, dogs, birds, fish, ants, butterflies, spiders, bees, skeeter eaters, worms and humans! I'm sure I'm leaving someone out, but those are some of our neighbors.
Cocoa = yummm and woooo!!!!!!....maybe?
It seems like the Cacao plant is the thing that is beneficial. Chocolate has a lot of things added to it that end up negating the benefits. Consumption of refined sugars is very bad for our health as we learned in the "Question of Balance" in the Chemistry class, refined white sugar is found in the extremely acid forming food section with a pH of 5-5.5 and the note says, "poison! Avoid it." I'm assuming that a healthy food becomes less healthy if you add poison to it...I think.
Studies have shown that milk actually blocks the positive effects of antioxidants. The studies have been done on chocolate, berries, teas, and coffee. Also the processing of chocolate where it is heated multiple times causes the nutritional content to be vastly diminished.
I do believe that diet is a major key in avoiding many of the health problems in our society, but I don't think it it should be based on any one food. Like ecosystems, diets are best when they include a diversity of plants, not just one super plant.
Class Discussion: Vegan Diet and Arthritis
I find diet studies to be extremely beneficial in helping individuals know what types of foods that cause them problems. We are what we eat. Literally, our Qi and cells are made out of the raw materials of the food that we put in our mouths. It is not surprising that we can control many illnesses with changes in diet.
Unfortunately the public is kept in the dark about how important diet is. Everyone knows what we eat is important, but I don't know that we know just HOW important. There is no real profit in changing diet, and doctors are no more knowledgeable about diet and its relationship to health than the general public. Most medical schools don't even require diet to be studied, and the few that do require only a 2-3 hour nutrition course.
In my opinion, diet is the cheapest and easiest way to change our healthcare system. If dietitians were more respected for the invaluable contribution they give with their knowledge of diet and how it effects our health, it would go a long way to keeping our medical expenses down. Prevention is so much cheaper, safer, easier and less environmentally destructive than chronic illness maintenance.
It has always blown my mind that the only nutrition education doctors receive (if they receive any at all) is a 2-3 hour nutrition course. Why this isn't even enough to convince them of the necessity to bring diet into the equation let alone to allow them to make referrals to dietary specialists.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely with you on diet being the cheapest easiest way to change our healthcare system and it saddens me that our mass-media try to portray this option as only available to the wealthy and of course to strident fringe believers.