Why You Should Not Overcook Your Meat

There is paranoia among some people about "undercooked" meat.  If it is not browned all the way through, you think you are going to get food poisoning.  The idea that rare meat is dangerous is not new.  When a meat is cooked rare, or medium rare, part of the center usually retains a lot of similarity to its original texture, thus some are convinced it is still raw.  This fear is unfounded, and what is often not realized is that there is actually just as much to be afraid of by overcooking your meat as there is not cooking it enough.  While these effects are not as immediate as food poisoning, over time they can lead to lack of nutrition and risk of disease.

You risk more than just loss of flavor when you overcook your steaks.

Author: BrokenSphere, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

Damage to Amino Acids

 

In meat, you acquire complete proteins, including branched chain amino acids.  However, many of these amino acids can be destroyed or compromised by excess cooking.

 

Dangerous Compounds

 

Two classes of compounds are formed when meat undergoes excess heat for too long.  Heterocyclic amines (HA), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).  What is the problem with these two compounds?  Well, they are both carcinogenic.  Eating enough of these, over a long enough period of time, is an avenue of potential long term exposure and higher risk of disease.  One compound in particular, acrylamide, is an exceptional culprit.  It is also formed in fried foods.

 

Inhibits Digestion

If food reaches an excessively high temperature, it can change its composition enough that it is more difficult for the body to both digest and absorb.  That means you will only get a fraction of the available proteins, fats, and micronutrients.

If food sits in the stomach and intestines for too long, it can partially ferment and cause irritation to both.  That will make your eliminations less regular, rendering you more susceptible to things such as colon cancer.  This is also yet another reason that processed foods are harmful.

Breaks Down Some Nutrients

In addition to the problem of your body being able to digest and absorb nutrients, some of them will also be destroyed by excess temperature.  Some micronutrients and vitamins will break down due to thermal cleavage of bonds, and will thus be rendered useless to the system once they are taken in.

Multivitamins: No Substitute for a Healthy Diet, and Possibly Very Harmful

So, you know your diet isn't always the best.  You tend to heap on the pasta, but eat the parsley and the small vegetable garnish on the side when you eat Italian, so you can give yourself a false sense of consolation that you don't completely ignore your greens.

But, you don't fret too much.  Because you have an insurance policy.  What your diet lacks, you make up for in this pill you take every day.  Probably at breakfast, if you are not one to skip breakfast in favor of your daily donut at the office.  This is, of course, a reference to your multivitamin.  Now you don't have to worry about what you eat so much, because you take this daily, religiously.  All the vitamins you need packed into a neat little pill, so you are guaranteed to never have a vitamin deficiency!  Or, are you really guaranteed?

That, of course, is a rhetorical question.  And a clear, "No," is the answer.  Your daily multivitamin cannot, will not, ever be a substitute for eating whole, nutrient packed foods.  In fact, there is mounting evidence that your multivitamin may even be harmful.

Author: Jü 

Chiral isomers of medetomidine.  The orientation of a molecule can make a surprising difference in how, and if, it is absorbed and processed by the body.

Most Vitamin Pills are Synthetic

Over 90% of the brands of multivitamin pills sold over the counter have been synthesized in a laboratory.  Why does this matter?  Some vitamins, such as Vitamin E, have different enantiomers, which are different isomers of the same molecule.  There is a Vitamin E-d, and Vitamin E-l.  The d stands for dextrorotatory, and the l stands for levorotatory.  The d is the one found in nature and utilized by the body, while the l version is synthetic.  The levorotatory version of Vitamin E is not usable by the body, and will at best be excreted, and at worst, stored.

You Risk Excesses of Vitamins

While deficiencies of vitamins can render you susceptible to many illnesses, including heart disease and cancers, excesses of vitamins can in many cases be equally harmful.  For instance, Vitamin A has been shown to increase the risk of lung cancer.  Excesses of Vitamin E have been shown to increase the risk of heart failure, as well as overall mortality rates.

It is widely known that too much Vitamin C in your system is widely known to cause diarrhea and increase the risk of kidney stones. 

Another major problem with excesses has to do with the liver.  The liver processes only what the body needs.  Excesses are often times just passed through, however, the liver will also at times store them for later use.  Therefore, long term excesses will not allow the liver to get rid of its excesses.  Vitamins stored in the liver for a long period of time can cause fatty liver and other forms of liver damage.

Multivitamin Pills Do Not Have Other Micronutrients

There are 13 essential vitamins in total.  Yes, they can be encapsulated in a pill.  However, there are a wide variety of micronutrients you will not receive from a pill that you get from eating a healthy diet of whole foods.

Foods not only contain vitamins, but also essential minerals, and other healthful molecules such as antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, trace elements, and helpful fatty acids.

Conclusion

To date, there is no one "silver bullet" pill for curing all disease, and there is also none for prevention.  There really is no substitute for eating a healthy, nutritious diet.

However, that does not mean all supplementation is bad, or useless, of course.  While multivitamins may be bad for you, there are certain supplements which can be helpful.  For instance, most people are deficient in certain elements such as magnesium.  Most people are also deficient in another critical nutrient, especially those in seasonal or cold climates.  Vitamin D can be very difficult to get through sun exposure in cold weather.  Vitamin D is not actually a vitamin, but a hormone.  It is extremely critical in the prevention of a wide array of diseases, and for healthy gene expression.  Another example of a healthy type of supplement are extractions such as turmeric that have powerful anti-inflammatory properties.

Mistakes You are Making that Reduce Nutritional Value of Food

We might think it's bad for our teeth.  We may not like the taste, or the texture.  Or in some cases, we might mistakenly even think it's bad for our internal system.  Maybe useless or not digestible.  But, in fact, if you do these alterations or eliminations, you are missing out on huge nutritional benefits that the food in question has to offer.

What can be just as dangerous a long term path as nutritional carelessness is thinking you are eating healthy, when you actually are throwing away nutrients.  Here are some things that are commonly done that shouldn't be done to some healthy foods and superfoods.

Unless you are making applesauce or apple pie with the intention of eating for a dessert for pleasure and not for nutritional value, never, never peel your apple.

Source: Flickr: Peeling apples for applesauce

Author:  Jason Popesku, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

 

You Peel Your Apples

Perhaps you prefer the texture of a peeled apple.  Or just don't want to deal with the potential nuisance of a piece of skin getting stuck between your teeth.  But if you knew what was in that skin, you would know it would definitely be worth the potential minor inconvenience.

The truth is, the skin contains about 5-6 times the vitamins and antioxidants as the apple's flesh.  The skin is also loaded with phytonutrients, which have powerful anti-inflammatory properties.  

The only part of the apple you should actively avoid are the seeds.  The seeds contain arsenic, which is a natural defense mechanism against consumption, ensuring that the next generation will breed.  Arsenic is a particularly dangerous heavy metal, not only because its presence is toxic, but until it is removed, it to a considerable degree inhibits detoxification of other heavy metals present in the body.

The skin, however, contains nothing but goodness.  So unless its applesauce or a pie you are making, don't peel the apple and throw the skin away.

Throwing Away Grape Seeds

 

In a stark contrast to the above warning about eating apple seeds, if you throw the grape seeds out, you are throwing away a lot of nutrients.  They don't have the best texture at first, but you can get used to them.  They have a comparatively weak shell, so they will not hurt your teeth to bite into them.

Grape seeds contain many of the nutrients that the flesh and skin do, and some of them in greater quantities.  A little known fact is that seeds also contain essential fatty acids in addition to the antioxidants and anti inflammatory micronutrients.

The most notable group of flavonoids found in grape seeds are the proanthocyanins.  Apart from their own antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, they also enhance the properties of other groups of antioxidants.  This is a property known as synergy.

Eat the whole grape, don't spit out the seed!

Adding Milk or Cream to Your Tea

 

Yes, it can taste very good.  It can add a richer, creamier accent to your tea of choice.  Unfortunately, it can also considerably reduce the nutritional benefits.  All tea has a variety of antioxidants, including polyphenols.  Black teas have the least, but still a considerable amount, while green and white teas are more plentiful.

While it may be tempting to add milk or cream to your tea, there is a culprit in the dairy called casein.  This protein is one of the two proteins found in dairy products, the other being whey.  The problem with the casein is that it has an affinity for many of these antioxidants present in tea, and will bind to them, rendering them useless to the body.

If you wish to flavor your tea, add lemon juice, or a small amount of honey, preferably raw honey.  Raw honey packs a powerhouse nutritional punch in and of itself, while lemon can enhance, rather than inhibit the antioxidant properties of tea.