Balanced Food
 

Always take healthy and balanced diet for your good health and fitness.
Include all necessary foods elements such vitamins, protein, fiber, carbohydrates, calcium, iron, and some healthy fat in your diet to make it more healthy and balanced.

The debate is what constitutes a balanced diet. I assume you mean eating lean
animal protein, fish, a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grain products, non or low fat dairy and limited fats....assuming there are no medical issues with ingesting various foods.

Step #1: Eliminate all processed foods
 

Good advice, Carney. To start with, I would suggest eliminating all processed foods (other than cooking, which is a form of processing). To the degree that we eat processed foods, we unbalance our diets because processed foods are unbalanced.

Examples:

An apple is balanced but apple pie is not.

Cherries - yes / Cherry cobbler - no

Corn - yes / corn syrup - no

Sugar cane - yes / granulated sugar - no

Meat from wild game - yes / domesticated grain-fed animals - no

Mother's milk - yes / cow's milk - no

Potatoes - yes / potato chips - no

Vegetable toppings - yes / pizza - no

Baked goods made with flour - no

Whole fresh fruit - yes / fruit juice - no

Whole grains - yes / processed grains - no

Note: I hesitated to include meat but I threw it in as a token to those who feel they must eat meat every day. Anyway, the above are just examples so as to provide a starting point.

Balanced food?........so, I'm guessing you're not talking about a slice of pizza in each hand?

Pooh, you forgot to add healthy dark chocolate and red wine. :D

Anything processed is unbalanced. Grapes contain fiber, wine does not. Dark chocolate is a processed food that usually contains added sugar etc. and lacks fiber too.

Still both have been shown to offer something good for a body..well, maybe more for our souls.....:wave:

:thumbup::thumbup::highfive:

Personally, I think a balanced approach, consisting of common sense, friends, and a love of life is the way to go. And I think that a sense of humour and laughing every day is the best medication in the world.

By the way, I do watch what I eat but I'm not obsessed with it. I don't eat beef, I do eat tons of vegetables, and I'm healthy. However I honestly think there is food that is good for the soul. Meeting your friends at the Yoghurt Store just can't be a bad thing. And red wine has been know to have health benefits and so has dark chocolate. Besides, too much fibre gives you a tummy ache.

But that's not the topic of this thread. The topic is "balanced diet".

Arnold Schwarzenegger said he watches what he eats too. He said, "I watch it, and then I eat it."

Wine and chocolate: A lot of these recommendations are for the average person who is overweight and on their way to developing coronary artery disease. Wine thins the blood and helps it to flow past any narrowing in the arteries. Both wine and chocolate provide some antioxidants for those who don't like to eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. But when I asked a nutritionist about chocolate that contains sugar, he said it's not helpful. He said that's because the sugar creates free radicals and cancels out the antioxidant quality of the chocolate. If that's the case, then it's just empty calories.

Meeting your friends is great,

eating yogurt no, it's dairy, contains casein barf

Why..do you eshew milk and milk products? Cow's milk has larger unstable proteins and is a little harder to digest but has protein and calcium which humans need. Soy milk contains an estrogen like substance that can trigger breast cancer.

Can u name another species that consumes another species milk?

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Did you know milk contained Casein it is related to phosphoproteins.
These proteins are in milk, making up 80% of the proteins in cow’s milk.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell's The China Study, a book about one of the largest nutritional studies ever conducted, describes a direct correlation between casein administered to rats and the promotion of cancer cell growth when exposed to carcinogens
.
Aflatoxin (a potent carcinogen) was administered to these rats over a 2 week dosing period. The rats were given a 1 week post-dosing period before beginning the test (promotion period). During the promotion period, one group of rats was put on a 5% casein protein diet and another group on a 20% casein protein diet. None of the rats on 5% casein protein developed foci, precursors to cancerous cell growth, and every rat on 20% casein protein developed the pre-cancer foci. It should be noted that all test groups were fed a 20% casein diet for a total of 5 weeks (2-wk acclimation, 2-wk dosing, 1-wk post-dosing) prior to the 12 week promotion period in order to survive the initial aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) dosing, regardless of whether they were in the 5% or 20% test groups.

Studies conducted by Dr. Campbell on humans confirmed this correlation between the amount of casein protein consumed and the promotion of cancerous cell growth. Dr. Campbell found a correlation between cancer growth and the amount of casein protein in diet.

This study states “Casein is the most relevant carcinogen that humans ingest. It is more potent than DDT or dioxin.”

Also has also been linked to autism in some studies


So do veggies

Myth: Soy contains estrogen.

Reality: Soy does not contain the hormone estrogen. It does, however, contain isoflavones, also known as phytoestrogens or "plant estrogens." While the chemical structure of isoflavones is similar to estrogen, the two function very differently in the body. Isoflavones have been studied for a number of beneficial effects including a potential role in supporting heart and bone health, minimizing menopausal symptoms and reducing the risk of some forms of cancer.

Cancer and Other Diseases
Myth: Soy increases cancer risk.

Reality: In fact, a number of scientific studies suggest a link between soy consumption and reduced risk of certain cancers, including breast and prostate. Many researchers have noted lower rates of breast cancer in Asian populations, which have traditionally consumed a high-soy diet for centuries. Today's medical and nutrition communities recognize soyfoods like soymilk as a nutritious addition to a healthy diet.

Myth: Soy is not safe for breast cancer patients and survivors.

Reality: The American Cancer Society states that breast cancer patients can consume soyfoods like soymilk, tofu and edamame regularly. A major recent study lends credence to this perspective, indicating that soy is not only safe, but it may also have a positive impact, potentially helping to decrease the incidence of breast tumor recurrence.

It is my understanding that phytoestrogens can negate some of the effects of drugs used to treat breast cancer...and this may be why some physicians recommend limiting the amount of phytoestrogens in the diets of women with breast cancer or at high risk for the disease.

Each patient and her physician will determine how to deal with these particular foods and how it will impact treatment and recovery.

Sure am glad I'm not a rat.