Controversy surrounds many of these
foods, but what's the truth? Even the "beloved" spinach, tomatoes, and
tea can have some problems, so let's explore...
by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best-sellers: The Fat Burning Kitchen & The Top 101 Foods that FIGHT Aging
One
thing I’ve come to the conclusion about over my decades of studying
nutrition is that even if something is “good for you” still might not
mean it’s best to eat a bushel of it every single day.
In today's article, we'll even look at a few "darlings" of the
nutrition world such as spinach, tomatoes, and tea, and why too much of
these can even be bad in
some cases. And we'll also
look at things you're told by the media are "bad for you" such as beer,
coffee, cheese and butter, and why these can actually be good in many
cases.
Let's start with "toxins"...
It seems that even some substances labeled as “toxins” by scientists
can sometimes be good for you in small doses. Alcohol is one example.
It’s considered a toxin (intoxicated) by any scientist, yet for some
reason, study after study shows that light to moderate drinkers
live significantly longer than both non-drinkers or heavy drinkers.
It's an interesting fact isn't it... that just small amounts of
something considered a "toxin" could help you live longer than if you
didn't drink any of it at all, but too much of it will kill you.
There are confounding variables though that are hard to decipher in
mixed group research or surveys of people's drinking habits… for one,
it's rarely studied as to whether hard liquor drinkers would actually
fare as well as somebody that ONLY drank wine or beer, each of which
have their own unique antioxidants that are usually missing in hard
alcohol. So is the increase in life span of light to moderate drinkers
due to the antioxidants in wine and beer as opposed to the alcohol
itself? Or is it a synergistic effect of both?
One study I read about recently showed that 1-2 glasses of red wine per day significantly increased good bacteria in the gut and decreased bad bacteria
(in addition to benefits to blood pressure, triglycerides, LDL, and
C-reactive protein), yet for some reason, hard liquor (gin was tested)
didn’t have any of the same benefits. It was concluded that it's most
likely the polyphenols and resveratrol in wine that helps the good gut
probiotics flourish and possibly also improves the blood chemistry too.
And as you know, good belly bugs have immense benefits to your digestive system and your immune system.
Personally, I’ve grown quite fond recently with having one glass of
red wine with dinner about 5-6 nights per week now. I look forward to
that glass of wine each night, sometimes with a good
aged
cheese out on the deck watching the sunset before dinner. Occasionally
I have 2 glasses if I feel like it. But I know if I had 7 or 8
glasses, it’s more toxic than beneficial. We've been able to find some
good organic wines at the local wine shop for only about $12 a bottle...
not too shabby!
Now in regards to the light or moderate drinkers living longer than
non-drinkers or heavy drinkers, I certainly realize this doesn't mean
that you HAVE to drink in order to live to 100. I know, I know... your
Great Aunt Helen lived to 102 and never drank a sip of alcohol right?
Well, I'm sure there are also examples of someone you know that smoked
their whole life and lived to 100 too. The point is that these are just
general stats on the population as a whole (smokers die younger, light
drinkers live longer, etc), and every individual has
thousands of different factors (nutritional, lifestyle, social, stress, etc) that combine together to determine how long they'll live.
Beer?
In my 20's and early 30's, my buddies and I used to drink a lot of
"light" beers on weekends when we were hanging out together. Nowadays, I
don't drink much beer at all anymore, but when I do choose to enjoy a
beer maybe once a week, I always choose a quality dark beer.
A good dark beer is known to have a decent quantity of unique
antioxidants and B vitamins that are at much lower quantities in light
beer, if they're present at all in some brands. On the other hand, too
much beer contains too much estrogenic compounds from the hops which
have their own health consequences if overcomsumed, for both men and
women…
Once again, moderation seems to be best. A couple beers a week
probably has benefits, but a six-pack or more a night might put you in
an early grave.
What about possible detriments of beer since it was brewed using
barley and/or wheat
as the base? After all, most Paleo eating plans try to avoid grains
because of some of the problematic components of many grains...
Well, while it's true that I personally try to avoid most grains
because of some of the digestive-system harming antinutrients and gluten
(which also affects immune system and lots more), this is
less of an issue with beer because it's been fermented.
Any time you ferment something, the microbes involved in the
fermentation effectively render many of the toxins more neutral and
easier to digest.
This is why fermented soy can actually be somewhat healthy, while unfermented soy is terrible
for you. This is also why sourdough bread (since it's been fermented)
is less harmful to you than regular whole wheat bread, and the gluten is
actually more digestible in fermented sourdough bread (more on that
another day). This is also why fermented dairy such as kefir and yogurt are the most digestible forms of dairy, and much more favorable compared to plain milk.
Cheese?
Speaking of fermented foods and also the confusing topic for most people of dairy, let's talk CHEESE...
Many old-school nutritionists, dieticians, and news reporters that
don't understand true nutritional biochemistry always talk about the FAT
in cheese. They say stuff like "cheese is fattening" or "always choose
low-fat or fat-free cheese". If you read my article here, you'll see why the fat in grass-fed cheese can help you to burn fat and even prevent heart disease.
I know that may sound crazy, but you can't ignore the fact that the fat
in grass-fed dairy contains powerful nutrients such as vitamin K2,
which has been shown to prevent arterial calcification, as well as the
healthy fat, CLA, which is shown to help burn fat, build muscle, and
fight cancer.
Aside from the fat portion of cheese, which we know may actually be
the healthiest part of any grass-fed cheese, what about the
digestibility of cheese, and components like the casein? Well, it's
true that certain people may have difficulty digesting the casein (or
lactose) in some dairy products. But keep in mind that fermented dairy
products like kefir, yogurt, and aged cheeses are generally the easiest
to digest since they've already been "pre-digested" by microbes in the
fermentation process. So the majority of people do not have issues with
digesting fermented forms of dairy. And kefir is 99% lactose-free in
most good brands because the microbes consume and digest the lactose in
the fermentation process.
When it comes to cheese though, the KEY to digestibility is that it's a good quality
AGED cheese...
A true aged cheese that's gone through multiple stages of fermentation
from various forms of microbes will always be the easiest to digest due
to the pre-digestion already performed by many of the microbes, as each
stage in the aging process will help break down the dairy components
into more digestible forms. For example, if you like cheddar cheese,
one of the best options that's also easy to find at most stores is
Kerrygold Irish... each type has been aged for different amounts of
time, and all of their cheeses are from grass-fed cows. I've found
several European aged cheeses such as Midnight Moon and Ewephoria (aged
goat and sheep cheeses) which I'm in LOVE with!
Whatever you do, steer clear of cheap processed cheeses like American
cheese, salty cheese spreads, cheese "loaf", etc as these are generally
not healthy.
What could possibly be wrong with Spinach?
Everybody knows that spinach is great for us, right? After all,
spinach is loaded with antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, all
of which are wonderful for our bodies. And of course, Popeye got his
muscles from eating spinach :)
However, spinach and other dark leafy greens contain higher amounts
of oxalic acid which is known to cause kidney stones or kidney damage if
you take in too much for too long. Most information available says
that for most people, you’d have to eat very large amounts of spinach
and eat it chronically to actually see negative effects, so this seems
to be yet another example of moderation is probably best.
My takeaway... A small mixed greens salad each night with dinner is
probably beneficial to our health, but a massive greens salad 2 or 3
times a day, every single day is probably too much and may cause
problems with too much oxalic acid.
Nightshade Vegetables:
This is represented mostly by
eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers
as the most common members of this family. There are also some wild
versions of nightshades that apparently are highly toxic if you ate them
in the wild. Our common agricultural nightshades are much safer, but
still contain small levels of certain problematic compounds that have
actually been linked to Arthritis and other inappropriate calcification
type effects in certain people that are sensitive to them and over long
periods of time of consuming them.
Tomotoes and peppers have the powerful antioxidant lycopene.
Eggplant skin has powerful antioxidants being studied in fighting
cancer. Potatoes are loaded with valuable minerals and are fine to eat
in moderation (at the right times) for active people that workout a lot
to fuel anaerobic high intensity training and muscle glycogen
replenishment. On the other hand, potatoes also contain toxins called glycoalkaloids
that are not good for you if consumed too frequently. So as you can
see, although many of these plants have benefits, they can also have
small amounts of toxins too that can be problematic if consumed too
frequently.
Once again, maybe it’s beneficial to have tomatoes, peppers, and
potatoes 2 or 3 times a week for their own unique antioxidants, vitamins
and minerals, but perhaps eating them with every single meal has more
detriments than benefits.
Probably another perfect example of moderation is best. Are we seeing a pattern here yet?
Interestingly, I found out through some digging through research that
a high intake of vitamin K2 from things like grass-fed butter (and
grass-fed cream and cheese), organ meats, and certain fermented veggies
(krauts or kimchi) can counteract any calcification effects of the
toxins that are in nightshade vegetables. This is similar to the
research I dug up showing that vitamin K2 also helps prevent or reverse
calcification in the arteries too! Hmm, no wonder heart disease
increased with the advent of margarine and the decrease in consumption
of butter in our society... Not only were the trans fats in margarine
probably responsible for some of the damage, but also the LACK of
essential vitamin K2 caused by fooling everyone into removing butter
from their diet exacerbated the heart problems!
Leave it to big business and food marketing to screw up what our grandparents were doing right in the past.
Is there anything wrong with healthy Tea?
We all know that various teas including white, green, black, oolong,
red, and herbal teas all have powerful and unique antioxidants that
protect us from degenerative diseases like cancer and heart disease.
And we also know that some phytochemicals in teas can even cause a very
slight increase in fat loss, although I think that effect is fairly
small, and still requires the rest of the diet to be on point.
However, I saw a report recently that non-organic tea originating
from China was found to have alarmingly high levels of dangerous
pesticides in the tea (both black and green), and apparently, a lot of
popular brands failed pesticide residue testing. Cancer is a concern
with chronic pesticide ingestion.
My main lesson from reading these reports was that I'm simply going
to make a greater effort to always choose organic tea brands from now
on, because it would be illegal to be labeled organic and still be
teeming with pesticides. Variety also seems to be key with teas as well
to avoid overuse of any one type of tea. I personally like to make a
big batch of iced tea a couple times a week and I usually mix green,
oolong, white, rooibos, and herbal tea bags all together into the pot to
get a nice blended taste, but also a good blend of antioxidants that
are unique to each type of tea.
I also like chamomile and/or mint teas at night to help relax and get more sleepy and hour or two before bedtime. You can also read my 5 tips for insomnia in this article related to a bedtime ritual that helps you fall asleep easier and sleep more deeply.
Coffee?
For some reason, most people think that their daily cup of coffee is
"bad" for them. But if you avoid the sugar and fake creamers (use REAL
cream and stevia instead!), it's actually a fairly healthy drink that's
oozing with beneficial antioxidants, phenolic nutrients, chlorogenic
acids, and other healthy compounds that far outweigh any small amounts
of acrylamides or other negative compounds found in coffee.
Numerous studies over the years have linked coffee consumption to
reduced risk of various forms of cancer. In fact, a 2011 Harvard study
showed that men who drink 1-3 cups of coffee daily reduce their risk of
prostate cancer by 30%. Other studies have linked coffee consumption to
reduced risk of diabetes.
I personally LOVE having 1 cup of really good coffee per day -- with
grass-fed cream of course, for that all-important vitamin K2. By the
way, Organic Valley has a great pasture-raised cream that I've found at
many grocery stores.
I look forward my freshly ground (I use a Bullet to grind the beans fresh, since this tastes far superior to pre-ground coffee)
organic
coffee in the morning with my nut-flour based Paleo homemade blueberry
muffin... I'll share my recipe for that in a newsletter soon, but my
friend Kelley Herring also has an amazing low-carb Paleo blueberry muffin recipe in her Guilt-Free Desserts manual...
And as you probably guessed since you know my style, I also top my
Paleo blueberry muffins with some melted Kerrygold grass-fed butter.
Mmm, what a delicious start to any morning!
Once again, staying with the theme of moderation, if you drink too
much coffee, you can possibly suffer the detriments of too much caffeine
and the possible adrenal fatigue that can be caused by too much
caffeine for long periods of time... but small amounts of daily coffee
and you reap the benefits of the antioxidants that are unique to the
coffee bean. I’ve been making a big effort to choose organic coffee
beans at least 90-95% of the time, since apparently coffee is one of the
worst crops in terms of pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. And
remember that pesticides can have estrogenic effects, but also
carcinogenic effects, and that's why we choose organic most of the time.
I also have an article here with 3 tricks to make your coffee super healthy.
With respect to the discussion of eating things in "
moderation"...
Keep in mind though that I don't agree with people that say "everything
in moderation" ... For example, there's ZERO reason to consume trans
fats in moderation. They're just too deadly to even consume at all in my
opinion, when you can choose natural healthy fats instead. And why
choose to eat high fructose corn syrup in moderation when you can use
real sweeteners instead, such as honey, stevia, or maple syrup. I'm
sure you get my point.
To summarize, I think the biggest thing you can take from this
article is that many foods and drinks have some negative compounds in
them, and some beneficial compounds too. If you keep good variety in
your diet, and don't over-consume any particular type of food or drink,
the health benefits can be amazing from many of these delicious foods
and drinks. But even some healthy foods can have their problems if
over-consumed.
That's why I enjoy ONE cup of daily coffee, ONE (or occasionally two)
cups of daily red wine, one or two cups of a variety of teas daily, ONE
serving of a leafy greens salad each day, Nightshade vegetables like
tomatoes and peppers a couple times a week, the healthiest types of aged
cheeses a few times a week, and even the occasional dark beer... and I
know that these are generally doing a body good... PLUS, they're just
really enjoyable and a fun part of life!
If you liked today's article, please share this page with your friends and family below:
If you haven't read my internationally selling book, The Truth about Six Pack Abs,
featuring over 100 pages of my full training and nutritional system for
getting lean ripped flat abs for life, grab a copy today. You'll see
exactly why so many others are finally able to get rid of that stubborn 
