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I’m just a bit confused on Matt Stone’s perspective on junk foods and their PUFA content. He says to indulge in typical “unhealthy” foods that are high in fats, carbs, etc., but to avoid PUFAs, like vegetable or soybean oil, as much as possible.
The only problem is, nearly every single “junk” I’ve found contains hydrogenated oils!!
Candy bars? Palm/soy oil.
Pizza? Oil.
Burgers? Oil.
Fries? Obviously fried in oil.
I don’t want to stress over this too much, I am just confused as to what junk foods are perfectly fine to indulge in, and which are metabolically suppressing.
I’d like some input on this as well. However, I think most importantly is, as you said, not to stress over it. I crave a nice, juicy burger and fries now and then, but my body (if I listen to it) doesn’t ALWAYS want that stuff. A lot of the time I just want wholesome food like oatmeal or fish or steak or fruit….etc etc. Balance is key, and the best part is, we don’t have to think about it really. Our bodies will let us know.
I think the ‘junkfood being good’ is more along the line of home-made with healthy fats,additive and gumfree?
I’m guessing Matt means in the beginning when a person is coming off a diet. But after that you should cut the PUFA out. Just make homemade “junk” food fried in coconut oil.
When it comes to “Junk” he means warming foods. Not all which are junk foods. Cheese, (pizza, grilled cheese, cheese burgers), coconut, chocolate, flour, red meat (beef, lamb), potatoes (sweet potatoes, yams), soy sauce, ice cream, cheese cake, cookies, pastries, pies, cakes, pretzels, potato or corn chips, cheese and crackers, salty popcorn. These will help raise your metabolism/body temperature if done in the right way.
I forgot to add he’s a big fan of “Bugles” chips because they’re fried in coconut oil and contain salt, sugar, starch and saturated fats. Four ingredients he says will help with stress when combined.
I love Bugles!!
Especially when used to scoop up a creamy dip.Now I know why. :)
I’m new on the Eet4Heat journey, but my “junk” food is still “real” food… real chocolate, real ice cream, real full-fat sour cream, real potatoes, real cheese (none of that “low fat cheese food product”), real meat (i.e. wild salmon and grass fed beef), etc, etc.
My “take-away” from the Diet Recovery 2 book was to listen to your body and feed it what it’s asking for. So, if you crave the MilkyWay bar – eat it! Popcorn drenched in butter? You bet! (for me, I prefer REAL butter, vs the microwaved variety, it just tastes better… so I listen to my body on that score, too).
I’d be cautious of Bugles depending on where you live.
Today I looked at the supermarket and saw it got a new package and on the bag was a big sticker ‘proudly anouncing’ that its 100% Sunflower oil.Yah I agree with some of the posters that I took it to mean in the short-term eating PUFA’s is acceptable, but long-term maybe create your own “junk” food and make it with coconut oil or something. That’s what I do. I make cookies or muffins but instead of using margarine, Smart Balance, etc. I use coconut oil (since I have a dairy intolerance and can’t use much butter). And I use honey or whole, organic sugar so at least it has some nutrient value to it.
The only caution I would interject to TinaT’s comment about eating whatever your body is craving is that sugar is terribly addictive, so people who eat it regularly are always going to crave it, and that’s probably not a good thing. Matt seems to feel that sugar is great and has no downside, but I’m not really on-board with that yet. I think if something can be THAT addictive, it’s a huge warning sigh that it’s probably not something to be eating regularly.
Good point Jman99.
I don’t eat much sugar… and don’t crave it. My downfall is carbs – and salt. I love salt! Now that I indulge my cravings for carbs and salt – with a measured portion (not allowing mindless eating), I don’t have as many ‘cravings’ per se.
Over the holidays, we have dessert EVERY night. After a week of eating all that sugar, I’m very happy to get back to my low-sugar regime back home. I totally understand that other’s experiences may vary on that score, though.
“Everything in moderation” always seems to be a good mantra…
I disagree with the “everything in moderation” idea. If I made a mantra it would be “rinse it until you get sick”.
I have been following Matt’s advice for about 9 months to great success. First off I upped my calories in easy ways, like drinking milk instead of water, having an extra meal. In general I was eating healthy foods and not junky foods, but with no taboo on any food, except quinoa. I packed on a lot of weight eating home made cheesecake and really saw my temperature rise. I’ve just survived a Welsh winter mostly with thin socks, sometimes no socks! This is a real achievement.
After the cheesecake phase I paid more attention to salt and fluids, then systematically eliminated almost all PUFAs, whereas I had been relaxed about these at first. Coconuts do not grow in Wales, not even on this continent, so switching to coconut oil has been a bit pricey and difficult to find a stockist, but that was when everything changed. Now I never want crisps/ chips, even when in front of me, I do not crave chinese food, often the thought of it turns my stomach, I can hardly even do fish and chips, except in one place where I’m pretty sure they are using palm oil (which I used to avoid on ethical grounds but it, esp. palm kernel oil is also a fairly high sat fat oil). Biscuits, sweets and cakes are another one, unless I know they’re all butter I just won’t eat them, I don’t even need to try, I have just become highly adverse to PUFA containing foods. If I do end up eating them to any great extent, though, I do feel physically wronged.
The point being, make gradual incremental changes and trust your appetite, even if it tells you to gorge. If my experience is owt to go by, you can basically eat exactly what you fancy until one day you won’t fancy any “bad” foods and your health will be good.
I’m not sure what you mean by “rinse it until you get sick”??
“rinse” = wash with water??The rest sounds great, though!
:)I agree with Crinkly. Since eating for heat, using lots of coconut oil butter etc., restaurant food makes me nauseous. I feel fine physically before and after, but as soon as my plate arrives my stomach turns and I can’t even finish my meal. I don’t know what it is, I WANT to enjoy it, but I get turned off.
Also about sugar being addictive, I’ve recently been loading on the sugar (yes the refined white stuff) after avoiding it like the plague for 2 years, and I don’t feel addicted at all. I don’t really want to eat it anymore (tonight I thought, ice cream again, really!!) but it seems to raise my body temp the most. Tonight it was 98.8, yay!! I stir it into juice, milk, make cookies, etc.
TinaT: rinse just means to completely exploit your source, as if you needed to rinse the container to get the last bit out.
In UK we also use it to talk about good music, like rinsing tunes, or rinsing out your bass bins, I suppose it just means that something is excessive.
But back to the EFH stuff, I have read peoples’ views (on this forum but can’t recall where) that once you start eating properly, if you have been restrictive, you basically go through a period of weight gain no matter what you do, and the “to excess” mentality just speeds up that process. One post said they were adding loads of sugar to some sort of gelatine drink to take in calories. To me this sounds crazy, but the idea here is to reach this maximum weight as quick as possible before you come down. My approach is just to go with appetite and body cues, ie. if something makes me feel sick, I don’t eat it.
What I have personally found is that overcoming cravings for problem foods has been easy because I know there are so many rich, tempting and calorific foods which don’t cause digestive problems and that I am free to eat. Funnily enough these safe foods don’t seem to cause me the sort of cravings I used to experience so overall, and without any restriction, I consume less, and fully enjoy what I do consume.
It sounds like Dove has a similar experience and I’m sure there are others. I do think that the PUFA element is the single most important element of EFH to get right for you. What I am looking in to next is the seasonal variation in fat availability and quality and how this effects people, I think Matt has posted on this somewhere (though the site has changed a lot recently), but essentially, the availability of foods is seasonal and linked to location, and perhaps optimal food choices would reflect this.
One thing that would go hand-in-hand with seasonal variations, and eating what your ancestors typically ate (which does not include vegetable oils)… is problematic, in that the human species is so mixed and displaced now… i.e. Scandinavians that live in Brazil, traditionally did not have access to lots of fresh fruit… and now can consume it year round. For some that might be fine, for others, not so much.
That’s where listening to your own body comes in…
I get a box of organic, seasonal veggies delivered to my door twice a month – so I do eat seasonally, and love the variety… but the selections are from things available this season from BC Canada to Ecuador… so… not sure how that fits in with things.
My view on junk foods and PUFAs is that they’re not a big deal, but most foods that are high in PUFAs aren’t all that amazing anyway. I look at most added oils as empty calories that don’t contribute much flavor.
As an example of what I mean, I like to eat potato chips and fries sometimes (and I’m worry about them hurting me), but a baked potato with butter and sour cream gives me more enjoyment.
If nothing else, eliminating PUFAs and junk food could aid weight loss because they’re the cheapest sources of empty calories. Plus, it’s easier to eat less of high quality food, because it’s more satisfying.
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