Notes – Food: What the Heck Should I Eat?
By Mark Hyman, MD
Most ideas people have about food are wrong.
Most of the ideas we have are from companies that have been paid money to say false diet advice to the consumers, so that they can make money.
Pg. 111-
“Many other studies have linked organic vegetables to a decrease in negative effects from pesticides and have found that organic vegetables contain more nutrients and phyto-chemicals than conventional ones.”
“Vegetables do contain carbs, a source of energy. In fact, the majority of your diet should be carbs: not bread, potatoes, sugar, beans or grains, but vegetables. They dont spike blood sugar (except for the starchy ones), and are critical for health.” – 113
“Plants are our only source of fiber, which is fertilizer for the good bacteria that make up the internal garden in your gut. Fiber keeps digestive food moving smoothly throughout your system. It prevents cancer and heart disease.” -114
“You should eat non-starchy vegetables like spinach, kale, asparagus, and brocolli at every meal.”
-115
The colors in vegetables and fruits are a physical expression of what phyto-nutrients they contain. A healthy diet would look like a rainbow of colorful fruits and vegetables, bright green, blue, purple, yellow, red, orange, and so on.
“In general, the more colors you eat when it comes to plants, the more anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, healing, compounds from the phyto-nutrients you’ll soak up.”
-117
One of the most nutrient dense foods you can eat is seaweed. It contains manganese and iodine which is hard to come by in american diet, its also rich in vitamin C and iron.
Fruits are an excellent source of nutrients but you should eat them raw, but unless going on a juice cleanse you should eat them in raw to retain their fiber.
Pg- 175
“While the data is not all in on how beans (and the lectins, phytates, and starch they contain) affect everyone, it is clear that for many people especially those with autoimmune disease, pre-diabetes, and type 2 diabetes, they are problematic and worth avoiding. Even type 1 diabetics may benefit from a very low-carbohydrate diet, which is hard to achieve.”
Pg- 191
“There are plenty of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and fatty acids contained in whole grains, but you can easily get all of those beneficial substances from other sources, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, and other foods that dont have the baggage that comes with grains.” For almost all of history, humans consumed no grains, we are healthier without them.
Pg-193
“We’ve only recently learned how exactly gluten affects us. Scientists from the University of Maryland discovered the existence of a protein called zonulin, which is produces by our bodies whenever we eat gluten. Zonulin creates a leaky gut by opening up the tight junctions between intestinal cells that are normally stuck together like lego pieces so that food microbes cant leak into the spaces between cells of the small intestine lining.”
Pg-201
“If youre going to eat grains, they should be in their natural, whole state. Once theyre pulverized and turned into flour including whole wheat flour or brown rice flour, they act like candy in your body, ramping up your blood sugar and insulin levels. Experimenting with millet, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, and wild rice are better alternatives than corn, white rice and wheat.”
Pg. -211
“All nuts contain antioxidants, which are great for preventing cancer. But which have the most?
In order: Pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds. These are the best 5.”
Pg. -213
“Flaxseeds are one of my favorites because they contain special compounds called lignans, which are protective against hormone related cancers of the breast and prostate. While many plants contain these compounds, flax seed has more than 25 times the amount found in fruits, veggies, beans, and other seeds.”
Pg. -217
“ The problem with nuts is they can contain additives like sugar, refined oil, artificial flavors and colorings. Soak the nuts to get this stuff away, then consume them in small quantities.”
Pg-223
“ We were told it is better to eat sugar than fat because sugar contained fewer calories. But now we know that was wrong. By misplacing the blame for obesity and related health problems on fat, the government gave the food industry a license to pour unlimited amounts of sugar into the food supply. Americans gave up fat and got hooked on sugar, and we all know how that turned out.”
Pg. -225
“Today the sugar and junk-food industries and their scientific allies continue to mislead the public about the harms of sugar. In 2015the worlds largest producer of sugary beverages, Coca-Cola, was caught paying scientists millions of dollars to downplay the link between soda and obesity.” This is a common narrative i have seen in my research, the notion that large corporations pay millions to supress information and glorify their poisonous product.
Pg. -236
“Sweeteners: What the heck should i avoid?”
- Artificial sweeteners of all kinds
- Sugary beverages
- High fructose corn syrup
- Refined white sugar
- Brown sugar
- Aspartame
- Sucralose ( splenda )
- Saccharin ( sweet n low )
- Acesulfame
-Use monkfruit sugar/syrup instead.
Pg. -255
“Food ingredients to avoid”
- Anything with ingredients difficult to pronounce, that sound like they belong in a chemistry set.
- Anything containing soybean oil
- Anything containing high fructose corn syrup
- Anything with the word “hydrogenated” in it name
- Anything with MSG (monosodium glutamate)
Pg -257
The top five fruits most likely to contain pesticides are
Strawberries, apples, nectarines, peaches, and celery. It is imperative to buy these organically and to also wash them off with highly alkalized water.
Pg. -258
“How much of what we eat doesn’t even qualify as food? More than is good for us. The average American child has consumed nearly 8 pounds of chemicals by the age of five. There are more than 15,000 chemicals in our food supply. Many dont have to be listed on ingredients labels and many have never been tested for safety.”
Pg. -263
“There is evidence that consuming the meat of animals treated with hormones is associated with higher levels of IGF-1, a growth factor in humans thats been linked with increased risk of cancer. Dairy cows are treated with sometihng called recombinant bovine growth hormone, which has been correlated with early onset puberty in girls as well as increased levels if IGF-1.”
Pg. -265
“ Refined oils are deceptive because they come from legitimate plant sources-like corn, soybeans, rapeseed (source of canola oil) sunflower seeds, and safflower seeds. Still, theyre the farthest thing from beneficial. These oils are highly processed and refined in high heat processes that use solvents, deodorizers, and other chemicals, which the government doesnt require to be listed on ingredient labels.”