?'s about foods. Processed/unprocessed, etc.

[Watch Me!]

Hello!

I've been trying to learn more and more about proper nutrition, and trying to find the 'little things in disguise' that could hinder my success. I have the right intentions, I just think there are some things I'm misunderstanding.

Brown rice, previously, wasn't much of a staple for me. I'd buy the Uncle Ben's heat-in-the-bag stuff once in a while. Today in my reading, I came across this sentence:
"Processed foods (boxed rice, pasta, frozen meals) are not used by the body 100% and end up as toxins in the body..." (http://msfit.musclemag.com/showthread.php?threadid=2623)
Oops. I just cooked up half a box of whole grain brown Minute Rice last night and put it into portioned containers, so proud of myself. I guess I'm not exactly sure what to get - is it supposed to be the things you'd see in the bin at the organic/health food store?

So I started looking at other things on my 'menu' to see if they were potentially wrong, too.

Chicken breasts...I use the frozen-in-a-bag ones from Wal-Mart. Are those okay, or when people say 'chicken breast', are they talking for instance the fresh Tyson Foods type? or is there a large difference between these things enough that it matters?

Not really a processing question, but olive oil. They say that's a healthy fat, and as of late I've used a few tablespoons on baby spinach salads with chicken or salmon. However that adds up - 170calories per tablespoon. Is that overuse, or not the intended use of olive oil in the diet?

Sorry to ramble. I've still just got questions about what the right things to be eating are.

[barnetjs]

Hopefully - the frozen in a bag from Walmart are OK - because my hubby and I eat 5 bags of them a week!

[onebratt08]

The kind of brown rice that's healthy is the kind that takes a while to cook - the other stuff must be highly processed to cook in a minute or two.

I usually buy the bagged frozen chicken at Giant Eagle because it's on sale. I think it's probably full of hormones because those breasts are bigger than Pamela Anderson's! But I'm limited in income.

I would say that a couple of tablespoons of olive oil is too much. I use a tablespoon of dressing per salad (which would be a couple of loose cups of romaine, 3 oz chicken and other yummy veggies). The salad dressing I get is also the light stuff, so less oil. Olive oil does have it's benefits, just use sparingly.

I just started using Fit Day to track my meals - man do calories add up FAST! I'm pretty much where I estimated that I was, but to see it on paper is shocking!

[imperfectly_lou]

Re the olive oil. I use it too but keep it to 1/2 to 1tbsp

[ChocoChick]

Check the ingredients on the chicken. A lot of the bulk packaged stuff is injected with a saline solution so that about 12% of the product is comprised of salt water.

[lacyjayne]

Part of my pre comp diet included "MCT's" - Medium Chained Tryglycerides. There is NOTHING bad in them...no sodium, fat, sugar or carbs. There is 118 calories per tablespoon and with my diet being so clean, I needed 5 tbsps. of the MCT's a day to keep my calories up. The taste is similar to a high fatty oil, great on salad with some dill spice! Also good to add to scrambled egg whites (I also added some fresh spinach) and oatmeal. NO GUILT! A great replacement to olive oil and a great way to keep up your calories.

[Defiant1]

Part of my pre comp diet included "MCT's" - Medium Chained Tryglycerides. There is NOTHING bad in them...no sodium, fat, sugar or carbs. There is 118 calories per tablespoon and with my diet being so clean, I needed 5 tbsps. of the MCT's a day to keep my calories up. The taste is similar to a high fatty oil, great on salad with some dill spice! Also good to add to scrambled egg whites (I also added some fresh spinach) and oatmeal. NO GUILT! A great replacement to olive oil and a great way to keep up your calories.

I like MCT oils for calories too. They are essentially a "fat" that burns like a carb.

Just a word of caution: those on ketogenic diets shouldn't use MCTs; they bypass the metabolic pathways used in Ketosis. And I am aware that Atkins says they are ok...

edit: I had a carb that burns like a fat, I switched them. sorry It was early

[mommy*2*3]

I like MCT oils for calories too. They are essentially a "carb" that burns like a fat.

Just a word of caution: those on ketogenic diets shouldn't use MCTs; they bypass the metabolic pathways used in Ketosis. And I am aware that Atkins says they are ok...

Yes, MCT does get by the digestive tract but it gets used up for energy almost immediately therefore eating low carb is probably the BEST time to take MCT oil, NO??
At least this is what I've been told and my reading has also proven this. Can you tell me what the difference is eating low carb and taking MCT and eating carbs and taking MCT?

[Defiant1]

Yes, MCT does get by the digestive tract but it gets used up for energy almost immediately therefore eating low carb is probably the BEST time to take MCT oil, NO??
At least this is what I've been told and my reading has also proven this. Can you tell me what the difference is eating low carb and taking MCT and eating carbs and taking MCT?

If you use MCTs while doing low carb, you burn the MCTs for fuel, not lipids. . Since the idea of doing a low-carb diet is to cause your body to burn fat for fuel, you are defeating the purpose. Like I said, I know some low-carb gurus say they are ok (I know Atkins does, and I love 99.9% of what he says, but he was wrong on this one ).

What you want to burn on a ketogenic diet, actually, what you DO burn on a ketogenic diet are LONG chain triglycerides, or LCTs if you will.

On a high carb/low fat or low cal diet (especially), MCTs have a protein sparing effect, so they are ok.

[MsFit]

Unfortuantely, it's really hard to escape processing. If it's man-made or man (commerical industry) had anything to do with it's production, it's has some form of processing. This includes fresh chicken, eggs, fruits and veggies, etc. It may not be directly processed, but most of the time the animal is under some sort of synthetic care or fresh fruits and veggies have been "freshend up".

Our food supply is not perfect, so the best you can do is just make good choices, close to natural as possible. At least you will be receiving some vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

It costs a little more for the good food and can take longer to cook, but in the end it's better for your body, health, muscle gains, and fat loss.