Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Hard to believe, but true

Fruit in significant quantities is not good for you. Yes, it contains many beneficial compounds, but it's also loaded with sugar (including fructose), which is just as damaging as the refined white stuff no matter the form--and you can get the same beneficial compounds from vegetables without large sugar contents. (How much sugar is in fruit?)

Why is there fructose in fruit? It's good for the fruit trees. Fructose is intensely sweet and inhibits your ability to feel satiated, so you'll eat more fruit (hence spreading more seeds). It's processed by the liver just like alcohol: the liver immediately converts it to glycogen (a stored form of carbohydrate). So, it makes you fat and hungry.

Note that prior to modern living this wouldn't have been so bad; fruit would NOT have been available year-round outside of the tropics, and it wasn't nearly as sweet before modern breeding programs (so I hear, anyway). Plus, back when food was hard to come by, storing a little fat once in a while wasn't a bad thing.

Conclusion? Fruit is better than junk food, but it is in the same category with regard to sugar content. Therefore, eat it sparingly.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Good post

Sorry for content-light lately. Here's some good diet related reading: Body Fat Setpoint IV

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Interesting article

Brewing up a Civilization

I imagine that before grains were cultivated, they were nearly completely inedible, and fermentation was about the only way to make them useful. So it would make a lot of sense if beer came before bread.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Why isn't this more commonly known?

They're mostly wrong about what oils to use, but still worth reading: Anti-cancer diet

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Hardwood flooring

You have to top-nail the first few rows of hardwood flooring.

We're putting in Brazillian Cherry.

Day 1: It broke my drill bits and laughed at my nails.

Plan for day 2: Get heavier nails. And maybe some spare drill bits.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Good read

...for those worried about cholesterol with my diet: Four patients who changed my life

Monday, January 11, 2010

Pictures from trip

Here they are, more or less unprocessed.

Lightroom doesn't appear to pick up on the fact that I had a red filter set on the B&W ones. Annoying. Just imagine them looking better than they do, ok?