Reply To: Materia Medica of Foods
Hi Riley,
I feel like I’m advancing this course at a snail’s pace, so much information and so little time during my days… I have a variety of questions:
– About oxalates in peanuts… This matters to me since I do have kidney stones and they’re from oxalates. My urologist had told me to stop eating them, I tried for a full year and felt miserable; I really like them. I make my own peanut butter, usually in the morning while preparing breakfast. I know Angeli mentioned roasting them prior to eating may help reduce this compound. I don’t have the time to pre-roast the peanuts prior to butter them. I buy them already roasted (I live in a rural area, they only have them roasted in the grocery store that is accesible to us). I don’t know how much this industrial roasting helps at all with the reduction of oxalate content, does it? The other option was adding an acid, well peanut butter and lemon juice doesn’t quite work, but I have my morning toast with peanut butter and rasberry jam (also home made), does the acid in the raspberries help at all? I don’t eat much anyway, usually 1 tbsp and not every day.
– Dairy… Sour cream wasn’t mentioned in the class. Does it have the probiotic characteristics of yogurt? And about yogurt, by full fat does Angeli mean Greek style yogurt instead of the regulaar one? I understand greek yogurt has a bit more protein content than regular one, but it also has way more fat (thus more cholesterol), I don’t know which way to go is it more important consuming protein than avoiding saturated animal fat?
– Beans… We consume beans daily. Before, I used to keep the cooking water if we were having bean soup, or to mash the beans, also to use it to cook rice. But now after learning about phytates, should I discard the cooking water?
– Wheat… We have considered getting wheat berries and milling our own flour for our bread making. Store bought flour is enriched. Nutritionally speaking, which is better, enriched flour or home milled or is it pretty much the same?
– Soy… I had to get my husband on a cholesterol free diet, since his numbers are quite high and he doesn’t want to take medication for it. Since i’m the cook of the house, we all went plant based (although I do cook animal protein once in a while for me and my daugther). Because my husband was a very carnivorous person, he misses his beef steaks and such. I have purchased those soy based substitutes (ground beef, sausages, meatballs) from the store. Are these considered ultra processed foods? We always have eaten home made meals, so this packaged stuff is new to me. How “safe” is that stuff? I don’t cook it daily, but about once sometimes twice a week.
I haven’t finished the entire course, but as I’m advancing I am concerned about the serving sizes of food. I’m a petite person and eat quite small portions. I’ve never been athletic or a high stamina active person. I tend to be more in the lower stamina side of the spectrum. Example: Serving size of yogurt 1 cup, I can’t fit 1 cup in my stomach in one go! I eat about 1/4-1/3 of a cup. I can’t eat 2 eggs in one meal either, or a cup of beans. Same goes for almost anything. I tried a portion based diet years ago; I was never able to finish all the food portions required in a day for a 1800 calorie regime… like 3 servings of fruit + 5 servings of veggies + 3 serving of protein, + carbs + fats… way too much food. How do I go about this and the nutrition content of food? Am I deficient because I eat so little? Should I take vitamin/mineral supplements?
Thanks!