I now try to eat only food in it's most natural form. But even that can be tricky. For example, wild caught salmon is far superior to farm raised salmon. When eating cheese, you have to be careful to select the aged raw milk cheeses (U.S. won't allow the sale of fresh raw milk cheese) over the "supermarket" cheeses that are basically just junk food. For example, Velveeta, Kraft, Cracker Barrel etc., that you find in dairy section - that's not cheese! You will find the better cheeses in deli and yes, you will pay more. It's not cheap to eat well but it's very cheap to eat poorly and get obese.
The grains (especially wheat) have been hybridized and line bred to be harvested easy . They are not the same but it is more how they process the wheat now that makes them so unhealthy . It used to be that grains were stone ground , you got the entire grain including the oil in your flour along with some extra nutrients that came from the stones that were grinding them. Today they split off the oil , bran and germ from the wheat when they process it and leave behind the garbage flour (since it has no oil and fat in it they can store it longer once ground) to make matters worse they add an anti caking agent to flour (this is really bad for you). Even when you buy whole wheat flour you are still getting a stripped flour most of the time it is just white flour with bran added to it and the anti caking agent.
If you want to eat some wheat buy the whole grain and grind it yourself (I actually do this occasionally when I want to bake some bread , it’s a pain so I don’t eat it often)
It’s better to take the whole grain and soak it and cook it and eat is like a cereal or sprout it (the spouted wheat is actually easy to do and very good for you and it can be added to smoothies )
The store bought breads , pastas and cereals are one of the easiest things to remove from the diet that make the greatest impact on your gut flora and weight. I swear that I really believe all the problems with people digesting gluten isn’t really the gluten causing the problems as much as what they add and take away from the wheat.
If you want a really good wheat look for einkorn it is not a modern wheat .
The salmon - farmed is basically fed a grain mix
The less processed the food is the better it is for you.
If you watch sales and buy what is in season you can bring cost down a lot . If you garden some , even a tiny plot can bring great rewards :)
Salt - the processed stuff is really bad for you too , again the anti caking agent they add to it is what makes it so bad . It’s better to use either Kosher salt or real salt crystals (they are lumpy ) and put them in a pepper grinder ... way better flavor too and you do not have to use near as much .
I think if that were actually true, some enterprising farmer would find some genetically-ancient grain, grow it, and sell it at a premium price.
I, too, would like to be on the “healthier lifestyle” ping list. Thanks!
Interesting stuff.