I went to a dinner party over the weekend…
This was one of my wife’s deals so I didn’t know
a soul there.
But at least I had some good food to look forward
to.
At least I thought I did.
Here’s what I had waiting for me once I arrived…
Pasta with a sickly sweet marinara sauce and a salad
that was sickly sweet too.
It was sort of like cranberry pie with lettuce at the
bottom instead of crust.
There was also a huge basket of bread with a
fake butter garnish.
And off to the side…
Was a big dessert table that would put your local
hometown buffet to shame.
So this was a high carb, low fat situation…
Circa 1989.
There was no meat. And no fat that didn’t come
out of a soy bean.
I remember thinking to myself, do people still eat
like this?
I guess so.
Let me ask you something…
What would you have done in this situation?
Say you’d worked out hard like I did that day…
Done your intermittent fasting so you’d only eaten
one small banana….
And you felt like you were ready to pass out you were
so hungry…
You would have gone face first into the food, right?
Me too.
It was Christmas dinner and Thanksgiving lunch all
wrapped into one.
The only problem was, the real food I’m used to eating
was missing…
And it had been replaced with…
Bleached white flower. High fructose corn syrup. And
soy bean oil.
90 percent of the food served that night was made
from these 3 ingredients.
So this is what my body had to work with.
And as I already mentioned, I had worked out hard
earlier in the day…
And this created a problem…
Because the amino acids normally found in beef, poultry
and fish were missing.
And I needed these aminos to rebuild the muscle I’d
torn down running sprints.
So things weren’t looking too good.
But I did get plenty of wheat in the pasta dish.
But this brought phytic acid to the table.
And this was unfortunate…
Because phytic acid inhibits the absorption of several
minerals…
Important ones like calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc.
And I needed these minerals….
To rebuild the bone, tendons and ligaments I’d ripped up
while sprinting earlier.
Of course, I did have the fructose to fall back on.
But dietary fructose inhibits calcium absorption and increases
the excretion of iron and magnesium.
So the downward trend continued.
I did have some soy bean oil too…
But this gem decreases the production of testosterone
in the testicles.
So this didn’t do much to improve the situation at all.
I eventually escaped this culinary nightmare, got into
my car and headed home…
And that’s where the story gets real interesting…
I’ve been running sprints for several years now and I
can usually feel them a bit the next day…
But this time was different…
I woke up in the morning feeling like I’d been hit by
a bus.
My joints ached. My thighs and glutes were sore. And I
had lower back pain.
In short, I felt like a rickety old man.
And all this old man stuff came on after only one meal.
I’d hate to think where I’d be now if I was eating like this
every day of the week.
Actually, I know exactly where I would be…
And it would not be a good place.
Mark
References:
Phytic acid interactions in food systems
Testosterone-lowering activity of canola and hydrogenated soybean oil
Mineral balances in humans as affected by fructose, high fructose corn syrup and sucrose.