Aedes,

Thank you very much for all your advice, and you're absolutely correct. A nutritionist friend of mine helps me sort through a lot of the data, and I will be seeking the help of other medical professionals in order to evaluate the studies under the lights you've mentioned. Much of this is not generalizable, and I've learned this over time. This is why I cite, Necessarily, in my posts. When people throw out phrases like, "Don't eat that piece of bacon, it'll make you fat and clog your arteries!" it frustrates me as this is not necessarily true. There's so much misinformation spread, and very few take into consideration, that, as you say: Each diet is individual. A new fad comes along and I have a close friend of mine spouting: "Oh, don't eat that high glycemic carbohydrate, it'll spike insulin levels and induce fat gain!". :brickwall::brickwall:

As for the giving of advice about dietary concerns: I have a close-knit group of individuals that give advice about diets and help others, one of them a licensed dietitian. We present our cases and allow people to make educated decisions based on studies/evidence. The person, if they have the passion, usually continues on with their own research, which I highly recommended - the more they know, the better they can make an educated, tailored choice for themselves. I'm not a medical professional, but I do believe I have an above average understanding of basic nutrition, after being very strictly involved in it over the last 6 years. I understand your concern, but I'm willing to take the heat for my actions. If providing people with research is a crime, then that's fine with me. Again, I never force people to do anything, but my whole motivation is making people consider. So, showing a person medical evidence that may be contrary to the definitive "THIS WILL MAKE ME FAT", is what I strive for.

Once again, I thank you, and with your help and some of my closer friends involved in the medical profession, I hope to seek the truth... at least for my body.

Be well,

Zeth

Pat's, Jim's, or that roast pork place down at Tasker and Front, if I can get there before they sell out...

Eat in moderation. And we'll be fine.

good name for a restaurant "moderation" eat in "moderation" and get less for your money..its a winner..

I'll keep that in mind if I ever plan to be a restauranteur.

Eat in us, eat in Moderation.

Many of these foods have delicious meat in them, meat is full of amino acids, therefore it is healthy. High fat and cholesterol can be digested by someone who works hard.

A Big Mac is full of amino acids, and it's far from healthy. It has 540 calories, of which 260 are from fat, it has 10 grams of saturated fat, and more than 1000 mg of sodium. It has 25 grams of protein. In other words, it has 25% of your daily caloric requirements, more than half of your recommended fat and salt intake, but only 1/4 to 1/3 of your recommended protein intake. There are many ways to get amino acids in your diet, and they need not come in a delivery vehicle that is full of salt, saturated animal fat, cholesterol, and calories.

For protein... eat fish! Yellowfin Tuna (156 calories) has about 70% of your recommended daily intake. I'm personally a big fan of Talapia because it does not taste that fishy... well.. at least not as much as salmon. I'm not sure if Talapia is as high in content as Yellowfin though in aminio acids. Still good though. On this note, I think Omega 3 fatty acids are just as important as protein in your daily diet. Heck, even bean burritos have a decent amount of amino acids in them. But like Aedes implies, you lose just as much ground in other areas to the point where you dont gain anything beneficial from your meal.

Burger wise, I went on this burger kick a year ago with TGI Friday's burgers and I have to say.... bad idea. Before anything, I have to say that TGI Friday's makes one heck of a good burger. That being said, I have to say TGI Friday's will make you feel less than standard if you eat them consecutively for a while. Waaay to much salt in those burgers. I don't know how much sodium are in them, but my hands were swollen minutes after eating one.

I'm a tilapia fan too, but I love salmon. Part of nutrition these days is figuring out beneficial foods to increase, not just harmful foods to avoid. With fish it's a complicated issue -- oily fish (like salmon) are definitely the most beneficial in terms of omega-3 fatty acids (the ones that come from flaxseed and nuts are not as bioavailable). But with fish you also have to balance the ecological problems of wild-caught fish (eg overfishing) with the medical costs of farmed fish (eg mercury exposure).

The "fifth-third" burger.

1.66 pound beef burger

4489 calories

Food: The 4489 Calorie, 1.66 lb Burger

Is that a vomit burger? Looks like someone ate a plate of nachos and threw the up onto a few burger patties on a bun.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by this?

Well, I can. We have a serious issue with overfishing, and also a serious issue with mercury contaminated fish (especially in those species that are higher up on the food chain due to bio-accumulation), so there are two reasons why one should proceed with caution while consuming fish. It can be both harmful to the overall food supply (depopulation), and harmful to personal health (toxic metals).

I'm familiar with those two problems, I was just confused with how "balancing" has anything to do with this.

How are we to "balance" the problems? Is proceeding with caution whilst consuming these fish, "balancing"? Should we eat an equal amount of mercury contaminated fish and an equal amount of fish that is generally over-fished?

Perhaps it's just figurative language I'm not aware of. Maybe "balance" means to just eat in moderation, as to caution from contributing too much to either one of the problems? Then again, there are problems with nearly every branch of the food industry, so I usually recommend moderation all across the board. Pesticides, growth hormones, artificial preservatives, artificial flavorings... there are so many things that can potentially cause harm.

Thats it. No more ice cream and candy bars for me. I'm sticking with McDonalds.

Farmed fish can have a high mercury content. In the babies of pregnant women and in young children this can lead to developmental delays, and some medical bodies recommend that the intake of farmed fish be limited for this specific reason.

Wild caught fish do not have this problem (generally -- they CAN have high mercury levels). But there is a great deal of overfishing, especially with modern methods (including using sonar to track schools), and this has led to severe depletion of wild fish stocks in some places. There are also issues of some practices that inadvertently catch dolphins or some endangered fish species.

By balancing, what I meant was that the clearly demonstrable health benefits of fish (in selected clinical scenarios) come at a price, and choosing between farmed versus wild fish can mean trading one problem for another.

Even if the fish has a high mercury content, from my knowledge, it will not always be harmful to the individual. I thought it had much to do with absorption factors. Am I incorrect?