additives everywhere!

[Soundguy]

Yep.. if you eat only junk food.. don't exercise, and lay on a couch from when you get home, till you eat, then go to bed, and then get up and do it again.. There should be no wonder why your general health is lower than say.. somebody who makes efforts to eat ballanced meals.. and either exercises.. or engages in other tasks that count as excercise.. such as a few hours of yard/farm work with some elevated heart rate.. etc..

Not only is our society becomming an 'entitlement' society.. it also has lost the feeling of personal responsibility... add those up and then you get people that don't take care of themselves.. then wonder why they are sick, and what the rest of us are gonna do about it to help them went they can't do anything for themselves anymore.. due to their choice of lifestyle..

Soundguy

Soundguy

 

[EddieWalker]

Soundguy,

You make it sound like a bad thing to be able to eat junk food, sit around watching TV and not excersising. These are the things I enjoy and look forward to. I enjoy watching TV with a bag of Doritos or microwave popcorn and a soda or a beer. Most of my meals wouldn't qualify for a single category on any health chart, and the ones that do, I add seasoning to anyway. My idea of excersize is sitting on a tractor and puling the levers.

For me, it's a good life and I'm enjoying it.

The funny thing is that so many profesional athletes end up dying young or having serious health issues. I know a guy who has several world records in weight lifting. He's just about crippled now. Jim Fixx was a famous runner who died young. Allot of pro's end up extremly overweight and die at young ages.

I'm gonna enjoy my years and when my time is up, there won't be any regrets.

Eddie

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Soundguy,

You make it sound like a bad thing to be able to eat junk food, sit around watching TV and not excersising. These are the things I enjoy and look forward to. I enjoy watching TV with a bag of Doritos or microwave popcorn and a soda or a beer. Most of my meals wouldn't qualify for a single category on any health chart, and the ones that do, I add seasoning to anyway. My idea of excersize is sitting on a tractor and puling the levers.

For me, it's a good life and I'm enjoying it.

The funny thing is that so many profesional athletes end up dying young or having serious health issues. I know a guy who has several world records in weight lifting. He's just about crippled now. Jim Fixx was a famous runner who died young. Allot of pro's end up extremly overweight and die at young ages.

I'm gonna enjoy my years and when my time is up, there won't be any regrets.

Eddie

It's all about striking a balance. You can have some junk food. In return, a little exersize to burn it off is in order. Those old athletes punished their bodies with far too much exersize. (or much too much OVER exersizing)

I'm a fine one to talk. I'm probably 30 or 35 lbs overweight. I'm shedding pounds finally, but that 35 lbs I'm packing around is no different than strapping 35 lbs of bricks on my back every morning. My heart and my legs suffer because I like those Doritos too. Some of us just don't deal with poor food choices as well as others.

I can't help but think of the old joke about the guy who had his doctor tell him he needed to cut out junk food, drinking and wild living. His friends ask him if that's going to make him live longer. "No, just make it SEEM longer".

 

[Soundguy]

I'm not saying it is bad. i'm just saying that 20 years down the line.. that if you are in bad health.. you should know why. Which i think you will. As you said.. you enjoy it and will do it.. that would entail realizing the downstream repercutions.

Don't get me wrong.. i can hurt a bag of donuts or bag of chips pretty fast too.. and I do have a thumb on my right hand that fits the button on a tv remote quite nicely.. unfortunately i don't get as much practice as I want with those activities!!!

Soundguy

Soundguy,

You make it sound like a bad thing to be able to eat junk food, sit around watching TV and not excersising. These are the things I enjoy and look forward to. I enjoy watching TV with a bag of Doritos or microwave popcorn and a soda or a beer. Most of my meals wouldn't qualify for a single category on any health chart, and the ones that do, I add seasoning to anyway. My idea of excersize is sitting on a tractor and puling the levers.

For me, it's a good life and I'm enjoying it.

The funny thing is that so many profesional athletes end up dying young or having serious health issues. I know a guy who has several world records in weight lifting. He's just about crippled now. Jim Fixx was a famous runner who died young. Allot of pro's end up extremly overweight and die at young ages.

I'm gonna enjoy my years and when my time is up, there won't be any regrets.

Eddie

 

[Hakim]

I am a researcher in the field of health and nutrition, natural foods, herbal medicines and related topics.

The World Health Organization periodically publishes their "ICD" -- International Classification of Diseases. This was originally created by the American Medical Association; it is mainly an attempt to have all diseases identified and classified in a uniform manner. It gets updated every decade or so; latest version is called “ICD-10”.

I take a look at the ICD from time to time to see how we humans are doing, in terms of our health situation.

Since the ICD is huge, in something like 10 volumes, I don’t read the whole thing. The latest version has a Table of Contents which lists all diseases we can currently identify and presumably treat (doesn’t include accidents & injuries).

Turns out, there are 1,775 PAGES in the ICD --- just to LIST all of the diseases we have. In case you don’t have the manual handy, that works out to about 62,900 DISEASES we humans are subject to, at least ones that doctors and insurance companies have "treatments" for.

A recent study reported in the Journal of The American Medical Assn, found that flu infections were missed in four out of five preschoolers who were treated for flu symptoms at a doctor’s office or emergency room, and in about three-quarters of those who were hospitalized.

If 75% of diagnoses for something as common and seemingly simple as "the flu" cannot be identified 75% of the time by physicians, what chance do you honestly think there is, that all 61,899 “other” diseases are all properly diagnosed?

It is well established scientifically that there are definite relationships between excess weight and disease. Reduction in the amount of calories consumed is directly related to longevity.

Want to live a long time? Eat less and exercise (something simple, like walking will do). Yes, you can eat anything you want, but there are about 63,000 "things" waiting to go wrong.

 

[Jagmandave]

Going back to the Wal-Mart part of the post, try Target if there's one in your area. They have meat labeled as from a company called "Sutton and Dodge", don't know about the chemical injection rate, but it's some of the best steaks I've ever eaten, and priced about the same as lesser stuff at the local grocery store.

 

[flwiii]

As both Soundguy and especially FarmwithJunk stated; it's a matter of moderation. Excesses in anything is detrimental to your health. My diabetes doctor gave me an equation for type 2 diabetes. Not everyone who fits the equation will get diabetes, but the number is small that don't get it and due mostly to stout family health histories.

The equation is: 30 years at 30 pounds overweight equals type 2 diabetes.

There are some 6 million people in the US alone that have type 2 diabetes and don't even know it.

I am living proof of the equation. My family line suffers from what some call the "Thrifty Gene". I have been anywhere from 80 to 150 pounds overweight for 30 years of my adult life (20 years old to 50 years old). At 50 I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I didn't take note or pay enough attention in my younger days and now I am paying for the indiscretions.

Most don't get diagnosed as early as I did because I have been getting full blood workups every year since I turned 45. Not everyone does this. The average is that most people get diagnosed after they have had diabetes for 10 years or more. Usually because of some secondary ailment brought on by the diabetes. So I reiterate FarmwithJunks remark.

Do all things in MODERATION.

 

[flwiii]

Hakim:
Where are your servers located? It is 9:30 AM here in Phoenix AZ and my post I just completed is showing as "Today, 04:30 PM. Maybe the time has not been set properly or the server is 7 time zones east of Phoenix.

 

[HomeBrew2]

... Just what we need is more sodium!

Having cured many hams myself using the Morton formula of 1 cup of curing salt per qt. of water, I have had some folks gripe about the amount of sodium in the meat. The simple solution is to just soak the meat in a pot of water which will shortly leach out all the salt (and nitrates) ... well, and all the sugar and spices ... which doesn't leave you with much of a ham but, you get rid of the demon sodium! Works well on canned vegatables too. Do not try it on potato chips.

 

[EddieWalker]

Moderation is easier said than done. I'm a compulsive type. It's all or nothing with most things I do. I don't eat a few chips, I eat the whole bag.

I've had six pack abs and when I quick dipping Copenhage, I gained fiftey pounds in less than a year. My family history has weight problems and a whole list of problems.

But if I was to avoid the things I enjoy in order to add a few years to my life, or avoid an unknown desiese, I think I'd go nuts. I've spent years in they gyms in California and have met a few of the top Bodybuilders in the world. Some good friends compete at the national level. They are good examples of those who take it to the extreme. Their diets are full time jobs!!! Every thing they eat is weighed and calculated as to it's benifit to there muscle gain and fat loss.

They are ALL neurotic!!!! Yes, I'm thowing a blanket statement over all over them. From the natural lifters to the full juicers, they are all very unhappy, obsessive misserable people. Male and female!!!

I still lift weights, but only once or twice a week. I also eat salads once a week, lots of fruit and veggies, but also plenty of tastey junk food.

If my diet kills me, than it's better than some random, outside force. There's no gurantees, so I might as well enjoy each day and try to make the next one ever better!!!

Give me all the Walmart steaks they have. I'll just add some more additives to them if they don't taste good enough.

Eddie

 

[livincountry]

Glad to see the thoughts generated on this one. I regularly visit a nutritionist and he subscribes to the belief that many processed foods contain "stuff" not normally in food. Heavy metals are one group of items in food today. Each person's system handles that "stuff" differently. As someone alluded to earlier; two people can consume the same foods year after year, one dies from heart disease at age 40 and the other lives to be 80. I found it odd that I had to thoroughly review the label to find the sodium injection in the pork roast. This injection, acording to the label, was to enhance flavor not as a preservative but it makes sense that it does both. It reminds me of hot house tomatoes; plenty of size but no taste.

Even in 1900 the life expectancy was 47 years old on average. I think that had more to do with wearing out your body rather than dying of a disease not diagnosed but it's anyone's guess. There are some schools of thought that kids today will be dying of heart disease at a very young age due to inactivity, sugar intake, etc. There's also some thought that kids developing at a younger age is attributed to the growth hormones in our meat supply.

Lots of variables. This all reminds me of the old guy that said. "If I knew I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself." You just never know...

 

[Bird]

the old guy that said. "If I knew I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself."

Hey, are you talking about me? I guess I'm a bit like Eddie Walker in that I eat whatever I want to eat, and since I like variety, I don't think I know anyone who eats as much variety as I do; never paid any attention to "diets". And in fact, now that we're retired, we don't even have any "meal times"; we just eat whenever and whatever we want. I probably eat too many chips and dorritos, but I think my wife is probably Frito Lay's best customer.

 

[livincountry]

Hey, are you talking about me?

You sound like my dad, can eat anything, age 83 and still strong as an ox. Mom on the other hand has to watch what she eats and she still has cholestrol problems but at 83 she too is doing pretty good.

 

[Bird]

Maybe the old medical treatment of bleeding folks actually did some good; I donate blood a couple of times a year and you can later go to the blood bank's website and it'll show what your cholesterol was when you donated. The last couple of years, mine has been 202 to 209, so I never worry about it. Of course, I never worried about it when I didn't know what it was either.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Hey, are you talking about me? I guess I'm a bit like Eddie Walker in that I eat whatever I want to eat, and since I like variety, I don't think I know anyone who eats as much variety as I do; never paid any attention to "diets". And in fact, now that we're retired, we don't even have any "meal times"; we just eat whenever and whatever we want. I probably eat too many chips and dorritos, but I think my wife is probably Frito Lay's best customer.

One area we haven't touched upon is stress. That takes a mighty toll on some folks. My father was from a family of 12. All 11 of his brothers and sisters died by the time they reached their early 60's. My father was one cool and composed guy. Nothing shook him. He ran a successful business. (Home builder and hobby farmer) He made LOTS of money in the 50's, 60's and 70's. That took a lot of pressure off of him and mom. His siblings did OK, but none as well as dad. He ate everything that he SHOULDN'T have. (He LOVED greasey food, being old time German) And he lived to a ripe old age of 89. I've always thought it was because he didn't need to worry like a lot of people, about how he was going to pay bills, feed his family, and live beyond his working days.

Me? I'm the official "worry wart" in our clan. That has me concerned. (Or should I say, that WORRIES me!) Hope that doesn't mean what I think it means.

 

[HomeBrew2]

... Heavy metals are one group of items in food today

OH!, I thought you were worried about simple sodium chloride, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite in the meat. If you've got metal chunks in there, I'd not buy it either!

As far as diet, Copenhagen, diet beer and eating a cold can of ravioli for breakfast and a good homecooked meal about 9pm, just before you crash, is my successful bachleor's regime. No airconditioning in 100° heat and not sitting down much helps too.

 

[3RRL]

Geez, I just read this thread for the first tme and really thought it was gonna be about Power Service or Stabil or something like that!

 

[gordon21]

Injected meats are very common. Far more common than you think. Another common industry phrase is "pumped". Another word used is "marinated". There is nothing wrong with the method, it is merely a way to reduce the price of an item. If you can take a piece of beef, pork or chicken that weighs 1# that costs $2.00 and pump it with 20% additional solution, you now have 1.20# to legally sell on a scale. $2 times 1.2 # means you can now charge $2.40 for the same exact piece of meat. OR, you can advertise it for $1.66# and appear that you are way cheaper. 1.2# times 1.66 = original $2

Salt, water and broth are used because they are cheap. Meats cost $1-$3 per pound. Salt is less than $0.12 per pound in bulk and water is almost free. Selling water or salt for $1-$3 per pound is big business. When you think of large scale operations adding 2000# of water and 300# of salt to a batch of meat weighing 10-12,000#, you can see the reason why this happens. A large processing plant can turn out well over 300,000# per day

Ham is often pumped up the to legal max of 35% water. Chicken breasts are usually pumped to around 18-22%. Beef products are pumped from 5-15%

If you look closely at store labels, you will see the phrase "Ham and water product"

Chicken breasts cooked with the added water do indeed stay moister after cooking, but the shrink rate is horrible. An 8oz pumped breast will lose 3oz. Half of that was natural juice and the other half is what was pumped into it.

By the way, pumped means water/solution added by pressure. Needles are not used. Air pressure forces liquid into the prioduct.

 

[HomeBrew2]

Injected meats are very common...

Great info!

I have to admit that many years ago when I heard a (probably cyclical) public uproar about the water solution put into meat, especially ham, I was somewhat miffed about paying for water at meat prices. Fast forward to making my own hams, brined, not dry cured. That was some of the driest pink pork I had ever had! Light bulb comes on. My cure worked perfectly, ie, removing nearly all moisture from the meat via osmosis thus, minimizing the bacteria spawning environment. Hence, I became a fan of water-added ham and I give mine a little soak in one fashion or another when/prior to cooking.

Question: Re: The chicken info you gave. Is that based on the old (rediculous) 180° recommended finish temp? I never abided by that as I was convinced that ~165° was plenty to kill most anything ... now the USDA is using the 165° measure and I just wondered if the lower temp might lead to less than the 35+% shrinkage. Just wondering. It's hard to ruin dark meat so that's all I eat anyway.

Cheers!

 

[gordon21]

The excessive shrink mentioned was specifically for boneless-skinless chicken breasts. This is what 80% of restaurants use now unless they are doing traditional fried chicken with the skin and bone. The food distributer I work for sells about 100,000# weekly. Probably 70% is pumped or marinated. The rule of thumb is to allow 1.5-2 extra ounces from regular to pumped when they are still raw in order to get the same size after cooking.

A 8oz pumped breast will be just about the same size as a 6oz natural breast. The only health hazard would be excessive salt for some people. Additives keep food safe. Some earlier poster mentioned that Wal Mart produce goes bad very quickly. That is because they buy short life product. All produce has a predictable shelf life. When you get a few days before the end of that life, the wholesale price drops. Fast. High quality produce will literally last weeks from the day it is picked with the exception of a few items like mushrooms, herbs and sprouts. Oranges easily last 2 weeks if truly fresh. However, if a store buys a load that is already 22 days old, then the consumer can't do anything to extend that life.

The typical retail pack of vacuum packed ham, luncheon meat, turkey, etc has a shelf life of anywhere from 60-150 days. Look at the dates on the packs the next time you see a 2 for 1 special on meats. I will bet the expiration date is about 2 weeks away. The mfgr or the wholesalers have not sold it in the past 3-4 months. A 2 for 1 will blow out that inventory. Go ahead and buy it. You will be fine. Just don't keep it more than 20-30 days after the expiration date. There is a cushion built into those dates just like towing limits.