RE: Dairy, Olive oil and my ramblings etc

[Guest guest]

I have enjoyed the many detailed discussions that occur on this list. Often far

and above in experise, science and professionalism than many of those that

occur on the professional lists I am on.

On a non scientific , personal note, I found it hard to beleive that any one

food, whether that be dairy, or olive oil or walnuts, or blueberries, or soy,

would be either that beneficial or that detrimental to the overall picture,

expecially if they make a minor contribution to the diet. And, i am not

against the use of most of the recent foods that have been mentioned in this

light. All i have tried to do, is point out some of the " other side " of the

issues. The reason is, that to often in our world we have a " pill " mentality

and this mentality gets transferred to " foods " , one " food " for one 'disease " and

diets. Or one " food " for one " nutrient. Its just not that simple. Certain

populations are not healthy because of the " one food " whether that be the " olive

oil " , or the " soy " or the " green tea " , or the " yogurt " or the " coral calcium " or

the " blueberries " they consume. They are healthy cause of the multi faceted

lifestyle and environmental issues that go into their lifestyle, of which,

sometimes, the above mentioned items, may be a part of. More often than not,

they are healthy not " because " of the single item, but healthy " inspite " of the

single item.

If olive oil is truly a " gift of nature " , than somehow nature forget to provide

this gift to (hu)mankind for most of its existance on this planet.

If dairy, or even yogurt is such an ideal food, than ironically, much of the

human population is allergic or sensitive to either the casein in the dairy and

nature also forgot how to make it available to humans for most of their

existance on this planet.

I could go on and on..

My hats off to Al for figuring out the special combo of foods and oils and nuts

to achieve the right proportions/ratios/amounts that are ideal based on his

understanding of the literature. I showed an analysis of a diet that acheived

the same thing without the use of any added concentrated source of oil or fat

based almopst soley on a plant food diet, with a little piece of fish ( i think

it was trout). I could also be done without the fish, but the Epa/DHA would

have to come from internal conversion. Whether one chooses to do it thru the

concentrated foods or not, will be mostly personal choice. In the end, I bet

Al and I both outlive most other people, as will all of use in our quest of

CR-ON. While I enjoy picking out the details, I dont want to get so lost in

them, I miss the bigger picture.

BTW, pritikin does not oppose the use of oils, even for overweight people. Its

not on the " freely recommended " " list " but allowed when all of the above issues

are understood.

And back to the tomato olive oil issue, one study never changes the tides of

science. Even if it turned out to be 100% true in every case and that the only

way you can ever get the lycopenes from tomatoes is to add olive oil, than well,

maybe dont eat tomatoes. After all, many people are allergic to tomatoes.

Seems from the chart below, I could be better off (or just as well off) by just

eating a serving of watermelon or a serving of pink grapefruit.

Come to think about it, I think i like watermelon better anyway. I wonder if

adding olive oil to the watermelon would increase the lycopene absorbtion

Regards

jeff

Product Lycopene

(mg /100 g) Serving

Size Lycopene

(mg /serving)

Tomato Juice 9.5 250 mL (1 cup) 25.0

Tomato Ketchup 15.9 15 mL (1 tbsp) 2.7

Spaghetti Sauce 21.9 125 mL (1/2 cup) 28.1

Tomato Paste 42.2 30 mL (2 tbsp) 13.8

Tomato Soup (Condensed) 7.2 250 mL prepared 9.7

Tomato Sauce 14.1 60 mL (1/4 cup) 8.9

Chili Sauce 19.5 30 mL (2 tbsp) 6.7

Seafood Sauce 17.0 30 mL (2 tbsp) 5.9

Watermelon 4.0 368 g

(1 slice 25 x 2 cm) 14.7

Pink Grapefruit 4.0 123 g (1/2) 4.9

Raw Tomato 3.0 123 g (1 medium) 3.7