Tag Archives: clean fuel and dirty fuel

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Is Eating Clean Necessary?

I just finished reading this article and I thought it raised some very interesting points.  The writer does an excellent job of discussing several misconceptions about food.  I actually do agree that celiac disease (gluten or wheat sensitivity or intestinal allergy), and  monosodium glutamate (MSG) are overblown compared to their actual level of incidence and disease severity.   Genetically modified foods are an unknown quantity. There are three points that need to analyzed.

He notes that “in some studies, processed red meat in large amounts is associated with an increased relative risk of developing cancer. The absolute risk, however, is often quite small. If I ate an extra serving of bacon a day, every day, my lifetime risk of colon cancer would go up less than one-half of 1 percent. Even then, it’s debatable.”   Though it is not well-publicized, pork and red meat have a known association with certain cancers.  The incidence of colon cancer is higher though it is nowhere near as high as the  association  between lung cancer and cigarette smoking.

He is correct on this, but he singles out just one issue.  Heart attacks, strokes and diabetes are also associated with  moderate meat consumption.  Cancer was his large point and I intend to discuss this in a later post, but he neglects to mention how diet causes two of the most common chronic illnesses in America.  Dirty fuel is the direct link to both cancer, diabetes, and heart disease in America.

The next issue is that the author notes that being afraid of food is a problem.  It is important to keep this in a certain context.  You will do better than most if you ensure that 90% of your food is clean fuel.  Doing so will ensure that you are not necessarily vegan, but you will be what Dr. Joel Fuhrman refers to as a nutritarian.

And last, but not least, the author is an Pediatrician  and researcher at Indiana University School of Medicine.  Many university researchers seek grants from large corporations to perform food industry-friendly research and receive large payments in exchange for pushing certain narratives.  His viewpoint differs from mine in that I am an internist who sees cancer, diabetes, and heart disease on a daily basis. He is a pediatrician and has limited daily exposure to the long-term effects of these chronic conditions.

 

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Clean Fuel and Dirty Fuel

I am writing this blog to address the health education gap that exists between physicians and patients.  The first thing I will introduce with this post is a synthesized concept I call  clean fuel dirty fuel.

Clean fuel consists of food that your body burns completely without any residue.  Examples of clean fuel include: oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat pasta or vegetable pasta, sweet or white potatoes, peas and beans, and corn.  These are foods your body largely burns and converts into pure energy.  There is no portion control with these foods; therefore, you can eat as much as you desire as long as the foods are prepared in a certain way.

Meanwhile, dirty fuel presents a bit more of a problem.  These are foods that your body largely turns into fat; they do not burn cleanly.  Fat is the remaining residue, and animal protein lead to a host of medical problems.  Examples of dirty fuel include:  processed food (bread, potato chips, french fries, juice, sweetened tea, soda, alcohol dessert that is not fruit, anything from a fast food restaurant including pizza, nuts (eat no more than 10-20 nuts in a day, oil of any type), eggs, dairy of any type, and meat including beef, chicken, pork, liver, veal, goat, lamb, or any internal organ, and seafood (any of it).  Consume dirty fuel in limited quantities.  Portion control is a must.