Top Chef Judges

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I’ll watch Bravo and occasionally catch other reality shows that are based on cooking competitions.  It is a chance to just be entertained, since most of the rest of my life I’m working or researching or both.  The reality mind-mush, combined with at least a talent requirement, makes it appealing.

In my fat loss program I promote the use of a fasting cleanse as a starting point towards a diet modification and lifestyle change.

An incredible effect of a fast is that it “renews” the taste buds, and very much so.

As I watch the judges do their taste testing, I can’t help but wonder how they clean their palate, how the dishes to not clash with one another, especially considering some of the herbs that are used from dish to dish.

We are required to develop a more “bland” approach to food.  Reason being, most of the middle-of-the-grocery-store foods are produced by companies with stock holders that require a profit be made in order for the company to operate.  Thus, the need to ensure foods taste as appealing as possible, and that can include all sorts of flavor enhancements (usually salts or sugars of various kinds) and our taste buds have thus become far over stimulated, where by a raw food diet, for example, may taste so “bland” to someone used to the western diet that it would be nearly impossible for one to implement realistically.

A fasting cleanse can be great in this regard.  After anywhere from three to ten days of not eating, that celery stick is looking pretty darn tasty. 

It works.

Love, Happiness, Health and Peace…………Tim

Is Almond Milk Dangerous?

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Video below I uploaded today covering eliminating almond milk and almond butter from my diet.  Two foods I’ve long had in my program and that I’ve promoted for years.

My intuition on this matter was based on the feeling that that enzyme inhibitors are the core problem.

And when we “drink” almonds, how concentrated a form of almonds are we getting, and what kind of quality of almonds…putting aside the organic issue for now, are the almonds processed in such a way that the enzyme inhibitors are released?

I don’t intend to bash any almond milk companies.  One even has on their website that the filtered water they use in their almond milk comes from a non-fluoridated source.  And I certainly appreciate and respect that.

But in writing to a company asking about how the processing of their almonds works, not getting an answer and in so doing some follow-up work on the general standards of almond processing country-wide, it is highly improbable that the enzyme inhibitor aspect of almonds is ever factored into the processing of raw almonds (the “raw” definition being yet another little glitch in the equation; most almonds and almond products we purchase are not truly “raw” at all, but that’s a topic for another time).

Soaking the almonds to deal with the enzyme inhibitors is likely no realistic for almond processing plants.  There is time, money, and fungal/mold concerns involved in such a process.

So in what condition are we *drinking* in almonds, and by that same token, to what extent are the almonds sort of “concentrated,” such that we may be taking in far more almonds than would otherwise be natural?