Three Foods That Get a Bad Rap

As someone who's been on both sides of healthiness, I take great interest as to what I'm putting into my body. No, that definitely doesn't mean that I only put good things into my body, but at least I know how they affect me. I've done a lot of research over the years, and have made my own conclusions based on factual information as to what I exactly I should be consuming, and how much. Tare a few foods oft scrutinized by the public, which are actually OK to consume on a regular basis. With that, I bring you a little list of four misconstrued foods which are ok to eat!

1. Coffee. Most people have a negative view of coffee when it comes to your health. Yes, in certain religions coffee is even banned from consumption! This is all because of that little drug called caffeine. Yes, caffeine can be hazardous to your health if too much in regularly consumed, but this is true of any drug! But, in moderation, coffee has excellent health benefits. First of all, if you have some before working out, you'll actually burn more calories! Since caffeine is a stimulant, your metabolism actually goes up! Also, studies have shown that coffee contain antioxidants that help prevent type-II diabetes and cirosis of the liver (important information for you boozers out there). AND, coffee has NO calories, so you won't get fat either! Obviously too much is no good, but a few cups a week is actually BENEFICIAL!

2. Chocolate. Oh how I LOVE chocolate! Turns out, chocolate actually contains many things that are GOOD for you! First of all chocolate contains a compound called phenyl ethylamine which helps raise your mood (no wonder I'm so damn happy chowing down on cocoa). It also increases levels of seratonin in the brain which is comfort elevating chemical. Believe it or not, chocolate also contains antibacterial agents which prevent tooth decay!!! (Ok ok, so if you eat milk chocolate you totally counteract this, but I'm on a roll!) Oh but I'm not finished. Some chocolates also contain oleic acid which helps raise your HDL (Good) cholesterol).

Ok now before you go out and start binging on chocolate, these are properties of cacao (main chocolate ingredient) so you wanna buy as pure a chocalate as you can find. Don't go stuffing a Snickers bar down your pipe because it has chocolate and nuts.

And speaking of chocolate, there's a place in Anchorage, Alaska called "Alaska Wildberry Products" that claims to have the "largest chocolate fountain in the world." I've seen it, and its pretty damn big. In fact I wanted to stage an "accident" when I was there and "accidentally" plunge into the fountain of my dreams, but my sister wouldn't let me.

3. Splenda (and some other artificial sweetners). I hear the same old argument all the time. "That stuff causes cancer!!!" Yea, well, a lot of things cause cancer if you consume enough of them. Hell, nearly EVERYTHING is a carcinogen at a some level. You find me one person who has developed cancer from consuming too much splenda and I'll find you a flying pig. In fact, the FDA has even confirmed that there is no evidence that splenda (or any other artificial sweetners on the market for that matter) are a cancer risk.

The whole misnomer stems from a 1970's experiment in which sacharine (the sweetener in Sweet n' Low) caused cancer in lab rats. They were however exposed to an obscene amount of sacharine! It's literally IMPOSSIBLE to continuously consume this amount of sacharine on a daily basis. Yes, it is not "natural" and some people have objections to that, but scientifically, there are no difinitively proven negative effects to its consumption.

I am a huge fan of splenda. I have a major sweet tooth, so I use it whenever I can. I drink only diet soda since I HATE drinking my calories. I love Crystal Light. I use it as a sugar substitute in coffee, or when I make smoothies. If I die of cancer, it won't be because of sweeteners, and at least I won't be fat!

Yes friends, I know todays entry was not full of my usual wit and charm, but I had to make a point! I'll leave with this little anecdote though from this last weekend which sort of relates to this post.

So I'm at a Bar called Moondoggies this weekend with my friends Bruno and Frederico. We meet a couple of chics, and in the process of conversating, one of them tells me to feel how hot her arm is. Apparently she got sunburned and said her skin was "hot." Hmmm...to my knowledge, heat has nothing to do with sunburns, and I don't think the skin surface temperature actually raises too much, but whatever...I let it go.

I told her she shouldn't spent so much time out there and a debate ensued which went something like this:

Her: "That's not true! The Sun's natural! It's good for you!"
Me: "Sure in small doses, but too much sun is obviously bad for you."
Her: "No! Anything natural is good for you. I believe in nature's power."
Me: "So you don't think that your skin peeling and skin hurting is a sign of too much sun?"
Her: "People are very ignorant to the powers of nature. I don't believe anything natural can be bad for you"

At this point I began to get frustrated with not only the fact that I was wasting my time talking to this person, but that she certainly thought I was of inferior intelligence not to know that the sun has no negative effects. But, no one beats me in an argument...especially one this ridiculous!

Me: "Well did you heard about the deaths of the frat pledge who died of water overdose or the lady who was trying to win a radio contest?"
Her: "Oh yea!"
Me: "Tell me, Is Water natural?"
Her: "Uhhh....yea"
Me: "What about River or Lake water? Why don't you go drink that and let me know how you feel?"
Her: "Yea, I guess they do have bacteria."
Me: "Isn't that natural???"

Game, Set, Match Arun.

This same girl chastised me earlier for my love of Splenda.