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Comment by sillysaurus | Hacker News Reader

Cut the processed foods. If it comes in a box, don't buy it. If there are ingredients you have trouble pronouncing, don't buy it.

I've reduced my diet to the following: apples, canned pineapple, pork steaks, canned corn, and tap water.

The advantage is that none of those contain anything artificial (except the tap water). The disadvantage is that probably no one else would be content eating only those things. But I've been forcing myself, because the alternative is empirically worse.

It's likely I'm just fooling myself. But even still, it's a huge stress relief to not feel bad about we eat.

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Personally I would be cautious of anything in a can as well. By it's nature, the act of food preservation usually requires a massive increase in either sugar or salt.

You're right you shouldn't stress about what you eat too much; what's the point of eating healthy if it makes you miserable. But it's worth thinking about why taking the time to eat healthy stresses you out. If it's a matter of not having time, consider what you could do to make time. Your entire existence subsists on the stuff you ingest. I find that fact reason enough to make time to find healthier meals.

This is all just my 2 cents based on personal experience. Certainly don't mean to be telling you exactly what to do. Just want to encourage thoughtful consideration. It's not a switch you flip, it's a journey

Corn is very starchy and low-nutrient. I'd suggest swapping them with something green, like canned peas.

Still, I applaud your approach. I've been on paleo for about a year, lost a bunch of weight, and for a while I was basically eating the same 12 foods on a loop (eggs, bacon, coffee, lamb, shrimp, fish, broccoli, spinach, carrots, raspberries, dark chocolate, almonds).

It's almost impossible to find canned peas without added sugar, sadly.

Thanks for the list of paleo-safe foods!

Where do you get your pork steaks? There's plenty to feel bad about in there.

Where do you get your pork steaks?

Walmart, actually. $1.99/lb. It's all I can afford.

There's plenty to feel bad about in there.

Yeah, I feel bad that an animal had to die for me to live. But genetically my body freaks out if I don't eat meat, and the animal's already dead anyway.

Regarding fat in the pork steak, I'm not so worried about it. I try not to eat the fat, but even still, it seems like there's a decent chance that it's better for you than the additives present in almost all other food. We've been eating meat for millions of years, so I'm betting on evolution to take care of me.

  > But genetically my body freaks out if
  > I don't eat meat

I'm not sure what you're talking about. How does one's body 'genetically' freak out?

  > and the animal's already dead anyway.

You're still paying for it, which perpetuates the system.

  > We've been eating meat for millions of years

Our genetic ancestors diverged from the great apes 4–8 million years ago. I'm not sure we have good analysis of their diet, but I'm not an anthro-geek, so I might be out of the loop. [Toning it back to thousands of years would be more accurate.]

I would be more worried about the amount of medicine residues in the meat than the stuff that's actually "supposed" to be there :P

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