How Cooked is Too Cooked? Nancy Appleton Ph.D.

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How Cooked is Too Cooked? Nancy Appleton Ph.D.

JoAnn Guest

Dec 19, 2003 21:57 PST

 

Have you ever wondered the best way to eat food - raw, slightly

cooked, moderately cooked or well done?

 

Do you know that the way you prepare food can determine whether you

can get all of the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids and

simple sugars from your food?

 

Although all of the nutrients might be in the food, if the food is

cooked incorrectly the food will not digest and metabolize

optimally. The nutrients become less available to the body.

 

There is enough evidence to show that the more food is cooked, the

more difficult it is to digest and metabolize. The higher the

temperature that food is cooked, the longer it stays in the gut.

This makes it more difficult for the food to absorb and work on a

cellular level where it needs to work.

 

http://ahha.org/articles/appleton2.htm

 

When the food cannot work at the cellular level, the cells can

become deficient and/or toxic. This leads to deficiency and toxicity

of the whole body making the body less able to function optimally.

 

All food deteriorates during commercial food processing and during

storage. Three different things happen to food that is overcooked or

over-processed:

1. Destruction of essential amino acids.

2. Decrease in digestibility.

3. Production of anti-nutritional and toxic compounds.

 

 

It is the liver's job to detoxify toxins, but the liver can become

overloaded and unable to do its job.

 

In the bloodstream, the undigested or partially digested food (in

the form of macromolecules) is in too large a particle to get into

the cell to function.

 

Undigested or partially digested food moves through the bloodstream

causing havoc in the body.

 

When food is heated past the heat-labile point, its chemical

configuration changes.

 

Pasteurization, deep-frying, and barbecuing are all forms of

cooking where food is heated past the heat labile point.

 

The body does not understand these new chemical configurations and

does not have the enzymes to digest the food easily.

 

However, the immune system comes to the defense of the body, and

makes these undigested particles back into substances that the body

can use or escorts them out of the body. We ask our immune system to

do the job that our digestive system did not do.

 

The immune system was not designed to do this on a daily basis,

every time we overcook foods or over-process foods. Over time the

immune system becomes exhausted and

the door is opened to infectious and degenerative diseases.

 

Unfortunately it is not only foods heated past the heat labile

point, such as potato chips, other fried foods, barbecued foods,

dried milk or eggs, cake mixes and such, that cause this reaction.

 

There is evidence that shows that foods cooked past 112 degrees

Fahrenheit are more difficult to digest.

Foods in this category include fried foods, pressure cooked foods,

barbecued foods and most processed foods.

 

Also sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, corticosteroids, antibiotics,

aspirin, and

many prescription, over-the-counter and street drugs can cause upset

body chemistry. This upset causes undigested food to get into the

bloodstream with all of the consequences.

 

From this research and the principle of the heat labile point, it

seems that the best way to cook food is the least way.

 

If you do cook your food, it is best to lightly steam, bake, stew,

stir fry or use a slow crock cooker. Eat as few over-processed and

overcooked foods as possible.

 

The state of balance (homeostasis) is the key to health. As long as

your body is in homeostasis, it is healing. When it is out of

homeostasis, it is on the degenerative disease process. The foods

that keep the body in balance are natural foods. God made food for

health. Man made food for shelf life, beauty and profit, and not

necessarily in that order.

 

 

Nancy Appleton, Ph.D. is a nutritional consultant working in Santa

Monica, California. She has created advanced curriculum for National

Institute for Nutritional Education and authored numerous books

including Lick The Sugar Habit, Healthy Bones, Heal Yourself With

Natural Foods and The Curse Of Louis Pasteur. You can contact her at

(310) 315-9242 or via her web site www.nancyappleton.com

 

http://ahha.org/articles/appleton2.htm

 

JoAnn Guest

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