What's in What You Eat?It is said you are what you eat, from your head to your feet. So why not know… What's in what you eat?

I am going to try to start a new segment called “Paleo in Seattle” featuring restaurants, grocery stores, and other relavent places in the city. They’ll be listed in the pages to your right with a more in depth discussion and hopefully pictures as a blog post.

As always, feel free to submit any places to check out.

Here’s how it will work:

Taste: Scale of 10 (Even if it is nutritious, it still needs to taste good)
1-4: Unappealing
5-7: Moderate
8-10: Delicious

Nutrition: Scale of 10 (Just how Paleo friendly is it?)
1-4: Cheat meal
5-7: Ok once in a while
8-10: Very paleo friendly

Filling: Scale of 10 (Will you be hungry after the meal?)
1-4: Very light
5-7: Satisfied
8-10: Full

Price:
$: $10 or less entree
$$: $15 or less entree
$$$: $20 or less entree

Overal Value: Based on the above, how good it is for Paleo
1-4: Look elsewhere
5-7: Fine
8-10: A favorite

When it comes to nutrition, there are often many people who go by a philosophy of “it is ok to eat this in small amounts” or “in moderation, it doesn’t really matter what I eat,” and finally “I don’t eat this all the time.”

While there is definitely truth to this belief, it is not an exclusive rule that applies to all things. I hear this all the time with trans fat and that people think it is fine to eat some junk as long as it isn’t a typical thing. Here are some things to consider:

1. Eating a little bit each day is not proper moderation. If you are trying to moderate a food because you think its unhealthy, it needs to be done on a minimum of a weekly basis. By the end of the week, having a little bit of junk everyday adds up into a week of poor nutrition.  Additionally, to feel what it is like to be on a pure diet, your diet needs to be completely pure most days. When you have those weekly cheats, you’ll be able to feel the difference.

2. Unless you are personally cooking your 3 meals a day 7 days a week and reading every single ingredient list you come across, you are eating more than you think. Anytime you eat someone else’s food whether it be at a friends house or restaurant, you are likely consuming more of something than you think. With trans fat, since so many places may secretly use it, the only way to safely and effectively moderate it, is to when you are in control, have zero to leave a little bit of slack for the unknown. For this same reason, moderating by making sure your product contains below a certain number of grams is also ineffective.

3. Again in specific regards to trans-fat, replace the bold words with “chemicals” or “lead.”

It’s ok to eat trans fat occasionally. As long as I don’t eat trans fat everyday, it can’t be that bad. Trans fats are fine in moderation.

See how ridiculous this sounds? You hopefully wouldn’t want to consume ANY chemicals and by eating trans fat, you are!

Are you a victim of a faulty moderation system? It’s time to rethink it!

Many local citizens of Seattle have likely seen, shopped, or at least heard of the Rising Sun Farms produce market located on 65th and 15th Ave. N.E.

From the design of the place, it very much resembles that of a farmers market which also implies that it has the same quality as such. Another thing you may notice is the ridiculously cheap prices. How is this possible? I asked an employee.

It turns out Rising Sun Farms has absolutely zero quality standards and their only focus is providing produce as cheap as possible. The employee said they stock hardly any organic items and would bet that most of the products are sprayed with pesticides and likely are genetically modified.

If your concern is cheap fruits and vegetables, this may be a place for you. If you are looking for local, sustainable, organic, pure produce, I would suggest looking elsewhere (the place is located 2 blocks away from Whole Foods and 5 minutes from the Saturday University Farmer’s Market).

The default layout was just not doing it for me, so I have begun to change it up with a new look that more closely represents what this blog is about.

It is still under construction as I customize it more over the next few days. As always comments, suggestions, and complaints about the layout are welcome.