Will eating more food worsen my health

[MarkKol]

I used to be pretty interested in health. my interest in it is seasonal, comes and goes. Ultimately I've always been pretty healthy, a few times I think I even reached the absolute pinnacle of health, I felt like a nuclear bomb full of energy. Throw in intermittent fasting, 3+ hours of sunlight daily and fresh air and there you go. Couldn't possibly feel better.

 

I've ways been skinny, eating once or twice or thrice (xd) a day maximum, I've never craved food and fasting comes naturally to me. But again... really skinny, people have made fun of my "skinnyness" a lot but It never bothered me that much, however I believe it's time to change. Preferably I'd like to gain about 15 more kg, then I would be 70kg at 173cm. And that would be sufficient. 

 

After reading some material about toxins, I came to an understanding. Every food seems to contain toxins no matter how healthy it is, which ultimately means that eating more food isn't the healthiest thing to do? I'm afraid this might worsen my good health. 

 

I wouldn't like spending 100s of $ on food either at this point of my life, so please list some healthy but calorie dense or carb dense foods ? rice is pretty cheap but I've heard it contains arsenic.

 

Currently: 18y old 55kg 173, parents overall good health.

 

Note: by "toxins" I mean heavy metals

Edited March 18, 2022 by MarkKol

[Asayake]

It probably will get you more toxins in your body. At the same time, all foods don't contain a lot of the worst ones. And many foods today are not as nutritious as they once were. So maybe eating more is also a good thing because you will get more micronutrients. Other than that your health could suffer if you're too low weight because it will mess up your hormone levels which will be taxing on your body, increased levels of cortisol and reduced test levels. So eating more food to gain weight should not be a problem in my opinion. If you're eating healthy foods the pros of getting your energy levels & hormone levels in good states as well as the fact that you're going to be getting more vitamins, minerals and fiber makes it seem to me like eating more healthy foods has a lot of pros, up to a certain point. 

[BirdNerd]

Beef, butter, organ meat and eggs are calorie and nutrient dense. Expense depends on quality. You will not find any pesticides, lectins, oxalates, goitrogens, glycosides, or enzyme inhibitors in meat. I avoid eating egg whites because of the avidin that blocks biotin absorption. Heavy metals in meat are a concern from very poor quality farms but toxicity doesn't rival the amount of heavy metals stored in leafy greens.

[undeather]

11 hours ago, MarkKol said:

I used to be pretty interested in health. my interest in it is seasonal, comes and goes. Ultimately I've always been pretty healthy, a few times I think I even reached the absolute pinnacle of health, I felt like a nuclear bomb full of energy. Throw in intermittent fasting, 3+ hours of sunlight daily and fresh air and there you go. Couldn't possibly feel better.

 

I've ways been skinny, eating once or twice or thrice (xd) a day maximum, I've never craved food and fasting comes naturally to me. But again... really skinny, people have made fun of my "skinnyness" a lot but It never bothered me that much, however I believe it's time to change. Preferably I'd like to gain about 15 more kg, then I would be 70kg at 173cm. And that would be sufficient. 

 

After reading some material about toxins, I came to an understanding. Every food seems to contain toxins no matter how healthy it is, which ultimately means that eating more food isn't the healthiest thing to do? I'm afraid this might worsen my good health. 

 

I wouldn't like spending 100s of $ on food either at this point of my life, so please list some healthy but calorie dense or carb dense foods ? rice is pretty cheap but I've heard it contains arsenic.

 

Currently: 18y old 55kg 173, parents overall good health.

 

Note: by "toxins" I mean heavy metals

You are 18.
With 18 I could eat processed food all day, sleep 4 hours a night and still run a marathon the next day. (not that you should!)

Dont overcomplicate eating. Avoiding all the impurities in our food is (as you said) a thing of sheer impossibility.
A golden rule that works for most people and will automatically minimize your toxin intake:
Eat real food (as unprocessed as possible), mostly plants, grown locally & in season 

You will be fine. 

10 hours ago, BirdNerd said:

Beef, butter, organ meat and eggs are calorie and nutrient dense. Expense depends on quality. You will not find any pesticides, lectins, oxalates, goitrogens, glycosides, or enzyme inhibitors in meat. I avoid eating egg whites because of the avidin that blocks biotin absorption. Heavy metals in meat are a concern from very poor quality farms but toxicity doesn't rival the amount of heavy metals stored in leafy greens.

Sounds like a perfect recipe for heart disease and poor cardiovascular health. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by undeather

[Michael569]

Just start eating more. 3 regular meals, mostly wholefoods, mostly plants. Add some animal foods if it is more convenient and don't hyperfocus on toxins at the moment, eat real food and that will minimise toxins greatly (as suggested above) Physical growth should be your priority. At 18, you are at the prime of your physical growth and you don't want to tinker with that by being undernourished and risking early life osteopenia or some hormonal or developmental issues. Your body is using an extreme amount of energy and building blocks and you want to make sure to get those in through the diet. I would forget about fasting, IF and all of that stuff until your growth is halted (about 21-22 years of age). After that experiment all you like but for now the focus should be anabolism, not catabolism. 

If you struggle I would suggest reaching out to your paediatrician and get a session with a paediatric dietitian. Might also be a good idea to gain a little bit weight to make sure your body develops optimally on all levels. Mild physical exercise and some mild strength training is important at this age to strengthen bone density matrix, this will be a positive knock-on effect for the rest of your life. 

Good luck!

 

[Yarco]

Caloric restriction can extend your life expectancy by up to 50% and reduce aging-related illnesses. Google and do your own research, there's a shit ton of evidence for it. The problem is that going through your life constantly feeling like you're starving doesn't necessarily maximize quality-of-life.

If you don't want to starve yourself, then the best things you can do are:

1. Avoid DNA damage (wear sunscreen, avoid x-rays, avoid radiation from flying, etc)

2. Eat less (restrict your calories, intermittent fasting is the most realistic compromise vs starving yourself)

3. Eat less protein

4. Do high-intensity interval training

5. Regularly make yourself uncomfortably cold or uncomfortably hot

[UDT]

@MarkKol My guess (not having seen you in person) 

More collagen more glycine more animal protein more saturated fat less quick isolated carbs 

When you have a natural fast metabolism and you eat carb only all day this leads to skinny-ness

also: Strength Training. Compound lifting

If you want me to help you for real, dm me on instagram @timwhitehealth 

[MarkKol]

On 3/18/2022 at 0:38 PM, Michael569 said:

Just start eating more. 3 regular meals, mostly wholefoods, mostly plants.

Sorry for late replies, just started thinking about this again. Now... I'm not in the best position to buy healthy food, maybe some but I definitely can't go 100% or anywhere near 100% healthy food. Would you still recommend increasing my calories? even if I wouldn't necessarily eat the healthiest food? things like normal eggs, quinoa, some mass gainers or protein powders, rice because its high in calories.

Do you know of any European food delivery services? (services like misfitsmarket, Butcherbox, Hellofresh which are all american) I live in a small town, that makes getting food especially healthy food a lot more difficult.

@UDT @Michael569

Edited April 13, 2022 by MarkKol

[UDT]

@MarkKol

If you want to be healthy on a budget, invest your money in high value good foods 

You dont need organic rice, but you definately need organic eggs. 

Eat

* White Rice (presoaked for a couple of hours to get rid of arsenic, phytic acid)
* Organic Carrots
* Organic Eggs 
* Frozen fruit
* Oatmeal (presoaked)
* Beef


not the most fun diet, but these are cheap clean food choices