Hello awesome people. Welcome to another article about optimal food.
These days we're encouraged to be more responsible in the name of health. Optimal food can help us have optimal health.

Fortunately, we can find what’s optimal food with a simple test:

• Would we eat this food in nature?

Part 1, part 2 of the thread. Pickles are considered healthy food.

How about pickles?

When you educate yourself about fermented foods, you'll find an abundance of recommendations for them. What are their effects more exactly? How many pickles are there in nature? I don't know and i don't think there are enough, so Why would we consider them in the first place?
The medical approach plays a role, as some people eat fermented foods because they believe fermented foods have medical properties. People believe pickles re-establish beneficial bacteria in the intestines. There’s no evidence to support that claim. However they contain harmful bacteria byproducts, as well as the compounds that pickled the food: salt, vinegar, etc. What are their health effects?

How about salt?

How many grams of salt are there in nature, in a form we'd actually consume? I don't know and i don't think there are enough. We've no need for salt of any type, as we can get all the sodium we need from our optimal food. Plus, salt has nothing to do with the sodium need of the body. Salt serves no useful purpose as it's sodium chloride from the time it enters the body until the time it can be excreted. The body cannot immediately excrete all the salt. So the body deposits salt in the body’s fluids, causing irritation to the cells that send a SOS signal for relief from the irritating compound. No wonder why we get thirsty and drink a lot of water. This water expands the volume of blood plasma, resulting in higher blood pressure and pulse rate. This in turn forces more water into tissue fluids to relieve cells from the irritating effect. Salt also draws water out of the cells. This results in excessive tissue fluids, edema. Salt has a dehydrating effect, as water in the cells is what makes us hydrated, not edema.

How about vinegar?

How many liters of vinegar are there in nature, in a form we'd actually consume? I don't know and i don't think there are enough. Let's say you bite into an apple and you find it's fermented. What are you likely to do? I don’t know what you’ll do. Personally i'll spit it out and i'll look for better food to eat. That's our natural tendency. We're not naturally attracted to fermented foods. In nature, the sharp taste of the acetic acid (a component of vinegar) would let us know this compound is harmful. We're conditioned to like these foods because we're told they're good for us. People consume foods that contain vinegar because they combine them with other unnatural foods. E.g. they combine pickles with meat. The sharp taste of vinegar comes from acetic acid. What are the effects of acetic acid?
Acetic acid is damaging to our digestive tract and inhibits the digestion and utilization of foods eaten with it. Digestive juices cannot penetrate pickled foods. When we can't digest food, we don't absorb nutrients. They pass right through the body in the same small chunks that entered the stomach. That's just one effect. Acetic acid has multiple negative health effects.

How about foods that are fermented without vinegar?

They're just as indigestible, as acetic acid results from bacterial decomposition i.e. fermentation.
People complicate themselves by adding unnatural accompaniments (pickles, salt, ground pepper, oil, vinegar, sugar, etc.) because they eat unnatural foods that can't be eaten in their natural form. E.g. we can't eat cabbage in its natural form. However, we can eat it after we add seasoning.

How about spices?

When we have a natural lifestyle we don't need unnatural accompaniments, as we can eat natural food in its natural form, without unnatural accompaniments: seasonings/condiments/spices. You can even find how refined oil is by reading the label. It contains only one compound i.e. fat. We're not naturally adapted to eat fat in a concentrated form such as oil. The food we're naturally adapted to eat is the food we can eat in the form it exist in nature. Plus, do you remember the effects of excess fat from the previous article?
When optimal health is our goal, we can avoid negative health effects. We can be free of the complication of unnatural accompaniments and their negative health effects when we eat natural food. E.g. we can eat lettuce in its natural form i.e. without accompaniments. The same goes for fruits. We can eat them as they are. When you want an accompaniment for fruits, you can wrap them in lettuce leaves. Now you have a healthy wrap. Fruits and lettuce digest perfectly together.

Haw about mushrooms?

How many edible mushrooms are there in nature? I don't know and i don't think there are enough.
Why aren't all mushrooms edible? Because they're toxic for us. There is a level of toxicity in all mushrooms. That's why we have to cook the ones that are considered edible.

How about olives?

How many edible olives are there in nature? I don't know and i don't think there are enough.
Why can't we eat olives straight from the olive tree?
Olives are not edible in their natural form, because of their negative compounds (toxins). Olives have to be treated in order to be edible. They’re fermented in salt-water for 3 to 6 months. Another metod to cure them is lye-water. Then, after rinsing, the olives are soaked in vinegar brine, or fermented. Not to mention that some olives are pasteurized.

Complete information

All the recommendations for fermented foods made me be interested in these foods. Many people become interested in these foods and many people complicate themselves with creating foods that need additional compounds because they believe these foods are healthy, because they don't have information about health effects. Fortunately i found complete information. I share what's optimal and what’s not, as complete information can enhance someone's health. You’re still totally free to eat whatever you want.

What's the reason

Health is not the only reason, otherwise, Why do people continue eating unhealthy foods even after finding the negative health effects?
People have to be pretty addicted to unhealthy foods to continue eating them even after finding the negative health effects. What can be more important than health?
People become addicted to strong-tasting food because it stimulate us.
Foods that make us feel better temporarily are not necessarily healthy.
Just like any other stimulus, spices create a new pleasure threshold, i.e.

• we need more spicy foods to feel good.
• we no longer enjoy spice-free foods i.e. our natural food.

Here are some of my curiosities:

• What reason do we have to resort to food (that is not even healthy) to feel good?
• Why would we seek pleasure in food that's not even healthy?
• Isn't the search for pleasure the effect of a deeper cause?
• When we live a life in which we fulfill our goals, Why would we seek fulfillment in food?
• To feel good, Why would we need food that’s not even healthy to feel good?
• Isn't a thriving life a good enough reason to feel good?
• Isn't optimal health a healthier reason to feel good about ourselves?
• How can we thrive as long as we harm our health with unnatural foods?
• Plus, when we enjoy our life, Why would we seek enjoyment in food that’s not even healthy?
• How many reasons are there to harm our health despite having access to foods that benefit our health? I don't know and i don't think there are enough.

Healthy mindset

There are communities around the idea of growth mindset.
How many growth needs can we meet when we don't even meet our basic need of health?
What kind of mentality do we have when we don't even want to meet our basic need of health?
Lack of fulfillment leads to a feeling of lack. When we try to fill lack of fulfillment with food, the feeling of lack will continue to exist in the background and it will continue to get compounded.
Wouldn't we be healthier when we experience fulfilment from fulfilling your goals?
Isn't optimal health a good goal, especially in our current times in which we have access to optimal food?
Only our mindset can stop us from eating the healthiest food i.e. the food we're naturally adapted to eat.

Here's a song that might be relevant to this subject: Don't believe the hype; from Public Enemy. The name of the band is also relevant for our times, as the wise person is an enemy in a mediocre society, as the mediocre person is bothered by education. You already know my opinion about influencers and the hype they create from a previous chapter

Resources:

fermented foods, 2, condiments, seasonings and spices, salt, 2, oil, 2, fruits, Hive community. For people who like the messenger function, here's a MeWe community, in which you can also find resources in the form of files. MeWe is a social media with no ads that also has messenger function.

Bottom line

• Sauerkraut and other fermented foods that don't exist in nature,
• Salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, and other accompaniments we wouldn't eat in nature,
• Mushrooms and other plants we wouldn't eat in their natural form,
• Olives and other fruits we wouldn't eat in their natural form,

These are exemples of foods that don't pass the test, despite the fact they're considered natural/healthy. So it's good to know that:

• optimal food is not all the foods advertised as being natural/healthy. Just as,
• optimal food is not all the foods that are advertised (meat, dairy, etc).

These article are part of a book.
How about garlic?
We can explore even more foods in the next article. Until then, in the comment section you can share your opinion for the questions of this article. Thanks so much for reading. Have a great day.