#thing rambles

There are four groups:

- Unprocessed

- Processed ingredients

- Processed

- Ultra-processed

Items in the unprocessed section includes:

Apples, milk, vegetables.

Items in the processed ingredients includes:

Salt, honey, butter, etc etc.

Items in the processed section includes:

Bread, packaged sliced fruit, wine, and canned food.

Items in the ultra-processed section includes:

Packaged cereal, spam, packaged sliced bread, potato chips, sliced cheese

In order to fit in these criteria, you need to be a natural ingredient for non-processed; slightly processed ingredients for processed ingredients(e.g, salt needs to undergo a certain process to become from water to a rock, much like honey), regularly processed food for processed section.

Do note that processed does not necessarily mean automatically bad, all processed means is that the object has undergone a certain process and is different from its natural state. For example, a homemade apple pie is processed food because its changed from its natural state (apples, flour, etc).

Where processed is taken too far though, is ultra-processed. Do you know what happens to 'pre-digested' food? By definiton ultra-processed means industrial ingredients that are made with industrial techniques. So we're not even eating natural food, its all industrial. Lemme stop yapping; what exactly does this all mean?

In a factory, the natural ingredient is taken and broken down to its very molecule, mixed together plush some chemicals, and forms a 'sludge' the manufacturer can mold into anything they can imagine — imitating the 'real' food. Can you imagine that? The food is processed so severely, its been broken down to molecules in a process similar to human digestion. Hence, why its called pre-digested.

See the problem with pre-digested food — aside from the fact a great deal of nutrients is lost from the process — is that since the food is already 'partially' digested, the intestine does less work to break it down, thus, takes less time to digest an ultra-processed meal. But the body is already expecting having to work to gain nutrients from food, so then what happens? Not enough, evidently. Even if the body has recieved the same amount of calories, nutrients, vitamins, etc. the signals sent to the brain still reads 'not full'.

So you've eaten enough, but you're still hungry. The chemicals of these ultra-processed food not only make you think you need food, but also to make you CRAVE food. It's basically hacked your dopamine production.

Foods that are easier and faster to digest, also is easier and faster to go to our brain. Thats why drugs that work quick — such as smoking — is much more addictive. They make you CRAVE it, and once your body systems get used to it, they make you NEED it.

What could make all this better, is if the public knows. Its not exactly private information, but also information thats kicked under the bed.

The worse part is, in my opinion, is that it's EVERYWHERE. 95% of those healthy things you see in grocery stores? Ultra-processed. Even those yucky healthy cereals, and grain bars. I guess I'll be doing some research later to find meals that arent ultra-processed (atleast not as much) but still taste good and isnt expensive af idk man :(

Time for the funfact section!!

Funfact: This ramble specifically was only 550 (ish) words!

Funfact: You cant escape corporate greed!

Funfact: It's in the fashion industry, the food industry, whatever you consume, corporate greed is behind it!

Funfact: Yeah I dont think there's anything fun about ultra-processed food.

Funfact: Study shows association of ultra-processed food with cancer and depression in women

I dont know why they added women, I feel like it'd be depressing for both if you're eating this garbage every day.

P.S, dont feel guilty for eating them, I do too. This is what I mean by no one can truly escape it.

One of the reasons eggs, chicken eggs specifically, are so crucial to the past and modern day is because the birds who lay them can do so indefinitely as opposed to other birds who only lay a certain number at a time. So long as their nest is empty, presumably taken by predators (humans), then they can lay just about every day. In the industry, male chicks are basically useless, which results in a mass crush every day. Fortunately, scientists are working on changing the sex of the chick in the eggs. However, I don't know anything about that yet.

Speaking of eggs, a man somewhere in the 1970's conducted the '7 Country Study', his conclusion being that eggs raise the chances of CVD (cardiovascular disease, AKA heart attacks) by 17% due to the SatFat (saturated fat) and cholesterol. This, of course, raised panic and attention in the public, especially when the government set guidelines for saturated fat and cholesterol. While this link isn't necessarily 100% false, it is a clunking argument. Especially in comparison to the other study linking IR (insulin resistance) to CVD, which is also linked to high sugar and high carbohydrate consumption. And while it's still not an all-time cause, it's still true 90% of the time. Remember the '7 Country Study' I mentioned prior? It was actually conducted in 22 countries, except 15 of them proved to be against what the study was about, so he ditched them. What's even more baffling than this is that even after 50 years of study after study after study, these government guidelines are still in place. Eggs do not cause CVD, rather the exact opposite, and then some more.

I'm not completely sure what the nutrients that specifically fight against CVD are (mainly because they have unpronounceable names), but eggs still carry massive benefits for your skin, muscles, bones, organs, and even your brain! This is because of the many vitamins (especially vitamin B) and high protein. Time for the main part.

Laying it all out front, a whole egg contains: Vit A (has a part in yolk coloring), Vit E (good for the heart and skin), Vit K1, Vit B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, and Vit D. Those are just the vitamins. Eggs also contain DHA (omega 3), which is for the brain; folate for degenerative disease; choline to burn fat and help against fatty liver; and lutein and zeaxanthin, which are beneficial for your eyes. 

And then protein—my favorite part. It's amazing, really, because of its ability to help build protein tissues and the percentage of egg protein made into our protein. In comparison, we get 17% of its protein from soy, 16% from whey, 32% from meat or fish, and a whopping 48% from eggs. You can really see the difference between egg yolk and egg white when you take into consideration that egg white's percentage is merely 17%. 

Alright, so now that we know we get a lot of protein from eggs, what do we do with that protein? 

Well, how it works is that when our body receives protein, it either invests it into tissues (skin, muscles, bones) or energy (glucose). The ratio of how much protein is invested in tissues to glucose is actually dependent on the meal from which the protein is extracted. For example, when you get protein from meat, 30% of that protein goes into the development of your skin, muscles, bones, joints, etc. (tissues), and 70% of the protein becomes glucose (energy). For eggs, it's 49% for tissues and 51% for glucose, ranking it as the highest rate of protein for tissues, but only after breastmilk, which is a whole different and fascinating discussion.

So far, we've talked about why chicken eggs are special, scandals against them, and the great yet still incomplete benefits of them. Lastly, we will talk about egg quality.

-Is the price difference between cheap and expensive eggs worth it? 

Absolutely! You'll be getting more bang for your buck. In fact, some suggest that buying the cheap ones makes you gain 40–60% less worth. 

-Types of eggs: Pasture eggs are definitely the best type. The others are free-range eggs and no-cage eggs, etc.; eh, most of these are just marketing terms anyway. 

-Yolk color; do they matter? Well, yes, but actually, no. They do, sure, but you can't really be too sure since farmers are prone to using artificial coloring. 

-Grades: grade B eggs, grade A eggs, and grade AA eggs. Do these actually matter? 

No. Grades are mostly based on cosmetics, which can hardly matter much when you whisk them up for baking. Plus, your grocery eggs are probably already grade A eggs.

All in all, the quality of eggs depends on what the chickens are fed and if they're ethically raised, but you can't control those factors. But what can you control? The way the eggs themselves are prepared.

Dr. Berg suggests the best method is cracking the egg on a lit pan, waiting until the whites turn into their white color but not too much, and then scrambling them. This way, you can optimize how much nutrition and protein you can squeeze out of your egg. Too tedious? Just scramble them normally. 

I think the best part of eggs, despite how beneficial they are, is how relatively cheap and accessible they are. Don'tcha think?

P.S. Remember that omega 3 I told you about? The one that's good for your brain? That's a good omega. What's not a good omega is omega 6, specifically the oil restaurants use to fry eggs and such. This one actually increases the risk of CVD.

Time for fun facts! 

Fun fact: The egg white has no fat.

Fun fact: You can get 101% of the choline that your body needs in a day with just 4 eggs.

Fun fact: 90% (approximate guess) of the good stuff is in the yolks, so yeah, you're going to have to eat them.