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- Hey guys, Robby here from Crossfit South Bend.
Today we're going to talk about gray area foods.
So what are gray area foods?
Well, on the one hand we have foods that tend to be
overall health promoting.
These are foods that I would say you have
the green light for generally.
Almost all cases, so quality protein that's grass fed,
pasture raised, from a local family farm.
Lots of healthy produce, vegetables mostly,
but also some fruit, healthy fats, things like coconut,
Macadamian nut, avocados, ghee, so on and so forth.
Herbs and spices, nuts and seeds, those are all
generally health promoting.
Yes, there are certain conditions where some
of those things say, if you have an auto-immune condition,
eggs can be problematic or nightshades, like potatoes,
eggplants, and hot peppers but generally speaking
things on that list tend to have the green lights.
Then of course there are things on the very other side
of things that have the red lights.
Where we say in general you shouldn't be having
them at all unless it's a really really unique occasion.
So processed foods, sugar, soda, alcohol,
I would also throw in there most grains,
again there are certain exceptions here
that we'll talk about but wheat would be
at the top of that list.
Most standard dairy that you would get at stores.
You know, that's corn fed, antibiotic-laden,
and from a factory farm.
And your seed oils, things like canola, cottenseed,
grapeseed, margarine, so on and so forth.
So we got the green light foods, we got the red light foods,
and then we have the things in the middle.
The gray area foods, you might say the yellow light foods.
So what are those things, those are things where
there is published peer reviewed research
to suggest that these things can be healthy
but it's only if they're tolerated.
So what does that mean?
That means that if you can eat them
without having some particular symptom
that's particularly associated with them,
they can be healthy for you.
So let me take the paradigm example here.
Paradigm example here is quality dairy.
Now we've done a talk in the past about how dairy
actually can be healthy if it's grass fed,
if it's full fat, from a local family farm
as opposed to an antibiotic laden feed lot.
So dairy can be healthy but that's if you tolerate it.
So how do we figure out if you tolerate it?
Well, it depends on a lot of different things.
So you know, a lot times with dairy, people can get
head congestion or allergies, they can get skin issues,
they can get digestive issues and it's also gonna depend on
the type of dairy.
People tend to tolerate butter and ghee
very very well because it's very low in lactose
and whey and casein which are the dairy proteins
that can be problematic.
Whereas milk, people tend to tolerate not so much.
So dairy can be a very healthy and nutrient dense
if you tolerate it.
Let's take another example.
What about chocolate?
Raw cacao actually has one of the highest antioxidant
profiles out there in terms of health benefits.
That been said, most chocolate that you find
isn't raw cacao.
Like if you ever ever tasted a hundred percent cacao bar
it's pretty gross, so 70 percent, 80 percent,
they're gonna have some sugar in it.
Can a square of dark chocolate every once in a while
be okay, yeah potentially if you tolerate it.
If it doesn't make you eat the entire bar.
If it doesn't lead to skin issues.
If it doesn't lead to digestive issues.
So you might be saying what if it does lead
to these issues, what do I do then?
Well the decision is really up to.
Is the juice worth the sweetness?
Some people say, you know,
things like well, life isn't worth living
without dark chocolate or red wine
and if that's your attitude then you know,
that's your attitude.
There's nothing wrong with that as long as you're
aware of the consequences.
Other people say, you know, I had someone
who I worked with who she had a little bit
of yogurt and she had a rash on her skin
every time she tried yogurt or any other dairy
for the vast majority of her life.
So it wasn't worth it to her.
So we've talked about grass fed dairy.
We've talked a bit about dark chocolate,
really anything above 70 percent
is what's the gray area food.
You know anything below that is going
to be in the red light food.
Red wine, I would put in that same category.
Legumes to a certain extent.
They're not really a green light food
but they're not really a red light food either.
So beans, peas, and lentils with the exception of soy
and peanuts which I would still probably put
a bit more towards the red light.
You know things like white rice, non-GMO corn,
and quinoa and gluten free steel cut oats,
those could be kind of the gray area of the grain category.
Things like that.
Gluten free treats, which you know, you should not mistake
for health promoting substances but that might be things
to have occasionally that you can have as part
of a celebration but that won't really upset your stomach.
Those are going to be your gray area foods.
And again, most of them with the exception
of the gluten free treats could be health promoting.
So the red wine, the dark chocolate, the grass fed dairy,
you know quinoa, the legumes, they can be healthy
if well tolerated.
And again, well tolerated is going to mean
that they don't cause these symptoms.
And if they do cause these symptoms,
it's something that you have to decide for yourself
is the juice worth the sweets?
Alright guys, I hope you have a better understanding now
of gray areas foods.
Thanks for tuning in, we'll see you next time.