Living in Boulder gets tiresome with so many people pushing a certain lifestyle. It seems odd that everyone here is "spiritual", against organized religion, yet these same people are often a little too dedicated when it comes to sharing their beliefs about past lives, diets and training methods. I just want to make a few things clear, because I'm tired of hearing some incorrect or incomplete information relating to health and diet:
1. The iron in plant-based foods is not heme iron, which is only found in meat sources. Anyone who has been anemic probably already knows this. While people who go on and on about how iron is in plant-based foods are not wrong, they aren't addressing all the facts relating to iron and iron absorption in humans.
2. There are two main types of omega 3 fatty acids: ALA or alpha-linolenic acid, which is found in some oils, a few green vegetables, and nuts and seed; and a combination of EPA or eicosapentaenoic acid and DHA or docosahexaenoic acid, found in fatty fish such as salmon and sardines. Yes, the body can partially convert ALA to EPA and DHA, but one has to eat more foods that contain ALA in order to get the same amount of EPA and DHA found in fish oil. Again, those who claim that omega 3 fatty acids are found in plant-based foods are correct, but there's more to the story.
These errors aren't as bad as claiming that milk causes cancer and eating eggs is as bas as smoking cigarettes, but the information isn't as accurate as it could be.
While I'm at it...
3. If you believe something, please don't assume everyone else believes or should believe the same thing. It's fine if you believe that Maitreya will solve the world's problems, or, conversely, that he is the antichrist, but not everyone believes in these apparitions. If it works in your life as something positive, that's great. I choose to keep an open mind, but I'm also skeptical until some concrete evidence is presented, and I don't mean evidence in the form of fuzzy photographs with long winded explanations of what I'm supposed to be seeing.
4. Running 120 miles a week may work for you, but it's not for everyone, period. Huge mileage, doing doubles and running seven days a week are not the only ways to train.
As long as I'm venting, I'll mention that I think the street performer on the mall who has been playing the same Grateful Dead song over and over, every day, multiple times a day in the same location near where I work will drive me insane. It would be impossible to hear my favorite song that many times without wanting to drive a railroad spike through my head, so hearing a song I don't even like that much is pushing me over the edge. The worst part is not that the artist can't sing very well, it's that the song gets so stuck in my head that it plays in my brain on my days off too. Uggh. I want to gather an army of squirrels and train them to attack the guy's ankles every time he spews out, "Let's get to the point, let's roll another jooooint" in his gruff voice.
I have not been very productive when it comes to writing lately. I'm also a little bit crabby today.
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