What's toxic, what's not?

[Iguana]

From a PM, published with the agreement of the sender.

Hi,
Is it safe and/or healthy to eat clams that have died recently?
Sometimes when I buy bulk clams, quite a few have cracks in them. I think they are dead, but they smell fine, . they generally don't smell rotten or bad. They smell more or less like the closed clams. But, they usually are a softer and less firm.
In other words, is it healthy to eat these cracked/chipped clams that appear to be dead but smell fine when I open the shell?

Good question, I think we should speak about it in the open forum, if you agree. My answer:
 
If they smell good and taste good for you (someone else might not like their smell and taste), than it's good for you as long as the stuff is not processed, mixed, seasoned. That's a general rule that every animal complies with, and our paleo hominid ancestors must have as well.

Cheers
Francois

[Iguana]

Sure, I'd like to discuss it in the open forum, but I had posted something similar in a post by Sully about oysters and did not receive any response. I've heard from one rpd moderator that dead clams are bad for the health.

Even if they do taste good to me, do you think they are a healthy component of a diet(recently died raw clams)?

For example, candy, organic supermarket eggs, and other foods may taste good but may not be healthy. So do you think eating the recently died clams(despite their rapid deterioration rate compared with other meats/fish) is healthy?

Sincerely
B

I told you, "as long as the stuff is not processed, mixed, seasoned." Candy is a highly processed stuff, I think. But I should have added that the stuff must be as near as possible paleo and that the animals should not have access to grain nor anything having been heated and processed. So organic supermarket eggs don't fit to those criteria. On the opposite, clams have not been altered in any way since the Paleolithic era - water pollution aside.

Therefore yes, if a clam smells and tastes good to you, then it's good for you, be it dead or alive.

With the advent of the cooking art (food processing), this rule of what's good is good has become what tastes good may be not good for my health.  

Everything can become more or less toxic if you eat too much of it. The toxicity is correlated to the dose: some substances may be useful and beneficial at a certain dose but become toxic if that dose is overtaken.
The appropriate dose varies from an individual to the other and also according to the actual state of that individual. Moreover, some stuff can be a staple food for an animal specie while being a poison for another specie.

 

[B.Money]

Good thread

This clears things up pretty well, since mixing can alter the taste of foods and our attraction to them, that pretty much kicks out cacao. Since cacao by itself tastes awful.

From the other thread:

yeah, I would say that something that has known toxic compounds can be safely labeled 'toxic', but not everything that is 'toxic' should necessarily be avoided in all circumstances.

helpful?

Does this mean something along the lines of some toxic compounds can actually be beneficial somehow?

[Iguana]

Good thread

This clears things up pretty well, since mixing can alter the taste of foods and our attraction to them, that pretty much kicks out cacao. Since cacao by itself tastes awful.

Mmhh... cacao like this can be good for some people, including me:



The white soft stuff surrounding the dark brown seeds is sweet to me and I usually like to eat a few seeds as well.

From the other thread:
Does this mean something along the lines of some toxic compounds can actually be beneficial somehow?

Yes, sometimes and if taken in the suitable dose. I think this a principle used in medicine. But we can rely on our instinct (smell and taste) to know what is good and in which dose. Hence the notion of toxic and non toxic becomes relative and dependent on the dose, which varies according to the person and her actual state.

As you say, mixing and processing can alter the smell and taste of foods and it impairs the function of our alimentary instinct. That's why nutritionists think humans have lost it. But they've never experimented with raw, unmixed paleo foods, otherwise they would have noticed that it still works!

[kurite]

Mmhh... cacao like this can be good for some people, including me:

The white soft stuff surrounding the dark brown seeds is sweet to me and I usually like to eat a few seeds as well.

Yes, sometimes and if taken in the suitable dose. I think this a principle used in medicine. But we can rely on our instinct (smell and taste) to know what is good and in which dose. Hence the notion of toxic and non toxic becomes relative and dependent on the dose, which varies according to the person and her actual state.

As you say, mixing and processing can alter the smell and taste of foods and it impairs the function of our alimentary instinct. That's why nutritionists think humans have lost it. But they've never experimented with raw, unmixed paleo foods, otherwise they would have noticed that it still works!

Yah its kind of like holistics. Also is whole cacao pods like that available in France? I've never been able to get my hands on one.

[Iguana]

Also is whole cacao pods like that available in France? I've never been able to get my hands on one.

I don’t know, I’m in France since 2 years only… but I see that Orkos sales it. In Switzerland I had it a few times from TerrEspoir.