Healthy eating

[ChiOCat]

I'm just finishing up a really interesting book, the name alone makes if fun The Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kris is living with a slow growing, but inoperable cancer. She is, for obvious reasons, very militant about diet and has become a nutritionist. The book shares all the information she's learned, and how she does it. But many times she emphasizes that you need to do what works for you, even small changes make a huge difference in health, and that no "diet" should make you feel deprived or bad about what you eat or don't eat.

Her writing style is fun, so it's at least easy to read. I don't see myself become a vegetarian or vegan any time soon, but I learned a lot and will be improving our families diet in subtle ways.

She touches on many chronic and all too prevalent illnesses and issues our society deals with and gives some easy changes that can erase or at least reverse the damage. Diabetes, irritable bowel, Chrones, CanSer (as she spells it), migraines, heart disease, congestion...to name a few.

[AlphaOAlum]

Have you read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"? I audiobooked it last month and was fascinated. I might be on my way to becoming a back-to-the-earth hippie when it comes to food production, purchasing, consumption etc.

[ChiOCat]

Have you read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"? I audiobooked it last month and was fascinated. I might be on my way to becoming a back-to-the-earth hippie when it comes to food production, purchasing, consumption etc.

No, I'll have to check it out. Thanks! I tend to agree with you...I even bought some organic things the other day

[Cledus]

I found the documentary Foodmatters pretty informative, which was one of the several inspirations to take a more active role in my personal health and nutrition.

I also use the web site NutritionData.com to track what I eat everyday. It tells me caloric data and nutritional value of everything I eat. I was surprised to learn the truth about a lot of things I eat. I used to eat boatloads of raisins. If you look at a package of raisins, there's some fuzzy feelgood crap about how amazing raisins are for your health. Turns out, they're akin to eating air -- not necessarily bad for you, but definitely no real benefit (unless your objective is an increase in the frequency of taking a dump). But they do have quite elevated levels of inflammatories (if that's what you're looking for).

Basically, I can surpass all my nutritional, protein, mineral, et al. requirements from eating raw vegetables, fruits, and nuts (which I now do). I eat about a pound of beef per week to get my B12.

The way I see it, you're going to pay for your health one way or another. You can pay an increase in food prices by eating healthier now (fresh vegetables, fruit, and organic), or you can pay later when you're lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip pumping toxins into your body in an effort to kill disease.

[AlphaOAlum]

The way I see it, you're going to pay for your health one way or another. You can pay an increase in food prices by eating healthier now (fresh vegetables, fruit, and organic), or you can pay later when you're lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip pumping toxins into your body in an effort to kill disease.

Dude, yep. Same thing for people who say they can't afford a gym or don't have time for it. You'll pay for it one way or another. And let's be honest, I'm no physical specimen, but taking care of yourself is just part of being a grown up, right? I just wish ice cream wasn't so bad for me...

[CelticCat]

It really comes down to self-control. Most people know what is bad for them. The question is, does it stop you? I've struggled with my weight all my life, but not so much for lack of knowledge about nutrition. I just love cheeseburgers, man.

I do agree that doing what you can now, eating healthy, will save you money in the long run, but it is hard to look at it that way. Eating healthy is not cheap. And let's face it, the $2 combo meals at Taco Bell are cheaper than you could possibly make yourself a burrito, chips and a drink. Value menus these days are sometimes cheaper than you can make food yourself even. The lean hamburger I buy is generally $4-$5 a pound!

The sad truth is many people can't afford to eat healthy. I make a "decent" living and even I have to skimp sometimes.

[Cledus]

Yeah, costs can be quite high. I made the same observation years ago when I tried cooking more on my own and eating out less.

Still, there are some things you can do. I get 14 oz containers of flaxseed, pumpkin kernels, and sunflower kernels at Walmart for $2.50 each. Each container lasts weeks. Even if you never did another thing to eat healthy, those alone would get you almost where you need to be nutrition wise. Flaxseed is a lot like sesame. I sprinkle it on everything I eat. You never notice it and can't even taste it. Ditto for sunflower kernels. The sunflowers and pumpkin actually taste pretty good on their own. Kiwis are pretty cheap, too, and have a ton of stuff you need to stay healthy.

There are some similarities to when I quit smoking. People tell you about all this money you're going to save, but the truth is I never noticed it -- the money just goes somewhere else. If you started buying some more healthy things I bet your budget would find a way to normalize / compensate and you'd never notice it.

But yeah, it is hard to give up the things we love. Once every week or two I'll still throw a few tablespoons of lard on the skillet and whip up some hashbrowns and bacon. I'll still sprinkle them with flaxseed.

[ChiOCat]

It really comes down to self-control. Most people know what is bad for them. The question is, does it stop you? I've struggled with my weight all my life, but not so much for lack of knowledge about nutrition. I just love cheeseburgers, man.

I do agree that doing what you can now, eating healthy, will save you money in the long run, but it is hard to look at it that way. Eating healthy is not cheap. And let's face it, the $2 combo meals at Taco Bell are cheaper than you could possibly make yourself a burrito, chips and a drink. Value menus these days are sometimes cheaper than you can make food yourself even. The lean hamburger I buy is generally $4-$5 a pound!

The sad truth is many people can't afford to eat healthy. I make a "decent" living and even I have to skimp sometimes.

Me too Celtic, I think that's what I liked about this. I eat well, but still not great. This was the incentive I needed to shape my eats up a little more.

[ChiOCat]

The way I see it, you're going to pay for your health one way or another. You can pay an increase in food prices by eating healthier now (fresh vegetables, fruit, and organic), or you can pay later when you're lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip pumping toxins into your body in an effort to kill disease.

Dude, yep. Same thing for people who say they can't afford a gym or don't have time for it. You'll pay for it one way or another. And let's be honest, I'm no physical specimen, but taking care of yourself is just part of being a grown up, right? I just wish ice cream wasn't so bad for me...

One of my favorite quotes is "those who do not have time for bodily exercise now will have to find time for sickness later."

I teach Silver Sneakers fitness, which is for Medicare eligible. It's all the incentive I need to keep myself fit and healthy now. So many of them struggle just to sit on a chair and march or lift 2lb wts. And then there are others who can go with gusto and enjoy life still. I'd prefer to be in the latter group!

[Cledus]

It really comes down to self-control. Most people know what is bad for them. The question is, does it stop you? I've struggled with my weight all my life, but not so much for lack of knowledge about nutrition. I just love cheeseburgers, man.

I do agree that doing what you can now, eating healthy, will save you money in the long run, but it is hard to look at it that way. Eating healthy is not cheap. And let's face it, the $2 combo meals at Taco Bell are cheaper than you could possibly make yourself a burrito, chips and a drink. Value menus these days are sometimes cheaper than you can make food yourself even. The lean hamburger I buy is generally $4-$5 a pound!

The sad truth is many people can't afford to eat healthy. I make a "decent" living and even I have to skimp sometimes.

Great news.

I watched another documentary about food that was pretty funny and quite informative called Fat Head. The documentarian was curious about the award winning documentary Super Size Me that was an indictment of the fast food industry, and McDonalds. As a dare, he set out to eat even more fast food than the Super Size Me guy. While planning his diet and for the film he made some interesting observations. Namely, he wasn't able to reperform what the Super Size Me guy did, even though he ate even MORE fast food than the Super Size Me guy. He started smelling a rat and suspected that maybe Super Size Me was faked. He wound up actually losing weight after 30 days and his cholesterol went down. For the next 30 days, he stopped eating fast food, but still ate enormous portions of all the stuff that's supposed to be bad for you (fried foods and fats) and he lost even more weight and his cholesterol went down again.

He interviewed lots of doctors and had great animated explanations on the effect of fats on our bodies; the amount of research put into his discussions is pretty apparent. I'm no expert in the field, but I certainly did see anything that I could discredit. He keeps going back to mother nature and how humans evolved -- that we ate tons of meat and fat for tens of thousands of years, while we only learned agriculture in the last few thousand years. Makes sense to me. His villian is sugar and carbohydrates, and his film goes into detail about the effect of carbs on our bodies. He states its the fats reacting to carbs that make us overweight and unhealthy.

In the film Food Matters, they take the stance that food is our medicine that heals our bodies, not drugs that treat a symptom. They do discuss nutrition, but not fats and cholesterol. Fat Head does not discuss nutrition at all and by the end I think he does a pretty good job of discrediting the notion that fat and fast food is bad for you.

Both films are good and I would highly recommend them both. I think the concepts in both films actually complement each other.

[GrizinWashington]

He keeps going back to mother nature and how humans evolved -- that we ate tons of meat and fat for tens of thousands of years, while we only learned agriculture in the last few thousand years.

True, but those people, when they were not sleeping, were almost always engaged in some sort of physical exertion. In addition, they had life expectancies in the low 40s.

I will agree with his philosophy that it is unrefined sugars and carbs which most impact one's weight, but even that is due in large part to our sedentary lifestyle. When I was running 40-50 miles a week, I ate every carb I could get my hands on and I couldn't gain an ounce of weight. However, I think there is plenty of medical evidence to suggest that a diet high in red meats, fat and cholesterol will certainly put you at a much, much higher risk of medical issues and early death.

The key is no different than what your great grandma used to say: Everything in moderation and go outside to play.

[Cledus]

He keeps going back to mother nature and how humans evolved -- that we ate tons of meat and fat for tens of thousands of years, while we only learned agriculture in the last few thousand years.

True, but those people, when they were not sleeping, were almost always engaged in some sort of physical exertion. In addition, they had life expectancies in the low 40s.

I will agree with his philosophy that it is unrefined sugars and carbs which most impact one's weight, but even that is due in large part to our sedentary lifestyle. When I was running 40-50 miles a week, I ate every carb I could get my hands on and I couldn't gain an ounce of weight. However, I think there is plenty of medical evidence to suggest that a diet high in red meats, fat and cholesterol will certainly put you at a much, much higher risk of medical issues and early death.

The key is no different than what your great grandma used to say: Everything in moderation and go outside to play.

Keep in mind, I don't profess to be some kind of expert. It's just a topic that interests me. You could be right. I think anybody who's spent as much time exercising as you have probably has a lot more knowledge on the topic than me. All I would say is watch for yourself and keep an open mind. I'm working off memory, so I may have missed a detail here or there though he does address the things you noted, like why dieting is rarely successful and why we gain weight. He makes a pretty compelling and persuasive argument and raises a lot of issues that got me thinking and re-evaluating what I thought I knew was correct (e.g. the conventional wisdom).

When you don't have cable and you're tired of reading, and you've seen all the Arrested Developments and Weeds, then you learn to love foreign flicks and documentaries from Netflix.

[AlphaGriz1]

Watch the Danny Trejo documentary on Netflicks, its called Champion.

[91catAlum]

I dont buy into all the hype about how protein calories "work better" for weight loss, than Carb and Fat calories; including the glycemic index. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight - regardless of the source of the calories.

Here's a guy who ate nothing but twinkies, and lost weight [basically zero protein, lots of carbs as refined sugar, and lots of fat]:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/tw ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


EDIT: My bad - He did eat other things than twinkies - lil Debbie snacks, doritos, a glass of milk, some carrots, etc. its in the article.

[grizzh8r]

It really comes down to self-control. Most people know what is bad for them. The question is, does it stop you? I've struggled with my weight all my life, but not so much for lack of knowledge about nutrition. I just love cheeseburgers, man.

I do agree that doing what you can now, eating healthy, will save you money in the long run, but it is hard to look at it that way. Eating healthy is not cheap. And let's face it, the $2 combo meals at Taco Bell are cheaper than you could possibly make yourself a burrito, chips and a drink. Value menus these days are sometimes cheaper than you can make food yourself even. The lean hamburger I buy is generally $4-$5 a pound!

The sad truth is many people can't afford to eat healthy. I make a "decent" living and even I have to skimp sometimes.

"I just love cheeseburgers, man." I'm right there with you! But that's where eating wild game (deer, elk, speedgoat, etc.) factors in quite nicely. If you have the means, you can make the burger as lean as you want (we've even done burger without any suet and marked it "special" for use in chili, soups, spaghetti, etc. Works great for cooking - don't ever have to drain off the grease!), and the steaks and roasts are even leaner. Or if you know a good processor, you can get it made for you for a reasonable price. A nice little venison roast in the crock pot with onions, taters, carrots, celery and some garlic makes a dang good - and quite healthy - meal. YUM! Now I'm gonna have to do that...

[ChiOCat]

It really comes down to self-control. Most people know what is bad for them. The question is, does it stop you? I've struggled with my weight all my life, but not so much for lack of knowledge about nutrition. I just love cheeseburgers, man.

I do agree that doing what you can now, eating healthy, will save you money in the long run, but it is hard to look at it that way. Eating healthy is not cheap. And let's face it, the $2 combo meals at Taco Bell are cheaper than you could possibly make yourself a burrito, chips and a drink. Value menus these days are sometimes cheaper than you can make food yourself even. The lean hamburger I buy is generally $4-$5 a pound!

The sad truth is many people can't afford to eat healthy. I make a "decent" living and even I have to skimp sometimes.

Great news.

I watched another documentary about food that was pretty funny and quite informative called Fat Head. The documentarian was curious about the award winning documentary Super Size Me that was an indictment of the fast food industry, and McDonalds. As a dare, he set out to eat even more fast food than the Super Size Me guy. While planning his diet and for the film he made some interesting observations. Namely, he wasn't able to reperform what the Super Size Me guy did, even though he ate even MORE fast food than the Super Size Me guy. He started smelling a rat and suspected that maybe Super Size Me was faked. He wound up actually losing weight after 30 days and his cholesterol went down. For the next 30 days, he stopped eating fast food, but still ate enormous portions of all the stuff that's supposed to be bad for you (fried foods and fats) and he lost even more weight and his cholesterol went down again.

He interviewed lots of doctors and had great animated explanations on the effect of fats on our bodies; the amount of research put into his discussions is pretty apparent. I'm no expert in the field, but I certainly did see anything that I could discredit. He keeps going back to mother nature and how humans evolved -- that we ate tons of meat and fat for tens of thousands of years, while we only learned agriculture in the last few thousand years. Makes sense to me. His villian is sugar and carbohydrates, and his film goes into detail about the effect of carbs on our bodies. He states its the fats reacting to carbs that make us overweight and unhealthy.

In the film Food Matters, they take the stance that food is our medicine that heals our bodies, not drugs that treat a symptom. They do discuss nutrition, but not fats and cholesterol. Fat Head does not discuss nutrition at all and by the end I think he does a pretty good job of discrediting the notion that fat and fast food is bad for you.

Both films are good and I would highly recommend them both. I think the concepts in both films actually complement each other.

This guy isn't saying fast food is healthy though, is he? I wouldn't be shocked if the SuperSize Me data was fudged but I do not believe someone can live off fast food and be healthier.

But your last statement is exactly what Crazy Sexy Diet is about. Food is our medicine. We need to eat food that heals us and supports our body functions.
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[ChiOCat]

I dont buy into all the hype about how protein calories "work better" for weight loss, than Carb and Fat calories; including the glycemic index. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight - regardless of the source of the calories.

Here's a guy who ate nothing but twinkies, and lost weight [basically zero protein, lots of carbs as refined sugar, and lots of fat]:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/tw ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


EDIT: My bad - He did eat other things than twinkies - lil Debbie snacks, doritos, a glass of milk, some carrots, etc. its in the article.

But the point of healthy eating isn't losing weight per se, it's about getting the nutrition that your body needs to function properly. Being thin on a diet of crap doesn't make you healthy.

[TeacherCat]

Along the same lines if you haven't checked out King Korn or Food Inc. you should.

[91catAlum]

But the point of healthy eating isn't losing weight per se, it's about getting the nutrition that your body needs to function properly. Being thin on a diet of crap doesn't make you healthy.

I hear ya, it sure seems like it would be unhealthy - it probably is long-term. But all of his "short term" health measurables improved (cholesterol, BMI, triglycerides, etc). Crazy.

[bobcat99]

Have you read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"? I audiobooked it last month and was fascinated. I might be on my way to becoming a back-to-the-earth hippie when it comes to food production, purchasing, consumption etc.

No, I'll have to check it out. Thanks! I tend to agree with you...I even bought some organic things the other day

Just wanted to point out the large misconception that organic foods are healthier. Not always the case. In fact, many plants that don't have chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, etc) put on them will produce their own toxins to protect themselves that are more likely to make a human sick than any chemicals would. Just some food for thought.