Your Diet and Nutrition
 

I've been thinking a lot lately about how important what you eat is... Has anyone here done a lot of research into it and could share their wisdom? Thoughts on red meat, eating fast food, etc.

I want to eat healthy, but I have no idea what to buy from meijers or these big supermarkets and there aren't any good local organic health food type stores.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

if youre really curious read some books on nutrition.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

I know why you don't just "read some books" on the subject--there's gads of conflicting information.

It's important to remember that all of the conventional wisdom about fast food and junk food is correct--don't eat it, unless it's an isolated treat.

Otherwise, I suggest simple adjustments like only eating lean meats, skim or soy milk only, less bread, and plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Once you make the adjustments, they're really easy to maintain, because your system won't crave all of the salt and fat of a Big Mac and fries and the chemicals in a stupid Coke. Your brain will say "Don't do that, it's dumb."

But again, it's an overall thing. From time to time, you can eat any damned thing you want; just don't let it lead to a "relapse."

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

Eat less fastfood and drink less soda.

Learn how to cook dishes that include heathly items like vegetables and fish. Salmon is good for you, I try to eat at least once a week. Toast (wheat bread) and/or cereal is always the best breakfast. Lettuce has little nutriional value. Choose veggies that are of a dark green color. Drink juice or milk in place of soda. Etc.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

A good start is to stick to the perimeter of the grocery store, that is stick to whole foods. This alone will be a big step in the right direction. Red meat is fine, in moderation, just like anything else. But seriously just starting with this step alone will make a big difference. PM me if you want any more detail.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

I am pre-med, I plan to be a doctor concentrating on human nutrition. I am vegan, and avoid a lot of stuff, like caffeine, fried foods etc. Note, I say avoid, right, it's kinda silly to just say "never" I just avoid foods that I think are probably not so good. Anyway, obviously the #1 thing in my opinion, is the less processed the better. Processed foods = crap [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] The closer they are to nature the better, so raw/whole foods and organic is +EV.

I think that the food we eat is many times more important than most people give credit.

It affects us tromendously.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

When did people start saying "red meat" instead of beef? I assume "red meat" covers a couple other things like lamb or vennison, but the majority of the time it just means beef. So why don't people just say beef? And what's so bad about it anyway (besides all the weird hormones and crap they inject into the cows)?

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

Man I like fat milk. Half in half is even better. I don't believe it's bad for me.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

[ QUOTE ]
A good start is to stick to the perimeter of the grocery store, that is stick to whole foods. This alone will be a big step in the right direction. Red meat is fine, in moderation, just like anything else. But seriously just starting with this step alone will make a big difference. PM me if you want any more detail.

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This is good advice, stick to natural, non-processed foods. Veggies, fruits, nuts, meat, eggs etc. And find a mix that works for you. Just stay away from white bread, fast food, soda, candy etc. Extremes usually never work with diets (ie. atkins, grapefruit diet) because they are hard to stick to. If you lift weights, get your diet up to 1 g of protien per 1lb of lean mass, and do not mix carbs with fat in any meal (ie no buttered bread). Try to keep your meal combos Fat and protien or carbs and protein. Everything in moderation though, including moderation. You can find a bunch more at t-nation.com

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

why would you not mix fat and carbs? If it's to keep from gaining weight I could not care less as I'm 6' and 145 pounds. Also, what is wrong with white bread?

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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why would you not mix fat and carbs? If it's to keep from gaining weight I could not care less as I'm 6' and 145 pounds. Also, what is wrong with white bread?

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Most people dont need to gain weight...so yes, if you are looking to gain then mixing isnt a problem. The easy answer is mixing fat and carbs makes you burn the carbs and store the fat. White bread gives you such an insulin surge because of the refined white flour that your blood glucose levels spike, which is rarely a good thing. Google Diabetes and refined white flour.



Edit: because diet is all about calorie in and calorie out, the amount of cals are the first step in what you need to determine fi you want to gain/lose weight. Not mixing fat/carb, the 40-30-30 diet, atkins, are all a refinement of where you get your calories from. Long term nutrition is key, and Ive found out of everything that not mixing F+C and eating P+C/F+P meals makes me less lethargic, etc.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

Did some reading about white bread and will eat it in moderation.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

I've been trying to loose weight for a while, but I've had difficulty. The problem is that I haven't managed to stick to anything (I'm sure that any diet would work if I would actually stick to it).

For about a month, I've been on Nutrisystem. I prefer this to everything else I've tried because, the food is provided for you. I don't have to think about what I should eat, of how much to eat. So far, I've lost 21lbs (though I don't expect that rate to continue). I do thnk I will be able to stick with this.

The food provides balance nutrition, and tastes fine.

I haven't been exercising, but I hope to start that when I get down to 300lbs. I wish there were a cheap way to hire a personal trainer.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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Man I like fat milk. Half in half is even better. I don't believe it's bad for me.

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Haha I think I'd like you. I like half n half too.

In my family I'm the bad one as far as nutrition. My mom and sisters are all health conscious. They've had Thanksgivings where there was no salt, no butter, no white dinner rolls, sugarless pies, etc. Just awful.

I too would like to know what is wrong with beef. I like red meat a lot.

also...what is so wrong with white rice? My family keeps frowning at me when I say I like white rice. Is it that bad for me? What's the deal, I seem to be pretty healthy.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

I think healthy usually means low fat.

Personally, I find lots of alcohol is also good, ymmv.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

[ QUOTE ]
Eat less fastfood and drink less soda.

Learn how to cook dishes that include heathly items like vegetables and fish. Salmon is good for you, I try to eat at least once a week. Toast (wheat bread) and/or cereal is always the best breakfast. Lettuce has little nutriional value. Choose veggies that are of a dark green color. Drink juice or milk in place of soda. Etc.

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get fruit at the store instead of candy and junk food, for example a bag of apples instead of a bag of snickers.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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[ QUOTE ]
Eat less fastfood and drink less soda.

Learn how to cook dishes that include heathly items like vegetables and fish. Salmon is good for you, I try to eat at least once a week. Toast (wheat bread) and/or cereal is always the best breakfast. Lettuce has little nutriional value. Choose veggies that are of a dark green color. Drink juice or milk in place of soda. Etc.

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get fruit at the store instead of candy and junk food, for example a bag of apples instead of a bag of snickers.

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Naturally dried fruit is also a good substite. Make sure there are not preservatives added.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

Highly recommended:

http://www.healthysecrets.com/health...l_cures-sm.jpg

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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I know why you don't just "read some books" on the subject--there's gads of conflicting information.

Otherwise, I suggest simple adjustments like only eating lean meats, skim or soy milk only, less bread, and plenty of fruits and vegetables.

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The great thing about expert opinion is that there's so many experts to choose from!

I suggest simple adjustments like eating lots of animal fat, less soy, less bread, less fruits, and cook your vegetables. Finding good meat, butter, and milk should be your top priority.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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Toast (wheat bread) and/or cereal is always the best breakfast. Lettuce has little nutriional value. Choose veggies that are of a dark green color. Drink juice or milk in place of soda.

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Toast and cereal are the worst breakfasts; eat bacon and eggs. Lettuce has little nutritional value. Dark green veggies are keen. Stay away from juice and soda; get whole, non-rBGH milk.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

You forgot to log in as Bad Advice Guy.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

Lots of Whole Grains, Raw Fruits & Vegetables are your friend.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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You forgot to log in as Bad Advice Guy.

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Let's pick a point of contention, then, like Soy.

The bran or hull of all seeds contains phytic acid. Phytic acid inhibits mineral uptake. The high temperature, pressure, and time needed to break down the phytic acid in soy denatures soy protein. So pick one: protein or minerals. Vegetarians who consume tofu instead of meat risk severe mineral deficiency. Wallace, GM. Studies on the Processing and Properties of Soymilk. J Sci Food Agri 1971 Oct;22:526-535

Tripsin inhibitors in soy interfere further with protein absorption. Rackis JJ et al, Qualification of Plant Foods in Human Nutrition, 1985;35.

Soy phytoestrogens (isoflavones) are goitrogenic (ie they reduce thyroid function, which means it slows your metabolism). They also distrupt endocrine function and promote breast cancer. Strom BL et al, Exposure to soy-based formula in infancy and endocrinological and reproductive outcomes in young adulthood, JAMA 2001 Nov 21;286(19):2402-3. Soy infant formula promotes early puberty among females and late development among boys and is correlated with female reproductive disorders (including endometriosis) in later life.

The "B12" found in soy is actually a B12 analog, and eating soy increases your body's needs for B12. Similarly, eating soy also increases your need for vitamin D.

Soy protein isolates (eg protein powders and the Textured Vegetable Protein etc found in processed foods) contains lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines, and their processing also usually leeches toxic amounts of aluminum (toxic to neurons and the kidneys). Joseph, JR. Biological and physiological Factors in Soybeans. JOACS, 1974 Jan;51:161A-170A. In feeding experiments, use of soy protein isolate (SPI) increased requirements for vitamins E, K, D and B12 and created deficiency symptoms of calcium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper, iron and zinc.

Asian cultures do not eat a lot of soy. They use soy as a condiment -- like we use ketchup or mustard. In a 1998 survey (C Nagata, et al, Journal of Nutrition), the average amount of soy consumed by Japanese was less than two teaspoons. TWO TEASPOONS. The soy consumed is also almost always fermented, sprouted, soaked, or the like, to reduce the antinutrients found in the food. Although SPI manufacturers work hard to reduce these antinutrients, American's consumption of soy foods and soy milk is nothing like traditional asian consumption.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

I have limited my soda intake, but I still drink it. In what context, how bad is a basic 12oz can of soda. All the sugar, carboniated wate, etc. I would like to get to a point where I would hardly drink soda at all.

Also don't many fruit juices you buy in the store also filled with large amounts of sugar?

It is important to note that good nutrition, a multivitamin is key. I eat one of those each day and some Fish Oil.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

Your attack on soy is about a billion miles away from a credible endorsement of bacon and eggs.

It also falls prey to a common fault in discussing nutrition -- what is it replacing? This seems to be pretty central to your notion of eating bacon and eggs, too.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

Eat lots of yogurt (dairy) and never drink soda.

You are now healthier than 90% of America.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

[ QUOTE ]
I've been trying to loose weight for a while, but I've had difficulty. The problem is that I haven't managed to stick to anything (I'm sure that any diet would work if I would actually stick to it).

For about a month, I've been on Nutrisystem. I prefer this to everything else I've tried because, the food is provided for you. I don't have to think about what I should eat, of how much to eat. So far, I've lost 21lbs (though I don't expect that rate to continue). I do thnk I will be able to stick with this.

The food provides balance nutrition, and tastes fine.

I haven't been exercising, but I hope to start that when I get down to 300lbs. I wish there were a cheap way to hire a personal trainer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do some exercise, anything. You are investing in bad health for as long as you do no exercise. You do not need to be in great shape or even good shape to do exercise, and you do not have to do a punishing amount of exercise to still get a very good benefit. And of course, if you're wanting to wait to lose weight before exercising, well -- exercising will get you to that point faster, and when you get there, you will arrive in better health and more ready to exercise without feeling as beaten up by it.

Some simple things like working on stretching your arms and legs, or taking walks to a store or in a park, can have a good effect and start you progressing down a long-term path of fitness. Leaning against a wall and doing a few push-up like presses here and there is another thing that can get a lot of your muscles involved, and if you do just a few, you won't even have time to get tired.

This latter exercising protocol is known as "greasing the groove." What you do is just do an exercise or two almost every day of the week, like 5 out of 6 or 7 days. Make them relatively tough, but not necessarily maximal efforts at all. Doing even one to three of them is absolutely fine.

Concentrate on what you're doing and try to do it right. You're training your neuromuscular system in its entirety by doing this in such short bursts, to recruit more muscle fibers and use your muscles better. Doing it in short bursts means your concentration level can always be high, and you can ingrain good habits rather than practicing bad ones, as you do when an exercise routine is wearing you out. Your reward will be increased muscle recruitment and more efficient muscle because of the neurological reinforcement.

You will also accumulate substantial volume per week, even doing one to three reps, if you do it several times a day, just at whatever odd moments occur to you. This will increase your strength in the expected way, not just through better neuromuscular coordination, but by way of the usual breakdown and rebuilding of muscle.

These two things working together will make you stronger a lot quicker than you might expect, leading to surprising bursts of improvement. You can start working on that strength right now, a very little at a time, and still get very good results.

The key is to keep the load manageable so you can repeat it. Never do more than five reps. If you have energy left over, either do a harder variation of the exercise or add more weight, or occasionally add another set of up to five. But ideally, just save your strength for a little later, even if it's only an hour away. Doing short bursts will keep your concentration high, and keep you from getting sore and having to cut back your volume. And of course, it will keep you from the injury that is more likely at your high body weight. Short bursts means you will be able to keep going day after day, rarely needing anything more than the occasional day off, if that.

It doesn't sound like much, but if you do three reps of an exercise four times a day, and take off two days out of five, you're doing 70 a week, with plenty of rest. If you are doing something fairly difficult, though not a real huge strain, that kind of volume adds up to a lot of stimulus to your system. (Traditionally the GTG protocol calls for 80% of max weight usage, or just think of it as 4/5 of what you think your effort can max out at. You can do it at closer to max effort too, but then you will be doing fewer reps, or should.) The beauty part is you barely feel the work, since one to five reps of non-max effort is just not that hard even for people out of shape. And if you gradually come to increase either the reps or the frequency just a little, you'll wind doing a LOT more work, and getting even more benefit.

I've used this protocol with great success myself, going up hundreds of pounds in the deadlift in half a year, and making very nice progress on some other exercises too. Do this on one to three different exercises and you will see a major increase in your physical abilities within a surprisingly short amount of time. You absolutely don't have to bust a gut to start it, or to continue it either. I'd highly suggest trying it out. Pick some exercise and stick with it for at least two months to give it a fair chance to work. Overhead presses with a dumbbell, bent over rows with a dumbbell, bodyweight deep knee bends, push-ups against a wall, table, or sink if you can't do them yet on the floor, etc. You don't have to wait. Unless you're in a wheelchair, there's absolutely SOMETHING fairly tough but not exhausting you can do for one to three repetitions(up to five when you get in better shape), and then repeat here and there during the day and evening. So don't be intimidated by the thought of exercise; you don't have to be in good shape to get in better shape. NOTABLY better.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

[ QUOTE ]
I've been thinking a lot lately about how important what you eat is... Has anyone here done a lot of research into it and could share their wisdom? Thoughts on red meat, eating fast food, etc.

I want to eat healthy, but I have no idea what to buy from meijers or these big supermarkets and there aren't any good local organic health food type stores.

[/ QUOTE ]

You don't need specialized health foods. Every large grocery store should have fresh fruits and veggies. Just eat more of the fresh stuff. Learn to cook yourself more and eat less fast food.

There is no secret to it, no special book you need to read or special diet you need to follow. Just eat a variety of foods, only eat till you're full, eat processed foods sparingly... Just use your common sense.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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Also don't many fruit juices you buy in the store also filled with large amounts of sugar?

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Bingo!

You are much better off buying a juicer, and making fresh juice, than buying that sugar-laden crap in bottles that they call "juice".

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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Highly recommended:

http://www.healthysecrets.com/health...l_cures-sm.jpg

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I have heard about this guy, isn't he some sort of fraudster or convicted felon? Yea, I know the book was (or is) a bestseller, but does the author have any training in nutrition, medicine, etc?

I am always very leary when someone refers to "they" (especially in the title of a book), as if the whole bit is one big conspiracy.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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Your attack on soy is about a billion miles away from a credible endorsement of bacon and eggs.

It also falls prey to a common fault in discussing nutrition -- what is it replacing? This seems to be pretty central to your notion of eating bacon and eggs, too.

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What? Where are you getting this from? I'm not advocating bacon and eggs because soy is bad; I'm advocating staying away from soy because soy is bad.

So, (1) soy is bad. As for bacon and eggs, (2) there ain't nothing necessarily wrong with saturated fat, and often there's a lot of good there, and (3) there ain't nothing wrong with dietary cholesterol.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

This thread is full of horrible, horrilbe advice. I am 24 and for as long as I remember, my meals mostly include fast food, microvable foods, pizza, and I do cook once in a while (pasta, hamburger, or something like that). I also daily eat chips and cheez-its (white cheddar). I hate water and drink a ton of pop, mostly mountain dew, but also drink juices and milk (chocolate). I smoke alot and drink alcohol. This is my diet and I suggest it to everyone. I am in fine shape, am not overweight, sleep well, have plenty of energy, and no medical problems. Sure, my body will explode when I turn 35, 8 years after my teeth fall out but it will be well worth the time.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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Highly recommended:

http://www.healthysecrets.com/health...l_cures-sm.jpg

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Highly recommended to give as a gift to people you hate.
It includes numerous instances of dangerous advice. For instance, you will be interested to learn that sun exposure does not cause skin cancer, but rather sun screen and sun block do.

Trudeau is a well-known criminal fraud. You have been duped.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Seriously though --- there are a lot of good points in Trudeau's book. If you can't accept the fact that the man doesn't have a clean record, here's another good book to read: "Death by Prescription".

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

This professor who is the expert when it comes to the stomach and intestines at Albert Einstein University thinks that daily isn't good.

When it comes to nutrition, you get a lot of different opinions. I personally don't know how bad the daily is. He also thinks that too much green tea/coffee isn't good either.

Soh

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

> ...what is so wrong with white rice?

From what I know, it's not bad, but brown rice is better.

Soh

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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> ...what is so wrong with white rice?

From what I know, it's not bad, but brown rice is better.

Soh

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Long-term consumption of refined flours (white bread, white rice, regular pasta) contributes to many health problems. Replacing these with their whole-grain counterparts is +EV.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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[ QUOTE ]
Your attack on soy is about a billion miles away from a credible endorsement of bacon and eggs.

It also falls prey to a common fault in discussing nutrition -- what is it replacing? This seems to be pretty central to your notion of eating bacon and eggs, too.

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What? Where are you getting this from? I'm not advocating bacon and eggs because soy is bad; I'm advocating staying away from soy because soy is bad.

So, (1) soy is bad. As for bacon and eggs, (2) there ain't nothing necessarily wrong with saturated fat, and often there's a lot of good there, and (3) there ain't nothing wrong with dietary cholesterol.

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Uhh...right.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

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This thread is full of horrible, horrilbe advice. I am 24 and for as long as I remember, my meals mostly include fast food, microvable foods, pizza, and I do cook once in a while (pasta, hamburger, or something like that). I also daily eat chips and cheez-its (white cheddar). I hate water and drink a ton of pop, mostly mountain dew, but also drink juices and milk (chocolate). I smoke alot and drink alcohol. This is my diet and I suggest it to everyone. I am in fine shape, am not overweight, sleep well, have plenty of energy, and no medical problems. Sure, my body will explode when I turn 35, 8 years after my teeth fall out but it will be well worth the time.

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LOL it's true when you're really young, especially if you're really physically active, you can do practically anything. I could eat and drink just astonishing amounts when I was that age, without feeling bad or having it turn to crap -- at least visible crap. My family has a history of heart disease that's pretty bad, so I'm sure my packing my arteries full of crap didn't have a long-term good effect. And now if I just drink a soda or two per day, I can see the difference on my gut.

Re: Your Diet and Nutrition
 

Nutrition can be a lot like relgion and politics. So I will start of by admitting that I am biased. I am a survival/primitive skills instructor and make a lot of my decisions about diet (and other things) based on human evolutionary history. Things that have been around for a couple hundred years or less are highly suspect (White flour and white sugar) for me.

I tend away from factory processed foods such as soy products like soymilk (already discussed by Cosmo- I agree with most if not all of what Cosmo has said) and towards naturally processed food (usually fermented) yogurt for example. It is very difficult to get raw milk products (unpasturized) but that is what I get when possible.

I eat wild meat or meat raised by people I know,or sometimes settle for organic meat from the store- Almost all the products I buy are organic.

When I am not lazy I like to sprout or ferment grain products as raw grains have digestion-inhibiting enzymes.

NO hydrogenated oils- like Crisco or margarine

The best book in this vein that I have read is "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon.

It is very difficult to eat this type of diet in an urban area- you need access to wild areas and friends who raise animals/vegetables/fruit or a place to do it yourself. One of the many reasons I can't spend too much time in an urban area.