Your Diet and Nutrition

[Brainwalter]

You forgot to log in as Bad Advice Guy.

[JonPKibble]

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

[Cosimo]

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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.

[wonderwes]

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.

[Blarg]

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.

[shayneon]

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

You are now healthier than 90% of America.

[Blarg]

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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.

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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.

[OtisTheMarsupial]

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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.

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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.

[JonPKibble]

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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".

[Rooster71]

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Highly recommended:



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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.