Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

[jen]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Interesting (but long) article: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=magazine">The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food</a>

 

[walrus]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Question: what does your typical day look like, food wise? Mine looks like this:

Breakfast: Kashi Go Lean Crunch, almond milk, plain Greek yogurt, coffee.
Mid-morning snack: banana, coffee
Lunch: A sandwich. Whole grain bread, meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo or mustard with tea to drink
Mid-afternoon snack: fruit, green tea
Dinner: chicken thigh or drumstick with skin, steamed or roasted vegetable, starch (either baked or mashed potato, or rice or quinoa)
Night: popcorn and herbal tea.

And the reason I ask is because if I adopt a Paleo/whole30 lifestyle, what I listed above is going to have to change. It's been beaten into my head that we're supposed to eat three small meals a day with a light snack in between. And the majority of what I eat is supposed to be carbohydrate based.

I don't know what to believe anymore.

I sure wouldn't believe the food pyramid. Look at the ingredients of almond Milk, see if you can pronounce half of them. kashi? Eggs would be better, cooked in Butter or Olive oil. We've all been taught fats are bad, don't believe it anymore. My cholesterol has gone down by eliminating all grains, I eat more aged cheeses than you can shake a stick, I eat eggs every day, I eat tons of beef and pork, bacon, whatever and my cholesterol still went down. I've lost 80 lbs in the last 14 months, some exercise but nothing heavier than walking.

Stay away from any processed foods, luncheon meats, are full of sugar for example

 

[FreshFish]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

It's been beaten into my head that we're supposed to eat three small meals a day with a light snack in between. And the majority of what I eat is supposed to be carbohydrate based.

I don't know what to believe anymore.

It can be especially challenging because our bodies crave certain nutritional elements that were rare in our ancestral days that are now abundantly available given the technology. I wouldn't be surprised if we had different metabolisms on the molecular level that would indicate different dietary needs for different people given differences in genetic make-up.

I've heard from several sources I consider reliable that five smaller meals a day is probably better than three larger meals interspersed with snacks; though I suppose that's mostly a matter of definition these days.

I suspect that having rules about dietary intake that don't also link dietary intake with lifestyle is a mistake.

When I was in college, I'd gain weight during training and lose inches from my waist; and lose weight during the offseason while gaining inches at my waist. Years later, it's now as you'd expect: Inches and weight gain / loss are now in the same direction.

the last few years have been cyclical for me; every Lent I set out to lose about 15 pounds and I reach that goal by Columbus Day or so. Then I gain it back over Thanksgiving and Christmas and start the cycle all over again the subsequent year.

 

[MissThundercat]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

I sure wouldn't believe the food pyramid. Look at the ingredients of almond Milk, see if you can pronounce half of them. kashi? Eggs would be better, cooked in Butter or Olive oil. We've all been taught fats are bad, don't believe it anymore. My cholesterol has gone down by eliminating all grains, I eat more aged cheeses than you can shake a stick, I eat eggs every day, I eat tons of beef and pork, bacon, whatever and my cholesterol still went down. I've lost 80 lbs in the last 14 months, some exercise but nothing heavier than walking.

Stay away from any processed foods, luncheon meats, are full of sugar for example

When I weighed 150 soaking wet: high carb, low fat.

Basically I went through Nutrition at the CIM: high carb, low fat. And one of our assignments was to change a classic recipe so it was low fat. I never felt so dirty in my life, perverting a Reuben sandwich like that. I don't blame Chef Raina... she only taught the curriculum she had.

This recent round of weight loss: high carb, low fat. My dietitian gave me a handout for a 2,000 calorie a day diet, recommending I eat margarine (yuck!) and low-fat dairy (once again, yuck.) Low-fat dairy tastes like plastic...

It's only recently I've been clued in that fat is actually good, depending on what it is. I've learned that seed oils are bad, but lard and bacon fat are okay. I'm not afraid to eat organs... beef heart, when prepared properly, is delicious.

It's going to be hard undoing my education and then re-educating myself. It might be tasty, though...

 

[MissThundercat]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Based on input from this board and some friends of mine, I'm making the following changes to my diet. I'm hoping the changes can help with my depression and iron-deficiency anemia.


1. More red meat (from responsible sources) and dark leafy greens. These foods are rich in iron... and yes, I know I need to eat the greens with some form of Vitamin C to unlock the iron in them.
2. Whenever I can, whole-milk dairy. I can't find full-fat Greek yogurt, but I can eat full-fat cheese. And seeing as I make my own pizza, I'm going to switch to whole milk mozzarella and ricotta cheese.
3. More seafood (from responsible sources). Fish, especially fatty fish such as salmon, is high in Omega-3 fatty acids.
4. In terms of fat, I'm going to get away from seed oils and use butter, bacon fat, lard, and olive oil. Lard actually has more mono-unsaturated fat than extra-virgin olive oil! As for seed oils, they turn rancid VERY quickly due to their poly-unsaturated fat content. And yes, I know if you add fat to a dish, it needs to be done sparingly. As I recall from my time at the CIM, the lab instructors I had reminded me time and time again that you need enough fat to coat the pan. All you need is 1-2 tablespoons of anything you choose.
5. And I'm going to maintain a high-fiber diet. But rather than rely on functional fiber, like what's found in Kashi Go Lean Crunch and Fiber One, I'd like to get my fiber from vegetables.
6. I'm also experiencing the sugar blues. I found that all the refined sugar I was eating, even natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup, was giving me a quick high that didn't last. One cookie became two, two became three, soon enough I was eating the entire batch.
7. And I'm going to stop calorie counting. A healthy life is so much more than calories in=calories out.

 

[walrus]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

.
6. I'm also experiencing the sugar blues. I found that all the refined sugar I was eating, even natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup, was giving me a quick high that didn't last. One cookie became two, two became three, soon enough I was eating the entire batch.
7. And I'm going to stop calorie counting. A healthy life is so much more than calories in=calories out.

Honey is easily digestible, others aren't. Its probably a combination of the carbs in the cookies that leaves you wanting more

 

[MissThundercat]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Honey is easily digestible, others aren't. Its probably a combination of the carbs in the cookies that leaves you wanting more

I just don't want anything having to do with sugar. And I can't provide links right now, but based on what I've read, sugar is as addictive as other narcotics.

If that isn't enough, I'm also trying to step away from artificial sweeteners, so no Splenda, no Sweet N Low, no Diet Coke, and no Coke Zero. As for stevia, most commercial stevia is actually laced with dextrose and erythritol, making it much sweeter than the herb it's extracted from. There's only one brand of it that's organic.

 

[MissThundercat]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Figures. Ask a dietitian about my ideas and I get told to watch my saturated fat intake. Instead of believing THAT, I think I'll just go ahead and try the new research. Based on what I've read from Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, Nina Planck, and the Weston A Price Foundation, I'll just eat my ribeye in peace.

 

[MattS]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Based on input from this board and some friends of mine, I'm making the following changes to my diet. I'm hoping the changes can help with my depression and iron-deficiency anemia.


1. More red meat (from responsible sources) and dark leafy greens. These foods are rich in iron... and yes, I know I need to eat the greens with some form of Vitamin C to unlock the iron in them.
2. Whenever I can, whole-milk dairy. I can't find full-fat Greek yogurt, but I can eat full-fat cheese. And seeing as I make my own pizza, I'm going to switch to whole milk mozzarella and ricotta cheese.
3. More seafood (from responsible sources). Fish, especially fatty fish such as salmon, is high in Omega-3 fatty acids.
4. In terms of fat, I'm going to get away from seed oils and use butter, bacon fat, lard, and olive oil. Lard actually has more mono-unsaturated fat than extra-virgin olive oil! As for seed oils, they turn rancid VERY quickly due to their poly-unsaturated fat content. And yes, I know if you add fat to a dish, it needs to be done sparingly. As I recall from my time at the CIM, the lab instructors I had reminded me time and time again that you need enough fat to coat the pan. All you need is 1-2 tablespoons of anything you choose.
5. And I'm going to maintain a high-fiber diet. But rather than rely on functional fiber, like what's found in Kashi Go Lean Crunch and Fiber One, I'd like to get my fiber from vegetables.
6. I'm also experiencing the sugar blues. I found that all the refined sugar I was eating, even natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup, was giving me a quick high that didn't last. One cookie became two, two became three, soon enough I was eating the entire batch.
7. And I'm going to stop calorie counting. A healthy life is so much more than calories in=calories out.

I don't mean this in any type of derogatory way, I am really just curious. Do you really need to put that much thought into your food intake? I mean if I spent that kind of time on what I ate and cooked I would never get anything else done. Or am I reading too much into your post?

Not that I am advocating this to you or anyone else, I am just stating it by comparison.... Eight years ago when I needed to make a drastic change in my eating habits, I "simply" changed to being a vegetarian. I do nothing more than eat fruits and vegetables. Pretty much zero processed foods (except when I occasionally eat out) and try to eat a variety of what I do eat. My belief is that my body wasn't evolved to eat man-made chemicals so I avoid them when possible.

Figures. Ask a dietitian about my ideas and I get told to watch my saturated fat intake.

IMO, dietitians are people who want to be doctors but aren't smart enough. I wouldn't trust any of them.

 

[MissThundercat]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

I don't mean this in any type of derogatory way, I am really just curious. Do you really need to put that much thought into your food intake? I mean if I spent that kind of time on what I ate and cooked I would never get anything else done. Or am I reading too much into your post?

Not that I am advocating this to you or anyone else, I am just stating it by comparison.... Eight years ago when I needed to make a drastic change in my eating habits, I "simply" changed to being a vegetarian. I do nothing more than eat fruits and vegetables. Pretty much zero processed foods (except when I occasionally eat out) and try to eat a variety of what I do eat. My belief is that my body wasn't evolved to eat man-made chemicals so I avoid them when possible.



IMO, dietitians are people who want to be doctors but aren't smart enough. I wouldn't trust any of them.

When I broke out of anorexia, I decided that I wanted to know as much about food as possible. The obsession has taken me to farmer's markets, butchers, bakeries, and culinary school (that was an abysmal failure). But recently, after talking with some naturopaths, reading books like "It Starts With Food" by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, "Real Food" by Nina Planck, and my own experiments, I'm starting to believe in food as medicine. And I'm hoping that by making changes to my diet, I can cure or alleviate some of my most glaring issues, such as depression, bipolar, and iron-deficiency anemia. I might not be able to cure my runner's aches and pains or my seasonal allergies, but I'm going to try and get off my medication. I don't want to be a pill popper for the rest of my life.

 

[bottomdweller]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

I don't mean this in any type of derogatory way, I am really just curious. Do you really need to put that much thought into your food intake? I mean if I spent that kind of time on what I ate and cooked I would never get anything else done. Or am I reading too much into your post?

Not that I am advocating this to you or anyone else, I am just stating it by comparison.... Eight years ago when I needed to make a drastic change in my eating habits, I "simply" changed to being a vegetarian. I do nothing more than eat fruits and vegetables. Pretty much zero processed foods (except when I occasionally eat out) and try to eat a variety of what I do eat. My belief is that my body wasn't evolved to eat man-made chemicals so I avoid them when possible.

When you go about changing your diet (and notice I didn't say go on a diet), I think you really need to be careful and you do need to put that much thought into your food intake. A lot of the problems that stem from food are the relationship people have with food. A lot of people do not realize what certain foods may actually be doing to their body, so by planning out what their going to eat, setting up some sort of controls, they can finally have that positive relationship with food where it's being used as fuel and not as a shoulder to cry on.

I've done 3 Whole30s now, and generally follow the paleo diet, and I can tell almost instantly if something I ate is going to have a negative affect on me in any way. Whether it be with digestion, acne, mood swings, etc. It took a good 6 months or so to start to understand what certain foods were doing to my body. I'm still nowhere near perfect in my food consuption and still eat too much gluten, but it's a work-in-process.

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Just bought one of those Nutribullets yesterday. Going to start extracting my food, getting more good stuff into me. Doesn't mean I'm not going to stop having the occasional bacon cheeseburger, but trying to cut out more of the over-processed crap that some would call food. Lot more greens and veggies in there as well.

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Note to everybody. When trying out a recipe for the nutribullet that calls for citrus fruits, you might just want to start off with just small slices of the fruit at first. #sourface.

 

[MissThundercat]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

And I tell you what: in revamping my diet again and again, I find it's not the protein and fat that trips me up. It's the sugar (refined and natural) and bread (whole grains included). So with that, I'm going to eat less carbs and more protein and fat.

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Does anybody have a fool proof method of cutting up mangoes? tried that for the first time today and well, made bit of a mess, and well, there's got to be an easier way to cut it up and get the pit out of it.

 

[bottomdweller]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

Does anybody have a fool proof method of cutting up mangoes? tried that for the first time today and well, made bit of a mess, and well, there's got to be an easier way to cut it up and get the pit out of it.

They sell mango slicers, similar to the pineapple one, but it's bulky and takes up a lot of space... you basically cut the two big cheeks off and then the two smaller side ones. The pit is quite large, so it doesn't always seem like you get that much fruit out of a mango.

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

They sell mango slicers, similar to the pineapple one, but it's bulky and takes up a lot of space... you basically cut the two big cheeks off and then the two smaller side ones. The pit is quite large, so it doesn't always seem like you get that much fruit out of a mango.

Ok, now that makes sense now that I've seen the inside of a mango. Should be less of a mess next time I get one and want to cut it up for the nutribullet.

 

[MissThundercat]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

I've already stopped going to bed without a snack, so I'd like to extend that to the whole day. I'd like to see if I can last a whole day just eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As I've said before, I'd like to reduce my reliance on carbs and see if I can eat more protein and fat.

 

[alfablue]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

They sell mango slicers, similar to the pineapple one, but it's bulky and takes up a lot of space... you basically cut the two big cheeks off and then the two smaller side ones. The pit is quite large, so it doesn't always seem like you get that much fruit out of a mango.

It's kind of sad that we are stuck with the mangos that are commercially available here, when Puerto Rico has mangos that are so much better- the pit is much smaller, and the flesh is much less fiberous. At least the one in my in-laws back yard.

bigmrg74- make sure you wash up- the sap from Mangos can cause an allergic reaction. it does to me, and AFAIK, that's the only thing that does it to me- I'm not allergic to anything.

Man, I love mangos.....

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Diet and Exercise 2013: Ready to Suffer and Ready to Hope

It's kind of sad that we are stuck with the mangos that are commercially available here, when Puerto Rico has mangos that are so much better- the pit is much smaller, and the flesh is much less fiberous. At least the one in my in-laws back yard.

bigmrg74- make sure you wash up- the sap from Mangos can cause an allergic reaction. it does to me, and AFAIK, that's the only thing that does it to me- I'm not allergic to anything.

Man, I love mangos.....

I'm pretty impervious when it comes to allergens, but given that a rash on my hands would keep me from working till that cleared up, I will keep that in mind.

Think the next trick here is figuring out how to pick out a ripe mango. Part of it was pretty nice and solid, but there was another that was kind of stringy.