The Health and/or Diet Thread

[Asmodean]

I only eat organic free range locust.

Organic? There are too many people on this rock for that. And with one and a half kids, you of all people should know better. Leave the green and unsustainable to we who use the love glove. Besides, the artificial herbicides, insecticides and fertilizers are generally better, often safer and sometimes cheaper than the "natural" alternatives.

If you wanna go real hard core, however, lay off the food that was farmed, stored, prepared or transported using internal combustion engines, coal/oil/gas generated electricity and the like. You might starve to death, but the world will be green and the polar bear babies won't drown.

...

.

I am SO going to start an anti-organic movement aimed at the preservation and expansion of industrial food production.

[teenabeana22]

I'm interested how many people are actually overweight? I mean medically overweight, and if so why and when did it happen?

I recently became 1lb overweight according to my body mass index.
However I am nowhere near the obese range.  I gained 30 pounds in three years I was much thinner and found it difficult to gain weight becuaus I did not desire to eat.  I eat when I'm stressed or depressed but honestly I believe that I am addicted to high fatty and sugary foods.  I used to stay away from them at all costs but I went through something and used junk as comfort food.  It's so easy to access no preparation needed.  I know about the effects of eating such foods long term but when I'm in a funk I'm like a zombie with no mind I just keep eating.

[Ali]

I only eat organic free range locust.

Organic? There are too many people on this rock for that. And with one and a half kids, you of all people should know better. Leave the green and unsustainable to we who use the love glove. Besides, the artificial herbicides, insecticides and fertilizers are generally better, often safer and sometimes cheaper than the "natural" alternatives.

If you wanna go real hard core, however, lay off the food that was farmed, stored, prepared or transported using internal combustion engines, coal/oil/gas generated electricity and the like. You might starve to death, but the world will be green and the polar bear babies won't drown.

...

.

I am SO going to start an anti-organic movement aimed at the preservation and expansion of industrial food production.

I was being silly when I said "I only eat free-range locust."  In fact, making fun of the very attitude that you are railing against.    

[Asmodean]

I was being silly when I said "I only eat free-range locust."  In fact, making fun of the very attitude that you are railing against.    

Well, as you know, The Asmo is usually just waiting for an excuse to rain on someone's eco-parade. And it need not be a good excuse either 

[Crow]

I'm interested how many people are actually overweight? I mean medically overweight, and if so why and when did it happen?

I recently became 1lb overweight according to my body mass index.
However I am nowhere near the obese range.  I gained 30 pounds in three years I was much thinner and found it difficult to gain weight becuaus I did not desire to eat.  I eat when I'm stressed or depressed but honestly I believe that I am addicted to high fatty and sugary foods.  I used to stay away from them at all costs but I went through something and used junk as comfort food.  It's so easy to access no preparation needed.  I know about the effects of eating such foods long term but when I'm in a funk I'm like a zombie with no mind I just keep eating.

1lb isn't bad at all, you could lose that weight in a week easily, with hardly any lifestyle changes. There is actually a lot of research behind the addictive qualities of food that is high in sugars so you may be totally correct, but sweeteners are far worse than sugars which is what you will usually find in fast food alongside sugars and fat. Check out this TV series if you are interested in that area: The Men Who Made Us Fat. It actually shows you the science behind it all and the various advertising tactics that are used to make people buy foods they think are health but actually aren't.

[Ali]

I was being silly when I said "I only eat free-range locust."  In fact, making fun of the very attitude that you are railing against.    

Well, as you know, The Asmo is usually just waiting for an excuse to rain on someone's eco-parade. And it need not be a good excuse either 

If I were going to trademark you, your slogan would be "The Asmo has your balls in his mouth and is just waiting for you to give him a reason to start chewing." 

[Siz]

I'm interested how many people are actually overweight? I mean medically overweight, and if so why and when did it happen?

I recently became 1lb overweight according to my body mass index.
However I am nowhere near the obese range.  I gained 30 pounds in three years I was much thinner and found it difficult to gain weight becuaus I did not desire to eat.  I eat when I'm stressed or depressed but honestly I believe that I am addicted to high fatty and sugary foods.  I used to stay away from them at all costs but I went through something and used junk as comfort food.  It's so easy to access no preparation needed.  I know about the effects of eating such foods long term but when I'm in a funk I'm like a zombie with no mind I just keep eating.

1lb isn't bad at all, you could lose that weight in a week easily, with hardly any lifestyle changes. There is actually a lot of research behind the addictive qualities of food that is high in sugars so you may be totally correct, but sweeteners are far worse than sugars which is what you will usually find in fast food alongside sugars and fat. Check out this TV series if you are interested in that area: The Men Who Made Us Fat. It actually shows you the science behind it all and the various advertising tactics that are used to make people buy foods they think are health but actually aren't.

Yeah, extremely eye-opening that series. I learned a lot and it'll certainly help in tweeking my diet. Definately a must-see for anyone wanting to understand the food industry, food products and our relationship with both.

[Claireliontamer]

Another thread resurrection......

So, after reading what Crow put on here about plant based diets and health stuff, doing my own research and reading the 'Deliciously Ella' blog (http://deliciouslyella.com/philosophy/about/) I have made a few changes to my diet.

For the past couple of years I have had a series of health incidents and frankly I'm fed up of ending up in hospital.  What I read on the Ella blog was that she has managed to radically transform her health by changing what she eats.  Now, obviously this is a sample size of one but the more you read into it, the more sense it makes.  By the way I am not for one second saying I'll never ever eat pizza or ice cream or cheese again because I do love them, especially cheese but I plan on 80% of the time following her advice.  The advice in a nutshell is plant based and gluten free.  I also don't think my diet was particularly bad before but it did have a lot of dairy and wheat in there. 

It has only been a few days and it still all go horribly wrong but so far so good.  I'll be honest, the first day I felt horrendous at the end of it and there are still times of fatigue that I hope settle.  However, I've already noticed that I don't feel bloated, my hair feels amazing and I haven't changed anything that I use on it., my eyes feel brighter too.

I have tried to give up animal products before and it was a disaster but that was an experiment to see if I could actually do it.  This time I know I will eat some meat and dairy occasionally so it doesn't feel like I'm giving them up.  I also now have a variety of recipes to try (the pecan pie I made yesterday was one of hers and honestly tasted as good, if not better as one full of butter and sugar) as last time I seemed to end up just surviving on hummus and got bored very quickly.  I've also discovered almond milk in tea tastes just like cow milk and doesn't do the horrible curdle that soya milk does which is a huge help as I can't drink black tea. 

[Claireliontamer]

Updating for my own records more than anything.....last week I managed my target of over 80% meals plant based and gluten free.  17/21 in fact so 81%, will try for 18/21 this week.   I've certainly noticed my skin is a lot better as I am having to use less concealer to feel normal on a morning

[Crow]

Nice one CLT.

I got my tests redone on Friday. Prior to changing my diet I booked into the doctor to get some base measurements to see the difference. My resting heart rate went from 65 to 53 (I have been monitoring this myself so I knew that was good). I can't remember the exact LDL/HDL results apart from they are positive in both counts i.e. HDL has gone up and LDL has reduced. Blood pressure is pretty much perfect again this is something I should probably look into as I have no idea what it all means but that didn't really change as it was great before. Got to wait on the blood work so wont know those results for two weeks. My body fat has gone down to 10% from 12% (calliper measurements) and I have gained just over a stone in weight which was slightly higher than expected, happy with the fat percentage but don't want it any lower.

[Crow]

The new eat well plate has been released. There is a significant change to this one. In the past the protein, dairy and alternatives and oils and spreads use to take up just under 50% of the pie, now it takes up around 25%. Even the ingredients featured in the categories is a big change.

[Crow]

Updating for my own records more than anything.....last week I managed my target of over 80% meals plant based and gluten free.  17/21 in fact so 81%, will try for 18/21 this week.   I've certainly noticed my skin is a lot better as I am having to use less concealer to feel normal on a morning

Did you manage to keep this going. If you did did you find anything tricky if you didn't what made you revert?

[Claireliontamer]

Updating for my own records more than anything.....last week I managed my target of over 80% meals plant based and gluten free.  17/21 in fact so 81%, will try for 18/21 this week.   I've certainly noticed my skin is a lot better as I am having to use less concealer to feel normal on a morning

Did you manage to keep this going. If you did did you find anything tricky if you didn't what made you revert?

I am still going.  Hitting 80 % each week which still gives me 3 meals a week to have  anything I want.  I don't think I could do it 100% of the time as having a couple of meals where I know I can have cheese and bread keeps me going.  I'd say those two things are my biggest weaknesses and what I crave more than anything.  However, having the Deliciously Ella cookbook is helping loads as it means I aren't getting bored with what I'm eating and it's quite fun cooking with things I don't normally use.  One problem I am having is getting food when out and about, I take food to work with me which helps but it is really hard to pop into somewhere to grab lunch if I haven't got it with me. 

On a more positive note, I definitely feel better with it and generally have more energy.

[Crow]

I am still going.  Hitting 80 % each week which still gives me 3 meals a week to have  anything I want.  I don't think I could do it 100% of the time as having a couple of meals where I know I can have cheese and bread keeps me going.  I'd say those two things are my biggest weaknesses and what I crave more than anything.  However, having the Deliciously Ella cookbook is helping loads as it means I aren't getting bored with what I'm eating and it's quite fun cooking with things I don't normally use.  One problem I am having is getting food when out and about, I take food to work with me which helps but it is really hard to pop into somewhere to grab lunch if I haven't got it with me. 

On a more positive note, I definitely feel better with it and generally have more energy.

Fantastic to hear. Eating out is pretty much the only thing I struggle with as well. Though it has become a quick way at discerning if a restaurant is actually any good without needing to try the food, if the options are falafel/humus/tofu or something with cheese or yoghurt/cream thrown on top with no creativity or thought then you are going to get pretty much the same amount of thought across all meals regardless of your diet preference, however some of the specialised places are awful its like they have no idea what flavour or good produce is. Natoora has recently been my big discovery for seasonal produce, it is damn fucking good.

[Crow]

I decided to get back into some proper training rather than light endurance with a bit of weights that kept me generally in shape. So I decided I want to get properly strong not the fluffy bodybuilding crap, that increases joint and tendon strength as well as balance and flexibility that has a focus on body movement. I popped down to my local gymnasium (the place where gymnasts train) to get some information out of people who can do that, the coach there told me to check out the book convict conditioning as that is essentially how gymnasts learn to build strength and easy for anyone dedicated enough to get to grips with. Tried the first stage and even though they looked laughably easy especially as I do a lot of the mid point exercises weekly and could do the entire first stage with ease but holly fuck I haven't been in this kind of pain in years nothing like DOMS.