'The Food Revolution'

Lynzigzagzay

I've just watched this video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSeSTq-N4U4 (it's long, but interesting.)
I was just wondering if anyone else had seen it and had any comments about it?

Following watching it I went to the guys website, and it advises to avoid fruit (amongst other things,) seems bizarre to me.

Anyway was just interested in other people's opinions!

Lynzigzagzay

Bump.

thewordwarrior

I think this was a really interesting video. Thanks for the share!

In truth, I've never really understood the difference between the low carb and paleo lifestyle. To me they seem remarkably similar. I remember when Atkins was big a little over a decade ago. I did the Atkins diet in high school for a few months and lost over twenty pounds easily and with no exercise, but predictably, as soon as I returned to my normal eating habits (which were admittedly bad) I shot back up and gained an additional twenty pounds over and above where I started. So clearly, it's necessary to think of these things as a lifestyle change rather than a diet.

Now I'm no medical professional (indeed, I can't even claim to be healthy right now), but something that did bother me just a tiny bit was his picture of his dinner (28:21) as an example of an ideal low carb meal. There were almost no vegetables on his plate, and his vegetable portion was tiny compared to the amount of meat he was eating! Under his argument, vegetables count as carbs (and perhaps they do have a similar affect on the blood sugar, but as I said, I'm no expert). Knowing the number of essential vitamins and nutrients that come from vegetables, I can't help but think that he's shortchanging other aspects of his health for the sake of weight loss. Also, and forgive me that I'm going to come off as a crunchy environmentalist, a diet primarily based in animal protein is simply not sustainable at the global level, especially as the global population continues to grow. I'm not arguing for high carb consumption by any means, but I would have liked a discussion of other protein rich foods, like beans and legumes, but which are also fairly high in carbs. A quick google search on the topic has revealed that beans are apparently a controversial food among the various new diet fads out there (http://jdmoyer.com/2011/02/15/to-bean-or-not-to-bean-that-is-the-question-legumes-lectins-and-human-health/).

I do appreciate very much his advocacy for a real food lifestyle change and I totally dig that he brings back butter as healthy. Woot woot! More butter for me please! Just kidding. I'm watching calories, so not too much for me I'm currently in the middle of Michael Moss' Salt, Sugar, Fat, so I'd be curious to hear his opinion on the subject too, since (at least so far) fat is very much one of the villains of the book. Growing up, we always had low fat everything in the house--milk, cottage cheese, cheese--so like many Americans, I have a tendency to demonize fat. I think his argument is really interesting that part of the role of fat is that it fills you up, thus theoretically you eat less overall. I'm really curious to see what happens with this argument over the next several years.

Are you thinking of doing low carb?

Lynzigzagzay

I'm glad someone else watched it and found it interesting too!
I think I do want to cut down on carbs, because it is something I always seem to go over on. For me though, I think it would be unrealistic to go low-carb, but I am going to work on cutting down, definitely. I seen a doctor the other day there, and even she said that carbs are an important part of the diet, I just need to work on eating more complex carbs, than just simple ones.

thewordwarrior

It's interesting that you say you go over on carbs! I'm always way below the carb limit set by MFP. My real problem is sugar (and fat, too). I loooove coffee with hazelnut creamer. Just a few cups of coffee and I'm already over my sugar limit for the day. I don't know how MFP determines these limits though.

Yeah, I think maybe an easy way to limit carbs is to limit portion size (which makes me so sad because I love pasta!), but also to try the more complex stuff. Have you ever tried quinoa? I resisted for years because I thought it looked weird, but I tried it for the first time a few months ago and it was really good!