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What are your unpopular opinions about health / fitness?

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Replies

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I love this thread! I love that people have their opinions and no one is harping on them for being"wrong".

    I think eating and losing weight is a personal thing and what works for me might not work for you. So when people notice that I've lost weight, I hate it when they ask what I'm doing. I'm cycling through Keto phases and low carb phases and exercising regularly and getting plenty of sleep but do they really want to hear all that? NO. THEY WANT ME TO GIVE THEM AN EASY FIX. And I don't have one. If I try to explain, I get all these,"Are you sure this is healthy?" from women who are pouring sugary syrup in their coffee and eating desserts all the time. I don't want to debate my dietary tactics with someone who isn't even trying.

    I say something jokey and casual if I think they are just making conversation/looking for a quick fix, like "working out more" or "watching what I eat" or "I took up kickboxing" (that was to a guy I know who was making weird overly personal comments).

    If they follow up and share that they are trying to lose, I usually go into more detail and explain a bit why what I did worked for me (for example, I don't snack, but I don't think everyone needs to do that).
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    mmapags wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    Before I started using MFP I honestly never realized that so many people have food on their mind all of the time.

    Maybe it just comes up a lot since this is a diet and fitness site?

    And a 500 calorie piece of cake is the perfect food for someone looking to eat a nutritional low calorie diet?

    Depends. Low calorie compared to what. And what is the composition of the rest of said persons diet that day/week. Context and dose dude. Context and dose. It always amazes me how some people consistently struggle with this concept.

    Cakes, cookies and other grain based desserts make up the highest percentage of calories out of 25 food groups in the US diet.
    http://www.businessinsider.com/foods-that-make-up-most-of-the-calories-american-consume-2015-2

    70% of Americans are overweight/obese.

    Yep, context and dose dude, context and dose.

    It's great that 5-6 posters on this topic have no issue with controlling these item, not like that out in the real world.

    No one said that there aren't many people who have their dosages wrong.
    Plus, I'd wager than "cake culture" makes up an extremely tiny percentage compared to little Debbie's, hostess, nabisco and Keebler that people stock their own cabinets with.

    True, the amount of these items (cakes, cookies, brownies, etc, things I would consider part of the cake culture food group) eaten at work, may be relatively small for some, but the calories are the same regardless of where they are consumed.

    What's really sad is grain based desserts, soda/energy drinks and alcohol, items with virtually no nutritional value, make up 3 of the top 5 sources of calories. Fruits and veggies (with the exception of fried white potatoes) don't even make the top 25 items

    I totally agree that it's terrible that the average person in the US eats so few veg, but veg would never rank high on what people eat ranked by calories in that they are quite low cal. I aim for 10+ servings of veg per day, and still they don't rank #1 on my calorie sources, or even close.

    I wish I logged better, but looking at a day last week where I logged and ate about 10 servings of veg (total calories were less than 1700), and was trying to eat lower carb, higher fat and had 127 g protein, 34 g sugar, my main sources of calories were:


    1) Meat (consisting of salmon and turkey) (388 kcal)
    1) Nuts (nuts and nut butter, which I dipped chocolate in) (388 kcal)
    3) Veg (more carrots and red peppers and less greens than usual, so might skew higher) (280 kcal)
    4) Dairy (190 kcal)
    5) Oil (all olive on that day) (180 kcal)
    6) Eggs (154 kcal)
    7) Chocolate (85 kcal)
    8) Fruit (I juiced half a lime) (about 5 kcal -- normally would have more, but was lowering carbs)

    If you wanted to critique my diet, oil has essentially no nutrients, chocolate is not insignificant, fruit is really low, and dairy and nuts probably higher than nutrition would really justified (but it's one day). Still a reasonably nutritious day and well below my personal TDEE (which suggests to me there's some room for 138 kcal of less nutritious stuff) and still veg are not top and would not reasonably be (unless I were a vegan or vegetarian and even then aren't legumes and all grains (like corn) and potatoes in separate categories from veg?

    Wondering if sweet oats would count as "grain-based dessert"? No real reason why they shouldn't, as some would eat them (or cereal) as such.

    This. I eat a ton of fruit and vegetables, yet they never appear in my top calorie sources on Cronometer. If you were looking at where the bulk of my calories came from for the last week, the top sources are things like gumbo, lentils, and cashew cheese. The only time vegetables show up is when they're mixed in a dish with more calorie-dense foods like rice, coconut milk, or plant oils.

    Lentils are vegetables

    I imagine most days more calories come from fat than vegetables for me.

    Technically, yes. I tend to consider legumes a somewhat separate category, but I realize not everyone does.

    Can I ask why?


    Hypothesis: Since Jane is a vegan, she considers them in a protein category.

    Oh. Protein makes them not a vegetable? I don't get it, but I suppose it doesn't matter.

    They aren't really veggies because legumes add nitrogen to the soil where veggies don't.

    Seriously? Where did you hear/read that? Legumes count toward servings of vegetables in the food plate/pyramid.

    ah well that would be why farmers rotate their crops esp when they can't get nitrogen rich fertilizer...

    <<<<farm girl that lives in McCain country....aka potato country etc.

    well known fact when you are a gardener/farmer etc. and the people around you take their fields seriously and actually get degrees in it.

    Sorry, I didn't mean where did you hear legumes add nitrogen to the soil, I meant where did you hear that adding nitrogen to the soil was a determining factor in whether something was a vegetable or not.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    Chili must have beans or it is not chili.

    Oooh a chili debate!
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    edited September 2017
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    I witnessed cake culturalism yesterday. I attended a meeting where one of the participants brought in donuts for his birthday, and wow, were people ever excited. People were coming and going from the meeting, and those joining late were told that it was Joe's birthday and that they better get a donut before it was too late.

    Being a guest and an unfamiliar face, I was asked to get a donut maybe 4-5 times by different people. Towards lunch, there seemed to be some anxiety that I was going to experience deep regret if I didn't claim a donut for myself. It didn't fit into my eating plan yesterday so I politely declined and no one overtly judged me. It seemed like maybe some felt sorry for me because I didn't know what I was missing and that I was foolishly declining an amazing opportunity, as if I was rejecting some rare and exotic food that I would never have the chance to experience again.

    I have several more meetings scheduled with this group in the future, so I think that I will just put a donut on a plate, cover it with a napkin, and leave it on the table during the meeting. I think that will make certain people feel better.

    This is hilarious--I am cracking up over this. Were they, like, Dunkin Donuts, or were they actually something special? Because if they were comparable to the doughnuts known as "Amish Crack" around here, I can understand the concern that you experience the awesomeness.

    Those Amish donuts are crack.... Now I want to take a trip to Reading Terminal Market.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    jdlobb wrote: »
    @piperdown44
    I should tell my co-workers that I'm entering the chili contest with a chili made of fruit and seeds and record their reactions.

    If it has beans it's not chili. It's stew.

    If it doesn't have beans it's not chili, it's hot dog or pasta sauce.

    Texas chili has no beans in it.

    Texans do it wrong.

    This is the unpopular opinions thread. I personally don't discriminate against any chili.

    Neither do I. I love hot dog chili too. ;)
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    jdlobb wrote: »
    @piperdown44
    I should tell my co-workers that I'm entering the chili contest with a chili made of fruit and seeds and record their reactions.

    If it has beans it's not chili. It's stew.

    If it doesn't have beans it's not chili, it's hot dog or pasta sauce.

    Texas chili has no beans in it.

    Texans do it wrong.

    This is the unpopular opinions thread. I personally don't discriminate against any chili.

    Neither do I. I love hot dog chili too. ;)

    Me too, I put both kinds on my hot dogs. ;)
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    I witnessed cake culturalism yesterday. I attended a meeting where one of the participants brought in donuts for his birthday, and wow, were people ever excited. People were coming and going from the meeting, and those joining late were told that it was Joe's birthday and that they better get a donut before it was too late.

    Being a guest and an unfamiliar face, I was asked to get a donut maybe 4-5 times by different people. Towards lunch, there seemed to be some anxiety that I was going to experience deep regret if I didn't claim a donut for myself. It didn't fit into my eating plan yesterday so I politely declined and no one overtly judged me. It seemed like maybe some felt sorry for me because I didn't know what I was missing and that I was foolishly declining an amazing opportunity, as if I was rejecting some rare and exotic food that I would never have the chance to experience again.

    I have several more meetings scheduled with this group in the future, so I think that I will just put a donut on a plate, cover it with a napkin, and leave it on the table during the meeting. I think that will make certain people feel better.

    This is hilarious--I am cracking up over this. Were they, like, Dunkin Donuts, or were they actually something special? Because if they were comparable to the doughnuts known as "Amish Crack" around here, I can understand the concern that you experience the awesomeness.

    Those Amish donuts are crack.... Now I want to take a trip to Reading Terminal Market.

    I've heard about that guy, but it's been a while since I've been to downtown Philly so I have yet to inspect his wares. Are they the super-light yeast ones, dipped in caramel and sprinkled with powdered sugar? I do get a little jittery just thinking about them. The ones I get have very few outlets, but the Amish Mafia is starting to expand into Chicago. If they think they have trouble with pop, holy crap, wait till these hit the streets.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    jdlobb wrote: »
    @piperdown44
    I should tell my co-workers that I'm entering the chili contest with a chili made of fruit and seeds and record their reactions.

    If it has beans it's not chili. It's stew.

    If it doesn't have beans it's not chili, it's hot dog or pasta sauce.

    Texas chili has no beans in it.

    Texans do it wrong.

    This is the unpopular opinions thread. I personally don't discriminate against any chili.

    Neither do I. I love hot dog chili too. ;)

    Me too, I put both kinds on my hot dogs. ;)

    Have you had Cincinnati style?
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    jdlobb wrote: »
    @piperdown44
    I should tell my co-workers that I'm entering the chili contest with a chili made of fruit and seeds and record their reactions.

    If it has beans it's not chili. It's stew.

    If it doesn't have beans it's not chili, it's hot dog or pasta sauce.

    Texas chili has no beans in it.

    Texans do it wrong.

    This is the unpopular opinions thread. I personally don't discriminate against any chili.

    Neither do I. I love hot dog chili too. ;)

    Me too, I put both kinds on my hot dogs. ;)

    Have you had Cincinnati style?

    I have once and that cinnamon flavor is an interesting take. Not something I normally go for but pretty good.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    I witnessed cake culturalism yesterday. I attended a meeting where one of the participants brought in donuts for his birthday, and wow, were people ever excited. People were coming and going from the meeting, and those joining late were told that it was Joe's birthday and that they better get a donut before it was too late.

    Being a guest and an unfamiliar face, I was asked to get a donut maybe 4-5 times by different people. Towards lunch, there seemed to be some anxiety that I was going to experience deep regret if I didn't claim a donut for myself. It didn't fit into my eating plan yesterday so I politely declined and no one overtly judged me. It seemed like maybe some felt sorry for me because I didn't know what I was missing and that I was foolishly declining an amazing opportunity, as if I was rejecting some rare and exotic food that I would never have the chance to experience again.

    I have several more meetings scheduled with this group in the future, so I think that I will just put a donut on a plate, cover it with a napkin, and leave it on the table during the meeting. I think that will make certain people feel better.

    This is hilarious--I am cracking up over this. Were they, like, Dunkin Donuts, or were they actually something special? Because if they were comparable to the doughnuts known as "Amish Crack" around here, I can understand the concern that you experience the awesomeness.

    Those Amish donuts are crack.... Now I want to take a trip to Reading Terminal Market.

    I've heard about that guy, but it's been a while since I've been to downtown Philly so I have yet to inspect his wares. Are they the super-light yeast ones, dipped in caramel and sprinkled with powdered sugar? I do get a little jittery just thinking about them. The ones I get have very few outlets, but the Amish Mafia is starting to expand into Chicago. If they think they have trouble with pop, holy crap, wait till these hit the streets.

    They are sold by the Amish people themselves and they have like 4 booths at the Market for various items. Their soft pretzels are also crack. The donuts are yeast and fried with a bunch of different flavors to choose from. I personally like the bacon caramel one.
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