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Jack Lalanne's Advice

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
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    In my understanding, Lalanne's personal eating had a more religiously prescriptive cast. Wikipedia claims this uses quotes from an earlier version of his website, now archived: "LaLanne said his two simple rules of nutrition are "if man made it, don't eat it" and "if it tastes good, spit it out"."

    I watched his show as a child. I remember him talking about healthy eating, but don't recall whether his exhortations to his fan-girls were about moderating foods vs. eliminating them entirely, or what tone he took overall sbout eating.

    Keep in mind that, at the time, the average person's diet was somewhat different from what's typical today.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Packerjohn wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Are you surprised that nutrition advice then and now recommended limiting sugary sweets in favor of vegetables? To the extent that Lalanne is recommending limiting (and not eliminating), yes, it's consistent with current recommendations and what was recommended (and merely common sense) way back then too, and certainly when I was growing up. (Although people didn't worry about cutting way back on cookies, they simply assumed that dessert should be a small portion of the diet, and did not worry about cutting way back on, say, jam, since who eats that much jam? Thus, I do tend to read Lalanne as saying something more like "avoid these foods if you can.")

    If you really read Lalanne as saying just "keep such foods at a reasonable proportion of calories and prefer more nutrient dense foods (as MyPlate does), I'm not really sure what you think is so noteworthy.

    I like the MyPlate approach better than Lalanne's (and wouldn't say they are really the same), because it focuses a lot on what to eat; it's not just a list of foods to avoid with no context.

    Saw this

    When he spoke on TV, here was the “meal plan” he typically recommended:

    “He recommended the following meal plan; Breakfast: fruit, eggs and/or meat, and whole wheat toast . Lunch: Big salad, and meat/fish. Dinner: Big salad, two vegetables, meat/fowl, and fruit.”

    http://modernhealthmonk.com/habits-of-the-jack-lalanne-diet-healthy-and-fit-over-40/

    You can quibble about any timing recommendations either real or implied, but looks much like My Plate recommendations

    Okay. MyPlate would be more flexible, but yes, not dissimilar and not dissimilar to my own approach (although I build in more flexibility and, for example, never have toast for breakfast or that much meat (which probably is counter to MyPlate) without sacrificing any nutrition. But that nitpick aside, that's not what you put in the first post.

    Again, I guess I'm not really sure what your point is. I think the MyPlate advice is pretty well accepted as reasonable on MFP. I think if you are reading Lalanne to be saying don't overeat sweets, well, again, that's accepted (although I'm pretty sure eating lots of cheese would get you in as much trouble calorie-wise, for one example). You seemed to think you were arguing with people/proving a point with the original list, and I think people are perhaps misunderstanding what you are saying due to that approach.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited December 2017
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    saintor1 wrote: »
    Is the advice legitimate?

    Well some people just can't deal that others have a different point of view. Whether they have the capacity to recognize them as 'legitimate' or not is not really a point.

    There's a distinction between saying "this is what works for me" and "this is what everyone should do to be healthy."

    Some things that work for me: eating 3 meals and not snacking, structuring all meals (including breakfast) around vegetables and protein, trying to focus on sources of protein that aren't from animals (although I include some meat and animal products in my diet currently), eating a wide variety of vegetables and making sure to include both raw and cooked vegetables.

    Most or all of those I wouldn't say are "what everyone should do to be healthy" (the last one I might), but they work for me.

    So if someone said "this is what I do that works for me" and listed off similar things, I'd say that makes sense (although it's not really advice). If someone listed the things I do and said "this is what everyone should do," I would not think that was legitimate advice (since not everyone needs to do it), even though it works for me.

    So I certainly would not say that I'm not recognizing other points of view. I'm saying that not everyone needs to do the same thing.

    Lalanne seems to have been saying that everyone should follow his advice to be healthy, so IMO that's not accurate. Curious if the poster saying it was legitimate advice based on the OP -- i.e., advice that basically is common sense, that everyone should probably follow -- would still agree based on the full scope of the advice and the understanding that it was about elimination, not moderation or limiting junk foods or whatever.

    Also curious if you are claiming that it's a defensible point of view that everyone should follow the Lalanne plan. (Not questioning that it worked for him, obviously it did.)
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,335 Member
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    If a person eats a lot of the list regularly, eliminating them wound be beneficial. Personally I didn't eat much of any of those & still don't. I was excited to see a post about him, as I met him when I was a little girl. One of my 3 brothers(11 yrs older than me) was a body builder & knew him. One time at the YMCA, I went on the trampoline, bounced wrong & broke my arm when he was there.
  • runsharon54321
    runsharon54321 Posts: 28 Member
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    Jack LaLanne was an exercise guru! This guy was such an inspiration in the 60s and 70s. I saw a tv show with a segment of him exercising with his wife when he was really up there in age----and they both looked great. I think moderation of this listed foods is best so you don't torture yourself
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Still curious who ever recommended eating the listed foods in immoderation.

    It’s the typical binary argument - you either eat nothing but those foods all the time, or you eat none of them ever. No way there could be a sensible, reasonable middle ground which takes context and dosage into consideration.

    So like this from My Plate right?

    According to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines, we should limit our total daily consumption of added sugars to less than 10% of calories per day. This recommendation is to help achieve a healthy eating style. After eating foods from all food groups to meet nutrient needs, there is limited room for calories from added sugars. When added sugars in foods and beverages exceed 10% of calories, it may be difficult to achieve a healthy eating style that meets personal calorie limits.

    Context = Most Americans (i.e., we)
    Dose = added sugars less than 10% of calories

    You love, simply love, constructing the "most Americans" or "average American" strawman argument in every single thread you enter into on these forums.

    It's not helpful.

    None of us as individuals posting here represent an aggregate of an entire country's experience. We are each individuals and it is just plain silly of you to expect any one of us to debate you coming from the perspective of "the average American".

    I'm me. I have my own eating experience, not some average experience, and I'm not going to argue some strawman arguments just to suit your narrative.

    My dietary problems were always about too many calories, not too much sugar. I didn't eat sugar for many, many years. I still managed to weigh 210 pounds while I was eating a whole foods diet. Lemurcat has told you how she ate, and you brushed aside her experiences and wanted to argue about your blasted strawman. My experience is mine, not that of "the average American". The same is true of every person posting here. How on earth are we supposed to have a discussion if you keep wanting us to answer for some elusive group of people we're supposed to represent in your mind?

    We. are. not. a. collective.

    Please stop treating us like one.

    I really wish the awesome button still existed, as this post calls for it.

    Seconded!
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Still curious who ever recommended eating the listed foods in immoderation.

    It’s the typical binary argument - you either eat nothing but those foods all the time, or you eat none of them ever. No way there could be a sensible, reasonable middle ground which takes context and dosage into consideration.

    So like this from My Plate right?

    According to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines, we should limit our total daily consumption of added sugars to less than 10% of calories per day. This recommendation is to help achieve a healthy eating style. After eating foods from all food groups to meet nutrient needs, there is limited room for calories from added sugars. When added sugars in foods and beverages exceed 10% of calories, it may be difficult to achieve a healthy eating style that meets personal calorie limits.

    Context = Most Americans (i.e., we)
    Dose = added sugars less than 10% of calories

    You love, simply love, constructing the "most Americans" or "average American" strawman argument in every single thread you enter into on these forums.

    It's not helpful.

    None of us as individuals posting here represent an aggregate of an entire country's experience. We are each individuals and it is just plain silly of you to expect any one of us to debate you coming from the perspective of "the average American".

    I'm me. I have my own eating experience, not some average experience, and I'm not going to argue some strawman arguments just to suit your narrative.

    My dietary problems were always about too many calories, not too much sugar. I didn't eat sugar for many, many years. I still managed to weigh 210 pounds while I was eating a whole foods diet. Lemurcat has told you how she ate, and you brushed aside her experiences and wanted to argue about your blasted strawman. My experience is mine, not that of "the average American". The same is true of every person posting here. How on earth are we supposed to have a discussion if you keep wanting us to answer for some elusive group of people we're supposed to represent in your mind?

    We. are. not. a. collective.

    Please stop treating us like one.

    I really wish the awesome button still existed, as this post calls for it.

    Thirded.

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