What the Health?

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PBAUSA17
PBAUSA17 Posts: 20 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Just finished watching this documentary on Netflix. I've also read a lot of books about various ways of eating - e.g. Paleo, The Blue Zones, The China Study, Life Without Bread, Grain Brain, The Mediterranean Diet, etc. With all of the information out there, it's very difficult to discern what the best way of eating is!?!?

What are your thoughts? Do you follow a particular WOE, or is it purely CICO or IIFM for you?
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  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
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    I aim for lots of fruit and vegetables, and some whole grains/starchy carbs in my 50% ish carb goal, 20% protein (from meat, dairy and plant sources), try to get more of my fat intake from avocados, nuts, olive oil than saturated fats from animal sources in my 30%ish fat goal. Which means I drink skim milk and eat low fat yogurt and cottage cheese (although also full fat cheddar and other cheeses in small to moderate quantity).

    My diet includes meat, including red meat on occasion, because I have to watch out for anemia and have not done well on iron supplements (hurt my stomach). Additionally I had trouble with B12 supplements (although there was probably something in the particular pills I tried and could potentially have found a supplement that worked for me if I were more willing to endure one or two more failed attempts, which I'm not). And because I find it difficult to get adequate protein without meat. Among other reasons I can only eat beans in small quantities without unacceptable bloating and gas.

    I keep my consumption of processed meats fairly low, at or less than what I have read that the researchers involved felt was a "safe" level of consumption of roughly two servings a month.

    I eat far fewer sweet treats than in the past, but I do have some.
  • PBAUSA17
    PBAUSA17 Posts: 20 Member
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    rileysowner wrote: »
    PBAUSA17 wrote: »
    Just finished watching this documentary on Netflix. I've also read a lot of books about various ways of eating - e.g. Paleo, The Blue Zones, The China Study, Life Without Bread, Grain Brain, The Mediterranean Diet, etc. With all of the information out there, it's very difficult to discern what the best way of eating is!?!?

    What are your thoughts? Do you follow a particular WOE, or is it purely CICO or IIFM for you?

    My only suggestion is to look for the bias, and most, if not all of what you lists in terms of books and movies have a bias. Humans around this world eat in many radically different ways, yet baring either malnutrition or over consumption, the vast majority are healthy. Far healthier in fact than they have been for generations. Many of the things that are blamed on nutrition are often more an effect of the longer life spans that people are living today. The longer we live the more likely it is that things will break down physiologically.

    Sound advice. Thinking about it, all of them use the emotion fear at their core - fear of getting cancer, fear of diabetes, etc. etc. etc.

  • PBAUSA17
    PBAUSA17 Posts: 20 Member
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    melissalatzel25 wrote: »
    ive been vegan for the last 3 years, and its the first time i maintained 48 kilos while eating large portions and truly listen to my body and enjoy food. none of that portion control *kitten* that comes with a high animal product diet. used to weigh even more when starving myself.

    as i see it, i just get in way more vitamins that you miss out on when eating meat eggs dairy (and yes plants have protein and no im not protein deficient)

    i love this way of eating, its truly amazing, and my cholestrol went from too high for my age to not even on the scale low :)

    i can eat cheesecake and snickers and mousse and all the stuff you try to avoid, but i eat the raw healthy versions that doing my body a FAVOUR so for me this is the best!

    How did you transition? Were there any books or websites that inspired you?
  • tigerblood6
    tigerblood6 Posts: 65 Member
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    Go to a doctor. Do a blood test and pee test. Know what your body lack off / excess . Decide the diet based on that .
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I focus on eating healthfully and according to certain general patterns that work for me. I don't really care for named diets or any diet that has a bunch of unnecessary rules or involves following someone else's prescription or way of eating.

    I also don't think the latter really leads to eating healthfully as well, as people don't learn what eating healthfully is and get hung up on rules (like the bizarre paleo claim that legumes are to be avoided).

    If given rules from others, I'd ask questions. Why no legumes? In what way is eating fish occasionally going to be bad for me (the more extreme vegan claims)? How is that consistent with the positive results of a huge variety of human diets that have plenty of carbs? (the extreme low carb claims) So on.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,207 Member
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    PBAUSA17 wrote: »
    rileysowner wrote: »
    PBAUSA17 wrote: »
    Just finished watching this documentary on Netflix. I've also read a lot of books about various ways of eating - e.g. Paleo, The Blue Zones, The China Study, Life Without Bread, Grain Brain, The Mediterranean Diet, etc. With all of the information out there, it's very difficult to discern what the best way of eating is!?!?

    What are your thoughts? Do you follow a particular WOE, or is it purely CICO or IIFM for you?

    My only suggestion is to look for the bias, and most, if not all of what you lists in terms of books and movies have a bias. Humans around this world eat in many radically different ways, yet baring either malnutrition or over consumption, the vast majority are healthy. Far healthier in fact than they have been for generations. Many of the things that are blamed on nutrition are often more an effect of the longer life spans that people are living today. The longer we live the more likely it is that things will break down physiologically.

    Sound advice. Thinking about it, all of them use the emotion fear at their core - fear of getting cancer, fear of diabetes, etc. etc. etc.

    Very good observation.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,641 Member
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    melissalatzel25 wrote: »
    ive been vegan for the last 3 years, and its the first time i maintained 48 kilos while eating large portions and truly listen to my body and enjoy food. none of that portion control *kitten* that comes with a high animal product diet. used to weigh even more when starving myself.

    as i see it, i just get in way more vitamins that you miss out on when eating meat eggs dairy (and yes plants have protein and no im not protein deficient)

    i love this way of eating, its truly amazing, and my cholestrol went from too high for my age to not even on the scale low :)

    i can eat cheesecake and snickers and mousse and all the stuff you try to avoid, but i eat the raw healthy versions that doing my body a FAVOUR so for me this is the best!
    Lol, so you do know that there's a bit of BUG protein in almost any manufactured packaged food right?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    edited August 2017
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    PBAUSA17 wrote: »
    Just finished watching this documentary on Netflix. I've also read a lot of books about various ways of eating - e.g. Paleo, The Blue Zones, The China Study, Life Without Bread, Grain Brain, The Mediterranean Diet, etc. With all of the information out there, it's very difficult to discern what the best way of eating is!?!?

    What are your thoughts? Do you follow a particular WOE, or is it purely CICO or IIFM for you?

    I've been at this whole thing for over 5 years now. In that time I've read over 50 books on dieting/nutrition/food and have watched pretty much every food documentary out there. As well as read countless articles, youtube videos etc etc etc.

    What I've learned through all of that?

    Weight loss comes down to hitting the correct calorie deficit for your weight loss goals. The End.

    Now, as far as 'healthy' eating goes-that will just depend on the individual, and what works for one person will not work for someone else. I've experimented with everything from primal, to completely plant based, and it's been quite the adventure lol :)

    I'm at a place now though, where I'm over all the hype of this fad diet or that fad diet, and I've really started focusing on eating a balanced, sustainable and sensible diet. That's led me to following a modified DASH diet protocol. This is an easy to follow, enjoyable woe that has really clicked with me-and it's highly recommended by the medical community and all sorts of sciency type peoples :) It's also been around for a long time and is recommended by my husband's own doctor, to help him with his health issues. This is the plan I now follow for a balanced and healthy diet, but I continue to control my weight by my calorie intake, (over 4 years into maintenance now).

    If you're interested in more info-

    https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/dash/followdash

    http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/dash-diet

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/dash-the-proven-healthy-diet-that-just-hasnt-caught-on/2017/04/03/5da47e24-1558-11e7-9e4f-09aa75d3ec57_story.html?utm_term=.894986d392f0
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,641 Member
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    Look around at countries that don't have an obesity issue. They all have ONE thing in common............................they don't eat a lot and move more. No special diets or total abandonment of a macro or even packaged/processed foods. They just eat way smaller portions than overweight people.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
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    If you're interested in veganism, check out sites like mercy for animals, vegan outreach and vegan.com. Veganism is, at its core, an ethical decision. These sites discuss some of the animal rights and environmental reasons for veganism. They will also talk about health, but I would take their information with a grain of salt.

    "No meat athlete" has great articles on making the switch. He was vegetarian for a long time before going vegan. He has a realistic approach, and discusses his lifestyle with humor. He focuses mostly on his health as a plant-based athlete. Good stuff.

    You can pick any trendy diet and find lots of reasons why it's healthy (and lots of reasons why it's not). Think about what you like to eat, what's important to you (ethics, etc), and what nutritional goals you have. Then eat accordingly. Integrate some of the information that makes sense to you from all of your readings. Generally, if a way of eating has the word "diet" before or after it, it's probably not the best choice.
  • David_Marquiss
    David_Marquiss Posts: 86 Member
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    Its simple for me. If you love animals. Just dont eat them lol. Working on my way to becoming a full vegan, been pretty close this year, just need to switch my protein shake.
  • KelGen02
    KelGen02 Posts: 668 Member
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    I simply eat... I have a primarily plant based diet, but I eat lean meats and fish. Increased my beans, limited white flour breads, pasta, potatoes and processed foods. I have the labeled crap food in moderation if it fits in my calories and exercise. I have done the diet thing so many time and failed, so this time I decided healthy and fit was the way to go. For me, restrictions just dont work... and now that I don't restrict myself from things, the "crappy" things I desire less and less so it works for me. Started this new way of thinking 8 months ago... have lost 70lbs just had all my labs done and everything is great across the board for the first time in 20 years. Everyone has their own version of what is healthy. Do what works for you because no two people are the same.

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