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Fitness and diet myths that just won't go away
Replies
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Certain foods will help you burn fat
You can eat all the foods on some list that an "expert" put together stating it will burn fat nore effectively, but the down to Earth truth is that if you overconsume calories even from those foods, you WON'T burn fat.
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
Lol this reminds me of the "negative calorie foods"...
I remember a time people stating, certain foods take more calories to digest then the calories inherently in them.
Crazy...
Reminded me too. I think maybe celery and iceberg lettuce might have been "negative calorie" foods.
I know the soup one friend made full of such "negatives" smelled bad enough it made me burn fat by not wanting to eat.5 -
For the record, I (the guy) am the chef of my family, while my wife (the gal) made it clear to me when we got engaged that she would have to be held at gun point to ever do any cooking, she'd rather clean the bathrooms. I said deal, and we've never looked back.
Coming or going to work has caused us to have some pretty random meal times (evening meal as early as 3, as late as 10), but she's held true to her desire to never enter the kitchen so long as I'm alive to prepare food. (I've taught the kids how to prepare a number of meals for those nights where I'm working the 2-10 swing shift and can't help them out at all.)
I can see not wanting to cook - but she really won't even feed her kids if you aren't there? (Or maybe they only your kids?)
or maybe 'the kids' is a loose term for kids who are really teenagers and old enough to prepare their own meals
My Dad still says things like "are you kids all coming over for a BBQ?" - when said 'kids' are all in their 50's
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paperpudding wrote: »For the record, I (the guy) am the chef of my family, while my wife (the gal) made it clear to me when we got engaged that she would have to be held at gun point to ever do any cooking, she'd rather clean the bathrooms. I said deal, and we've never looked back.
Coming or going to work has caused us to have some pretty random meal times (evening meal as early as 3, as late as 10), but she's held true to her desire to never enter the kitchen so long as I'm alive to prepare food. (I've taught the kids how to prepare a number of meals for those nights where I'm working the 2-10 swing shift and can't help them out at all.)
I can see not wanting to cook - but she really won't even feed her kids if you aren't there? (Or maybe they only your kids?)
or maybe 'the kids' is a loose term for kids who are really teenagers and old enough to prepare their own meals
My Dad still says things like "are you kids all coming over for a BBQ?" - when said 'kids' are all in their 50's
He said they made this agreement when they were engaged and she has "held true to her desire to never enter the kitchen". It is probably hyperbole - I can't imagine any parent never encountering a situation where they had to make a meal for their kids.3 -
I think it also depends on what you're counting as "cooking". Frankly, a trained monkey could probably manage what passes for cooking in my house. Certainly even a youngish child could. I eat a lot of ham sandwiches and if I "cook" it's frozen rice topped by frozen vegetables, frozen meat and some kind of seasoning or sauce. Zap for 2 minutes and dinner's ready. If one parent hates or is bad at cooking, you could definitely set up a backup system like that for times the primary cook isn't around.4
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I think it also depends on what you're counting as "cooking". Frankly, a trained monkey could probably manage what passes for cooking in my house. Certainly even a youngish child could. I eat a lot of ham sandwiches and if I "cook" it's frozen rice topped by frozen vegetables, frozen meat and some kind of seasoning or sauce. Zap for 2 minutes and dinner's ready. If one parent hates or is bad at cooking, you could definitely set up a backup system like that for times the primary cook isn't around.
That’s how it has always worked here.
Before the dementia my husband was the main cook. And yes, we had essentially the same deal. He was the cook, I did other things.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t make a sandwich for our son when needed. I also had exactly three meals I could throw together without thinking. Tacos/burritos, meatloaf, and a roast chicken.
Now? Husband can’t be trusted near a stove. And I don’t usually stand up long enough to cook anything more complex than a cup of coffee.
So my partner happily cooks. He loves doing it. He was just telling me about the lunch he’s cooking for himself and my husband. Stir fry with beef strips, cabbage, tamari, mixed vegetables, and rice. He was flat out bragging and grinning telling me about it. Which is not unusual.
And husband loves my partner’s cooking.
If my partner is gone on business? I provide food for my husband. But like when I was younger, it’s not really cooking. It’s basic stuff like instant pho, or a roast beef sandwich.6 -
We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths.
Myth 1: It’s normal to exercise
Myth 2: Avoiding exertion means you are lazy
Myth 3: Sitting is the new smoking
Myth 4: Our ancestors were hard-working, strong and fast
Myth 5: You can’t lose weight walking
Myth 6: Running will wear out your knees
Myth 7: It’s normal to be less active as we age
Myth 8: There is an optimal dose/type of exercise
Myth 9: ‘Just do it’ works
Myth 10: Exercise is a magic bullet
Read the full article here: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/just-don-t-do-it-10-exercise-myths?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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IMO it's hard to keep up for many just because it does take discipline, EFFORT and time to complete. Priority takes precedence for many here.Analog_Kid wrote: »We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths.
Myth 1: It’s normal to exercise
Myth 2: Avoiding exertion means you are lazy
Myth 3: Sitting is the new smoking
Myth 4: Our ancestors were hard-working, strong and fast
Myth 5: You can’t lose weight walking
Myth 6: Running will wear out your knees
Myth 7: It’s normal to be less active as we age
Myth 8: There is an optimal dose/type of exercise
Myth 9: ‘Just do it’ works
Myth 10: Exercise is a magic bullet
Read the full article here: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/just-don-t-do-it-10-exercise-myths?utm_source=pocket-newtab
But I don't disagree with the above.
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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Certain foods will help you burn fat
You can eat all the foods on some list that an "expert" put together stating it will burn fat nore effectively, but the down to Earth truth is that if you overconsume calories even from those foods, you WON'T burn fat.
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
Lol this reminds me of the "negative calorie foods"...
I remember a time people stating, certain foods take more calories to digest then the calories inherently in them.
Crazy...
Remember? I did not know they ever stopped spreading the negative calorie myth.
Hey, I just thought up a new myth based on the negative calorie idea... Crunchy peanut butter takes more work to chew than creamy. Therefore crunchy peanut butter is more diet friendly ha ha 😎9 -
Analog_Kid wrote: »We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths.
Myth 1: It’s normal to exercise
Myth 2: Avoiding exertion means you are lazy
Myth 3: Sitting is the new smoking
Myth 4: Our ancestors were hard-working, strong and fast
Myth 5: You can’t lose weight walking
Myth 6: Running will wear out your knees
Myth 7: It’s normal to be less active as we age
Myth 8: There is an optimal dose/type of exercise
Myth 9: ‘Just do it’ works
Myth 10: Exercise is a magic bullet
Read the full article here: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/just-don-t-do-it-10-exercise-myths?utm_source=pocket-newtab
I agree with this. Our ancestors never had to think about exercise. Activity was woven into the fabric of their lives. Not so much anymore...0 -
Analog_Kid wrote: »We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths.
Myth 1: It’s normal to exercise
Myth 2: Avoiding exertion means you are lazy
Myth 3: Sitting is the new smoking
Myth 4: Our ancestors were hard-working, strong and fast
Myth 5: You can’t lose weight walking
Myth 6: Running will wear out your knees
Myth 7: It’s normal to be less active as we age
Myth 8: There is an optimal dose/type of exercise
Myth 9: ‘Just do it’ works
Myth 10: Exercise is a magic bullet
Read the full article here: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/just-don-t-do-it-10-exercise-myths?utm_source=pocket-newtab
I agree with this. Our ancestors never had to think about exercise. Activity was woven into the fabric of their lives. Not so much anymore...
Gotta point out - these are myths the linked article DEBUNK, not a list of truths. This is a quote from the article:
"Their lives aren’t easy, but on average they spend only about two to three hours a day doing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. It is neither normal nor necessary to be ultra-fit and ultra-strong."
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Certain foods will help you burn fat
You can eat all the foods on some list that an "expert" put together stating it will burn fat nore effectively, but the down to Earth truth is that if you overconsume calories even from those foods, you WON'T burn fat.
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
Lol this reminds me of the "negative calorie foods"...
I remember a time people stating, certain foods take more calories to digest then the calories inherently in them.
Crazy...
Remember? I did not know they ever stopped spreading the negative calorie myth.
Hey, I just thought up a new myth based on the negative calorie idea... Crunchy peanut butter takes more work to chew than creamy. Therefore crunchy peanut butter is more diet friendly ha ha 😎
That's my reasoning on peanut M & M's - fiber for part of the calories, non-absorption of all peanut calories for more, and then chewing the peanuts.
I'm pretty sure I'm getting a broccoli amount of calories out of it in the end!5 -
Exercise isn't fun.wunderkindking wrote: »Analog_Kid wrote: »We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths.
Myth 1: It’s normal to exercise
Myth 2: Avoiding exertion means you are lazy
Myth 3: Sitting is the new smoking
Myth 4: Our ancestors were hard-working, strong and fast
Myth 5: You can’t lose weight walking
Myth 6: Running will wear out your knees
Myth 7: It’s normal to be less active as we age
Myth 8: There is an optimal dose/type of exercise
Myth 9: ‘Just do it’ works
Myth 10: Exercise is a magic bullet
Read the full article here: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/just-don-t-do-it-10-exercise-myths?utm_source=pocket-newtab
I agree with this. Our ancestors never had to think about exercise. Activity was woven into the fabric of their lives. Not so much anymore...
Gotta point out - these are myths the linked article DEBUNK, not a list of truths. This is a quote from the article:
"Their lives aren’t easy, but on average they spend only about two to three hours a day doing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. It is neither normal nor necessary to be ultra-fit and ultra-strong."
He's writing there (in context) about hunter-gatherer societies, based on studies of current-day hunter-gatherers. That's legit (and I'm not writing this to disagree with you, @wunderkindking, just going on with the line of conversation).
I wonder what the comparison would look like to current-day subsistence farmers? I dipped a little bit into easily found research on that question, which looks like their energy expenditure is high-moderate to high, in calorie terms (as compared with average modern folks, I think - based on abstracts, since lots is paywalled). On this small dip into the question, I didn't see "hours of activity" comparisons between hunter-gatherer to subsistence farmer to common developed-world modern lifestyles, but I'm sure they exist.
I'm old, my parents were old when I was born; my dad's family were what I'd consider to be true subsistence farmers, a significant part of that pre-electrification/pre-tractor (they farmed with horses). Granting that sometimes parents exaggerate to their children sometimes (😉), my mental picture is that there was relatively little sitting/resting, outside of school hours for the kids, and outside of seated chores for the adults, other than perhaps a bit of reading or needlework.
Even in my own youth, my impression was that peers/schoolmates who were active on family farms (not me!) were stronger and fitter than those with a different family/activity situation.
I wonder if our ancestors traded off a slightly less active life for slightly more food security (still really fraught, of course) at the transition from hunter-gatherer to subsistence farming (as a broad generality, of course - my dad's family also hunted and foraged, besides the agriculture, of course).0 -
Analog_Kid wrote: »We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths.
Myth 1: It’s normal to exercise
Myth 2: Avoiding exertion means you are lazy
Myth 3: Sitting is the new smoking
Myth 4: Our ancestors were hard-working, strong and fast
Myth 5: You can’t lose weight walking
Myth 6: Running will wear out your knees
Myth 7: It’s normal to be less active as we age
Myth 8: There is an optimal dose/type of exercise
Myth 9: ‘Just do it’ works
Myth 10: Exercise is a magic bullet
Read the full article here: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/just-don-t-do-it-10-exercise-myths?utm_source=pocket-newtab
Worth visiting the link just for the photo of the earnest-looking weight-lifting mouse. 😆
It's a good article IMO, with a few quibbles - but something like that needs to be broad-brush.
Just a few of the quibbles (which won't make sense to anyone who didn't read the article).
#1: I think one starts seeing some intentional exercise coming into the picture once societies develop a warrior class, at least, so I don't think it's a totally-modern thing.
#3: Reportedly, squatting is quite common in traditional cultures, and persists to an extent in some modern ones. That may be a difference that makes a difference, in average fitness with aging, according to some articles/research I've seen in the past.
#9: He probably knows better than I do, but I read the "Just Do It" slogan at least in part as a "Don't Overthink It" kind of thing.
#10: IME, it's pretty darned close to a magic bullet but it's not the only magic bullet. Reasonable nutrition, a reasonably non-polluted environment, satisfying social engagement - also pretty magical, for a few examples. I suppose it's actually activity, not exercise, that matters . . . but in a lot of modern lifestyles, some type of exercise may be the way to get a meaningful level of activity.
I'd encourage anyone who wants to comment on the list to read the article: The list is IMO deliberately provocative, and to some extent misrepresents the ways in which he debunks those myths.2 -
wunderkindking wrote: »Analog_Kid wrote: »We all believe we should exercise more. So why is it so hard to keep it up? Daniel E Lieberman, Harvard professor of evolutionary biology, explodes the most common and unhelpful workout myths.
Myth 1: It’s normal to exercise
Myth 2: Avoiding exertion means you are lazy
Myth 3: Sitting is the new smoking
Myth 4: Our ancestors were hard-working, strong and fast
Myth 5: You can’t lose weight walking
Myth 6: Running will wear out your knees
Myth 7: It’s normal to be less active as we age
Myth 8: There is an optimal dose/type of exercise
Myth 9: ‘Just do it’ works
Myth 10: Exercise is a magic bullet
Read the full article here: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/just-don-t-do-it-10-exercise-myths?utm_source=pocket-newtab
I agree with this. Our ancestors never had to think about exercise. Activity was woven into the fabric of their lives. Not so much anymore...
Gotta point out - these are myths the linked article DEBUNK, not a list of truths. This is a quote from the article:
"Their lives aren’t easy, but on average they spend only about two to three hours a day doing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. It is neither normal nor necessary to be ultra-fit and ultra-strong."
Yes I understood that...0 -
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Wow, didn't think I'd start a mini-thread debating my wife's ability to care for OUR children, lol. By "cooking" in this context, I meant actually using heat and multiple ingredients to fix a meal. My kids are all teens now, so they're able to prep a hot meal for themselves. When they were younger and I worked swings, my wife would provide food, just normally of the sandwich or microwave meal variety, especially reheating leftovers from previous nights. As a sidebar, now that the kids are more willing to fix new food rather than eat leftovers, I get to take more leftovers to work rather than fixing myself a sandwich, lol.15
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Life used to take a lot more effort to be comfortable. I don't have to deep-clean the house every week and dust it completely every day to remove a layer of coal dust from open coal fires. I don't have to boil water on the stove and physically agitate and wring the clothing in order to wash it. My boyfriend doesn't work in an office where he buys himself a little gadget that holds a hot coal to keep the ink from freezing in the winter. None of us have to chop wood to feed the fire in order to be warm or cook. We turn dials and knobs, and he makes his money sitting for eight hours typing on a keyboard. I prefer now to then, but it does mean that I need to find ways to exert myself for the good of my body.5
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