Other people's odd ideas about healthy.

The OP was starting a discussion. It isn't her business what other people eat, and I don't think she was trying to make it her business, she was just starting a discussion about something that she witnessed. And that is okay, that's what the forums are for.
There is a lot of self righteousness on here sometimes.

I know a girl who is a vegetarian like me, but HATES vegetables and fruits. So instead of consuming them, eats junk food! She really does think her diet is better than people who eat meat, even though her diet only consists of junk/processed food.

I'm not sure the vegetarian union will let you in if you don't LIKE vegetables.

pasta, cheese and bacon and potato are not 'unhealthy' but high calorie.
and yes most people dont realise just how different a bowl of pasta is and a bowl of vegetables is calorie-wise.

Pasta is unhealthy if it's not whole grain.
Cheese is not unhealthy but if it's whole milk cheese it should be eaten in moderation since that saturated fat in milk has been shown to raise your LDL levels.
Bacon is unhealthy. It a processed meat loaded with saturated fat and sodium.

Hahah, yes, it would. I know that, everyone else knows that, she knows it, she just refuses to use that term to describe herself. It causes me no end of internal annoyance.

I realize that this has been pretty much beaten to death but as mentioned, maybe they don't care about eating healthy, only losing weight. Sure, you can say that they aren't eating "healthy" (depends on your perspective), but what about if you lose 100lbs by eating reasonable portions of pasta, pizza, bacon, etc - especially if you throw in a little exercise every day? I would call that a HUGE health improvement.

I guess it amuses me more than anything else. I like to have a nice cheeseburger at least once a week (I love them). I have had people comment that they thought I was trying to lose weight (and I have, 32lbs so far). What's wrong with a cheeseburger? It's beef, cheese, and a whole wheat bun. It's only about 400 calories too. It's got good carbs plus a decent source of fat and protein and little else. I'm a large man so 400 calories really isn't even enough for a meal, it takes almost 3000 just for me to maintain weight (I usually eat 2000ish and lose 2lbs a week). Pizza is fine too, I just eat 2 or 3 slices and that's it. It's just dough, smashed tomatoes, cheese and some sort of meat topping (usually). Only real downside is generally high sodium and the white dough (unless you get whole wheat dough which is rare if you don't make it yourself). Not the end of the world.

My FIL is a Type 2 diabetic. I will never forget going out to eat and when the waitress told him the side of the day was brown rice, he said he can't eat rice because of his diabetes and said he'd have the mac and cheese instead. :huh:

I work with a Type 2 Diabetic - she looks at my oatmeal & says it's so high carb (steel cut) ... she has the Panera Bagel with cream cheese instead. Like bagels don't have carbs.

I am not an expert and i would never claim to be. I eat biscuits and other less nutritious foods but i also try to balance it with the other good things i eat.
However, i started a new job on monday and every single girl in the office (all four of them..) are 'dieting together' which is great but i'm trying hard not to watch them eat pasta, cheese, bacon and jacket potato for lunch as a way to cut calories right now. And one of them had pizza for breakfast but it was ok because it had sweetcorn on so it was healthier. The mind boggles!
Do they really think they are eating food which will help them lose weight? I'm really muddled by this.

LOL - I have an extremely overweight friend at work that is always on a diet (but never looses weight, in fact she's gained since I've known her). Anyway we were going out to lunch one day and I suggested a sandwich place where we could get turkey on whole wheat (no mayo of course). She told me she couldn't go there because she was on a diet and was avoiding bread. At her suggestion we hit up the local food court where I opted for 2 chicken fresco tacos for Taco Bell (about the healthiest meal I could find there) and she got 6 fried chicken wings, 2 garlic and butter bread sticks and a cesaer salad. WTF?!?!?

I may be missing something here, but I would think the "bread" in "bread stick" implies it is, in fact, bread. lol

The OP was starting a discussion. It isn't her business what other people eat, and I don't think she was trying to make it her business, she was just starting a discussion about something that she witnessed. And that is okay, that's what the forums are for.
There is a lot of self righteousness on here sometimes.

Bingo.
The OP's observation reminds me of the scene in Mean Girls where Regina is drinking Cranberry Juice Cocktail, and then sees the numbers on it, so she gets frustrated and goes back up for Cheese Fries. Ahhhh yes, nice and healthy :-)

But no one can be wrong on the internet... it's in writing. Everything in writing is true.

I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

I once heard two girls in a cafe discussing whether there was more fat and calories in the biscuits or in the cakes.

Their conclusion:
"The biscuits must be healthier because they're smaller"!

This has to be a good time for a:

Maybe they are just trying to lose some weight, not convert to being healthy.

I'll be the first to admit, and if people are honest i'm sure i'm not the only one, i'm trying to lose fat to be lighter, faster, and not as round.

Health is a by-product for me.

You don't have to cut all the "bad" food, eat only "good" food, whole grains, veggies, nuts, etc. There's "healthy" and there's "healthier". If you have 10 choccy bars a day, and cut down to 3, its "healthier".

Remember, not all of us are trying to get mega fit and that perfect 6 pack. We're just looking for a way to lose fat that is sustainable for a long time. Simply cutting down on things and exercising more will do that.

Don't vilify those who don't eat a perfectly healthy, well balanced diet.

I second this. everything in moderation. You have to do what works for you and that you will be able to stick with. I exercise, I eat what I want in moderation - trying to make sure I hit general guidelines (like 5 fruits/veggies a day, 6-8 glasses water a day, etc.) but if you're totally "clean" and you look at my diary you'd have a heart attack. I'm always over on fat, salt and sugar. But I don't care. I don't want to make myself crazy counting every little nutritional nuance or limit myself because I'm going gluten free, or low fat, or low carb, or high protien..... I'm happy & healthy, doing what I can do to stay that way.

Different people have different nutritional needs.
I am a protein type. I have to really watch my grains (pasta, bread, crackers, etc.) When i do eat grains it has to be mostly gluten free, or I get bloated. I can have potatoes but have to limit them. My pasta is brown rice pasta.

One of my best breakfasts (leaves me feeling full and satisfied and not hungry an hour later) is two eggs, two slices of bacon, some cheese in the eggs and then either a piece of ezekial bread or a piece of fruit.

I am what you call a "fast oxidizer." Which means my body burns through carbs too fast for them to be a good source of energy. I have a quick high and then a crash. Or I end up over eating because I never feel full or satisfied. I need higher amounts of fats and higher amounts of protein.. that's my metabolism type.

The opposite of me would be a carb type who is a slow oxidizer. That person can't eat heavy proteins, because it slows down their metabolism and will make them feel sluggish, They do better on smaller amounts of lean proteins and a higher amount of carbs, because these will metabolize faster than high fat proteins.They also need less fat than a fast oxidizing protein type.

So while their diet may not work for you, it's possible that they do need more carbs than what you would need. Dieting is not a one size fits all thing. That's why for one person, a low carb diet works great for them, but would cause someone else to feel hungry and deprived, while messing up their metabolism.

Or why one person can eat lean chicken and veggies for lunch, but someone else really does need that cheeseburger.

The best you can do is talk to them about their plan, find out why they are doing it, how they feel, and then if they are complaining that they don't feel right (tired, sluggish, or even strung out) or if they aren't loosing weight.. then you could suggest they try going in a different direction with their dieting.

God bless!

Different people have different nutritional needs.
I am a protein type. I have to really watch my grains (pasta, bread, crackers, etc.) When i do eat grains it has to be mostly gluten free, or I get bloated. I can have potatoes but have to limit them. My pasta is brown rice pasta.

One of my best breakfasts (leaves me feeling full and satisfied and not hungry an hour later) is two eggs, two slices of bacon, some cheese in the eggs and then either a piece of ezekial bread or a piece of fruit.

I am what you call a "fast oxidizer." Which means my body burns through carbs too fast for them to be a good source of energy. I have a quick high and then a crash. Or I end up over eating because I never feel full or satisfied. I need higher amounts of fats and higher amounts of protein.. that's my metabolism type.

The opposite of me would be a carb type who is a slow oxidizer. That person can't eat heavy proteins, because it slows down their metabolism and will make them feel sluggish, They do better on smaller amounts of lean proteins and a higher amount of carbs, because these will metabolize faster than high fat proteins.They also need less fat than a fast oxidizing protein type.

So while their diet may not work for you, it's possible that they do need more carbs than what you would need. Dieting is not a one size fits all thing. That's why for one person, a low carb diet works great for them, but would cause someone else to feel hungry and deprived, while messing up their metabolism.

Or why one person can eat lean chicken and veggies for lunch, but someone else really does need that cheeseburger.

The best you can do is talk to them about their plan, find out why they are doing it, how they feel, and then if they are complaining that they don't feel right (tired, sluggish, or even strung out) or if they aren't loosing weight.. then you could suggest they try going in a different direction with their dieting.

God bless!

Thats a really interesting way of eating, i had never until recently thought too much about the carb vs protein balance type thing and the energy it provides. Did you work out your preferred eating methods via trial and error with your diet?

I ran across the Diet Solution Program. It's main focal point is that there are three metabolism types... protein, mixed and carb. And each one has their own unique ratio of proteins/carbs/fats. So I started following that and found that for me, it was right on (as far as being a protein type).

Later I learned about metabolic testing and watched a video series online about it. It states that while yes, there are protein types, carb types and mixed types, it goes a step farther to say that there are 3 sub categories within each of those types. I don't have the money yet to get the actual test done (you answer a questionnaire about your eating preferences and several questions about your body type and personality). Then they analyze it and you find out which type you really fit under. Then the nutrition coach will give you a list of foods that are best for you and the foods you should stay away from. Then after a few weeks of following the proposed list, you get with the coach again to fine tune your plan.

Based on watching the videos, I have concluded that more than likely I am a fast oxidizing protein type (I already knew I was a protein type based on using the Diet Solution Program), and have made adjustments to my diet accordingly. Not only did the rate of my weight loss increase, but I sleep better and I have more energy. I also have better mental clarity. While I'm sure that my diet probably does need a bit more tweaking, I'm doing the best I can until I have the money together to pay the nutritional coach to start my program.

So basically, I started with DSP as a protein type. But found that I wasn't quite satisfied. After talking to the nutrition coach, she suggested I add more fat into my diet. I did, and found that I was happier, because physically it made me feel better. So the majority of my food intake is protein, with a few carbs and a good amount of fat. Example. I'm more satisfied after eating a bacon cheeseburger (made with grass fed lean beef no bun), and a portion of veggies, than I am when I eat white chicken meat and a salad. I eat cheese and peanut or almond butter on a daily basis. I eat very few grains. I am happier eating red meat than chicken, and when I do eat chicken I have to have cheese, avocado or some other form of healthy fat with it.

If you are interested in looking into the Diet Solution Program (a program that teaches you how to change your eating habits, rather than being a conventional diet), you can find the intro video here:
http://www.thedietsolutionprogram.com/burnfatjw.aspx

If you are interested in the more in depth metabolic typing, contact Halle Cottis through her website at:
www.wholelifestylenutrition.com

You can also ask questions about the Diet Solution Program on Face Book, their page is just listed as The Diet Solution Program.

The metabolic typing videos makes the point that different types of people (ethnically speaking) have adapted to the foods available to them. Hence American Eskimos traditionally had (have) a diet high in protein and fat, but low in vegetables. While people in other parts of the world (I don't remember which region they used for an example) have a diet with more vegetables but lower in fat and lower in heavy proteins.

If you suddenly change the Eskimos diet to a vegetarian diet, and change the other person's diet to the Eskimo diet.. they would both then suffer problems. So, we need to find out genetically, where our metabolism sits. If we know which way our body leans naturally, then we know which way to push it to get it back in balance.


Let me know if you would like more info from me.

God bless

PS Sorry the post was so long!