5 ms·

As a doc, glad to see some people in the community thinking right about this. This is overall pretty good advice. I would add the best snacks are nuts and chees

As a doc, glad to see some people in the community thinking right about this. This is overall pretty good advice. I would add the best snacks are nuts and cheese, or other high-fat, high-protein, low carbohydrate foods. I like the idea of a chart widget. I would avoid most bread, including flat breads and crackers. The occasional tortilla for a wrap is ok. I would definitely avoid rice, pasta, and potatoes. If you eat sushi, consider sashimi. Don't ask your spouse to provide the negative feedback, ambivalent co-workers might be best.

gaoshan 16y ago
>I would definitely avoid rice... Ever live in a Chinese household? If rice is so bad why do so many of the hundreds of millions of people who eat it 2 or even 3 times a day remain skinny and trim (Rice. Not the things that can go with it, not the ways it can be prepared or abused... just rice)? This is such a non-starter I don't even know where to... start.
- mitjak 16y ago
  While the whole "people did it for ages" argument never works I must admit I'm rather puzzled how one would give up potatoes, rice _and_ bread. How exactly are they evil? What is so dangerous about carbs? Aren't snacks to blame? In a typical Russian home one of which I grew up it's a loaf a day or more. Italians and French eat even more bread. And as the OO mentioned, Asian nations consume unimaginable amounts of rice. Yet America remains one of the most overweight nations. It just seems to me like it's a mosquito bite and you're asking to chop off the arm.
  - niels_olson 16y ago
    1) glycemic index 2) the unbelievable number of calories you can get before triggering a satiety signal 3) the social norm of scientifically huge portions. My wife and I have gotten the point of ordering a single entree and splitting it, sometimes we can get away with a single appetizer. 4) Two billion people in Asia do eat a lot of rice. They also do more physical work and probably don't eat as much rice per serving as Americans. 5) I should also add corn to the list.
    - mitjak 16y ago
      Of all these, the universal problem is only number one, and still only due to the amounts of food. Portion sizes have nothing to do with carbs being evil on their own, and are definitely something one can restrain self on. Anything in large amounts is detrimental.
- larsberg 16y ago
  Because Chinese people (at least the skinny+trim ones) have a single, small bowl of rice and eat tons of veggies and then a few pieces of meat. Not the Amero-Chinese style half-plate of rice with a heaping of fatty meat cut, slathered in some sauce composed of half-salt half-cooking oil, with a few veggies thrown in for "color."
  - gaoshan 16y ago
    If the problem is fatty meat or oil and salt or other junk people eat with rice then why tell people "Don't eat rice"? It isn't the rice that's bad, it's the stuff people eat with it yet I repeatedly see people say "don't eat rice" and frankly, I think that's a load of bull. Don't blame rice for bad American eating habits.
    - kareemm 16y ago
      The problem isn't rice. If you're asking about optimal nutrition, rice is one of the things to cut out, in addition to processed foods, sodium, sugar (the biggest problem), grains, etc. More here: http://crossfitoptimumperformance.com/index.php?view=article&id=317:paleolithic-nutrition&format=pdf http://crossfitoptimumperformance.com/index.php?view=article...
- ellyagg 16y ago
  Why do I drink 2 or even 3 bottles of Dr. Pepper a day and still stay skinny[1]? As always, one little piece of information doesn't tell the story. The fact is, almost all rices have a high glycemic index, thus cause a blood sugar spike, thus produce an insulin response, thus cause fat storage and other problems when you eat too much of it. Rice is about exactly as "bad" for you, physiologically, as white bread. Obviously, rice can be consumed in moderation, especially in combination with other foods that lower the rate of metabolism. [1] Cos I work out tons, don't overeat, and have a naturally fast metabolism.
  - niels_olson 16y ago
    how old are you that you have "stayed skinny"? What sports do you participate in? Your picture is incomplete.
- illumin8 16y ago
  Because the typical Chinese household doesn't eat too much food. It's all about portion control and they eat a ton of veggies. Rice is just a side dish to them, and they only eat it once or twice a day. Also, you need to take into account that the typical Chinese peasant family is out farming or working hard all day. They need a lot of carbs to work that hard. Now that they have a significant population living in large cities and eating "American" fast food, working in office jobs, they are beginning to have a lot of the same health problems (obesity) that we do.
- niels_olson 16y ago
  You're right. I should have included corn. If I look at an American plate, half-covered with two giant scoops of fried rice, and an entree of Kung Pao chicken, and was told I could remove only one ingredient, I would remove the rice. If only I could remove the rice and give them the sauteed vegetables, they would be full faster and and experience a substantially smaller, slower, glucose spike. One of my best friends in high school was Chinese. I used to study at his house because his mom's cooking was awesome. Her idea of a serving of rice, and the average American-chinese restaurant's serving of rice are two different things.
makmanalp 16y ago
Why is high fat, high protein, low carbohydrate better? Aren't fats a sort of "permanent storage" whereas carbohydrates are more likely to be used instantly and then stored if there is extra?
- niels_olson 16y ago
  Consumed fats induce a broad range of hormonal satiety signals, so your total caloric consumption is often less. The French and Mediterranean countries are famous for a few things, two being healthy living and high fat diets (butter in France, olive oil in the Med). Know any fat French people? Butter is not the problem. Carbs are rapidly burned, or rapidly converted to fat. Fat in the blood stream can still be metabolized, what's especially hard is liberating fat from adipocytes once it's in them. Among carbs, fructose is a particularly nasty problem. Fructose entirely bypasses the insulin pathway, which is the only major inhibitory signals for monosaccharides, but is is easily converted to fat, and there's some evidence it induces some inflammatory markers along the way. Observational studies of my two kids suggest they could eat oranges or candy all day without pause. Here's a little experiment: pick a day where you're not going to be exposed to huge external stimuli to eat (eg, it's not the company picnic day). Weigh out 3 oz of unsalted nuts and 3 oz of cooked rice. Eat the rice for breakfast. Time yourself until you're hungry for those nuts. Eat the nuts. All of them. Time yourself until you're hungry again. I'll bet you make it past lunch. Eat 3 more ounces of nuts. You'll probably make it until dinner.
  - nkurz 16y ago
    I'm pretty skeptical of traditional calorie counting, but wouldn't your experiment be simply explained by the 5x difference in caloric content between the two? http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+walnuts http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+walnuts http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+white+rice http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+white+rice Wouldn't it be more fair to compare equal calories rather than equal weights? I'd have to guess that eating 15 oz of rice might have a significant appetite suppressing effect as well. Or maybe I'm not understanding the point of the experiment. Are you simply suggesting that by eating a strangely distributed 1200 calories you can 'make it until dinner'? :)

gaoshan 16y ago

>I would definitely avoid rice... Ever live in a Chinese household? If rice is so bad why do so many of the hundreds of millions of people who eat it 2 or even 3 times a day remain skinny and trim (Rice. Not the things that can go with it, not the ways it can be prepared or abused... just rice)? This is such a non-starter I don't even know where to... start.

mitjak 16y ago
While the whole "people did it for ages" argument never works I must admit I'm rather puzzled how one would give up potatoes, rice _and_ bread. How exactly are they evil? What is so dangerous about carbs? Aren't snacks to blame? In a typical Russian home one of which I grew up it's a loaf a day or more. Italians and French eat even more bread. And as the OO mentioned, Asian nations consume unimaginable amounts of rice. Yet America remains one of the most overweight nations. It just seems to me like it's a mosquito bite and you're asking to chop off the arm.
- niels_olson 16y ago
  1) glycemic index 2) the unbelievable number of calories you can get before triggering a satiety signal 3) the social norm of scientifically huge portions. My wife and I have gotten the point of ordering a single entree and splitting it, sometimes we can get away with a single appetizer. 4) Two billion people in Asia do eat a lot of rice. They also do more physical work and probably don't eat as much rice per serving as Americans. 5) I should also add corn to the list.
  - mitjak 16y ago
    Of all these, the universal problem is only number one, and still only due to the amounts of food. Portion sizes have nothing to do with carbs being evil on their own, and are definitely something one can restrain self on. Anything in large amounts is detrimental.
larsberg 16y ago
Because Chinese people (at least the skinny+trim ones) have a single, small bowl of rice and eat tons of veggies and then a few pieces of meat. Not the Amero-Chinese style half-plate of rice with a heaping of fatty meat cut, slathered in some sauce composed of half-salt half-cooking oil, with a few veggies thrown in for "color."
- gaoshan 16y ago
  If the problem is fatty meat or oil and salt or other junk people eat with rice then why tell people "Don't eat rice"? It isn't the rice that's bad, it's the stuff people eat with it yet I repeatedly see people say "don't eat rice" and frankly, I think that's a load of bull. Don't blame rice for bad American eating habits.
  - kareemm 16y ago
    The problem isn't rice. If you're asking about optimal nutrition, rice is one of the things to cut out, in addition to processed foods, sodium, sugar (the biggest problem), grains, etc. More here: http://crossfitoptimumperformance.com/index.php?view=article&id=317:paleolithic-nutrition&format=pdf http://crossfitoptimumperformance.com/index.php?view=article...
ellyagg 16y ago
Why do I drink 2 or even 3 bottles of Dr. Pepper a day and still stay skinny[1]? As always, one little piece of information doesn't tell the story. The fact is, almost all rices have a high glycemic index, thus cause a blood sugar spike, thus produce an insulin response, thus cause fat storage and other problems when you eat too much of it. Rice is about exactly as "bad" for you, physiologically, as white bread. Obviously, rice can be consumed in moderation, especially in combination with other foods that lower the rate of metabolism. [1] Cos I work out tons, don't overeat, and have a naturally fast metabolism.
- niels_olson 16y ago
  how old are you that you have "stayed skinny"? What sports do you participate in? Your picture is incomplete.
illumin8 16y ago
Because the typical Chinese household doesn't eat too much food. It's all about portion control and they eat a ton of veggies. Rice is just a side dish to them, and they only eat it once or twice a day. Also, you need to take into account that the typical Chinese peasant family is out farming or working hard all day. They need a lot of carbs to work that hard. Now that they have a significant population living in large cities and eating "American" fast food, working in office jobs, they are beginning to have a lot of the same health problems (obesity) that we do.
niels_olson 16y ago
You're right. I should have included corn. If I look at an American plate, half-covered with two giant scoops of fried rice, and an entree of Kung Pao chicken, and was told I could remove only one ingredient, I would remove the rice. If only I could remove the rice and give them the sauteed vegetables, they would be full faster and and experience a substantially smaller, slower, glucose spike. One of my best friends in high school was Chinese. I used to study at his house because his mom's cooking was awesome. Her idea of a serving of rice, and the average American-chinese restaurant's serving of rice are two different things.

makmanalp 16y ago

Why is high fat, high protein, low carbohydrate better? Aren't fats a sort of "permanent storage" whereas carbohydrates are more likely to be used instantly and then stored if there is extra?

niels_olson 16y ago
Consumed fats induce a broad range of hormonal satiety signals, so your total caloric consumption is often less. The French and Mediterranean countries are famous for a few things, two being healthy living and high fat diets (butter in France, olive oil in the Med). Know any fat French people? Butter is not the problem. Carbs are rapidly burned, or rapidly converted to fat. Fat in the blood stream can still be metabolized, what's especially hard is liberating fat from adipocytes once it's in them. Among carbs, fructose is a particularly nasty problem. Fructose entirely bypasses the insulin pathway, which is the only major inhibitory signals for monosaccharides, but is is easily converted to fat, and there's some evidence it induces some inflammatory markers along the way. Observational studies of my two kids suggest they could eat oranges or candy all day without pause. Here's a little experiment: pick a day where you're not going to be exposed to huge external stimuli to eat (eg, it's not the company picnic day). Weigh out 3 oz of unsalted nuts and 3 oz of cooked rice. Eat the rice for breakfast. Time yourself until you're hungry for those nuts. Eat the nuts. All of them. Time yourself until you're hungry again. I'll bet you make it past lunch. Eat 3 more ounces of nuts. You'll probably make it until dinner.
- nkurz 16y ago
  I'm pretty skeptical of traditional calorie counting, but wouldn't your experiment be simply explained by the 5x difference in caloric content between the two? http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+walnuts http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+walnuts http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+white+rice http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+white+rice Wouldn't it be more fair to compare equal calories rather than equal weights? I'd have to guess that eating 15 oz of rice might have a significant appetite suppressing effect as well. Or maybe I'm not understanding the point of the experiment. Are you simply suggesting that by eating a strangely distributed 1200 calories you can 'make it until dinner'? :)