6 ms·

I've had conversations on similar aspects to this many times. There are many psychological issues involved but the highlights are: 1. People eat for many reaso

by cletus 14y ago

I've had conversations on similar aspects to this many times. There are many psychological issues involved but the highlights are: 1. People eat for many reasons, sustenance being only one. People eat for enjoyment, because they're happy, because they're sad, to deal with stress, as a substitute for something else arguably more destructive and so on. The sooner you can adjust your mental view to treating food as nothing more than fuel, the better off you'll be; 2. American cities with their car addictions make it incredibly easy to lead a sedentary existence. Biking is a somewhat hazardous option that's not always realistic. The ideal exercise (in times of reward-for-effort) is probably walking. I live 7 minutes from work and the absolute minimum steps I could take in a day is probably 5000, maybe 6000 (I have a pedometer). 8000 is more common, which is still a bit low (10,000 is recommended). Live 10-15 minutes from work and walk to and from work every day and you massively better off; 3. People treat diets and, to a lesser extent, exercise regimes as a transitory effort to get back to some goal weight or fitness level, at which point they seek to return to the previous behaviour. This is a mistake. You're getting older. Your metabolism is, all other things being equal, slowing down (it requires more effort to keep it up at any rate). You should view a dietary change (in particular) as a lifestyle change, not a temporary adjustment; 4. Psychological addiction may not be as "obvious" as physiological addiction but its effects can be very real. I'm sorry for your loss. It may sound callous but ultimately we are each responsible for our own well-being. If someone chose to die that way, it's sad but there's not much you could do. You have to choose to be helped.

scrub 14y ago
Concerning 1, I personally believe that on the flip side, having an intimate knowledge about food is beneficial to health. Being able to have at least some awareness of what you put into your body allow you to be aware of what constitutes a sensible portion, and being able to appreciate various nuances of food beyond fat, salt, and sugar will generally result in healthier eating. Extended destructive binges are usually a symptom of some other emotional stress, and I presume that regular eating habits aren't going to be followed, anyway.
surement 14y ago
"The sooner you can adjust your mental view to treating food as nothing more than fuel, the better off you'll be" Better off how? Eating for enjoyment is one of the best pleasures in life. To quote someone else, if you spend your life eating no butter, no lard, no salt; you're gonna feel like a damn fool lying on your hospital bed, dying from nothing.
- daeken 14y ago
  As mentioned earlier, I am waaaaaaaay overweight. That, of course, means that I'm at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and all that jazz. So when I found myself sitting in my chair with shooting pains and numbness in my left arm, and severe chest pain, my first thought was "well shit, time to call 911 because I'm having a heart attack". To make a long story short, the actual cause of the symptoms I felt was a combination of a herniated disc in my neck and a panic attack, but the thought that death is right around the corner, due to something very preventable, is not something you ever forget. So while I've not lain on my death bed while dying from 'nothing', I can tell you that thinking you're about to die from something in your control (at least partially) is a terrible, terrible feeling. I really can't emphasize how bad a feeling that is. I love butter, but I'd trade it in a heart beat to never feel that again. Who knows, maybe it's the same whether it's in your control or not.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
    I love butter too and I weight 80kg, I am very tall(basket player level tall). None of those problems. 40 years ago Americans used to eat lots of butter and fats(way more than today) and they were fit. My advice is: Forget about eating sugar, not fat. Fat is natural, we had eaten it since man is man, fat is in animals with the meat and all tribes everywere(From Papua New Guinea to the Amazon) have horrible histories about those that did not eat fat(because those that do not become ill as fat is essential for the immune system and heart, among others) . Refined sugar is not natural, you should buy fruit as it has antioxidants and lots of fiber so you don't become addicted to sugar(fiber reduces your sugar blood concentration orders of magnitude). Never mix sugar with fat, if you do add lots of fiber, like lettuce or broccoli or fruit(if you don't like them, make an habit and you will like it over time). Replace refined rice or wheat or corn (flours) with entire grains(integral cereals). They are ugly but way more healthy. Learn to cook yourself. It took years for you to get where you are and you need to understand that you need years to get out. Don't try miracles but learn how to get healthy step by step.
aliston 14y ago
Point #2 really hit home for me. I recently switched jobs and my new job affords significantly less opportunity to get up and walk around. It is essentially in a business park and the city I live in is much more of a commuter city than I'm used to. Any suggestions on how to maintain a non-sedentary life? I usually go running or hit the gym after work, but a lot of the new research is indicating that sitting all day and then working out for an hour is quite a bit worse for you then staying mobile all day, even if the net amount of exercise is equivalent. Thinking about how much time I spend sitting at a desk is pretty depressing for me.
- klenwell 14y ago
  About a year ago, I picked up a set of Perfect Pushups, those rotating pushup handle things you see advertised on TV. I try to do a set of 10 each hour while I'm at work. Co-workers looked at me askance at first -- probaby still do. I've cited the studies warning about the health risks of sitting at your desk too long. Nevertheless, I try to be discreet. I still work out most days after work. But the push-ups get me out of my chair during the day, don't take more than a minute to do a set, and give brain and body a little charge. I recommend something like the Perfect Pushup -- besides all the reasons in their commercials -- because they help overcome the psychological ickiness of putting your hands on the floor (even if it is no dirtier than your keyboard.) With all the effort corporations are giving to getting their employees to walk 15 minutes a day to bring down health insurance costs, I think the Perfect Pushup makers are fools not to promote this sort of office usage for their product.
  - Periodic 14y ago
    I used to do something similar. Luckily, I had a cube at the end that faced a wall. After I started feeling some wrist pains I set up a keyboard-timer, a program that was part of Gnome that locked the screen after a given interval of continuous activity. I set it to 2 minutes every 30 minutes that didn't include at least a 1 minute break from typing. During my 2 minute break I had enough time to do a set of push-ups and a set of sit-ups and would alternately go refill my water and go to the restroom. I think it ended up being akin to the Pomodoro technique because I found myself working harder and really getting into the zone to beat the timer. I also had a period where I bought a new car and started driving to work. I put on about 15 pounds over two months. I realized this and went back to biking to and from work. For me, bicycle commuting is the best way to get exercise because it doesn't feel like wasted time when I would just be sitting in traffic anyway. It can be a bit of a hassle, but I get to comfort myself with monetary savings and benefiting the environment.
einhverfr 14y ago
I suspect that there are physiological effects from computer gaming. I know that I occasionally will play a bit excessively (though not extremely so) for a few days when I am having other issues, but I have learned to moderate even that because of these things. Among others I find: 1) Interference with sleep. Will continue to see video game images when I close my eyes to sleep and won't sleep well. 2) Changes in how my eyes track things. 3) A general, physical malaise. I will feel a bit of nausea.... I don;t think the deaths are caused by exhaustion. I think they are caused by brain or hormone imbalances caused by the gaming itself.
- chc 14y ago
  This is based on somewhat worse evidence than the antivax movement. What you describe largely sound like symptoms of eye strain, probably combined with lack of proper exercise and nutrition. These are unpleasant conditions, but not really deadly in the way you seem to mean. Without clinical or scientific evidence, I don't think we should be spreading pet medical theories Jenny McCarthy-style.
  - einhverfr 14y ago
    Suspect means "I have a hypothesis." It doesn't mean I have tested it rigorously. I don't think it is as simple as eyestrain. Also no nutritional changes can be shown during these times, and being sedentary doesn't cause these for me. The point is you start with observations, you form hypotheses, and hope that someone will test them. Regarding the antivax movement though, there really are two submovements. The first ("vaccines cause autism") is pretty silly given that the hypotheses that float dont even match the demographic data they claim it does. The second movement though which I am relatively sympathetic to is a relatively generalized hostility towards vaccine proliferation. This isn't anti-vaccine really. It is rather hostility towards ever-growing lists of mandated vaccines. I know a lot of people who say "I don't care what the CDC says. I am not giving my kid a yearly flu shot!" And many of them also question many of the newer additions to state vaccine mandates as well while often supporting requirements for the older and more major vaccines (polio, MMR, DTaP for kids, not for adults). I don't think you can just lump these together.
orangecat 14y ago
People treat diets and, to a lesser extent, exercise regimes as a transitory effort to get back to some goal weight or fitness level, at which point they seek to return to the previous behaviour. This is a mistake. And it's perfectly understandable. Eating only rabbit food and spending your free time getting sore and sweaty is unappealing for many people. Tell them that they have to do that for the rest of their lives or they won't get any benefit, and plenty will arguably rationally decide not to bother at all. I'd like to see more focus on improvements at the margin. No, I'm not going to cut out all sugar and bread, but if you tell me which of the foods I like to eat are the most and least unhealthy, I can probably make significant improvements while still enjoying my meals. Same thing with exercise; 10,000 steps per day is unrealistic for almost everyone, while taking stairs when feasible and grabbing the first available parking spot instead of wasting time trying to find a closer one is a much easier sell. Completely agreed that walking to work is great if you can arrange it. Not only is it good exercise, it avoids the car commutes that studies consistently find are terrible for your general happiness.
- bradleyjg 14y ago
  Exersise health benefits follow a power law. It is damn near impossible to exercise enough to double the benefits of going from completely sedentary to twenty minutes of light exersise a day plus breaking up any long periods of sitting with a minute or two of standing and stretching every couple of hours.
  - gte910h 14y ago
    This comment needs to be near the top. People don't get how much just a TINY bit of daily exercise gives them.
- swombat 14y ago
  FYI, for the last 6 months I've cut out major sources of carbs. No rice, pasta, bread or potatoes, and no obviously super-sweet stuff (sugar, sodas, etc), and very sweet fruits (apples, cherries, pineapples, grapes...) only in moderation. I still drink beer. I make occasional exceptions (been eating some chocolate every couple of days recently since someone gifted me a whole damn box). I eat lots of veg (salads, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc) and huge amounts of meat (anything from fresh steak and home-made burgers - no bun - to chorizo, Parma ham, and other fatty meats). I still eat lots of dairy products too - cheese in particular, nice mozzarella, Camembert, gruyere, emental, etc. Result for me? I eat whenever I'm hungry, however much I feel like, and always nice food that tastes good, and my weight hasn't budged. I also don't get the 1-3pm carb coma anymore. And I feel great. YMMV, but this works for me for maintaining weight. For cutting down weight, just combine this with a calorie restriction method and daily weight measurements/charting, as per : http://danieltenner.com/posts/0018-how-to-lose-weight.html http://danieltenner.com/posts/0018-how-to-lose-weight.html
ShabbyDoo 14y ago
I live in Cleveland, but I've been working during the week in Chicago for the past year. When I first started spending time in Chicago, I noticed how thin the average person in the city is compared to Clevelanders. A year into this contracting gig, I've lost 35 pounds without much effort. Want some coffee? The good coffee shop is around the block. Want to meet some friends-of-friends for lunch? It's only a few blocks away. Nice night, maybe I should just walk "home" (I bought a condo in Chicago) -- only 1.5 miles. Oh, and because that condo was an icky short-sale condo, I end up doing stuff like scrubbing floors in the evenings. It's the little things which seem to add up. Stocking my kitchen with mostly stuff which is not awful health-wise surely helped as well.
derleth 14y ago
> The sooner you can adjust your mental view to treating food as nothing more than fuel, the better off you'll be The only reason I can imagine you'd have this idea is if you're operating under the mistaken assumption that "healthy food" and "food that you can enjoy" are mutually-exclusive categories. This ties into a lot of quasi-religious crap surrounding diet in general, which makes every fad diet an orthodoxy complete with demonic outsiders (foods absolutely prohibited and made to seem inherently unhealthy), canonized sacraments (foods that are held up as perfect and beyond reproach), and the sin-guilt-redemption cycle. Nonsense. You can lose weight eating Twinkies if you mind your caloric intake and burn more than you consume. (You'll have to watch your nutrient intake as well, but that's a given. You always need to do that to some extent.) Therefore, you can eat good foods in the right amounts and it'll work. You'll also be more inclined to stay on the diet and make it a true lifestyle change. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/... http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/06/health/la-he-fitness-twinkie-diet-20101206 http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/06/health/la-he-fitness...
- bad_user 14y ago
  I agree with the general idea of your argument, but I wouldn't take the "caloric intake" theory as being the truth, precisely because there's "quasi-religious crap surrounding diet in general", much of it promoted by doctors and nutritionists. For instance I love meat in general, especially pork stake. My current diet allows me to eat meat and diary products in 1 day out of 4, but when I do, I eat a lot of it, with no restrictions other than not eating after 8 PM. I also get to eat potatoes and even refined carbohydrates, but on different days (so it's a dissociated diet). It's enough to say that my cholesterol levels are really healthy, I have more energy than ever, and I'm losing 11 pounds per month. And I do satisfy my urges, the only difference being that it's all scheduled and I don't do impulsive eating anymore. Another thing that I noticed - once you cut out drastically the sugar from your diet and white bread ... food and water taste so much better. I'm now inclined to pick up cooking as a hobby ;)
- biaxident 14y ago
  You might be able to lose weight with a Twinkie diet but that won't cure the diabetes.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
ulisesrmzroche 14y ago
The only thing you really get from being one of those "food is fuel" folks is a lot of other folks making fun of you and not inviting you to "Ravioli Night". You don't wanna be that guy.
forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
"The sooner you can adjust your mental view to treating food as nothing more than fuel, the better off you'll be" Not true. This is a mechanistic approach to life, we are not machine copies. Machines are copies from us, witch is different. A machine can not repair itself or reproduce or protect itself against the aggressions of the environment. What you eat is not just fuel, but way way more complex. You eat proteins so you get aminoacids, vitamins, minerals, oils and water. If you don't eat some specific materials in specific proportions you die, no matter how many calories you give it(energy or "fuel"). E.g you could give your body too much omega 6 fat (cheap to industrial manufacture) over omega 3 fat and your body will start working very bad. In my experience traveling around the world, the anglo speaking world has no idea what eating well means. Eating for enjoyment does not mean eating pizza, hamburgers or hot dogs, there is tons of healthy food around the world that is simply delicious(look for ancient cultures).
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- hessenwolf 14y ago
  I couldn't agree more, except I've had a pizza in Napoli, the home of pizza, and a 'hot dog' in Germany, the home of the Frankfurter, in the last week, and it was really enjoyable! I miss Ireland for a decent burger though - the beef is much better.
- NLips 14y ago
  A typical two-stroke engine uses fuel that has lubricant mixed in. Tetraethyllead used to be added to petrol to allow higher compression ratios, increasing fuel efficiency. The fuel metaphor is perfectly valid.
- IsaacL 14y ago
  Definitely agree. Contrast anglo culture with the great "foodie" cultures: India, China, France, Italy, etc. In China I had some of the best meals I ever had for about $2 - boiled rice and a variety of vegetable/meat dishes with assorted flavours. Of course you have to go as a group to make that style of eating worthwhile, but that was hardly a bad thing. If I wanted a late-night lazy meal, I'd get a plate of fried rice or noodles from one of the little diners -- not super healthy, but way better than Big Macs. In Malaysia I eventually stopped grabbing junk food from the 7-11s (which I did for the first few days) and started buying fresh fruit from the street vendors whenever I wanted a snack. I think Anglo culture in particular has a bad relationship to food (which is a shame, as despite the stereotype, we actually had some innovative cuisine in the past). http://joshuaspodek.com/food-joy-values http://joshuaspodek.com/food-joy-values
gghootch 14y ago
"The sooner you can adjust your mental view to treating food as nothing more than fuel, the better off you'll be;" I am like this. Trust me, it is not that enjoyable. There are two major downside: 1. 90% of all food tastes meh. I seldom go a day without having eaten something I truly enjoyed. 2. You start eating too little, because you feel you haven't exactly run out of fuel just yet. Two can be particularly dangerous, at times I have almost fainted because of it. I truly recommend against training yourself this way.
eliben 14y ago
Having kids also helps you with the "walking" aspect. A daily walk around the 'hood with a stroller, and at a later age combined with some "culture-dependent ball game" time, gives you some "free" opportunities to burn them calories. P.S. besides, with kids you'll have no time for video games, so that's a solution from another angle ;-)

by cletus 14y ago

scrub 14y ago

Concerning 1, I personally believe that on the flip side, having an intimate knowledge about food is beneficial to health. Being able to have at least some awareness of what you put into your body allow you to be aware of what constitutes a sensible portion, and being able to appreciate various nuances of food beyond fat, salt, and sugar will generally result in healthier eating. Extended destructive binges are usually a symptom of some other emotional stress, and I presume that regular eating habits aren't going to be followed, anyway.

surement 14y ago

"The sooner you can adjust your mental view to treating food as nothing more than fuel, the better off you'll be" Better off how? Eating for enjoyment is one of the best pleasures in life. To quote someone else, if you spend your life eating no butter, no lard, no salt; you're gonna feel like a damn fool lying on your hospital bed, dying from nothing.

daeken 14y ago
As mentioned earlier, I am waaaaaaaay overweight. That, of course, means that I'm at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and all that jazz. So when I found myself sitting in my chair with shooting pains and numbness in my left arm, and severe chest pain, my first thought was "well shit, time to call 911 because I'm having a heart attack". To make a long story short, the actual cause of the symptoms I felt was a combination of a herniated disc in my neck and a panic attack, but the thought that death is right around the corner, due to something very preventable, is not something you ever forget. So while I've not lain on my death bed while dying from 'nothing', I can tell you that thinking you're about to die from something in your control (at least partially) is a terrible, terrible feeling. I really can't emphasize how bad a feeling that is. I love butter, but I'd trade it in a heart beat to never feel that again. Who knows, maybe it's the same whether it's in your control or not.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
  I love butter too and I weight 80kg, I am very tall(basket player level tall). None of those problems. 40 years ago Americans used to eat lots of butter and fats(way more than today) and they were fit. My advice is: Forget about eating sugar, not fat. Fat is natural, we had eaten it since man is man, fat is in animals with the meat and all tribes everywere(From Papua New Guinea to the Amazon) have horrible histories about those that did not eat fat(because those that do not become ill as fat is essential for the immune system and heart, among others) . Refined sugar is not natural, you should buy fruit as it has antioxidants and lots of fiber so you don't become addicted to sugar(fiber reduces your sugar blood concentration orders of magnitude). Never mix sugar with fat, if you do add lots of fiber, like lettuce or broccoli or fruit(if you don't like them, make an habit and you will like it over time). Replace refined rice or wheat or corn (flours) with entire grains(integral cereals). They are ugly but way more healthy. Learn to cook yourself. It took years for you to get where you are and you need to understand that you need years to get out. Don't try miracles but learn how to get healthy step by step.

aliston 14y ago

Point #2 really hit home for me. I recently switched jobs and my new job affords significantly less opportunity to get up and walk around. It is essentially in a business park and the city I live in is much more of a commuter city than I'm used to. Any suggestions on how to maintain a non-sedentary life? I usually go running or hit the gym after work, but a lot of the new research is indicating that sitting all day and then working out for an hour is quite a bit worse for you then staying mobile all day, even if the net amount of exercise is equivalent. Thinking about how much time I spend sitting at a desk is pretty depressing for me.

klenwell 14y ago
About a year ago, I picked up a set of Perfect Pushups, those rotating pushup handle things you see advertised on TV. I try to do a set of 10 each hour while I'm at work. Co-workers looked at me askance at first -- probaby still do. I've cited the studies warning about the health risks of sitting at your desk too long. Nevertheless, I try to be discreet. I still work out most days after work. But the push-ups get me out of my chair during the day, don't take more than a minute to do a set, and give brain and body a little charge. I recommend something like the Perfect Pushup -- besides all the reasons in their commercials -- because they help overcome the psychological ickiness of putting your hands on the floor (even if it is no dirtier than your keyboard.) With all the effort corporations are giving to getting their employees to walk 15 minutes a day to bring down health insurance costs, I think the Perfect Pushup makers are fools not to promote this sort of office usage for their product.
- Periodic 14y ago
  I used to do something similar. Luckily, I had a cube at the end that faced a wall. After I started feeling some wrist pains I set up a keyboard-timer, a program that was part of Gnome that locked the screen after a given interval of continuous activity. I set it to 2 minutes every 30 minutes that didn't include at least a 1 minute break from typing. During my 2 minute break I had enough time to do a set of push-ups and a set of sit-ups and would alternately go refill my water and go to the restroom. I think it ended up being akin to the Pomodoro technique because I found myself working harder and really getting into the zone to beat the timer. I also had a period where I bought a new car and started driving to work. I put on about 15 pounds over two months. I realized this and went back to biking to and from work. For me, bicycle commuting is the best way to get exercise because it doesn't feel like wasted time when I would just be sitting in traffic anyway. It can be a bit of a hassle, but I get to comfort myself with monetary savings and benefiting the environment.

einhverfr 14y ago

I suspect that there are physiological effects from computer gaming. I know that I occasionally will play a bit excessively (though not extremely so) for a few days when I am having other issues, but I have learned to moderate even that because of these things. Among others I find: 1) Interference with sleep. Will continue to see video game images when I close my eyes to sleep and won't sleep well. 2) Changes in how my eyes track things. 3) A general, physical malaise. I will feel a bit of nausea.... I don;t think the deaths are caused by exhaustion. I think they are caused by brain or hormone imbalances caused by the gaming itself.

chc 14y ago
This is based on somewhat worse evidence than the antivax movement. What you describe largely sound like symptoms of eye strain, probably combined with lack of proper exercise and nutrition. These are unpleasant conditions, but not really deadly in the way you seem to mean. Without clinical or scientific evidence, I don't think we should be spreading pet medical theories Jenny McCarthy-style.
- einhverfr 14y ago
  Suspect means "I have a hypothesis." It doesn't mean I have tested it rigorously. I don't think it is as simple as eyestrain. Also no nutritional changes can be shown during these times, and being sedentary doesn't cause these for me. The point is you start with observations, you form hypotheses, and hope that someone will test them. Regarding the antivax movement though, there really are two submovements. The first ("vaccines cause autism") is pretty silly given that the hypotheses that float dont even match the demographic data they claim it does. The second movement though which I am relatively sympathetic to is a relatively generalized hostility towards vaccine proliferation. This isn't anti-vaccine really. It is rather hostility towards ever-growing lists of mandated vaccines. I know a lot of people who say "I don't care what the CDC says. I am not giving my kid a yearly flu shot!" And many of them also question many of the newer additions to state vaccine mandates as well while often supporting requirements for the older and more major vaccines (polio, MMR, DTaP for kids, not for adults). I don't think you can just lump these together.

orangecat 14y ago

People treat diets and, to a lesser extent, exercise regimes as a transitory effort to get back to some goal weight or fitness level, at which point they seek to return to the previous behaviour. This is a mistake. And it's perfectly understandable. Eating only rabbit food and spending your free time getting sore and sweaty is unappealing for many people. Tell them that they have to do that for the rest of their lives or they won't get any benefit, and plenty will arguably rationally decide not to bother at all. I'd like to see more focus on improvements at the margin. No, I'm not going to cut out all sugar and bread, but if you tell me which of the foods I like to eat are the most and least unhealthy, I can probably make significant improvements while still enjoying my meals. Same thing with exercise; 10,000 steps per day is unrealistic for almost everyone, while taking stairs when feasible and grabbing the first available parking spot instead of wasting time trying to find a closer one is a much easier sell. Completely agreed that walking to work is great if you can arrange it. Not only is it good exercise, it avoids the car commutes that studies consistently find are terrible for your general happiness.

bradleyjg 14y ago
Exersise health benefits follow a power law. It is damn near impossible to exercise enough to double the benefits of going from completely sedentary to twenty minutes of light exersise a day plus breaking up any long periods of sitting with a minute or two of standing and stretching every couple of hours.
- gte910h 14y ago
  This comment needs to be near the top. People don't get how much just a TINY bit of daily exercise gives them.
swombat 14y ago
FYI, for the last 6 months I've cut out major sources of carbs. No rice, pasta, bread or potatoes, and no obviously super-sweet stuff (sugar, sodas, etc), and very sweet fruits (apples, cherries, pineapples, grapes...) only in moderation. I still drink beer. I make occasional exceptions (been eating some chocolate every couple of days recently since someone gifted me a whole damn box). I eat lots of veg (salads, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc) and huge amounts of meat (anything from fresh steak and home-made burgers - no bun - to chorizo, Parma ham, and other fatty meats). I still eat lots of dairy products too - cheese in particular, nice mozzarella, Camembert, gruyere, emental, etc. Result for me? I eat whenever I'm hungry, however much I feel like, and always nice food that tastes good, and my weight hasn't budged. I also don't get the 1-3pm carb coma anymore. And I feel great. YMMV, but this works for me for maintaining weight. For cutting down weight, just combine this with a calorie restriction method and daily weight measurements/charting, as per : http://danieltenner.com/posts/0018-how-to-lose-weight.html http://danieltenner.com/posts/0018-how-to-lose-weight.html

ShabbyDoo 14y ago

I live in Cleveland, but I've been working during the week in Chicago for the past year. When I first started spending time in Chicago, I noticed how thin the average person in the city is compared to Clevelanders. A year into this contracting gig, I've lost 35 pounds without much effort. Want some coffee? The good coffee shop is around the block. Want to meet some friends-of-friends for lunch? It's only a few blocks away. Nice night, maybe I should just walk "home" (I bought a condo in Chicago) -- only 1.5 miles. Oh, and because that condo was an icky short-sale condo, I end up doing stuff like scrubbing floors in the evenings. It's the little things which seem to add up. Stocking my kitchen with mostly stuff which is not awful health-wise surely helped as well.

derleth 14y ago

> The sooner you can adjust your mental view to treating food as nothing more than fuel, the better off you'll be The only reason I can imagine you'd have this idea is if you're operating under the mistaken assumption that "healthy food" and "food that you can enjoy" are mutually-exclusive categories. This ties into a lot of quasi-religious crap surrounding diet in general, which makes every fad diet an orthodoxy complete with demonic outsiders (foods absolutely prohibited and made to seem inherently unhealthy), canonized sacraments (foods that are held up as perfect and beyond reproach), and the sin-guilt-redemption cycle. Nonsense. You can lose weight eating Twinkies if you mind your caloric intake and burn more than you consume. (You'll have to watch your nutrient intake as well, but that's a given. You always need to do that to some extent.) Therefore, you can eat good foods in the right amounts and it'll work. You'll also be more inclined to stay on the diet and make it a true lifestyle change. http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/... http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/06/health/la-he-fitness-twinkie-diet-20101206 http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/06/health/la-he-fitness...

bad_user 14y ago
I agree with the general idea of your argument, but I wouldn't take the "caloric intake" theory as being the truth, precisely because there's "quasi-religious crap surrounding diet in general", much of it promoted by doctors and nutritionists. For instance I love meat in general, especially pork stake. My current diet allows me to eat meat and diary products in 1 day out of 4, but when I do, I eat a lot of it, with no restrictions other than not eating after 8 PM. I also get to eat potatoes and even refined carbohydrates, but on different days (so it's a dissociated diet). It's enough to say that my cholesterol levels are really healthy, I have more energy than ever, and I'm losing 11 pounds per month. And I do satisfy my urges, the only difference being that it's all scheduled and I don't do impulsive eating anymore. Another thing that I noticed - once you cut out drastically the sugar from your diet and white bread ... food and water taste so much better. I'm now inclined to pick up cooking as a hobby ;)
biaxident 14y ago
You might be able to lose weight with a Twinkie diet but that won't cure the diabetes.

deleted 14y ago

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ulisesrmzroche 14y ago

The only thing you really get from being one of those "food is fuel" folks is a lot of other folks making fun of you and not inviting you to "Ravioli Night". You don't wanna be that guy.

forgottenpaswrd 14y ago

"The sooner you can adjust your mental view to treating food as nothing more than fuel, the better off you'll be" Not true. This is a mechanistic approach to life, we are not machine copies. Machines are copies from us, witch is different. A machine can not repair itself or reproduce or protect itself against the aggressions of the environment. What you eat is not just fuel, but way way more complex. You eat proteins so you get aminoacids, vitamins, minerals, oils and water. If you don't eat some specific materials in specific proportions you die, no matter how many calories you give it(energy or "fuel"). E.g you could give your body too much omega 6 fat (cheap to industrial manufacture) over omega 3 fat and your body will start working very bad. In my experience traveling around the world, the anglo speaking world has no idea what eating well means. Eating for enjoyment does not mean eating pizza, hamburgers or hot dogs, there is tons of healthy food around the world that is simply delicious(look for ancient cultures).

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hessenwolf 14y ago
I couldn't agree more, except I've had a pizza in Napoli, the home of pizza, and a 'hot dog' in Germany, the home of the Frankfurter, in the last week, and it was really enjoyable! I miss Ireland for a decent burger though - the beef is much better.
NLips 14y ago
A typical two-stroke engine uses fuel that has lubricant mixed in. Tetraethyllead used to be added to petrol to allow higher compression ratios, increasing fuel efficiency. The fuel metaphor is perfectly valid.
IsaacL 14y ago
Definitely agree. Contrast anglo culture with the great "foodie" cultures: India, China, France, Italy, etc. In China I had some of the best meals I ever had for about $2 - boiled rice and a variety of vegetable/meat dishes with assorted flavours. Of course you have to go as a group to make that style of eating worthwhile, but that was hardly a bad thing. If I wanted a late-night lazy meal, I'd get a plate of fried rice or noodles from one of the little diners -- not super healthy, but way better than Big Macs. In Malaysia I eventually stopped grabbing junk food from the 7-11s (which I did for the first few days) and started buying fresh fruit from the street vendors whenever I wanted a snack. I think Anglo culture in particular has a bad relationship to food (which is a shame, as despite the stereotype, we actually had some innovative cuisine in the past). http://joshuaspodek.com/food-joy-values http://joshuaspodek.com/food-joy-values

gghootch 14y ago

"The sooner you can adjust your mental view to treating food as nothing more than fuel, the better off you'll be;" I am like this. Trust me, it is not that enjoyable. There are two major downside: 1. 90% of all food tastes meh. I seldom go a day without having eaten something I truly enjoyed. 2. You start eating too little, because you feel you haven't exactly run out of fuel just yet. Two can be particularly dangerous, at times I have almost fainted because of it. I truly recommend against training yourself this way.

eliben 14y ago

Having kids also helps you with the "walking" aspect. A daily walk around the 'hood with a stroller, and at a later age combined with some "culture-dependent ball game" time, gives you some "free" opportunities to burn them calories. P.S. besides, with kids you'll have no time for video games, so that's a solution from another angle ;-)