It's interesting, learning how bad some of the things are. Started learning a whole lot about that the begining of this year when a group of us started the weight loss thing. There's a lot of remarkably unhealthy food out there.
The nastiest imo are the ones masquarading as healthy, like the stuff from Panera Bread. Look at the fat and calories. You're frequently do no better than Burger King.
I've read excerpts of the book via online articles and what really disturbs me is all the SALT and sugar....in the same menu items. I really am no food expert, by why is it that a can, yes a CAN of peas or corn has salt AND sugar in it? it seems like one would cancel the other out. Also, a week ago, I bought some "all juice" fruit juice that was labelled BERRY, but had the juice of a berry as the THIRD ingredient AFTER apple juice. Oh, well, it least it didn't have any "high fructose corn syrup" as an ingredient.
My wife and I are careful about our food, and try to maintain a "healthy" diet. Blood pressure was high, so had to start watching the salt. Reading ingredients for salt was frightening. So, fewer prepared foods now, a lot more fresh. Interesting, I'm 65yo, 220#, 6'1". 1968 I weighed 235#. But, I had a 36" waist, now a 40". Huh??
In reply to cwh:
Well, they say you lose a pound of muscle every year starting around age 30. Unless you are doing strength training, presumably you've lost 35 lbs of muscle and put on 20 lbs of fat (so the experts would say anyway).
aircooled wrote:alfadriver wrote: ...I really wonder about "I'm going to eat what I want and die happy"- especially the happy part....Hey now! I hear Diabetes is a giggle fest...
WOO HOO HO HO!
Yup, real fun.
integraguy wrote: I've read excerpts of the book via online articles and what really disturbs me is all the SALT and sugar....in the same menu items. I really am no food expert, by why is it that a can, yes a CAN of peas or corn has salt AND sugar in it? it seems like one would cancel the other out. Also, a week ago, I bought some "all juice" fruit juice that was labelled BERRY, but had the juice of a berry as the THIRD ingredient AFTER apple juice. Oh, well, it least it didn't have any "high fructose corn syrup" as an ingredient.
Nope, salt is a flavor enhancer until you get to the point of it being "salty."
Thats why almost every baked "sweet" treat like cookies/cakes/etc have a pinch of salt in them.
MitchellC wrote: Here's some of my "common sense eating" This morning I ate three eggs scrambled with cheese, one large potato made into hash browns, and two pieces of wheat toast. Overall, four tablespoons of butter were used, and everything was consumed. With it I had one cup (16 oz) of French pressed coffee, black. Here's my calorie tally: Butter: 400 calories, 44 grams of fat Eggs: 213 calories, 15 grams of fat Cheese: 113 calories, 9 grams of fat Potato: 250 calories, 0 grams of fat Bread: 140 calories, 2 grams of fat Coffee: 4 calories, 0 grams of fat Total: 1120 calories, 70 grams of fat Granted, this will be my largest meal today.
Outrageous amount of fat, for the entire day, and almost as many calories as you should be eating all day.
I've got a couple of good friends who are doctors that say the "2000 calorie a day" thing from the FDA is complete E36 M3. That you should really be eating around 1300-1500 a day depending on your activity level. Which if you aren't eating crap is enough calories for PLENTY of food.
Add in the numerous studies that show a direct correlation between reduced caloric intake and increased cell life, etc etc etc
fat is not the enemy. processed grains and sugars are the enemy. my diet by calories is about 35% protein, 50% fat, and 15% carbohydrate (mostly in vegetable form), and i consume anywhere between 1500 and 2500 per day. i am currently at my leanest since i was 29 (i'm 43 now), and i'm faster on the bicycle than i've ever been in my life. since cutting way down on breads and grains, i fart a lot less than i used to. i still have a gigantic sweet tooth, and i will wreck some ice cream if it's available, but i limit that to once a week. when i want pizza, i eat pizza. but seeing and feeling the difference in my life between my "food pyramid" diet and my Atkins-like diet, i'm very happy with my current system. i stray occasionally, but i always come back to it because i know how good i feel and how well i perform on the high protien, high fat, low carb combination.
AngryCorvair wrote: fat is not the enemy. processed grains and sugars are the enemy. my diet by calories is about 35% protein, 50% fat, and 15% carbohydrate (mostly in vegetable form), and i consume anywhere between 1500 and 2500 per day. i am currently at my leanest since i was 29 (i'm 43 now), and i'm faster on the bicycle than i've ever been in my life. since cutting way down on breads and grains, i fart a lot less than i used to. i still have a gigantic sweet tooth, and i will wreck some ice cream if it's available, but i limit that to once a week. when i want pizza, i eat pizza. but seeing and feeling the difference in my life between my "food pyramid" diet and my Atkins-like diet, i'm very happy with my current system. i stray occasionally, but i always come back to it because i know how good i feel and how well i perform on the high protien, high fat, low carb combination.
+2 in this household.
And do note- processed protein may have other things in it. May. May not, too. But when you buy a slab of meat at your local store, well, you know what's in it.
Although, I do have more carbs now, running. I find that I'm very out of energy and very hungry after two hours if I don't. But it's for sure not carb loading- just a small tweak.
z31maniac wrote:MitchellC wrote: Here's some of my "common sense eating" This morning I ate three eggs scrambled with cheese, one large potato made into hash browns, and two pieces of wheat toast. Overall, four tablespoons of butter were used, and everything was consumed. With it I had one cup (16 oz) of French pressed coffee, black. Here's my calorie tally: Butter: 400 calories, 44 grams of fat Eggs: 213 calories, 15 grams of fat Cheese: 113 calories, 9 grams of fat Potato: 250 calories, 0 grams of fat Bread: 140 calories, 2 grams of fat Coffee: 4 calories, 0 grams of fat Total: 1120 calories, 70 grams of fat Granted, this will be my largest meal today.Outrageous amount of fat, for the entire day, and almost as many calories as you should be eating all day.
It's not a typical meal, believe me. 
It was more to show the true values of a diner-type meal. I consider calories from fat to be the same as calories from any other source, except thaty fat calories are not as filling as from carbohydrates, simply because there are more of them per gram.
I eat a lot of legumes and root vegetables. While I typically eat a lot of high-fat meats, like sausages, I used them as a flavor component rather than the center of the plate. I recently made white bean soup with 1/2 pound of smoked sausage, but it was spread over eight meals, and there were no other sources of fat in the dish (Only other ingredients: water, carrots, onion, garlic, salt, bay leaf, and pepper).
In reply to alfadriver:
Nope-ck the labels. Many places add stuff to that slab o meat. Example: some Albertsons pork has a decent amount of sodium.
Book are cool. Real eye-opening; I find it impossible to enjoy Cheesecake Factory now.
At work we're doing a 6 week "nutrition challenge" which basically consists of weekly food logs. Oh did I mention we get 4 days off for doing it? Suweet.
My macronutrient split for the past three weeks has been 2000-2500 calories a day split among 5-6 meals, with 50-60% carbs, and protein getting the higher end of the rest of the split. I'd say I eat pretty damn well, since about February I've really thrown myself into eating better and getting fit; minimal processed foods, transfats, or HFCS. Oh and lots of fiber.
Want to see high sodium?
Flip over a box for the regular supermarket "taco kit"!...
Some of the most unhealthy people out there are the ones who can (and usually do) eat whatever they want & still have Iggy Pop'esque body fat...
The best you can possibly feel energy wise is to eat about every 3 hours with a range of 60/20/20 to 40/30/30 carbs/fat/protein, 2000-2500mgs sodium, 2000-3000 calories and a minimum of 8 cups of water a day. Start the day with starches high and proteins/fats low and end the day with starches low and fiber/protein/fat high. If you are very good at sticking to the the 3 hour meal intervals stick with the slightly higher carb plan and you will maintain higher blood sugar and higher energy levels throughout the day. If you have a very irregular schedule the higher carbs and irregular meal time will let your blood sugar crash and lead to binges. Stick with lower carbs and your body will never have quite the energy level/blood sugar, but you will never crash/binge.
In reply to MrJoshua:
beyond the occasional pizza, i never strayed from my low-carb diet while i was training for the 200-mile bicycle weekend i completed in July. energy level was never an issue. perhaps my performance was independent of my dietary changes over the last 18 months, and was purely the result of riding in the Carolinas three days a week for almost a year.
i do know that i never crash on my high-protein, high-fat, low-carb diet, unless i'm just not getting enough sleep -- posted with tongue in cheek at 11:30 PM when i have to get up in 6 hours. 
how is a higher energy level beneficial when i have a job that doesn't require a higher energy level? all that unburned blood sugar just kicks up insulin production, doesn't it?
Again, to echo Angry- My morning is virtually carb free- just the fruit that ends up in a small shake. Egg whites + two sticks of sausage. I'm fine all the way to lunch.
The only time I crashed on this low carb diet was the first week, when I was basically having carb withdrawls.
Been on the low carb style for almost a decade now, and still feel great. Running like Angry rides.
Calories are not calories- your body uses sugar to make energy. so it takes almost no energy to intake sugar. Next is starch- pretty easy to turn starch to sugar (you beer makers know that). Up the line a lot is fat and protien. yes, if you burn fat to create heat, there's a lot of it there. A lot. And if you are already in excess mode, where you have more than enough sugar, you will likely barely process the fat, and then store it.
OTOH, if you are using your liver to process the fat into sugar- that takes some work, and there's the rub.
IMHO, we really don't fully understand how our bodies process food. Especially when many are currently "saturated" with enough sugar vs. being sugar deprived. From what I can observe in my own body, it's not normal at all for us to be totally flush with either sugar or most grains- especially us northern Europeans.
Fat is bad if it's with sugar or other simple carbs. Fat by itself isn't.
BTW, a lot of the low carb theories are getting into the distance running crowd- there were some interesting articles in Runners World about it. They, too, suggest that during training you train yourself to go without. Which will help your liver get up to optimum performance. Something to consider- for the average distance runner (not elite (lightweights) or beginners (heavier)- you use 100cal/mile. Or just over 2600 cal per marathon. Now, you can't eat and store over 2000 cal of carbs that you can use over a 4 hour window. OTOH, everyone has an extra pound of fat that can be converted to energy, as long as your liver is up to it.
I digress. I'm very happy with the low carb diet. And start back running from a foot injury tonight.
Otto_Maddox wrote: I hate getting old. I can't believe that I actually read all this with interest now.
I'm not old and if I don't watch what I eat I'll go from zero to fatass in under 5 seconds 
As a counterpoint to the Atkins type people, I eat tons of carbs and stay very healthy. I do try to make the carbs complex when possible. If I eat lots of high fat foods, I feel slow during exercise.
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