The fight against fat

[Nomad-wino]

A continuation of the posts in the "In the news" thread.

I actually don't like the title of this thread, regrettably I couldn't put into a few words the topic I was trying to convey. The news article that this was based on was about the USA being the world leader in Obesity. The question is: What's up with that? I went further with this and declared that I was going to change my life style and shape up. Well, not knowing if this is a topic of interest for others here, I thought we could discuss our opinions on why Americans are so overweight, the effect this is having on the United States and our personal experience in battling this problem.

Mike

[gailkate]

Last night I got further into this than I wanted to. Here's a very long article that isn't even guaranteed accurate in 2011, but it sure did get me thinking - in a crabby, how-the-hell-can-we-know-all-this way. I've been drinking skim milk and going low-fat for decades - yes, decades! - but apparently one theory is that the real obesity epidemic started when we went low-fat and high-carb.

www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

So it's time for steak, cheddar and all the butter you want - but don't put it on bread or pasta! Sheesh.

After you get sick of reading this tome you can offer any comments (hopefully, more useful than my whining and griping).

[Jane]

Because food is sooooo good, and we never have to work harder than tapping our fingers. I am lately obsessed with food, and I have gained back 20 pounds of the 40 I lost. And I can't stop!!!!

[doctork]

Food has always tasted good, well at least for many decades, perhaps centuries, but the obesity rate has sky rocketed in the past 30 years.

There is getting to be more evidence against low-fat, high-carb diets as effective weight loss plans, partly because people will use the "low-fat" label as an excuse to eat more. Sometimes "low-fat" is not low-calorie,a s sugar is added in place of the fat to maintain taste.

Our lifestyles are definitely more sedentary, as computers and service jobs replace manufacturing and farming jobs that were labor intensive. Our leisure activities involve computers more, playing tennis less. There also seems less shame in obesity nowadays.

For me, I have gained weight from exercising less, which resulted from my leg going lame. I like to swim and that is doable still, but it is much harder now that I don't live next door to a gym with a lap pool.

As far as the effect - it is a catastrophe for our population's health and well-being. It used to be that we saw Type 2 diabetes (generally not insulin-dependent) only in older adults, and almost everyone under age 25 who was diabetic had Type 1 diabetes. Nowadays we see many children and early twenty-somethings with obesity related Type 2 diabetes.

When I was a resident 30 years ago, I remember seeing one teenager who was over-weight (not obese) who had what appeared to be Type 2 diabetes; we were shocked, as we had never seen such a thing before. And we actually thought that was good news, because if the patient lost weight, maybe she would not be diabetic any more. At that time, all children had Type 1 diabetes, and would be permanently on insulin, living greatly shortened lives because of the complications of the disease.

Also associated with obesity are high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney failure, cancer, more complicated pregnancies and higher C-section rates, and a whole bunch of other medical illnesses.

[Nomad-wino]

The results of my recent physical indicated a strong need for me to lose weight and be more physically fit; mainly because of my liver and heart. About 4 weeks ago I made a list of things and types of things that I would eliminate or drasticlly cut back on in my daily diet; as well as the things I would/could eat. This is how it breaks down:

Avoid/reduce:
Beef and Pork
Fatty foods, Fried foods
Pasta, white rice,
Pastries, baked goods, bread, crackers, cake, cookies
Mayonnaise, butter, margarine, creamy dressings
Cheese, milk
Soft drinks
Sugar and sweets
Processed and cured meats (Spam, bacon, sandwich meat, ham, sausage)
Alcohol

Things I will eat:
Turkey, Chicken, Fish
Tofu, beans
Brown rice
Vegetables
Fruit
Yogurt

To do list:
Exercise (I walk a lot)
Drink two liters of water a day

So far, this is working well for me. My weight is slowly coming down and I feel good.

The exception to the above is that when I'm traveling I may eat things that I'm trying to avoid in order to be socially acceptable or because there isn't a choice. Also, I do drink wine on Fridays and Saturdays.

Mike

[BoatBabe]

You are My Hero, Mike!

[joew]

Yikes! You've just about eliminated my entire diet, Mike.

Well, I do eat vegetables every day and yogurt a couple of times a week. And I have fish twice a week. And I don't have a lot of sweets. And I never touch margarine.

No doubt, I'd stop my gradual weight gain, and even start losing, if I ate less of the good stuff on your first list. But so far, I'm not sufficiently interested in doing so. So avoid one for me!

[gailkate]

I love the "Let Mikey do it" solution!


I've been vegetarian for about 15 years, or at least no-mammals for that liong. But the anti-starch theory also includes many veggies. Did you notice the kerfuffle this week about new school menu guidelines that limit peas and corn? (We already learned the lesson on french fries and fried potatoes, not that anyone pays a lot of attention.) Since MN is one of the biggest producers of corn and peas, everyone went nuts, and Sen. Franken even asked for a re-ealuation. I don't remember if he proposed a bill, but it was formal defense of peas and corn.

One trouble with tofu and lots of soy products is that they can influence estrogen and testosterone levels.

For at least 5,000 years, soybeans have been a staple in the Asian diet, along with soybean food products like tofu, tempeh and miso. Due to their long history as a widely consumed food, soybeans are generally considered very safe to eat.
Identification
Soybeans are a member of the pea plant family and are rich in protein, fiber and many other nutrients. Soy is the only plant-derived food that contains all the essential amino acids like meats, and soybeans also contain the phospholipid called lecithin. Another key constituent found in soybeans is the phytoestrogen substance known as isoflavone. Soy isoflavones appear to affect the body's estrogen receptors to either increase or reduce the hormonal effects of estrogen in the body, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center....


People sometimes use dietary soy and soy supplements to help lower their cholesterol levels, prevent osteoporosis and hormone-related cancers, and ease menopausal symptoms...... Additionally, soy is a common food allergen like milk, peanuts, wheat and eggs, which can produce sometimes life-threatening allergic reactions in some people. Soy protein may also cause side effects like bloating, constipation, diarrhea and nausea.Dangers
Consuming substantial amounts of dietary soy or taking soy supplements could pose dangers for some people, particularly those who have impaired thyroid function or hypothyroidism..., isoflavones can reduce the iodine levels in the body, which in turn can cause the thyroid to not function properly. The isoflavones in soybeans could also reduce testosterone levels in men, which could potentially lead to infertility or erectile dysfunction, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center adds. Soy poses dangers for people with kidney disease, because it contains higher concentrations of potassium and phosphorous than other protein sources like meats and fish, notes the University of Maryland Medical Center. Because soy isoflavones can either stimulate or suppress the effects of estrogen in the body, there are some questions about whether soy could actually stimulate the growth of hormone-sensitive cancer cells. Estrogen-sensitive breast cancer is of particular concern regarding soy isoflavones
Read more: www.livestrong.com/article/368989-what-are-the-dangers-of-soybeans/#ixzz1ckQ6ECt8

Sorry all these nutrition articles are so long.

But you see the dilemma - get fat on starches, risk cancer with soy, and on and on. Oh, and be sure your fish doesn't contain mercury or PCBs. Because I avoid salt I've gotten much more addicted to sugar than I was the first 50 years of my life. And Christmas is coming! Time to make Anja's Bishop's Bread! Time to get out the cookie press Lirio gave me! time to inhale chocolate!

Forgot to sa I really applaud your diet, Mike, and it looks good to me. But there's always some damn research saying what seems like a good idea is really fraught with peril.

[Jane]

I've been veggie for about 25 years and no fish or poultry for at least five, so I eat lots of tofu, which I really like. But it (tofu and soy products) are also implicated in kidney stones, so that's a definite drawback.

And, sadly, ice cream, cake and pie are not part of the animal kingdom.

I may have mentioned this here before, but I read a study once that said:

If you crave crunchy and salty foods, you have unexpressed anger.

If you crave breads etc, you are looking for security.

If you crave sweets, you feel unappreciated.

I want them ALL, which may say a great deal about my mental state.

[joew]

And if you crave meat, you're hungry.

[liriodendron]

Unless they live in a city, Americans don't walk anywhere anymore. They drive to work and they drive their kids to school and to playdates. Plus, food is so darn easy to get now. I'd eat a lot fewer cookies if I had to bake them from scratch as opposed to grabbing them at the grocery store. The same holds true for fast food meals. I mean, when was the last time you peeled potatoes and chopped them and fried them up to make French fries?

I watched an episode of The Waltons recently with my son. Those people worked all day long! They hung the wash on the line and cooked all their meals from scratch and sent their kids on foot to the store to pick up bluing and starch. The men worked at their lumber business. They milked their own cow, for Pete's sake! We have it very easy these days and, sadly, it's not been very good for our health.

My sister (who does not weigh enough to give blood) subscribes to the "don't keep it in the house" theory. If she wants an ice cream cone so badly that she is willing to go out to the ice cream shop to buy one, then she does just that, even though it's more expensive than keeping a half gallon in the freezer. That way she eats just one ice cream cone every so often, instead of finishing off the entire half gallon in a much shorter period of time. She also has a very large dog that needs walking. I should really try harder to live like she does (says the woman with three half gallons of ice cream in her freezer right now - grocery store sales are not my friend).

I was never overweight until I had my children. Then, with each pregnancy, I never quite lost that last 10 pounds. That's 30 extra pounds in 7 years. I've bounced around, weight-wise, ever since. I've lost and gained over 40 pounds several times (which is really bad for your health). I'm now at the heaviest I've ever been, after having lost 45 pounds just a year and a half ago. I gained it all back after my mom died (plus a few extra pounds). I am clearly an emotional eater. I really need to do something to change my lifestyle and I need to start now. Weight Watchers worked well the last time I lost weight, however, I'm finding it much more difficult to get to a meeting now that I'm working two part time jobs.

Mike, does Emi like all of the foods on your "Things I Will Eat" list? I'm finding that it's especially hard to watch your diet when your family isn't watching theirs. Not that I'm blaming them, exactly (well, maybe a little bit). But gosh, it's hard not to snack when everyone else is and it's no fun to prepare a healthy meal for yourself while everyone else eats the fattening stuff (which also means preparing two meals). Does anyone else have any helpful advice for dealing with this problem?

[joew]

Lirio, rather than preparing an entire meal for yourself, would it work if you prepared one additional, healthy item for yourself and just ate little portions of everybody else's fattening stuff?

[doctork]

As I am sure I have mentioned many times, I am a big fan of Dream Dinners, a "commercial meal preparation kitchen." The nearest one is in Phoenix, so I go down there once a month and prepare a month's worth of meals in a 2 hour Saturday morning session. The meals are very nutritious, and most are under 350 calories per serving, and they even come with "suggested side dishes" for those of us who are not too creative in meal planning.

Recently my friend Jody - the one who lives in Scottsdale - started going to Dream Dinners with me. She has recently lost 157 pounds (!!) through diet and exercise, not bariatric surgery. She is truly inspiring to me, so at least once a month, I get a reminder of what is possible, what I should do. I do not need to lose 150+ pounds, but if she can do that, what is my problem with a measly 20, 30 or 40 pounds?

During the year I was here in Arizona by myself, I would cook the 3-serving meal, have one for dinner, one for lunch the next day, and the third a night or two later. I also subscribed to the "don't keep it in the house (or hotel room)" theory, so I just gradually lost about 20 pounds without even trying.

Then Howard arrived, and he does the grocery shopping - two or three times per week, and buys all kinds of junk food. Plus he eats two servings of a Dream Dinner and I eat one - OK, I am glad he likes the Dream Dinners (after years of complaining about them!) but I rarely have anything left over for lunch the next day. I am going to have to re-work the meal planning, as I still have another 20 pounds I would like to lose.

Lirio, when our kids were still at home, I made the 6-serving Dream Dinners, still eating just one serving myself, letting Howard and Spencer (and whichever of the girls might be around) eat 2 or more servings. I also limited myself to one "real serving" of any side dish. And I think you are right on the money Lirio, about exercise. People used to walk everywhere (or I rode my bike a lot, including to work, until I was 30 and we got a second car), and then routine household chores used a lot of energy. Although we got a washing machine when our first baby was born (prior to that we walked to/from the laundromat two blocks away), I still hung the clothes out on the line for another year or two until we got a dryer.

One problem I've noticed in recent years is that the definition of a "serving" has morphed into something large enough to feed a family of six! Does anyone else remember when Coca-Cola routinely came in 6 ounce bottles, and that was what you usually drank? Not 12 , 16 or 20 ounces. And furthermore, we did not drink a bottle of Coke every day either, even though my grandfather managed a Coca-Cola bottling plant for years, and I was brought up knowing that Coc-Cola was the cure for everything! (Why did I even bother with medical school anyway?). Nope, even in our family, Coca-Cola was a special treat, something you had maybe once or twice a week, if you were lucky and very well behaved.

Mike your lists are great - both the "Do's" and "Don'ts" though I eat most of the things on your "Don't" list - I just try to keep them in small portions. gk, I wouldn't worry about all that soy "bad news" as most of it applies only if you eat large quantities. Look at the Japanese (reference Mike's posts) who are among the healthiest people on the planet despite eating lots of soy products. Most people with serious enough kidney disease to need a limit on potassium, got their kidney disease through diabetes and/or high blood pressure - due to eating unhealthy diets full of everything bad on Mike's list.

And thyroid problems from lack or iodine? Hah! Salt in the US nowadays is iodized, and even if you buy the kind without iodine, there is so much salt in everything else we eat that I have not seen or heard of a goiter from iodine-deficiency sine my medical school days - and even then it was rare, occurring is isolated pockets of Appalachia. Most Americans eat a very high salt diet (and that is mostly the "sodium" in prepared foods, not from the salt shaker), and a very high protein diet. For most people, the protein requirement is 1 gram per kg of ideal body weight - that is 60 or 70 grams (2 ounces folks) - less peanut butter than a vegetarian puts on a PB&J sandwich!

As for phytoestrogens in soy - yes they are there according to the scientists, but have you ever known a peri-menopausal woman who avoids Premarin HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) by consuming "natural estrogen" to relieve all her menopause symptoms? Neither have I and I have seen hundreds, possibly thousands, of women who have tried.

I'm no nutritionist, certainly not a registered dietitian, but I try to keep up in order to give my patients good advice. Our staff dietitian quit recently so now I am trying even harder, making a little headway very slowly. So ask a real RD if any of my advice is of critical importance to you, but I think I am not far off. :-)

[liriodendron]

Today for breakfast I make myself a yogurt parfait. I put in small container of lowfat yogurt (it still had the fruit and sugar - I had grabbed it from the breakfast bar at the hotel the other day and didn't eat it until now), 1 cup of generic "Cheerios", a sliced banana, and some frozen blueberries. I had a cup of coffee with it. It tasted great.

I am now going to make myself a turkey wrap with lots of lettuce and tomatoes. It's a little later than I normally eat lunch, so I guess my breakfast kept me full until now. I'll try your suggestion for dinner tonight, Joe, and let you know how it goes. Now, if only one of you would come knock on my door and drag me out for a walk...

[Nomad-wino]

Nov 4, 2011 20:19:56 GMT -5 liriodendron said:

Mike, does Emi like all of the foods on your "Things I Will Eat" list? I'm finding that it's especially hard to watch your diet when your family isn't watching theirs. Not that I'm blaming them, exactly (well, maybe a little bit). But gosh, it's hard not to snack when everyone else is and it's no fun to prepare a healthy meal for yourself while everyone else eats the fattening stuff (which also means preparing two meals). Does anyone else have any helpful advice for dealing with this problem?

Lirio,

Emi and I always eat our meals together but we don't always eat the same things. We don't have children so that's one less thing to worry about and we both can cook so we both can fend for ourselves. If I'm having a turkey thigh and vegetables for dinner Emi will likely make a fish nabe (fish and vegetables simmered and served in a clay pot). We've been eating like this for many years, well before I decided to change my diet. Life is to short to suffer through meals that are unappetizing or unhealthy.

Mike

[Nomad-wino]

Playing with fat - words

Stepping on the bathroom scale
Watching the numbers fly by
Looking better day by day
Fewer pounds than stars in the sky
Fewer pounds than people on Earth
Fewer pounds than the national debt
Fewer pounds than I have molecules
In my big toe
And, that's a good thing in case you didn't know
Fewer than the ice crystals in an,
Igloo built of snow
I could go on forever
Discussing the state of my weight
Yet, for fear of boring everyone
I do hesitate
Suffice it to say things are going well
The plan is taking effect (or is affect?)
So I'll get off the bathroom scale
Feeling lighter than a blubber whale
Lighter than a truckload of cement
A conex box of bowling balls
A redwood tree
A metric ton
Gee my dear, ain't we having fun!

All the best,
Silly Mike
;D

[liriodendron]

I've now gone four days eating only "real" food - nothing junky. I tried your suggestion for one meal, Joe, and made some veggie stir-fry to go along with the teriyaki chicken and rice. I ate only four bites of the chicken and a small spoonful of the rice and had a large serving of the veggies. Everyone else did the opposite. I've also tried drinking more water. I'm feeling better, even if I haven't lost any weight.

[joew]

For many of us, switching from what we now eat regularly to teriyaki chicken and rice with a small serving of stir-fried veggies would be considered a step in the right direction. You've definitely kicked it up a notch.

[Nomad-wino]

The first significant indication I'm making headway on the fight against fat. Today I looked in the mirror and when I tilted my head forward something looked strange and then I realized... my chin and double chin didn't just become one big blob that blended into my neck; my chin actually stood out on it's own. That's not to say I don't still have a double chin. But I do have some definition, some structure, some Je ne sais quoi I would like to say.

Today, the chin -- tomorrow, the cheeks!

If you're wondering which cheeks, just keep wondering.

Mike

[liriodendron]

I have lost five pounds!

[Nomad-wino]

Nov 18, 2011 16:28:33 GMT -5 liriodendron said:

I have lost five pounds!

Bravo! Keep up the good work.

Mike

[BoatBabe]

Good work, Lirio and Mike!



I didn't know Thom had taken this picture until I downloaded his camera last weekend.


This is my butt getting off the boat. ;D



Every time I get chilled on the boat in the morning, I am starving all day long. I think it is that winter thingy.









I feel like I've put on ten pounds in the last week.

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