so, i have an appointment with a nutritionist.

[vash]

haha..

i have a crap family (health) history. i'm okay for now, but my doctor is super proactive and wants me to have all the tools available to keep at it.

low carb, low fat..i do admit it is confusing.

for example. "sweet potatoes are better than regular potatoes"..i kinda get it. but isnt the extra sugar in a sweet potato no bueno?

i did do the wise thing..i scrolled down the list of nutritionist and i think i chose the hot one.

[Arizona_928]

Have to keep an open mind. Maybe he'll find you attractive...!

[vash]

Haha.

Touché!

[wdfifteen]

I recently read an article about the cure for our generally poor health. It’s health coaches - nutritionists/physical trainers/psychologists who meet with students (they don’t want to call then “patients”) on a regular basis to advise and assist them in living a healthy lifestyle. Sounds like you are on the right track.

[recycled sixtie]

Being married to a dietician it is not rocket science. Know how to read food labels. For instance know how much sugar and fat are in foods. Know how much salt is in food.

For instance frozen yoghurt has much less fat than ice cream. Substitute sour cream with plain yoghurt. Whole wheat bread is healthier than white bread. More fibre in it.

After a while eating healthily becomes a habit.

[vash]

That’s just it. Take whole wheat bread. I seriously think it’s mostly white flour.
I’ll keep an open mind.

[pete3799]

Bring a Snickers bar with you.....

[dan88911]

Vash, you should buy your bead from a real bakery which bakes whole bread the old fashion way.
Not that packaged garbage in the super markets.

As for sugar in the food and drinks divide grams per serving found on the label by 4.3 = the number of teaspoons per serving size.

Look up the benefits of a "whole food plant based diet". You will be amazed at the amount of information/studies that show what happens to the body. And I'm not talking vegan junk food. It's a different way of living but very doable.

[brainz01]

I accidentally went down this road for the better just over 2 years ago. A friend at work stopped eating all grains, starches, and simple sugars -- only meat and veggies for him. I quizzed him and he recommended that I read "The Paleo Solution" by Robb Wolf for a more detailed explanation of why he did it.

So I bought the book and one Friday night I managed to read most of it -- it was actually an enjoyable, funny read. After explaining all the science, Wolf's punchline was as follows: Try a low carb diet for 30 days -- if it works, great. If not, well, it cost you 30 days of eating some other way.

Admittedly, changing my diet was a bit confusing at first, but it's not rocket surgery. Breaking the sugar habit was initially hard -- those first several days were strange (and there's sugar hidden in almost everything) -- but you'll push through. I lost 10 pounds in the first week, and I never did the diet to lose weight -- I never thought I had 10 pounds to lose. A couple weeks in I reached "The Enlightenment" -- the brain fog, hunger, and tiredness was gone. I was a convert -- and in the two years since, I've lost a total of 20 pounds, and resolved (through only diet an vitamins) a whole series of other chronic health issues I'd tolerated for years. I'm a believer.

My friends and family were all concerned about my newfound love of salt, fat, meat, and cruciferous vegetable (well, maybe not the veggies). So I went down the rabbit hole of studying diets and the medical research to make sure I wasn't trading one set of health problems for another. Suffice to say, after much research and reading, I discovered that most of the American dietary recommendations are not based solid science (but rather on keeping a population from starving) -- take a look at "The Big Fat Surprise" by Nina Tiecholz if you want to see what I'm talking about. Indeed, low carb diets, including Paleo or Ketogenic diets (the former being higher protein, and the latter higher fat) are increasingly recognized as far superior diets from a health perspective than the high carb, low fat diet that's dominated for the past 30-40 years (not coincidentally the same time frame during which diabetes, obesity and related diseases have skyrocketed). The reason why is the body's elevated insulin response to chronic consumption of carbs (i.e., what most people eat these days) makes us fat, makes us more hungry, and it fosters many chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and Alzheimers.

I've got about a half dozen friends and family members that have made a similar switch with similar positive results. I lost the least weight (again, I didn't do it to lose weight and have actually fought to keep my weigh up), whilst others have lost as much as 50 pounds. All report feeling MUCH better. It's pretty remarkable stuff.

I could go on an on. Happy to answer questions or point you to reference materials. Count me as a Low Carb believer. Best wishes on your journey.

[aigel]

Keep us posted!

I doubt a nutritionist will recommend a low carb diet or other extreme. It will be a balanced diet that she will recommend and just eat less processed foods and less calories daily. Low carb is great if you worry about diabetes but if you have heart disease running in the family, I doubt high fat, red meat and lots of salt is going to cut it.

Cheers,

G

[ckelly78z]

Go for whole milk rather than 2%, use amish made butter rather than that oil based margarine, use tortilla/pitas rather than processed bread, choose ice water rather than soda pop, stay away from salty snacks, watch sodium levels on the labels, eat fruit and veggie with every meal, stay away from processed prepackaged food, eat yogurt instead of ice cream, nuts and dried fruits instead of chips.

It's all about choices, and choosing to pick the better option will help.

[zelrik911]

My Doc said to do it slow & methodical, nothing extreme. So I have been doing this 'healthy eating' for a couple of months, I now read the food labels and reduce my sugar intake whenever its practical.

Started by changing my breakfast first and I have gotten used to a smaller meal with more fibre and lower fat.
Next I have moved onto snacks, and have substituted nuts and fruit instead of sweet pastries, crisps or biscuits to accompany any drink ( I find that I snack a lot more - but the food is healthy!)

Next step will be lunch, I haven't finalised what I will have for lunch but but it will be healthier (and include fish).

Thinking I will go full Paleo for dinner, when the time comes, however I will have to bring the wife around first. I guess I will need more red meat to give me full tummy satisfaction but she has some girly theory about extra meat not being good!!!

I also walk briskly for 20+ minutes in the evening, just to the level where I get a bit breathless. But I dont overdo this either.

I can feel that this is improving my health and reducing my weight.
Good luck with it.

PS: I went to the local gym, but there were too many young hot chics there in Lycra and i couldn't concentrate.

[wdfifteen]

The way your body functions and how you work with it is a factor in whether or no you will succeed. I have a friend who was identified as a “volume eater” by a nutritionist. He would eat a 2 1/2 pound steak and a pound of French fries before he felt full. No diet that restricted the volume of food he ate was going to last long because his system was always telling him he was hungry. I went to dinner with him once after he started his new food choices training he ordered a small piece of salmon, double order of green beans, double order of asparagus, and a huge salad with lemon juice dressing, and drank a quart of iced tea. He had been over 300 pounds and is now around 200 and still stuffing his face.
It is important to know what motivates you to eat, what motivates you to end your meal, and what kinds of food let you feel satisfied when you walk away from the table.

[ckelly78z]

After 53 years, I have figured out what my body, and health need to keep regular, maintain 185# @ 5'-10", and have energy to remain VERY active. I do drink alot of ice water, and avoid sugury snacks much more than I used to. Getting plenty of sleep, and reducing stress, are big contributing factors as well.

[brainz01]

[QUOTE=Mark Wilson;10189564]https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322881.php

There's a lot wrong with using this study for the basis of any medical guidance. In particular it's meta and epidemiological and defines "low carb" as the lowest quartile of carb consumption for the studied population. And the "low carb" group in this study is consuming more than 5 times the average daily carb intake of what actual low carb diets are recommending. I'd debate whether it has any useful value.

Ironically, just one year ago, at the same conference where the above study was released, this study was presented with exactly the opposite results -- that low carbs, high fat was the way to go: https://www.tctmd.com/news/pure-investigators-rethink-diet-guidance-plug-more-fats-fewer-carbs

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. Unfortunately, the medical field is awash in questionable recommendations when you start to dig in to the actual studies.

[GH85Carrera]

[QUOTE=brainz01;10190257]

Originally Posted by Mark Wilson

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322881.php

There's a lot wrong with using this study for the basis of any medical guidance. In particular it's meta and epidemiological and defines "low carb" as the lowest quartile of carb consumption for the studied population. And the "low carb" group in this study is consuming more than 5 times the average daily carb intake of what actual low carb diets are recommending. I'd debate whether it has any useful value.

Ironically, just one year ago, at the same conference where the above study was released, this study was presented with exactly the opposite results -- that low carbs, high fat was the way to go: https://www.tctmd.com/news/pure-investigators-rethink-diet-guidance-plug-more-fats-fewer-carbs

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. Unfortunately, the medical field is awash in questionable recommendations when you start to dig in to the actual studies.

Precisely. What works great for one person will be a horrible torture for another person.

The simple thing taught to all of us all our life, eat a BALANCED diet, exercise more and eat enough to maintain weight, and nothing to excess. My aunt got into some real mumbo jumbo poppycock diet and her nutritionist had her pulping carrots and rubbing that on her stomach to cure a stomach ache. We finally got her to a real doctor and she had some real issues that medical science cured.