Diets and health for Christians

[GodsStudent]

I have known these people for more than 10 years, and whether or not people here want to look into their product is not an issue....they have clients worldwide, and most of the wholistic doctors and many dentists and like I said, many cancer treatment facilities across the world who DONT use radiation, but supplements and pure foods are his clients....so.....ya know.....They have been in business for a long time and his reputation is worldwide. He travels all over the planet, literally, giving seminars and such on not only this, but a wide range of topics....he is a brilliant scientist and human being.....

I only wanted to share what I know, and am not trying to sell their product. I just happen to be very familar with Beta 1 3D glutan due to my very long term friendship with these people. As to the purity and quality of his product, I think it says a lot that he sells in bulk in many countries, and that dentists and doctors all over the world pursue him for his product (dentists use it to give to patients before highly invasive procedures to both boost the immune system and to prevent serious inflammation.....). They also sell it to many people here in America who are trying to fight cancer. I have seen many pictures of cancer coming straight out of the body due to this and other treatments (such as purified fruits and vegetables and other stuff these people do and take to get rid of it). An interesting thing to know is that cancer comes out exactly where it is in the body. Example: If its in your lungs, it will come up out of your chest in a big black mass.....its freaky to see the pictures, but, amazing to know that this is what happens.

[bchandler]

I only wanted to share what I know, and am not trying to sell their product. I just happen to be very familar with Beta 1 3D glutan due to my very long term friendship with these people.

Which is why I prefaced my comment the what I did. As I said... I know nothing about him or his product. It just occurred to me that isolating beta glucans for use, while possibly of great benefit, might not be as good for us as a broader spectrum of beta glucans, terpenoids, anti-inflammatories, oxygenators, and glucose modulators all rolled into one plant.

I wouldn't mind some information on your friend's product... I would like to see what he has done with these beta 1-3D glucans. Sounds like someone who at least has his head in the right place regarding curing people rather than treating them forever.

[bchandler]

Godstudent,

So... I did some looking into the products produced by your friends company, and I must say it is very interesting.

I find myself wondering if nutritional yeast, which is also rich in vitamin b-12, that we vegans need to consume to ensure we get enough b-12 might also be rich in beta 1,3-D glucans? If so... it would be another strong reason to add nutritional yeast flakes to the vegan diet.

From a whole foods standpoint it seems that a wider variety of these immune system boosters are available in a diet containing a mix of bakers yeast (maybe nutritional yeast?), fungi (mushrooms), and fresh whole grains such as rye and oats. Most vegans have a diet pretty rich in these foods to start with, but knowing how to target specific foods when needed for extra immune system support is very useful knowledge IMO.

This commercial product uses a single class of beta 1,3-D glucans. and from what I can see based on the information provided there are at least 4 classes. Linear (produced by bacteria), Short branched (produced by yeasts), Long branched (produced by fungi), and for lack of a better term, Bunched (produced by grains like oats and rye).

The yeast based glucans appear particularly effective against fighting types of sarcoma. But in research did not show good anti-tumor protection against other forms of cancer. Interestingly the studies, as is common on science research, tested the effectiveness of an isolated form of beta 1,3-D glucans. What this means is that while you may get a good immune system boost from an isolate like this, the science seems yet to be done on the effectiveness of a therapy that uses a broad spectrum of beta 1,3-D glucans from a variety of sources.

So, just as with the research on beta carotene, the health benefits of beta carotene are enhanced when consumed with a balanced, broad spectrum of carotenoids, and reduced efficacy or even harm can occur when consumed alone in therapeutic doses. I suspect that, while no harm may come from consuming an isolated beta 1,3-D glucan like this, we will likely see a better result from consuming a broad spectrum of beta 1,3-D glucans from a variety of sources.

Fortunately, 3 of the 4 sources identified are readily available as food. So, preventive eating is a good strategy for keeping your immune system strong before you ever develop cancer, or other diseases.

If you are fighting a health challenge such as cancer though, if it were me... here is what i would do:

1. Go on a whole green juice fast. Extremely high in chlorophyl, phytonutrients and anti-oxidants. (carrot base, with as much parsley, rye, and wheat grass as you can stand, red beet, and as many other dark leafy green veggy juices as you can come up with).
2. When I do eat solid food again, I would eat only whole live fresh foods. Heavy on the greens, with a mix of red yellow/orange, and red/purple vegetables.
3. Immediately start a regimen of the broadest spectrum of food based anti-cancer agents. This yeast based beta 1,3-D glucan seems to be a good one, the Tiaga mushroom tea seems another excellent source, and dehydrator cured oat and rye breads seem like a good 3rd source.
4. Ensure I was eating a broad spectrum of mushrooms, whole grains, and various nutritional/bakers yeasts.

So, thank-you for the information Godstudent. It brings one more piece of the picture into focus for me. Beta Glucans are a new area of information for me, and I love it when God brings the pieces of the picture together so you can begin to see some part of the whole.

This information has really encouraged me again, that I am on the right course with this vegan diet. The more I learn the more I see how God so wonderfully provided for our health and vitality and intended for us to eat an extremely broad range of plants, fruits, seeds, nuts, etc... And almost all of it seems to work better when consumed raw, or if cooked at all, done below 100 degrees, such as with a food dehydrator.

[GodsStudent]

Im going to send you a PM, BChandler, because I don't want to put personal information in a post, but suffice it to say, I would like to put you in touch with, if possible, the scientist himself.....and if not, my friend who owns this company.

The basis of our friendship is completely unrelated to their business....I actually met my girlfriend years before she opened her company, at my accountant's office. We maintained our friendship when she left, and I watched her set up her business back in the 90s....that said, I haven't taken a serious interest in her business, but in the course of conversation, I do know that they go all over the planet (literally) concerning their product, and I have heard lots of interesting "stuff" about wholistic medicine from them and generally, about some of the amazing things wholistic medicine can do in the body (ie: the pictures I have seen of cancer literally coming up out of the body, etc.).

They also sell a salty tasting vitamin c that I get (for free, of course).....I use this all the time to purge my body of any virus that might want to take over. Its awesome!

[RaptureReady]

25 Ridiculously Healthy Foods
Pile your plate with these nutrition superstars.
By the Editors of Prevention


The following power foods can claim big bragging rights: They can fend off serious diseases like diabetes and cancer and heart problems; fortify your immune system; protect and smooth your skin; and help you lose weight or stay slim.

If you're eating most of them already, good for you! If not, now's the time to load up your shopping cart and supercharge your health!

1. Eggs

Egg yolks are home to tons of essential but hard-to-get nutrients, including choline, which is linked to lower rates of breast cancer (one yolk supplies 25 percent of your daily need) and antioxidants that may help prevent macular degeneration and cataracts. Though many of us have shunned whole eggs because of their link to heart disease risk, there's actually substantial evidence that for most of us, eggs are not harmful but healthy.

People with heart disease should limit egg yolks to two a week, but the rest of us can have one whole egg daily; research shows it won't raise your risk of heart attack or stroke. Make omelets with one whole egg and two whites, and watch cholesterol at other meals.

2. Greek yogurt

Yogurt is a great way to get calcium, and it's also rich in immune-boosting bacteria. But next time you hit the yogurt aisle, pick up the Greek kind—compared with regular yogurt, it has twice the protein (and 25 percent of women over 40 don't get enough). Look for fat-free varieties like Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt (90 calories and 15 g of protein per 5.3-ounce serving).

3. Fat-free milk

Yes, it does a body good: Studies show that calcium isn't just a bone booster but a fat fighter too. Recent research from the University of Tennessee found that obese people who went on a low-calorie, calcium-rich diet lost 70 percent more weight than those who ate the least. Vitamin D not only allows your body to absorb calcium, it's also a super nutrient in its own right. Recent research found that adequate D levels can reduce heart disease risk, ward off certain types of cancer, relieve back pain, and even help prevent depression, but most of us don't get nearly enough of the 1,000+ IU daily that most experts recommend.

A splash of milk in your morning coffee isn't enough to provide the calcium and vitamin D you need. Use milk instead of water to make your oatmeal, have a glass with breakfast, or stir some chocolate syrup into it for an after-dinner treat.

4. Salmon

Salmon is a rich source of vitamin D and one of the best sources of omega-3s you can find. These essential fatty acids have a wide range of impressive health benefits—from preventing heart disease to smoothing your skin and aiding weight loss to boosting your mood and minimizing the effects of arthritis. Unfortunately, many Americans aren't reaping these perks because we're deficient, which some experts believe may be at the root of many of the big health problems today, like obesity, heart disease and cancer.

Omega-3s also slow the rate of digestion, which makes you feel fuller longer, so you eat fewer calories throughout the day.

5. Lean beef

Lean beef is one of the best-absorbed sources of iron there is. (Too-little iron can cause anemia.) Adding as little as 1 ounce of beef per day can make a big difference in the body's ability to absorb iron from other sources, says Mary J. Kretsch, Ph.D., a researcher at the USDA-ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, Calif. Beef also packs plenty of zinc (even minor deficiencies may impair memory) and B vitamins, which help your body turn food into energy.

If you can, splurge on grass-fed. Compared with grain-fed beef, it has twice the concentration of vitamin E, a powerful brain-boosting antioxidant. It's also high in omega-3 fatty acids. Because this type of beef tends to be lower in overall fat, it can be tough—so marinate it, and use a meat thermometer to avoid overcooking.

6. Beans

It's hard to imagine a more perfect food than beans. One cooked cupful can provide as much as 17 g fiber. They're also loaded with protein and dozens of key nutrients, including a few most women fall short on—calcium, potassium and magnesium. Studies tie beans to a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and breast and colon cancers.

The latest dietary guidelines recommend consuming at least three cups of beans a week—three times the measly one cup we usually get. Keep your cupboards stocked with all kinds: black, white, kidney, fat-free refried, etc. Use them in salads, stuffed baked potatoes, and veggie chili or pureed for sandwich spreads.

Did you take your vitamin today? Be sure you're not missing these 5 important nutrients most women miss.

7. Nuts

In a nutshell: USDA researchers say that eating 1.5 ounces of tree nuts daily can reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes. Walnuts are rich in omega-3s. Hazelnuts contain arginine, an amino acid that may lower blood pressure. An ounce of almonds has as many heart-healthy polyphenols as a cup of green tea and a half cup of steamed broccoli combined; they may help lower LDL cholesterol as well.

The key is moderation, since nuts are high in calories. Keep a jar of chopped nuts in your fridge, and sprinkle a tablespoon on cereal, salads, stir-fries, or yogurt. Or have an ounce as a snack most days of the week.

8. Edamame and tofu

Soy's days as a cure-all may be over—some claims, such as help for hot flashes, don't seem to be panning out—but edamame still has an important place on your plate. Foods such as tofu, soy milk and edamame help fight heart disease when they replace fatty meats and cheeses, slashing saturated fat intake. Soy also contains heart-healthy polyunsaturated fats, a good amount of fiber and some important vitamins.

Soy's isoflavones, or plant estrogens, may also help prevent breast cancer. Some researchers believe these bind with estrogen receptors, reducing your exposure to the more powerful effects of your own estrogen, says Prevention adviser Andrew Weil, M.D. But stick with whole soy foods rather than processed foods, like patties or chips, made with soy powder. Don't take soy supplements, which contain high and possibly dangerous amounts of isoflavones.

Get more nutrition, natural medicine and healthy living advice from Dr. Weil's blog.

9. Oatmeal

Fiber-rich oats are even healthier than the FDA thought when it first stamped them with a heart disease-reducing seal 10 years ago. According to new research, they can also cut your risk of type 2 diabetes. When Finnish researchers tracked 4,316 men and women over the course of 10 years, they found that people who ate the highest percentage of cereal fiber were 61 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

To reap the benefits, eat a half cup daily—preferably unsweetened. For a versatile breakfast, top with different combinations of fruit, yogurt and nuts. You can also use oats to coat fish or chicken or add texture to meatballs.

10. Flaxseed

Flaxseed is the most potent plant source of omega-3 fats. Studies indicate that adding flaxseed to your diet can reduce the development of heart disease by 46 percent—it helps keep red blood cells from clumping together and forming clots that can block arteries. It may also reduce breast cancer odds. In one study, women who ate 10 g of flaxseed (about 1 rounded tablespoon) every day for two months had a 25 percent improvement in the ratio of breast cancer—protective to breast cancer—promoting chemicals in their blood.

Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of flaxseed a day on your cereal, salad or yogurt. Buy it preground, and keep it refrigerated. Find more high-fiber power foods here.

11. Olive oil

Olive oil is full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats (MUFAs), which lower "bad" LDL cholesterol and raise "good" HDL cholesterol. It's rich in antioxidants, which may help reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, like Alzheimer's.

Look for extra virgin oils for the most antioxidants and flavor. Drizzle small amounts on veggies before roasting; use it to sauté or stir-fry, in dressings and marinades, and to flavor bread at dinner in lieu of a layer of butter or margarine.

12. Avocado

These smooth, buttery fruits are a great source of not only MUFAs but other key nutrients as well. One Ohio State University study found that when avocado was added to salads and salsa, it helped increase the absorption of specific carotenoids, plant compounds linked to lower risk of heart disease and macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. "Avocados are packed with heart-protective compounds, such as soluble fiber, vitamin E, folate and potassium," says Elizabeth Somer, R.D., author of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet.

But they are a bit high in calories. To avoid weight gain, use avocado in place of another high-fat food or condiment, such as cheese or mayo.

13. Broccoli

Pick any life-threatening disease—cancer, heart disease, you name it—and eating more broccoli and its cruciferous cousins may help you beat it, Johns Hopkins research suggests. Averaging just four weekly servings of veggies like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower slashed the risk of dying from any disease by 26 percent among 6,100 people studied for 28 years.

For maximum disease-fighting benefits, whip out your old veggie steamer. It turns out that steaming broccoli lightly releases the maximum amount of sulforaphane.

14. Spinach

We'll spare you the Popeye jokes, but spinach has serious health muscles. For one thing, it contains lots of lutein, the sunshine-yellow pigment found in egg yolks. Aside from guarding against age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, lutein may prevent heart attacks by keeping artery walls clear of cholesterol.

Spinach is also rich in iron, which helps deliver oxygen to your cells for energy, and folate, a B vitamin that prevents birth defects. Cook frozen spinach leaves (they provide more iron when cooked than raw) and serve as a side dish with dinner a few times a week.

15. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are our most common source of lycopene, an antioxidant that may protect against heart disease and breast cancer. The only problem with tomatoes is that we generally eat them in the form of sugar-loaded jarred spaghetti sauce or as a thin slice in a sandwich. For a healthier side dish idea, quarter plum tomatoes and coat with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Roast in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 20 minutes, and serve with chicken.

16. Sweet potatoes

One of the best ways to get vitamin A—an essential nutrient that protects and maintains eyes, skin, and the linings of our respiratory, urinary, and intestinal tracts—is from foods containing beta-carotene, which your body converts into the vitamin. Beta carotene-rich foods include carrots, squash, kale and cantaloupe, but sweet potatoes have among the most. A half-cup serving of these sweet spuds delivers only 130 calories but 80 percent of the DV of vitamin A. Replace tonight's fries with one medium baked sweet potato (1,096 mcg) and you're good to go—and then some.

Think you can't have potatoes because of the high-carb content? Discover why potatoes are nature's fat-burning breakthrough.

17. Garlic

Garlic is a flavor essential and a health superstar in its own right. The onion relative contains more than 70 active phytochemicals, including allicin, which studies show may decrease high blood pressure by as much as 30 points. High consumption of garlic lowered rates of ovarian, colorectal and other cancers, according to a research review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Allicin also fights infection and bacteria. British researchers gave 146 people either a placebo or a garlic extract for 12 weeks; garlic takers were two-thirds less likely to catch a cold.

The key to healthier garlic: Crush the cloves, and let them stand for up to 30 minutes before heating them, which activates and preserves the heart-protecting compounds, according to a 2007 study from Argentina.

18. Red peppers

Citrus fruits get all the credit for vitamin C, but red peppers are actually the best source. Vitamin C may be best known for skin and immunity benefits. Researchers in the United Kingdom looked at vitamin C intake in 4,025 women and found that those who ate more had less wrinkling and dryness. And although getting enough vitamin C won't prevent you from catching a cold or flu, studies show that it could help you recover faster.

Vitamin C has other important credentials too. Finnish researchers found that men with low levels were 2.4 times likelier to have a stroke, and Australian scientists recently discovered that the antioxidant reduces knee pain by protecting your knees against arthritis.

19. Figs

When you think of potassium-rich produce, figs probably don't come to mind, but you may be surprised to learn that six fresh figs have 891 mg of the blood pressure-lowering mineral, nearly 20 percent of your daily need—and about double what you'd find in one large banana. In a recent five-year study from the Netherlands, high-potassium diets were linked with lower rates of death from all causes in healthy adults age 55 and older. Figs are one of the best fruit sources of calcium, with nearly as much per serving (six figs) as a half cup of fat-free milk.

Serve by chopping and adding to yogurt, cottage cheese, oatmeal or green salads. Or enjoy them as a savory snack: Cut a slit in the side and stuff with a half teaspoon of a low-fat version of a soft cheese such as chèvre or Brie.

20. Blueberries

Blueberries may very well be the most potent age-defying food—they're jam-packed with antioxidants. When researchers at Cornell University tested 25 fruits for these potent compounds, they found that tangy-sweet wild blueberries (which are smaller than their cultivated cousins) packed the most absorbable antioxidants. Research shows a diet rich in blueberries can help with memory loss, prevent urinary tract infections and relieve eyestrain.

Add up to a half cup of blueberries to your diet a day for maximum health benefits, recommends Ronald Prior, Ph.D., adjunct professor of food science at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. This alone provides just about double the amount of antioxidants most Americans get in one day.

Adding berries to your diet and following these simple rules can help you slow memory loss and prevent Alzheimer's disease.

21. Asian pears

One large Asian pear has a whopping 10 g of cholesterol-lowering fiber, about 40 percent of your daily need. People who ate the most fiber had the lowest total and LDL cholesterol levels, according to a recent study of Baltimore adults. The same researchers found that people who ate the most fiber also weighed the least and had the lowest body mass index and waist circumference.

Serve by dicing it into a salad of Boston lettuce, crumbled goat cheese, walnuts and mandarin oranges. Or make it a dessert: Add peeled and cored pears to a saucepan with 1 cup white wine, 1 teaspoon honey, 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger and enough water to cover the pears. Cover and simmer 40 minutes or until pears are soft.

22. Lychee

A French study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that lychee has the second-highest level of heart-healthy polyphenols of all fruits tested—nearly 15 percent more than the amount found in grapes (cited by many as polyphenol powerhouses). The compounds may also play an important role in the prevention of degenerative diseases such as cancer.

Serve by peeling or breaking the outer covering just below the stem; use a knife to remove the black pit. Add to stir-fries or skewer onto chicken kebabs to add a sweet, grapelike flavor.

23. Apples

One of the healthiest fruits you should be eating is one you probably already are: the apple. The Iowa Women's Health Study, which has been investigating the health habits of 34,000 women for nearly 20 years, named apples as one of only three foods (along with pears and red wine) that are most effective at reducing the risk of death from heart disease among postmenopausal women. Other massive studies have found the fruit to lower risk of lung cancer and type 2 diabetes—and even help women lose weight.

In fact, one of the only things that could make an apple unhealthy is mixing it with sugar, flour and butter and stuffing it into a mile-high pie. Instead, have one as an afternoon snack with a tablespoon of peanut butter, or add slices to sandwiches or salads.

24. Guava

Native to South America, this tropical fruit is an excellent source of skin-healing vitamin C, with 250 percent of your RDA per serving. One cup of guava has nearly five times as much C as a medium orange (377 mg versus 83 mg)—that's more than five times your daily need. It's also loaded with lycopene (26 percent more than a tomato), which may help lower your risk of heart disease. And according to research by microbiologists in Bangladesh, guava can even protect against foodborne pathogens such as Listeria and staph.

You can buy guava juice, or simmer chunks in water as you would to make applesauce. Guava also makes a super smoothie: Blend half a banana, half a ripe guava, a handful of strawberries, a half cup soy milk and a few ice cubes.

25. Dark chocolate

Thank you, dark chocolate, for making us feel good—not guilty—about dessert. Dark chocolate is filled with flavonoid antioxidants (more than three times the amount in milk chocolate) that keep blood platelets from sticking together and may even unclog your arteries.It may also help with weight loss by keeping you feeling full, according to a study from Denmark. Researchers gave 16 participants 100 g of either dark or milk chocolate and two hours later offered them pizza. Those who consumed the dark chocolate ate 15 percent fewer calories than those who had milk chocolate, and they were less interested in fatty, salty and sugary foods.

Try a chocolate with 70 percent or more cocoa. Two tablespoons of dark chocolate chips with fresh berries as a midafternoon snack or after-dinner dessert should give you some of the heart-healthy benefits without busting your calorie budget.

Provided by Prevention

http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100247366&GT1=31036

[xdrifter]

As far as low carb diets go, Carbs are an excellent source of energy, and in fact they burn quick...

But the trouble with carbs, or any food, is if you have little or no physical activity in your life.

There are books and gimics, a lot of diets will work, but on the same principles....

Intake vs output.....

If you do not do any physical activity and eat a lot, you are storing energy, which in turn becomes fat.

With a surplus of fat, and lack of muscle, your system becomes less efficient at producing a good output since you naturally become less prone to be active the less active you become.

It is that simple... Intake, output.... If you burn more calories then you take in, you will lose weight, regardless of what you eat.

The trick is to start eating only for sustinence, as opposed to eating for the mere enjoyment, or routine, or (insert reason here).

On an average work day, I work a 10 hour shift, then eat one large meal at the end of the day... I have been doing this for over 9 years, and contrary to what books will tell you I am in excellent shape, I have an extremely good bill of health as far as blood pressure and cholest. the thing is, no one thing works for every person, every individuals body is different, and has different needs, and different deficiencys... so the key to finding a healthy balance for yourself is deciding if you are overweight, or underweight, and adjusting calorie intake according to your output, or how much physical activity you do...

Face it, you do not need to be eating a whole lot carbs which are high in energy if you do not do any physical activity.


But don't just avoid carbs.. because I think the benefits from bread for example (because of nutritional value) far outweigh the damage it does if you are inactive and avoiding carbs... I think rather then avoid carbs, you should take a morning walk, and get your fibre, as opposed to avoiding every carb, and the nutrition it has to offer on account of it being a carb.

Carbs have been demonized.. but they are great staples for creating energy. If you are inactive, ditching carbs will make you lose weight because you are not intaking calories you are not getting rid of, but on the flipside, if you ditch carbs, you will arguably become even less likely to get active because you are avoiding foods that are very high energy.

I hope that makes sense?


The one thing I think everyone should avoid altogeather is Sugar..... If there is one thing that is safe to avoid, that will lead to weight loss it is anything sweet (minus sweets derrived from natural fruits, again there is benefits involved here at least)

If you avoid sweets altogeather, which again falls under "pleasure" eating, and eat simply for sustinence.... taking in less calories then you expend in a day, you will lose weight.

If you wish to gain weight, take in more calories then you spend in a day (all of this is guaged on how much physical activity you do... there is no precise measurement needed)

It doesn't take a lot.... If you notice any active kids, are typically not overweight, and people claim it is because they have a fast metabolism... But it does not take a lot of activity to burn calories, just a little bit regularly....

On the contrary, if you are in a routine, of habitual lazing around, maybe you work an office job, and the most walking you do is to your car... or to the kitchen hehe.. well, that is what creates a slow metabolism, and that inactivity, makes you more prone to be inactive... and everything you eat, goes straight to the gut.


The people who sucessfully lose weight, and keep it off are the people who do not look at losing the weight as the battle, but they look at changing their current lifestyle... The habbits you are currently in are what put your body in that current state it is in.. If you do diets, or work out plans, for the sole purpose of getting that beach body, or shaving pounds, it might work, but so long as it is a job to do rest assured you will wind up putting the weight back on.


You need to make the concious decision to change your life by A. becomming more active, somehow... be it walking the dog 10 feet further down the street each day, or learning how to play tennis... Lifestyle change is what will lead to lasting body change,, most importantly you have to enjoy it...

SO dont rely on ditching carbs, carbs are not so evil....

Ditch sweets! get active, eat for sustinence! learn to gorge on fruits and vegetables if you must gorge or you are a big snacker.... it will either teach your sub concious that you dont really enjoy snacking so much if your not a big fruit and veggie fan, or it will boost your immune system with wicked anti bodies and nutrients making it more efficient!

[Salty Skipper]

On an average work day, I work a 10 hour shift, then eat one large meal at the end of the day

There's nothing wrong with that at all, and works for many people. When I've been at my healthiest, I have eaten much this way. I used to have a doctor, now retired, that has eaten this way (1 meal) for many years and is extremely healthy. And very lean. He says that Americans just eat way, way too much, and I think that most of us would agree. The only times in my life I have gained weight are when I've tried to eat like "normal" people eat...3 meals a day, or even the now popular 5-6 small meals a day. My body doesn't run well on those numbers; however, I'm sure it works well for many people. We all have to find something that works for us that we can do for a lifetime. For those struggling, hang in there! Eat as the Lord directs you and get some physical activity in.

[jgilberAZ]

If you do not do any physical activity and eat a lot, you are storing energy, which in turn becomes fat.

Chemically, though, how does that happen?

There are several hormones in the body that tell your fat cells to release their stored up energy. There is only one hormone that tells your fat cells to store energy. And, that ONE hormone is insulin. When insulin is high, it overrides the other hormones, and your fat cells store energy. It's that simple. And, our body only produces insulin in response to carbohydrates. No carbs, no insulin, no fat deposition.

It is that simple... Intake, output.... If you burn more calories then you take in, you will lose weight, regardless of what you eat.

I'm sorry ... but that just is not true. Chemistry and anecdotal evidence contradicts that statement.

Please read this:

What if it's all been a big fat lie?

If the members of the American medical establishment were to have a collective find-yourself-standing-naked-in-Times-Square-type nightmare, this might be it. They spend 30 years ridiculing Robert Atkins, author of the phenomenally-best-selling ''Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution'' and ''Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution,'' accusing the Manhattan doctor of quackery and fraud, only to discover that the unrepentant Atkins was right all along. Or maybe it's this: they find that their very own dietary recommendations -- eat less fat and more carbohydrates -- are the cause of the rampaging epidemic of obesity in America. Or, just possibly this: they find out both of the above are true.

The science behind the alternative hypothesis can be called Endocrinology 101, which is how it's referred to by David Ludwig, a researcher at Harvard Medical School who runs the pediatric obesity clinic at Children's Hospital Boston, and who prescribes his own version of a carbohydrate-restricted diet to his patients. Endocrinology 101 requires an understanding of how carbohydrates affect insulin and blood sugar and in turn fat metabolism and appetite. This is basic endocrinology, Ludwig says, which is the study of hormones ...

The answer provided by Endocrinology 101 is that we are simply hungrier than we were in the 70's, and the reason is physiological more than psychological. In this case, the salient factor -- ignored in the pursuit of fat and its effect on cholesterol -- is how carbohydrates affect blood sugar and insulin. In fact, these were obvious culprits all along, which is why Atkins and the low-carb-diet doctors pounced on them early.

The primary role of insulin is to regulate blood-sugar levels. After you eat carbohydrates, they will be broken down into their component sugar molecules and transported into the bloodstream. Your pancreas then secretes insulin, which shunts the blood sugar into muscles and the liver as fuel for the next few hours. This is why carbohydrates have a significant impact on insulin and fat does not. And because juvenile diabetes is caused by a lack of insulin, physicians believed since the 20's that the only evil with insulin is not having enough.

But insulin also regulates fat metabolism. We cannot store body fat without it. Think of insulin as a switch. When it's on, in the few hours after eating, you burn carbohydrates for energy and store excess calories as fat. When it's off, after the insulin has been depleted, you burn fat as fuel. So when insulin levels are low, you will burn your own fat, but not when they're high.

And, please watch this (one caveat ... it does show nudity, but, they are old (pre WWII) black and white photos from a German medical book used to show the different ways that the body deposits fat. You can fast-forward over that portion (24:30 min to 30:00 min):

Big Fat Lies

He also has a book:
Good Calories, Bad Calories

You just can't argue with the chemistry.

We tend to look at overweight people as having no self control, as if they are overweight because they somehow can't control their eating ... ie, as if there is something mentally (or emotionally) wrong with them. That simply is not correct. It is not due to an eating disorder, it's due to the underlying chemistry and the body's response to what we eat. Different people respond differently chemically. And, it's a vicious cycle. As you gain weight, the insulin response becomes more dramatic. Your body produces more insulin in response to carbs than it would if you weren't overweight. Those who are overweight are fighting an uphill battle against their own body. It's physical, not psychological. And, the answer is to cut out carbs (sugared drinks, breads, pasta, etc).

Please do the research. Medical science is starting to come around to the fact that pushing a high carb low fat diet is what is causing the obesity and diabetic epidemics that started when they started pushing that diet.

On a similar note, this video is good. It deals only with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS):

Sugar: The Bitter Truth


- Jeff

[xdrifter]

Chemically, though, how does that happen?

There are several hormones in the body that tell your fat cells to release their stored up energy. There is only one hormone that tells your fat cells to store energy. And, that ONE hormone is insulin. When insulin is high, it overrides the other hormones, and your fat cells store energy. It's that simple. And, our body only produces insulin in response to carbohydrates. No carbs, no insulin, no fat deposition.

When you put fuel in your car, and you drive it, the fuel burns... If you fuel up your car, and leave it sit for 12 months, and try and start it, the engine will not turn over, because the fuel will not be good anymore, now you wind up with a tank, and gas lines full of bad fuel.

Is the fuel at fault? or is it the fact that the owner of the car left it sitting idle for so long? Carbohydrates are very good sources of energy for the body... I will not argue that the body produces insultin in response to carbs, but I can assure you that carbs will not become fat if you are physically active, carbs have always been known to provide a lot of energy, which burns quick.


I am no chemist, so instead of tailoring my diet (based on chemical properties) I find it easier to apply two rules... eat for sustinence, not pleasure, and not laze around too much.

I am no mechanic, but my car runs fine, because I maintain it... I do not need to understand my body, so long as I maintain it.

I think the other thing that people fail to realise is that the hunger they think they have throughout the day is actually thirst... Most people do not drink enough water. One should drink enough water (when it is available) in a day that their urine is white (which means your system is clean)

The diet industry has made a large fortune by publishing "science" and selling diet plans and gimmicks.. when millions of men and women throughout history have lived healthy lives by simply trusting GOD, the designer of their body... but here is the thing... JOHN warns us to stay away from certain sins, he describes them as "sins unto death", gluttony is one of them.


Regardless of how smart an explanation can sound, in explaining to me how the body works my response will be the same... NO two bodies respond the same, or present the same variables so then there can be no reliable science to fix this problem for all with exception to prescribing the things GOD hasn't already made available.


God despises slothful people... He really does not smile on laziness, laziness and gluttony are a deadly combination, and I believe the condition of many overweight people is a result of these two things (i understand there are exceptions - if your legs do not work you cannot be exspected to be very active). I believe the fix that will work for everyone is a life style change which means incorporating more physical activity into their life, and eating for sustinence, not pleasure.

A simple walk everyday can work wonders.

Salty, I agree, whoever decided that we should eat 3 times a day? throughout most of history this was not the case... I will not trust modern society to tell me what I should be doing to stay healthy, given its track record.

When I was a child I was out playing all day, I would come home and eat supper, fortunately I have a job that puts me in the same routine, and I am pretty lean. I have been off work for 5 months, where I did not do a whole lot physically, and even eating as little as I do I put on weight. Being physically active is essential.

I understand how hard it is to get physically active these days, and I admit, if it were not for having a physically demanding job I would not be in good shape... apart from work I am not very active at all. It is difficult these days with cars, couches, computers, and tv, it is just too easy to be lazy these days.

The challenge is not losing weight, the challenge is actually finding a way to incorporate phsyical activity into your life without it seeming like an inconevienence?


If you consider how much physical activity the average person actually does, in comparison to how much food they consume... It is usually very dispurportionate.

The problem with scientific studies on the effects of specific foods in the body, and the question they cannot answer is, are the chemical reactions we see in the body the cause, or the result? While science claims to have found cures to problems based on these chemical reactions there is no way of ever answering that age old question of what came first, the chicken? or the egg? If the chemical reactions science claims are the cause are in fact the effect, the evidence would be in the fact that their cures do not actually cause weight loss in all human beings.

Apply the same ideology to the input=output logic, throw in a little physical activity... compare results.

A PHD, or Masters degree don't make them right.

If cutting all the carbs out of you diet causes you to lose weight, I believe it is because you ate a lot of carbs.... Let me rephrase that, if proteins accounted for 70% of the excess food you ate, and you eliminated protein from your diet, of coarse you would lose weight.

I do not believe carbs themselves are the culrpit.

[ampersand]

xdrifter is right.

Every physician knows that obesity in a NORMAL person is directly related to energy intake vs energy utilization and that

1 g of protein or carbohydrate -> 4kcal
1 g of fat -> 9kcal

The CHO intake is broken down to glucose, as jgilberAZ pointed out, and used for energy and some for fat deposition. However, all fat intake is deposited in adipose tissue. So to say that fat is not the "culprit" is not quite correct. There needs to be a balance of fat, protein, and CHO, but a strictly low carb diet isn't the answer for obese OR non-obese patients.


And jgilberAZ, most people respond "chemically" in the same manner to whatever is put into their bodies. Only those with some kind of "problems" respond differently. So, it is not correct to say

Every obese person has genetic/other metabolic abnormality.

It is, however, correct to say that a patient with genetic/other metabolic abnormality could be more likely to become obese (depending on the what the metabolic deficiency is, of course). Not every metabolic deficiency leads to obesity. Most obese patients are NORMAL patients with an imbalance of energy input vs energy utilization.

You also mentioned that the obese patient makes more insulin. But this is due to the fact that he/she has become insulin-resistant. So the extra insulin produced does not directly lead to greater weight-gain, b/c there is concurrent insulin-resistance. Eventually however, even the insulin production becomes uncoupled from glucose levels and obese pts. develope Type 2 diabetes. Then, they're they have (1) insulin resistance and (2) insulin underproduction. It is a vicious cycle, but it can be curbed PRIMARILY (in the normal pt.) by exercise.


&

[jgilberAZ]

I am no chemist, so instead of tailoring my diet (based on chemical properties) I find it easier to apply two rules... eat for sustinence, not pleasure, and not laze around too much.

So, fat people eat for pleasure and are lazy? Right.

You've taken a physiological problem and made it a behavioral problem.

(BTW, I am not fat. I'd like to lose another 10-15 pounds, but my wife thinks I'm crazy.)

How does your energy in - energy out equation handle this scenario:

A rat that hibernates every year uses the summer to store up fat. If you take that rat and restrict it's calories, it still stores up fat for the winter. How does that happen? According to the E(in)-E(out) hypothesis, the rat should be skinny. The answer: The rat stores fat because it is genetically predisposed to store fat.

Or, how does your energy in - energy out equation handle this (this actually happens): A person looks emaciated from the waist up, yet looks obese from the waist down. Are they consuming too many calories in the lower half, and too few in the upper? Or, are they exercising the upper half too much, and not exercising the lower?

Everyone's body deposits fat in different amounts, at different rates, in different places. Some people's bodies are predisposed to produce an overabundance of insulin in response to carbohydrates. These people will get fat even if they eat the same thing you do, and exercise the same amount you do. Come on. You know people like that. Some people eat like birds and can't lose weight. Other people eat like horses and are thin as a rail. There is a genetic component that involves more than "don't eat for pleasure and don't be lazy."

Just read the links and watch the movie, above.

And for those who are overweight ... don't buy the garbage that you have a behavioral problem. I'm not saying no one does. But, there are many people who try to lose weight by diet and exercise and it does NOT work for them. Why is that? Are they just too lazy? Can they just NOT control what they eat? No. Their body is working against them. They need to understand that carbohydrates = insulin = fat. Period. Restrict your carbohydrates and you WILL lose weight.

Please, read/watch the links I posted, above.

Every physician knows that obesity in a NORMAL person is directly related to energy intake vs energy utilization

Every physician?

I could produce links to those who disagree with you.

This kind of stereotyping of those with a weight issue is just plain wrong. For many, it is in fact due to their behavior. But, for many many others, it isn't. It's physical, not behavioral.

[ampersand]

Essentially, you have presented an obese patient WITH a genetic/metabolic disorder as a model for all obese patients. This is deceptive.

NORMAL obese pts (those without a d/o) are obese because of the Ein vs Eused issue. Actually, even those WITH a d/o are obese b/c of an Ein vs Eused problem, though, granted, their d/o may enhance the energy stored (as fat).

It is fundamentally an intake vs utilization problem, regardless whether the energy utilization is compromised by a disorder.

It's TRUE that you will lose weight in the long run if you cut carbs, but that's b/c you have reduced energy intake and therefore need to get it from your adipose tissue. So, it's still energy intake vs utilization.

Your rat scenario is dubious - where does the rat get the fat? It has to be from glucose, protein, or dietary fats. It doesn't appear from thin air b/c of genetics. If the rat is putting on weight w/o any CHO intake, it must be that it is getting the triglycerides from other sources - namely dietary fat and possibly (?) protein.

I would like a real example for the waist-up/waist-down scenario, as well. Emaciated from waist-up, but fat from waist-down? I don't know - I haven't heard of that one, yet.

You seem against the notion that fat people eat b/c of laziness or for pleasure. Well, when they're obese, they acquire metabolic problems, so perhaps at that point you can point to 'physiology' as the culprit. But before they get to that point - what is the 'culprit'?

NORMAL people with NORMAL eating habits don't become obese.
NORMAL people with ABNORMAL eating habits most likely will become obese.
ABNORMAL people with NORMAL eating habits most likely will not become obese.
ABNORMAL people w/ ABNORMAL eating habits most likely will become obese.

(where an ABNORMAL person is one with a d/o that prevents proper energy utilization, and an ABNORMAL eating habit is uncontrolled intake of CHO, fat, and protein.)


Don't point to a person with a d/o as the model patient for all obese patients.

[ampersand]

Every physician knows that obesity in a NORMAL person is directly related to energy intake vs energy utilization

Every physician?

I could produce links to those who disagree with you.

This kind of stereotyping of those with a weight issue is just plain wrong. For many, it is in fact due to their behavior. But, for many many others, it isn't. It's physical, not behavioral.

I meant:

Every good physician...

&

[jgilberAZ]

You obviously haven't watched the videos, above.

This comes from the blurb on the "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" video page:

Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin.

He argues against the calories in - calories out hypothesis.

Is he not good physician?

- Jeff

[xdrifter]

A rat that hibernates every year uses the summer to store up fat. If you take that rat and restrict it's calories, it still stores up fat for the winter. How does that happen? According to the E(in)-E(out) hypothesis, the rat should be skinny. The answer: The rat stores fat because it is genetically predisposed to store fat.

Or, how does your energy in - energy out equation handle this (this actually happens): A person looks emaciated from the waist up, yet looks obese from the waist down. Are they consuming too many calories in the lower half, and too few in the upper? Or, are they exercising the upper half too much, and not exercising the lower?

Put simply, we are not rats. The scientific comparison between people, and rats or chimpanzees for example simply has no basis. Human beings are governed by their own free will, a human beings decisions have direct impacts on their psysiology, as well as their spirit; while rats, and other animals are goverened by the laws of nature.

Everyone's body deposits fat in different amounts, at different rates, in different places. Some people's bodies are predisposed to produce an overabundance of insulin in response to carbohydrates. These people will get fat even if they eat the same thing you do, and exercise the same amount you do. Come on. You know people like that. Some people eat like birds and can't lose weight. Other people eat like horses and are thin as a rail. There is a genetic component that involves more than "don't eat for pleasure and don't be lazy.

Again, I say to you, is this scientific observation (of insulin) a result of the problem, or the problem itself. While science makes many claims in the medical field, physical and psychological, a lot of their "cures" only lead to more symptoms in other areas and only work to mask a problem (there are exceptions for example anti-virals).

Many of the new scientific observation seems to be based on observation of chemical reactions within the body.

My problem is that the scientific community forgets to tell people these are "reactions" and there is no way of proving they are the cause.



While on the other hand, I have never seen an overweight person who is physically active, and who does not gorge on food.

[burien1]

While on the other hand, I have never seen an overweight person who is physically active, and who does not gorge on food

Using the word 'gorge', certainly says a lot about your attitude towards the subject to begin with.



Edit to add; I have a mother-in-law who has been BIG, the whole time I`ve known her, up till now. I have never , ever seen her overeat, or gorge as you want to call it. The only thing she ever over indulged in was watermelon, on occasion. She has always been very active, even having 2 jobs once. She is now 85 and broke her hip a year ago. She still eats the same amount, but is no longer active. She has lost over 6o ilbs, and is still losing.

Everyone in my family has always been thin and could eat whatever and as much as we wanted, without getting fat. My mother eats bacon every other day, and always has cookies, donuts, cakes, candy sitting everywhere in her kitchen, and stays thin and has the cleanest arteries the doctor has ever seen in a 73 year old. We were having lunch one day and her plate was heaped full of desserts. Pudding, cake, brownie, and no fruit as usual. A very overweight man walked by our table with a little yogurt ice cream cone. My thin mother looked at him and said "Look at that fat hog 'gorging' on that cone." My mom and her friend thought it was just disgusting that the fat person had indulged in dessert. That wasn`t what I found disgusting at all.

[AndCanItBe]

But, there are many people who try to lose weight by diet and exercise and it does NOT work for them. Why is that? Are they just too lazy? Can they just NOT control what they eat? No. Their body is working against them. They need to understand that carbohydrates = insulin = fat. Period. Restrict your carbohydrates and you WILL lose weight.

I agree. I've seen this happen with my mother. She had been on so many diets, and was by no means lazy or one who gorged. Overate yes, but not gorged. She was told she was borderline diabetic, so she learned from the diet to control her carbs, how to tell what a portion of carbs should be for a meal or a snack, and to eat little meals more often. It's hard to get past the carb cravings, but once she did she said it was much easier. She lost about 50 pounds in a year. I admire her so much for doing this. I find it practically impossible to get past the carb cravings. I get so grumpy. It's my understanding, carbs can actually increase your appetite and make you want more, while fiber and protein make you feel fuller and less hungry, so if you're eating too many carbs, I agree that your body really is fighting itself.

[ampersand]

But, there are many people who try to lose weight by diet and exercise and it does NOT work for them. Why is that? Are they just too lazy? Can they just NOT control what they eat? No. Their body is working against them. They need to understand that carbohydrates = insulin = fat. Period. Restrict your carbohydrates and you WILL lose weight.

I agree. I've seen this happen with my mother. She had been on so many diets, and was by no means lazy or one who gorged. Overate yes, but not gorged. She was told she was borderline diabetic, so she learned from the diet to control her carbs, how to tell what a portion of carbs should be for a meal or a snack, and to eat little meals more often. It's hard to get past the carb cravings, but once she did she said it was much easier. She lost about 50 pounds in a year. I admire her so much for doing this. I find it practically impossible to get past the carb cravings. I get so grumpy. It's my understanding, carbs can actually increase your appetite and make you want more, while fiber and protein make you feel fuller and less hungry, so if you're eating too many carbs, your body really is fighting itself.

That is simly awesome, ACIB!

It just shows that even someone like your mother had to work at it, but eventually she overcame her problem by taking control of the situation.

&

[AndCanItBe]

But, there are many people who try to lose weight by diet and exercise and it does NOT work for them. Why is that? Are they just too lazy? Can they just NOT control what they eat? No. Their body is working against them. They need to understand that carbohydrates = insulin = fat. Period. Restrict your carbohydrates and you WILL lose weight.

I agree. I've seen this happen with my mother. She had been on so many diets, and was by no means lazy or one who gorged. Overate yes, but not gorged. She was told she was borderline diabetic, so she learned from the diet to control her carbs, how to tell what a portion of carbs should be for a meal or a snack, and to eat little meals more often. It's hard to get past the carb cravings, but once she did she said it was much easier. She lost about 50 pounds in a year. I admire her so much for doing this. I find it practically impossible to get past the carb cravings. I get so grumpy. It's my understanding, carbs can actually increase your appetite and make you want more, while fiber and protein make you feel fuller and less hungry, so if you're eating too many carbs, your body really is fighting itself.

That is simly awesome, ACIB!

It just shows that even someone like your mother had to work at it, but eventually she overcame her problem by taking control of the situation.

&

True. She had taken control many times before, though, and been defeated by picking the wrong part of her diet to control.

[xdrifter]

Using the word 'gorge', certainly says a lot about your attitude towards the subject to begin with.

I am sorry if it seems like I am emotionally detached from the subject, that is the case with me and a lot of topics that tend to be hard for others to discuss openly, it is not that I do not have feelings but that I do not let my emotions get in the way of realising logical solutions. As for my additude, I have overweight people in my immediate familly, and I have not said anything here I have not been known to say to them, my "attitude" towards the subject is not rooted in anything else other then the same truth I approach any other topic with, my goal is not to hurt anyones feelings, but at the same time I will not avoid using a word simply because it might hurt somones feelings. I speak to my familly members about this because I know how much fuller their lives would be if they were to take control of their eating habbits. I have a sister for example, who is absolutely drop dead georgous, but overweight, she is single and in her thirties, still living at home, character wise this woman is great and I know that all that is holding her back from a fuller life is her weight.

I am not sure if you made the comment on my 'attitude' and told that story because you believe I am one of these people who walk around making snarky remarks at overweight people, I think that is an unfair judgement to pass based on the fact I used the word 'gorge' alone. Just to be clear about what gorge means.




gorge
1  /gɔrdʒ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [gawrj] Show IPA noun, verb, gorged, gorg⋅ing.
–noun
1. a narrow cleft with steep, rocky walls, esp. one through which a stream runs.
2. a small canyon.
3. a gluttonous meal.
4. something that is swallowed; contents of the stomach.
5. an obstructing mass: an ice gorge.
6. the seam formed at the point where the lapel meets the collar of a jacket or coat.
7. Fortification. the rear entrance or part of a bastion or similar outwork.
8. Also called gorge hook. a primitive type of fishhook consisting of a piece of stone or bone with sharpened ends and a hole or groove in the center for fastening a line.
9. the throat; gullet.
–verb (used with object)
10. to stuff with food (usually used reflexively or passively): He gorged himself. They were gorged.
11. to swallow, esp. greedily.
12. to choke up (usually used passively).
–verb (used without object)
13. to eat greedily.



Focus on this one,

10. to stuff with food (usually used reflexively or passively): He gorged himself. They were gorged.


To stuff with food. How many people these days eat, until they are full? maybe even two to three times a day? couple that with little to no physical activity and I say to you, what more explanation do you need as to why they are overweight? If that food energy is not being used it needs to get stored somwhere. Also, while the uses of the word are described as being used reflexively, or passively, the irony is that people who gorge usually eat food reflexively, or passively.



I do not believe there are otherwise healthy people out there who are over weight, and do not eat reflexively or passively, who are physically active on a day to day basis, with the few obvious exceptions of those who cannot be physically active because of physical disabilities that hinder their movement, i truly feel for these people, because try as they might to be physically active in their daily lives (that physical activity may involve operating their electronic wheel chair for example) they are prohibited by issues that are beyond their control.

Just to be clear as to what I was talking about, you can refer to my previous posts, which in short say that physical activity, and eating for sustinence, not pleasure, are two traits common in people who are not overweight.. as opposed to the very opposite in those who are. I agree that there are some exceptions, and those people will not find this claim offensive, because behind the scenes they realize that they are not secretly gorging.

I mentioned that people should stay away from all sugary foods (with exception to fruit sugars), and I mean that regardless of if you are skinny, or fat, for the simple fact that there is nothing beneficial in sweets for your bodys sustinence, this is purely a pleasure food which usually, for obvious reasons encourages "gorging".

I am sorry if you think by my choice of words I am being harsh but to be quite honest that is not my intent, so I personally will not allow myself to feel one bit of remorse asif I said something offensive, I am sorry on the other hand that you are offended by my opinion, so I invite you to skip over my posts in the future.

[bchandler]

Well, after reading through the new post... I just had to respond to several points.

1. It is a absolutely incorrect to still be making the calories in / calories burned argument. There are just too many factors that determine what, when, and how a person's body burns calories. Some of us can burn 1000 calories a day doing nothing... while others can gain weight on 300 calories per day. There are many factors that not only determine whether our metabolisms are fast or slow, but also when our bodies burn or store fat. The pure calorie argument is as dead as the Dodo. Dr. Atkins, Dr. Sears, and Dr. Fuhrman have proved this in their practices both experimentally and practically. IMO Atkins was an extreme, Zone (Sears) struck a nice balance (pun intended), and Fuhrman is the healthy extreme which can be used to reverse alot of the metabolic and genetic damage caused by the SAD (Standard American Diet).

2. To accuse all overweight people of gorging themselves (gluttony) is IMO uncalled for, unkind, and unloving. Do we eat too much? well... volume wise, the answer is NO! Calorifically, the answer is YES! We eat too much fat and too much carbohydrate... but... it isn't just that we eat too much of them, but that our diet is contaminated with perverted forms of these macro-nutrients that actually are addictive, harmful, and drive us to eat more. Worse, is that the food conglomerates know they are addictive, harmful, and put the stuff in our food for exactly that reason... as well as the fact that these harmful ingredients are cheaper, and extend the shelf life of foods. There is nothing wrong with eating until you are full!!! The problem is we are eating a deliberately poisoned, addictive, harmful food supply!!! BUT!!! We can pretty much eat as much fresh fruit and veggies as we want, and still lose weight... If you have health challenges... including weight, read any of Dr. Fuhrman's books and read Dr. Sears Omega Rx Zone book.

3. Are there people who are fat because they sin in how they eat? Sure... But! Most of us are fat because our food supply has been systematically poisoned to make us fat, addicted, and craving more. This point brings me to the next issue I wanted to discuss.

The list published earlier in the thread about super foods... The animal products at the top of the list are absolutely not healthy if they are procured through commercial sources!!! The only exception being wild caught salmon!! Farmed Salmon and all of the other farmed animal produce listed there are terribly harmful to your health, and milk DOES NOT do a body good!

IMO, the only safe way to consume ANY animal produce these days is to raise/produce it yourself so you know your produce isn't coming from sick, medicated, hormoned, infected sources, and so you know it wasn't fed a grain (high carbohydrate) diet. Thecarbohydrate diet causes both animals and humans to make the bad fat AA (Arachadonic Acid) which is responsible for metabolic syndrome X and all of it's attendant diseases. (stroke, BP, heat attack, diabetes, etc...)

ALL animal products are ACID forming, NOT alkalizing. There are much better clean sources for protein and calcium.

Romain lettuce, Brocolli, and most other leafy green vegetables have more protien per pound than a steak!! They also have more calcium than dairy products.

Insulin is the bodies fat storage hormone... glucagon is its opposite. keeping insuline low, by restricting sugars (carbs) is essential to your body going into fat burning mode! But there are good fats that are necessary for your body to burn fat well also. These are Omega 3 fats known as ALA, EPA, and DHA. ALA can be found in flax, DHA and EPA are found in wild caught fatty sea fishes, and sea algae. little critters eat the seal algea, and it is concentrated on up the food chain in the flesh of fatty sea fishes. (salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, etc...)

If you only have a small amount of Money to spend on supplements... Here are my recommendation.

5000 units daily of Vitamin D. D is the key to unlocking over 2000 gene functions we know of... vitmain C is the key to only 1 vitamin D is like a master vitamin that allows all of your other nutritional efforts to work as much as 10 times better for you.

an Omega 3 fat source where 50% or more of the dosage is the combination of DHA and EPA.

A calcium supplement that includes magnesium and boron in chelated form. (for example, as a citrate, or a gluconate).

Lastly... if you are dieting, be sure the dressing for your salads contains 0 fat... use balsamic vinaigrette and vinegar dressings flavored with fruit juices, such as crushed raspberries, or crushed mandarin oranges.

remember these facts:

People with slow metabolisms live longer
People who eat a calorie restricted diet live longer
People who have a slow metabolism and eat a calorie restricted diet live a lot longer!! 120-200+ years!!!

If you can come to terms with the idea that the salad is the main course, you can experience the most vibrant health of your life. Guaranteed!

[jgilberAZ]

Good post, BC.

One question ... I've been told you shouldn't take D unless you also take A.

Any thoughts?

- Jeff

[ampersand]

...

1. It is a absolutely incorrect to still be making the calories in / calories burned argument.

...

remember these facts:

People with slow metabolisms live longer
People who eat a calorie restricted diet live longer
People who have a slow metabolism and eat a calorie restricted diet live a lot longer!! 120-200+ years!!!

...

[ampersand]

Good post, BC.

One question ... I've been told you shouldn't take D unless you also take A.

Any thoughts?

- Jeff

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17145139

[bchandler]

ampersand,

While you are fundamentally correct that if you take in more calories than you burn, you can gain weight, there are many factors that play into how many calories you burn... not to mention that a healthy GI tract can also REJECT a lot of calories that you don't need.

When you are eating healthfully, your body doesn't only burn off excess fuel, it can also dump a lot of stored fuel without ever burning it.

so... it isn't only about calories in versus calories out.

Your body can also be storing fat, while at the same time breaking down it's own muscle tissue for energy... because insulin is too high!!

Insulin is the master hormone that MUST be controlled in order for weight loss to occur!!! This is why the glycemic index is sooooo important. If we focus our diets on taking in foods with the slowest glycemic conversion profiles (how fast carbs get converted to blood sugar) we keep our insulin profiles low, glucagon stays high, and our bodies run on the most efficient, calorie dense fuel possible.... FAT!!!!!!!

What foods will keep us in this magical fat burning zone? Fresh fruits and veggies... plain and simple... especially berries on the fruit side!!! You could probably sit around doing nothing and eat all the fresh berries and veggies you want and still lose weight, because most people's bodies would burn more calories processing the food than are contained in the food.

This is a really good thing for people trying to lose weight. But think about it this way... you are still on a very high fat diet... it is just that the fat is already stored on your body!!!

This kind of high nutrient low calorie diet does two things... it lowers your metabolism... making it more efficient, and it is restricted enough in calories that you see the longevity benefits described earlier.. average lifespans of 100-200+ years!!

When you reach the weight where you feel most healthful and have eliminated any chronic diseases that can be eliminated, you then MUST add additional fat back into your diet. (you should have had some good fat in there all along, such as almonds, and fish oil (EPA+DHA)

Dr. Joel Fuhrman (out of Flemmington, New Jersey) is reversing:

Heart Disease
Arterio/athero-schlerosis
Diabetes
Kidney disease (many of his diabetes patients were already on dialysis)
High blood pressure (preventing hemorrhagic stroke)
High cholesterol
Hyper gycosylation of blood platelets (preventing nerve damage and circulatory problems)
Sticky blood platelets (preventing thrombotic stroke. PAD, and thrombotic heart attacks)
Cancers of all kinds
Lupus
Arthritis
Allergies of all kinds

No joke... and he does a good job of explaining why these things work in his books. IMO he unfairly pans Dr. Sears work. I see Dr. Sears work as part of the key to understanding how your body works, I think Dr. Fuhrman has the other part.

Dr. Sears showed us where the magic health zone was and how to enter it, and stay in it.

Dr. Fuhrman shows us how to enter and remain in that zone with maximum nutrition, minimum calories, and maximum health.

Most of us are far more unhealthy than we realize. I know that it wasn't until I spent 6 weeks eating almost purely vegan that I began to understand just how poisoned and sick we all are. We just think it's normal because we don't know any better!!

[bchandler]

To answer your question about vitamin D toxicity.

1. If you are eating appropriate amounts of dark green veggies, you will have plenty of vitamin K.

2. Most people need 5000 units per day to maintain blood levels of 50-60, which is what we see in healthy people that spend a lot of time outdoors.

3. The old guideline of 400 IU per day is worthless and the AMA/FDA have drastically revised these guidelines.

4. Rather than inhibiting vitamin K protein synthesis (unless it's doing something undesirable) why not let your body do what it needs to do, and feed it more K in the form of dark green veggies?

5. You only make vitamin D in your body when your skin is exposed to sunlight, it isn't in our food.

6. If you are eating adequate fresh fruits and veggies then you will also be getting a balance of carotenoids (including beta carotene) that will help to regulate vitamin K protein synthesis naturally.

7. Taking vitamin A or vitamin E alone is dangerous, and has been shown to increase inflammation and actually PROMOTE heart attacks!! vitamins A and E should always be taken as mixed carotenoids and mixed tochopherols, and the best way to get them in a mixed form is to EAT THE FOODS THAT CONTAIN THEM IN THEIR MIXED FORM! God already gave them to us mixed in just the right proportions in our food supply!!!

8. We really should take very little in the form of supplementation. "Let your medicine be your food, and let your food be your medicine". Everything we need for vibrant health, God put into the plants he gave us for food. Eat your food the way God made it... In it's most unadulterated form.

9. The only thing you could do better would be to grow as much of your food as possible yourself. Not to mention if you are gardening, you will be getting plenty of sunshine, and making 2000-10000 units of your own natural D per hour.

10. For high calorie foods, stick to foods that have high nutrient value too... like sweet potatoes, and yams... and go sparingly on the grains. Learn how to make dehydrator based breads for maximum nutrition.

Supplements:

1. Vitamin D (especially if you don't get much sun. You need a minimum of 15 min per day on as much skin as possible.)
2. Calcium (To be metabolized with the D. Calcium deficiency is tied to 140+ disease processes. You can get plenty of calcium in leafy green foods too.)
3. DHA/EPA (algal or fish oil form)
4. B complex (especially for vegetarians who usually lack B-12) (nutritional yeast flakes are a good source of B-12 for vegetarians)

Interestingly... the only one of these supplements you can't get enough of eating vegan is the EPA/DHA. Everything else is readily available by simply eating a high nutrient density diet. But guess what... your body makes it's own EPA and DHA when:

1. Insulin levels are kept low and glucagon levels stay high.
2. You give your body good sources of plant based fats like flax, borage, avocado, almonds, coconut, etc...

For me... I think preventing your body from slipping out of the "health" zone EPA/DHA supplementation is always a good idea. Or you can just add wild caught salmon (farmed salmon doesn't have it) into your vegan diet... and don't sweat the mercury because all the fresh veggies will likely chelate it out of your body anyway!!!.

[Phyllis]

I just wanted to tell how I have lost 30 pounds since December 3, 2009

Background: I was a skinny kid, but after the birth of my first daughter my weight began to climb and it contintued to climb until I was getting wayyy close to 200 pounds.

I tried low carb. It works, but its just not sustainable FOR ME. Tried low calorie where you eat microscopic amounts several times through the day. Those just make me ravenous, and I end up truely gorging. I've bought lots of weight loss books, low glycemic, low carbs, healthy food, but was never able to stay on any new way of eating for very long.

I had given up.

Then I stumbled across an e-book called the "Fast Five diet" which is a FREE download. In a nutshell, you fast 19 hours a day, and can eat whatever you want within a 5 hour window.

Fasting was the part of healthy diet books I always skipped. But after reading reviews, as well as the book, I decided to give it a try.

AM I EVER GLAD I DID! I LOVE this lifestyle!

To be honest, I have sort of modified it. I simply eat one meal a day.

Most people that I tell that to do not think they could do it, or they think its bad for you. If I can do it, I think anybody could do it. Its not hard, you do not get hunger pangs after the first week. I have WAY more energy, and I feel GOOD. As far as the not good for you part, it is calorie restriction, and thats been covered on this very page of this thread.

For me, it is much easier to not eat most of the day than it is to eat small amounts of this or that. Plus, I know that come supper-time, I can eat whatever I want and as much as I want, and I'm STILL going to see those scale numbers dropping.

Now of course I can't eat chocolate cake for supper every night. I need to eat a good balanced diet rich in good foods. But if I want dessert, I have it. I don't feel deprived this way. I think I can continue to eat this way for the rest of my life.

If any of you are interested in reading the free book, you can download it here: http://www.fast-5.com/

[daffodyllady]

Calories in/ calories out is simply not true.

I once fasted for 10 days and lost not a single pound.

I used to weigh 285 lbs while eating 2000 calories and walking 7 miles a day. I worked in a nursing home, and wore a pedometer. I trotted all day long.

After I quit there, I became a home health worker, and began to sit quite a bit. I continued to eat the same calories as before, and without trying, I LOST weight!

Factors? Lower stress levels. Lower carb intake.

There are so MANY scientific studies published that have proven that the old ideas are false! I am surprised that any doctors would cling to the old beliefs of the 50's in this one area, even after we have learned so much in all other areas that make so many medical beliefs and practices of the 50's obsolete.

The Atkins Diet has been scientifically proven to be healthy and effective. My doctor put me on it. And it works when nothing else does.

[thundr]

My parents have always been very overweight and have tried every diet you can think of to lose weight and nothing ever worked for them. A month or so ago they started the Belly Fat Cure diet and in that month my father dropped 30 lbs mom lost 5 inches off her waist and I started it about 3 weeks ago and I've lost 15 lbs (mind you I don't follow it exactly gotta have a Pepsi). The nice thing about this diet is that even while watching your carbs and sugars you are eating real wonderful food.

[daffodyllady]

thundr? What exactly is the belly fat cure diet? Not sure I have heard of that one!

[thundr]

thundr? What exactly is the belly fat cure diet? Not sure I have heard of that one!

You just limit the amount of carbs and sugars you intake in a single day. Think you're allowed 15 grams of sugar and 120 grams of carbs each day (not sure of all the ins and outs of it just know how to cook what's in the book). Probably the reason it works so well is that unlike other diets you can have steak, bacon & eggs, chicken parmesan fettuccine (made this one night and the kitchen still smelled of it for 5 hours later drool). If you're interested in it it's only $12 at amazon.

[burien1]

The book;
http://www.amazon.com/Belly-Fat-Cure-Discover-System/dp/1401927181/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277913154&sr=1-1

The writer`s website;
http://jorgecruise.com/

[daffodyllady]

Ok, so Jorge Cruise guarantees that if you cut your carbs back to 120 grams a day, and make those of the healthy variety, that you will get 6-pack abs? That is a laugh.

If I eat over 40 grams of veggie carbs a day, (no grains, no medium-or high-glycemic veggies,) I begin to gain weight! I am currently perched tentatively on 255 lbs. Which is 30 lbs less than I used to weigh. At 5 feet, 2 inches, that is ponderous. I know this body, and the genes I am cursed with. And the Belly Fat Diet is a joke in my case.

Oh to be released from this body! Some day I shall be able to run again, with the wind in my hair, on the hills of heaven.

[jgilberAZ]

40 carbs seems to be the magic number for me, too. 5' 7" (ish), 155#. Also, 30# less than I was this time last year.

If I hover around 40 ... my weight hovers within a couple pounds either way of 155.
If I go above 40, my weight goes up.
If I go below 40, my weight goes down.

It's pretty simple, really.

carbs = sugar

[bchandler]

I agree that a low carb diet is a good idea... but scientifically speaking, I believe such a diet that follows sound nutritional science is the best approach. Such as the "ZONE" nutrition plan, or a good solid VEGAN diet as outlined in the Hallelujah Diet, The Gerson Protocol, or Dr. Fuhrman's dietary plans... that can be supplemented with good clean protein and fat sources as needed.

[daffodyllady]

Oh well, we are still free enough in this country to be allowed to disagree on this.

Someday, we may have diet police, who knows?

[ezekiel336]

I am wondering if any of you have heard about Monavie? I'm telling you what, this stuff changed my life !! This CAN help them ( or you ). It is NOT some scam snake juice like I thought. Please look into it because we ALL know someone with either arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease/high cholesterol etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nkRQXmzfmw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgyR0CUJ2Sk

Article on Acai and cancer.

http://news.ufl.edu/2006/01/12/berries/

Thank you and God Bless!!!

In Christ,

Colin

www.the-team.biz/mv2267523

[jgilberAZ]

.
Is meat bad for you? No, but junk science and the clueless media are.

The Healthy Skeptic Blog

I imagine some of you have heard about the new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine claiming that low-carb, meat-based diets raise the risk of heart attacks, other cardiovascular events and death. With headlines in the media like “Low carb, high meat diet has high risks” and “Low-carb diets might be deadly“, you might be (understandably) concerned.

Well, as they say in NYC, “fuggedah-bout-it.”

When I saw this study, I knew I’d have to write about it. After all, a low-ish carb, meat-based diet is exactly what I advocate for optimal health. Fortunately, several of my esteemed blogger colleagues have already dissected, dismantled and otherwise disposed of this piece of scientific garbage. Rather than re-create the wheel, I’m simply going to link to their articles and provide a brief summary of the key points here.

* The so-called low-carb diet in the study wasn’t remotely low-carb. The participants got between 37% – 60% of calories from carbohydrates, which is what most low-carb experts would call, um, “high-carb.”

* People in the Animal group were more likely to smoke and be overweight than the Vegetable group. Smoking and overweight are risk factors for heart disease. This alone could explain the results, but it also suggests that the Vegetable group may have been more health conscious in other ways (like exercise, stress management, etc.) that were not accounted for in the study. This, of course, is the problem with attempting to draw conclusions from epidemiological research – as we’ve discussed several times here before.

* The Vegetable group didn’t exactly eat a vegetable-based diet. They got almost 30% of calories from animal products (vs. 45% from the Animal group).

* When you examine the data in the study closely, differences in death rates were unrelated to animal product consumption. That means something else (not eating meat) described the differences seen in the study.

* Epidemiological (observational) studies about meat intake are notoriously inaccurate, because people tend to lie (or forget) how much meat they actually eat. Since this study was based on nurses and doctors, who firmly believe the “meat is bad for you” hype, and are invested in the medical establishment, the participants may have been more likely to under-report their meat intake.

* Why the latest low carb scare study is flawed, by Jenny Ruhl at Diabetes Update
* Brand-spankin new study: are low-carb meat eaters in trouble?, by Denise Minger at Raw Food SOS: Troubleshooting on the Raw Food Diet
* The Atkins study (ahem, ahem) according to Ornish, by Tom Naughton at Fat Head
* New study shows that lying about your hamburger intake prevents disease and death when you eat a low-carb diet high in carbohydrates, by Chris Masterjohn at The Daily Lipid. (That headline says it all, doesn’t it?)

[jgilberAZ]

carbs = sugar

Thought I'd elaborate on that.

There was an eye opening moment for me that lead me to that conclusion.

I used to make my own beer. I would have 5-6 cases of beer in the closet in various stages of fermentation, and usually one in the bathtub in the early stages of fermentation, which can sometimes be "explosive."

It's when I realized what I used to do when making beer that I realized carbs = sugar.

To make beer, I would take a couple gallons of water, heat it up to about 140 degrees, and steep in various quantities of various types of grain (wheat, barley, rice, etc).

grains=carbs

After steeping for about an hour (during which time I would add various amounts of various types of hops), I would end up with a sticky gooey mass of liquid that looked like hot molasses, called wort (pronounced wert).

After cooling this hot liquid to 70 degrees, or so, I would add yeast.

The yeast eats the sugar, and converts it to CO2 (carbonation) and alcohol.

The source of the sugar was the grains.

grains=carbs=sugar

Our bodies do the same thing with carbohydrates ... convert it to sugar. This causes our blood sugar to go up. This causes insulin to be produced, which tells your fat cells to absorb "energy."

There is no other hormone that tells your body to store fat.
And, your body produces insulin (almost exclusively) in response to carbohydrates.
[if you eat enough protein, a small amount of it does get converted to sugar, but it's negligible.]

So, breads, pasta, etc, cause blood sugar to go up, resulting in weight gain.

Remember, though, that carbohydrates locked in fiber pass through your body undigested. So, subtract fiber from total carbs, and count net carbs.

I would venture to say that no one loses weight without restricting carbs. They may say they're only eating vegetables, or they're eating low fat, but ... looking at what they eat, lower net carbs are what causes the weight loss.

- Jeff

[bchandler]

JGilberAZ,

There is a lot of junk science out there, on every side of every fence when it comes to nutrition.

Clean meats that were not fed a grain based diet are, by and large, not unhealthy. One of the lowest fat clean meats, that almost anyone can raise, is Rabbit. Rabbit is so lean you actually have to add fat to it, which means you can control more of the kinds of fats you eat.

Chickens and their eggs, when raised free range or on a primarily vegetable based feed are OK, though they really aren't much different than red meats in fat profile.

Another fantastic meat is of course "wild caught" Salmon. Because it is loaded with Omega 3 fats and has the lowest mercury absorption profile of most fatty sea fishes. Farmed Salmon does not get all of the omega 3 fats in their diet so it isn't in their flesh, and that is why they have to add color in their feed so their flesh looks pink.

As for what to eat to be i optimum health and even reverse disease, the only diet I have ever seen do that is a raw, live food diet. So nothing cooked at a temperature above 106 degrees. This is done so the enzymes in your food do not die. As much whole raw fruits and vegetables as possible, with as little meat, dairy, and grain as possible. Of course this also means avoiding most commercially prepared foods because they are usually pasturized, and therefore, are dead.

I have seen this diet personally reverse my diabetes as long as I stay on it, Reverse my High BP, Reverse my fungal infections, reverse my hemmoroids, reverse my depression, reverse my arterial inflamation, and even begin to reverse my nerve damage.

Doctor Joel Fuhrman, MD is seeing the reversal of things like Lupus, RA, MS, Fibromyalgia, kidney disease, and sclerosis including the opening up of arterial blockages.

The FDA and AMA both admit that 97% of all non-trauma deaths in this country could be avoided if people would simply change their diets to be a majority fruits and vegetables, and less than 20% of calories from animal produce and processed foods or processed food/like substances/additives.

97% is humongous!!! The fact that the AMA, FDA, and ADA all have come to agree about this should tell you somethings.

First it should tell you that 80% or more of your diet should be live foods. Second, everything else you hear is just hype and advertising tactics.

For example, What industry sponsors most of the adds, studies, and articles telling you how great beef is for you? The Cattlemen's association! Milk? The Dairy farmers association! High Fructose Corn Syrup? The corn growers association! and on and on...

Stop listening to the hype, and start listening to God's word. First and foremost God gave us fruits, vegetables, and herbs for our food. After the flood he gave us every living thing. After the exodus from Egypt he gave restricted animal products to those of "clean" animals, in general excluding predators, scavengers, and carrion eaters.

The things that came after Man fell are what God allows, but if we really want to be honest about what God "ideally" designed us to eat, the Word is clear. I have come to the conclusion over the years, that God not only desires that we do no wrong or violence toward one another but, that whenever possible, we should strive to do no violence to any of God's animal kingdom.

For example, I have kept many kinds of animals over the years. I have come to see some animals as mere biological automatons filling a niche in the ecosystem. While others, like my parrots or a dog I had that could actually talk, have a capacity for language and understanding that astounds me. I personally do not feel qualified to judge which of these seemingly intelligent beings might actually be sentient, and violence toward them for any purpose bothers me.

I don't imagine that God would have included any such animals in his list of clean food animals. So I think I am pretty safe there. But when I step outside of his list of clean foods, I wonder if I risk not only disease, but also doing violence to another intelligent being. I also wonder if mere observation is enough for me to make the judgment of what would qualify as sentient and what would not.

[bchandler]

As for restricting carbs, IMO, the real issue is one of calorie density.

For example... 1 pound of green salad has a certain amount of calories in it. But every ounce of animal product I add to that salad will increase it's caloric profile by 100%.

So if the salad had 100 calories, adding an ounce of tuna would increase the calories to 200, adding 3 ounces would increase the calories to 400.

In addition to adding calories, the calories required to digest the tuna is far less than those required to digest the green salad. So fewer calories are burned off in the digestion process. In other words... green salads are a workout for your insides, and animal products and excess fat are like letting your insides turn into a couch potato.

In addition to the calorie issue, the green salad is hundreds of times more nutrient dense that the animal produce. It contains massive amounts of nutrients that simply do not exist in animal produce. The only things you might need to supplement your green salad with is some omeg 3 fats, and/or vitamin B complex, both of which can be had in plenty from a well designed vegetarian diet. Vitamin D is also critical for those of us who live like vampires and get too little sun.

Vitamin D is a key to over 2000 gene functions in the human body. More than any other known nutrient. If you think the 15 min per day the AMA says you need is enough, you need to go look in the mirror, point at yourself, and laugh. your body will make about 10,000 units of 'D' per hour. God meant for us to be naked, under the Sun, but today they scare us all out of the Sun. Fact is that in areas where people get adequate dietary Calcium and other minerals, sun exposure is not a problem, and cancer rates are low. Cancer rates are higher where exposure is combined with low nutrient intake, such as in the S.A.D.!

[FreeInHim]

carbs = sugar

Thought I'd elaborate on that.

There was an eye opening moment for me that lead me to that conclusion.

I used to make my own beer. I would have 5-6 cases of beer in the closet in various stages of fermentation, and usually one in the bathtub in the early stages of fermentation, which can sometimes be "explosive."

It's when I realized what I used to do when making beer that I realized carbs = sugar.

To make beer, I would take a couple gallons of water, heat it up to about 140 degrees, and steep in various quantities of various types of grain (wheat, barley, rice, etc).

grains=carbs

After steeping for about an hour (during which time I would add various amounts of various types of hops), I would end up with a sticky gooey mass of liquid that looked like hot molasses, called wort (pronounced wert).

After cooling this hot liquid to 70 degrees, or so, I would add yeast.

The yeast eats the sugar, and converts it to CO2 (carbonation) and alcohol.

The source of the sugar was the grains.

grains=carbs=sugar

Our bodies do the same thing with carbohydrates ... convert it to sugar. This causes our blood sugar to go up. This causes insulin to be produced, which tells your fat cells to absorb "energy."

There is no other hormone that tells your body to store fat.
And, your body produces insulin (almost exclusively) in response to carbohydrates.
[if you eat enough protein, a small amount of it does get converted to sugar, but it's negligible.]

So, breads, pasta, etc, cause blood sugar to go up, resulting in weight gain.

Remember, though, that carbohydrates locked in fiber pass through your body undigested. So, subtract fiber from total carbs, and count net carbs.

I would venture to say that no one loses weight without restricting carbs. They may say they're only eating vegetables, or they're eating low fat, but ... looking at what they eat, lower net carbs are what causes the weight loss.

- Jeff

Funny you should write on this topic today, as just yesterday I was reading an article in the latest issue of "Biblical Archaeology Review" about the beer making and beer consumption of the ancient Israelites, and learned of the word "wort," too! From back then through today, seems little has changed in beer making methodology.

[jgilberAZ]

... violence toward them for any purpose bothers me.

http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Myth-Food-Justice-Sustainability/dp/1604860804#reader_1604860804

[jgilberAZ]

.
bchandler, I'm curious ... what did you eat today (or yesterday, if you read this on Sunday).

Here's what I ate:

Late breakfast (9:30am) ... 3 fried eggs, 4 pieces of bacon
No lunch
Afternoon snack ... a couple handfuls of cashews
Dinner (5pm) ... A wrap made out of:
- flat out wrap (best life)
- smoked turkey (hormel)
- lettuce, mayo, mustard, onion
- sugar free bread and butter pickles (kroger)

Nutritional breakdown:

Calories 902
Fat 63g
Cholest 727mg
Sodium 2360mg
Carbs 32g
Fiber 11g
Net carbs 21g
Sugars 4g
Protein 63g

Fat 60%
Protein 27%
Carbs 13%

I think I had a pretty nutritious day.

And, only 900 calories ... and I wasn't really hungry all day.

- Jeff

[jgilberAZ]

Vitamin D is also critical for those of us who live like vampires and get too little sun.

Vitamin D is a key to over 2000 gene functions in the human body. More than any other known nutrient. If you think the 15 min per day the AMA says you need is enough, you need to go look in the mirror, point at yourself, and laugh. your body will make about 10,000 units of 'D' per hour. God meant for us to be naked, under the Sun, but today they scare us all out of the Sun. Fact is that in areas where people get adequate dietary Calcium and other minerals, sun exposure is not a problem, and cancer rates are low. Cancer rates are higher where exposure is combined with low nutrient intake, such as in the S.A.D.!

On this we agree, 100%.

I work indoors ... seldom leave the office all day.

I take vitamin D, anywhere from 2-4K per day.

I also take a multivitamin, fish oil, and magnesium.


I think there's actually much we agree on, except for eating meat.

- Jeff

[bchandler]

JGilberAZ,

Thanks for the book link... I won't ever read it. All I had to do was look at the first endorsement, and who gave it to know what a sham piece that was.

I don't understand why anyone would want to go through the work you did of figuring out how much of what you ate and break it all down like that. That would frankly make me wanna slit my own throat.

For breakfast I had some fruit.

For lunch I had a vegetarian wrap that contained 1/4 Avacado, Sprouts, Tomato, Sweet pepper, Cucumber, Onions, Spinach, Olives, and shredded Carrot.

For dinner I had a vegetarian Pizza that had Spinach, Tomatoes, Onions, Olives, Artichokes, and Green peppers.

Both the warps and the pizza used very thin crusts, minimizing the amount of grain produce I consumed.

By weight I usually consume between 1 and 2 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables every day, with the occasional addition of salmon, tuna, or chicken once or twice a week.

By and large I eat raw Vegan, with the occasional use of an ounce of meat. I do not disagree with the use of meat in the human diet.

What you, I or anyone else believes about nutrition really doesn't matter. The simple truth of God's word is plain for everyone to see. What God "ORIGINALLY" gave man as his complete diet is plain for everyone to see. The dietary changes, and shortened lifespan and disease that came after the flood is plain for everyone to see.

Today, we have the ability to eat a full time, well balanced, vegetarian diet if we chose to do so. Because of refrigeration and international food supplies we can actually return to a pre-fall Garden of Eden diet.

Choose what you wish, it is not a sin. But believe the Word of God. God's laws given to Israel required them to keep, kill and eat certain kinds of animals, for ritual purposes. So condemning someone for their choice of food is a foolish and unproductive thing to do. But following God's word is never foolish.

Because of the plain evidence of scripture, I have chosen to pursue a Vegan lifestyle, with the occasional use of clean meats, those who choose otherwise are not under condemnation and no one has put their salvation at risk.

I don't know how else to say it, or why people seem to feel the need to challenge the evidence. But I'll try one more time. If you wanna eat meat, eat it. I have nothing against it. However, if you suffer from any of the S.A.D. western diseases, you may want to consider seeking relief and even reversal of those diseases in a Live foods diet.

You may also find that the older you get, the more you will need to get your nutrition from live foods, rather than animal produce. It's just a natural part of the condition known as aging.

[bchandler]

JGilberAZ,

I just went and read the remaining endorsements, and people surrounding this author.

It really sounds and looks like most of these endorsments are coming from secular huumanist, evolutionist, anti-God sources. It also appears that the author was incapable of eating a well rounded vegetarian diet herself... to the point of nearly killing herself, so she has now made it her crusade in life to steer everyone on the planet away from the vegetarian lifestyle. I'm sorry, but neither the author or her endorsers are likely to be objective people, and are far more likely to have an agenda, and/or an axe to grind.

While she does make salient points regarding our food supply in her opening, most of which have been stated at one time or another in this thread, I do not agree with her statements regarding veganism in general. She also makes the fundamental mistake of confusing hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia in the opening pages. Such a fundamental error if made out of ignorance is not someone I want to trust, and if made deliberately indicates likewise.

[bchandler]

JGilberAZ,

Having read a bit more, I can tell you that her fundamental flaw in her thinking is that a vegan lifestyle requires the over production of insulin.

This is only true if the vegetarian is eating an insane amount of carbohydrates, which results in hyperglycemia (high-blood sugar). The grain based vegetarian diet causes insulin resistance, which in turn requires the body to make more insulin to overcome the resistance, which then results in a crash of blood sugars into the hypoglycemic range (low blood sugars). It is this yo-yo affect that is a sign of impending diabetes.

In addition to the grains causing these problems in humans, it also causes the same problems in the animals we eat, so we ingest their tissues and the problem in a pre-digested and concentrated form, pushing ourselves faster and faster into metabolic syndrome X.

So, from the sound of her opening, she was living a grain based vegan lifestyle, which simply isn't healthy and will do permanent damage, just as a protein based lifestyle built around commercial animal produce fed on grain will do.

All things in moderation. Too much grain is bad, to much animal produce is bad. a healthy mixture of fruit and vegetables with a smattering of grain and "CLEANLY" raised meats and animal produce is perfectly healthy.

The more commercially raised animal produce we consume as a society, the sicker we become over all. Add things like HFCS and Aspartame to that, and we are playing Russian roulette with a 5 out of 6 chambers loaded.

Of course that is just my opinion.

[jgilberAZ]

What I got from the book is this ...

She tried hard to live a life where her sustenance did not depend on the death of another living animal. So, she adhered to a strict vegan diet.

The problem is, and the book outlines her journey to this understanding, our existence is one of eat and be eaten.

Vegans eat produce. Yet, that produce requires NPK to grow. And, that NPK comes from the death of living organisms.

It is not possible to eat anything that hasn't somehow benefited from the death of a living organism.

It was a torturous journey for her. She agonized over the realization that her life depended on the death of other animals.

I found it to be an interesting example of someone who faces the truth and accepts it, even though it goes contrary to her firmly held convictions.

I would like to see that same kind of honest self examination in some of the people I've witnessed to ... my daughter, for instance.

While she mentions her health issues, the online portion of the book doesn't really provide many details re: what (exactly) she ate, nor what (exactly) were her symptoms. (Unless I skimmed over that part).


As I said previously, I do think there is much upon which we agree.

- Jeff

[bchandler]

It is possible to have a fully sustainable vegetarian farm/diet, that does not require anything to die. In fact, The french intensive, or bio-intensive method of farming has been used for centuries, and has successfully recycled everything back through the soil very well... including ways to safely recycle human waste via thermophilic composting.

Of course it is also possible to fully compost animal tissues and even bone in a properly functioning thermophilic compost heap. It is not necessary to be strictly vegetarian to farm in a sustainable fashion.

Of course if you raise your own meat, you will sooner or later have to come to terms with butchering it, and curing the hides/furs for your use. I recommend that everyone, at least once in their lives, raise an animal for food. It allows us to fully grasp the cost of the gift of flesh to eat.

I have raised rabbits, chickens, pigs, goats, and cattle for food at various times, and have faced the unpleasantness of harvesting the meat I raised personally. I understand it, but I never found it enjoyable to take life so I could eat. I would like to make the change to a pure vegan diet, but that just can't happen in my house unless my wife either commits to it, or passes before I do (unlikely).