Water

[tribalthunder]

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On the positive side, there were two nutrition articles in the mainstream press last week that show some questioning going on.  One discussed evidence that sugar intake has a high correlation to heart disease, but saturated fat intake does not (total reversal of standard thinking and government policy over the last 3 or 4 decades).  The other discussed evidence that "a calorie is a calorie" thinking may be wrong--that calories from some foods make you fatter than those from others--also a total contraction to standard thinking and policy. 


I'm not trying to demonize science.  The questioning is also science.  People just need to take scientific advice (which actually may be very distorted by the time it gets into the press or a food pyramid) with a grain of salt (or not).  Anyone diligently following advice that's making them fat should consider that the advice may be wrong, instead of blaming themselves for having a lack of willpower, bad genes, or whatever.
[/quote]

I was surprised that the Government came around on the saturated fats front. They had folks scared to death to eat some of the healthiest foods on the planet.

[PonoBill]

The food pyramid is negotiated by lobbyists as a marketing tool for well-heeled interests. It doesn't have much to do with public health--at least not in a positive way.

[pdxmike]

I just recently realized that the Food Pyramid and the Great Pyramids were two differen

[Admin]

I'm not trying to demonize science.  The questioning is also science.  People just need to take scientific advice (which actually may be very distorted by the time it gets into the press or a food pyramid) with a grain of salt (or not).  Anyone diligently following advice that's making them fat should consider that the advice may be wrong, instead of blaming themselves for having a lack of willpower, bad genes, or whatever.

In the case of sugar, science was not the issue.  They had it right (before the current obesidemic) and had suggested no more than 10% daily.  The incredibly strong food lobby strongarmed the change to 25% (whattt???) and beating back that incredibly damaging misinformation has not yet occurred. 

Mr Thunder has a great approach.  He kicked sugar and processed food (which in far too many cases is plumped full of added sugar).  Even his smoothie isn't hitting the lower 10%.

Now, I never have or will be be that diligent but I always considered myself to like (and eat) mostly real and healthy foods.  Meats and veggies are my mainstay (thread crossing again, like Morrison, "I eat more chicken any man ever seen") but for the remainder I do buy store pasta, bread, sauces etc.  I look for ones that are healthier options and avoid the obvious crap.  I also dig restaurant food an probably always will (not fast food, I kicked that a long time ago - too painful).  That always had struck me as a pretty straightforward and healthy diet with no obvious junk.  Man was I surprised when I started looking into the sugar that I was eating.  From breads to pasta sauces to salad dressings to...basically everything.  Even though this is a small part of what I eat it was way over 10%. 

What I have found with the water substitution thing is that I don't need to change the food portion (and really did not want to).  Just the liquid change has been hugely positive so far.  The reduction in just the liquid sugar has made me feel so much better.  Pretty toxic stuff over a certain amount.  Yup, bordering on preaching now - I can see how that happens.  Cutting myself o

[PonoBill]

I'm three days in and haven't lost any weight yet. WTF???

I feel pretty good though, and I have the usual superior attitude towards anyone I see drinking a coke. I never was a soft drink guy other than diet Vernors, and there's hardly any of that in our current universe. Can't handle the sweetness of any standard soft drink. And I didn't drink much juice, but I'm fond of beer and wine. i actually had Mexican food yesterday without a Tecate, which is probably a first.

I did a little calculation last night, given only that I'm giving up beer and wine and eating the same I reduced my weekly caloric intake by 4500 calories which is about 1.2 pounds per week. That's a good rate. I'm also looking hard at dessert, which usually has way too much sugar for my taste. But I still eat it--though not that often. I'm going to ditch dessert when we eat out and just have it at home, where Diane bakes great stuff with about one-third the sugar. Even then she can't have it (diabetic) so it's not hard to avoid.

I'll let you know how this looks in three months.

[headmount]

Great thread.  Always thought my program was fairly good but after reading this thread I've discovered two culprits.  Despite drinking quite a bit of water a day, I also consume a quart of Santa Cruz limeade, which is 22 g of sugar and 7%.  Then after dinner, a 20 g FruitStix dark choc creamy coconut bar for another 7%  which puts me 4% over, especially bad with the later hour of the bar.  Green smoothies contain blueberries, banana, papaya so I'm probably at least 25% on sugar intake. 

The juice and bar will be the first against the wall.  Thanks.  6' 190lbs

All the posts on weight reduction for boards, where 10 lbs is a huge difference, makes me want to step it up.  I was 175 until 1990, no reason why that can't happen again.  Just say no.

[bts]

But I like beer and wine.

For me a glass of red wine late in the evening does sate my appetite. Problem is I am more likely drink two glasses and will drink it when I am not hungry. 

I've generally tried to switch over to low glycemic index foods.  I miss my white rice, pastas, and spuds with gravy, but it is a change I think I can live with over the long haul.  Started at the beginning of summer, now down about 30 lbs to 225.  That is what I weighed in my 20s, then again,  I was carrying a lot more muscle then.  Still need to loose 10 or 15 lbs.  That much weight makes a noticeable difference in board stability and performance.

[pdxmike]

Sugar is my weakness.  Admin is right--it's in everything. If I'm going to eat it, I'd rather eat it in ice cream or cookies, where I can appreciate it, rather than hidden here and there in processed foods.  I'm also mostly a water drinker for that same reason. 



Biggest recent realization to me is how sugar and fat are related.  The lower the fat in a food, the more sugar is added to make it taste better.  Lowfat milk and yogurt have much more sugar than full-fat versions.  So cutting out too much fat from your diet is a sure way to end up eating or drinking more sugar.  Sugar makes you crave more--it's insidious.  Fat doesn't give you the spikes that sugar does either--in fat the reverse is true. 

[Admin]

Headmount, I read your sleep thread with a lot of interest.  I wonder if you see a difference in that arena as you reduce sugar.  There is a lot of info out there about that connection.

The sugar range we are talking about is pretty scary in a lot of ways.  This is wild:

According to the study published in JAMA: Internal Medicine, those who got 17 to 21 percent of calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to those who consumed 8 percent of their calories from added sugar. The risk was more than double for those who consumed 21 percent or more of their calories from added sugar.

[Zooport]

I hear you, Admin.  All I drink is filtered water, mineral water and sometimes almond milk.  Soda, beer (love it), fruit juices, milk shakes, coffee and most other drinks mess me up.  I feel best when I am eating and drinking pure.  Although, I will admit to an occasional burger or taco. 

Another thing that's really bad for you is wheat.  They have mucked with the genetics and other facets of wheat so much, that it bears little resemblance to the grain it was 100 years ago.  It is no longer healthy to eat it.  It literally changed my life when I quit eating wheat.  When I eat my occasional hamburger, I feel crummy for about 48 hours after, until I can get over the effects of the wheat.

Don't believe me?  Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-Lose-Weight-Health-ebook/dp/B00571F26Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411514723&sr=8-1&keywords=wheat+belly

[pdxmike]

Dang.  Burgers and tacos are what I eat when I AM eating pure. 


I also see I need to start eating a lot more of them to get my diet's sugar percentage lowered. 

[Tecpartner]

Man, I'm glad I found this thread after eating my second ice cream sandwich....

[Zooport]

Man, I'm glad I found this thread after eating my second ice cream sandwich....

Dang.  Burgers and tacos are what I eat when I AM eating pure. 


I also see I need to start eating a lot more of them to get my diet's sugar percentage lowered. 

OK, that does it!  After reading those posts I'm going out to eat a loaf of bread and drink several pints of beer. 

[paolosup]

I did this 4 years back....only drank water, eat less and started to do some exercises.
Basically went from 127kg to some 106kg in 6 months...the really started training for triathlon and went to 86kg....thats 40kg in one year! with lots of training i started to drink coke again...but in the first 6 months I was drinking 4-6L of water a day. I was on the toilet every 20 minutes!
While doing all this I got checked by my doctor for blood and all was good! It really worked well for me...I think its personal.
I now stopped training 12-15hr a week and weight went back pretty fast in the last 2 years. I am on 104kg now, and am starting to drink more water again...need to get into double digits!!!

[headmount]

Headmount, I read your sleep thread with a lot of interest.  I wonder if you see a difference in that arena as you reduce sugar.  There is a lot of info out there about that connection.

The sugar range we are talking about is pretty scary in a lot of ways.  This is wild:

According to the study published in JAMA: Internal Medicine, those who got 17 to 21 percent of calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to those who consumed 8 percent of their calories from added sugar. The risk was more than double for those who consumed 21 percent or more of their calories from added sugar.

Yeah sleep is much better.  Have shaken the ambian and even though I have knockout tea next to my bedside, it's only a crutch, I never drink it.  Make it to 5am steady with no 3 am wake up.  Super cool.  Felt like I was going insane before.