<p>Toneranger - I would be happy to give you instructions on how to racewalk :)</p>
<p>Unfortunately many of us need to find new ways to workout. Former skier and runner here, now a big fan of the low impact elliptical machine.</p>
<p>I thought I knew what a healthy diet was until I read Gary Taubes’ book, called Good Calorie, Bad Calorie. It turned my whole world upside down! Now, I’m not sure what to think. It challenges many of the commonly held assumptions about what constitutes a healthy diet (and which has been recommended by the medical, scientific, and governmental institutions for years). Dietary fats and heart disease? A myth. Fiber? Unnecessary. All meat diets? Good for you! Obesity caused by overeating? Not true! It all sounds kind of incredible, except that he is a highly respected science journalist and this book is nothing if not thoroughly researched. </p>
<p>The one thing that he, and everyone else, seems to agree on now is that refined carbohydrates are the root of all evil. </p>
<p>Anyhow, I’ve increased my protein/fat intake and decreased my carbohydrates and eliminated all processed foods. I’ve lost a few pounds without really trying. It is really hard to limit carbs though. I never realized how much of my meals were built around carbs.</p>
<p>Calorie restriction…meh. What is the point of prolonging your life like that anyway?</p>
<p>I really believe that most people can eat anything they want, as long as they do it in moderation. Meat, chocolate, ice cream, butter – just small amounts, and make the bulk of your diet grains, fruit, and veggies. </p>
<p>I’m also a firm believer that one should never “be on a diet” or, having achieved one’s “goal,” be off a diet. It’s a life style, not a race.</p>
<p>I eat pretty healthily. I’m also on the thin side of average. </p>
<p>I don’t snack between meals and I try to avoid junk food. We eat lots of fruit, veggies, whole grains, fish and chicken, and not too much red meat (husband doesn’t like it, sadly - I LOVE steak, but only have it at restaurants as a treat). Like a PP, my husband is a marathon runner who has to stay whip-thin if he wants to be competitive, so we do portion control. </p>
<p>I’m basically an ‘everything in moderation’ person, I guess.</p>
<p>^^ Laylah, what’s a “PP”?</p>
<p>Previous poster.</p>
<p>nmom5,
Have you tried rollerblading? I found it easier than eliptical. It feels smoother than even walking… however, until you fall. I have fallen many times, but seem to be addicted to rollerblading. It makes me happy and gives a lot of energy after, a lot of times also works better than advil for headache. When I have my lower back problem, rollerblading and swimming are the only exercises that I can do, walking is much harder.</p>
<p>People are weird about food. We are obsessive, as a culture. We are evangelicals or worshippers of trees. We exercise to the point of stress injury, and we heap our plates at the all-you-can-eat buffets. We are educated, but biased and partisan. We want our kids to have what’s “right for them”, but darned if we don’t try to coax them to love HYP!</p>
<p>Anyway.</p>
<p>So I had this neighbor who was quite heavy, lacking in energy and looked at least 15 years older than her age. She was an ardent member of PETA and was always pushing vegan recipes on me, things involving “yeast extract”. She was always a grouch. She stopped talking to me because I offered her kid a ham sandwich (well, that’s what all the other kids were eating and she didn’t provide an alternative).</p>
<p>I have lots of family members who are vegetarians, and I’m not sure why, but they are all overweight, sanctimonious, and grumpy. One cousin held up a whole family party at an Amish restaurant because the waitress had the temerity to put a chicken leg on the same plate with her noodles (she couldn’t simply remove it discreetly?).</p>
<p>I want to shout to all sanctimonious vegetarians: have a little bacon and shaddup! You’ll feel better and so will everyone else.</p>
<p>I eat whatever I want, including just now, two heaping plates of German cookies and a large peanut butter and honey sandwich. Every meal has its dessert, including breakfast. I am thin. I am not a big fan of large slabs of meat, but I am nibbling all the time. It’s weird. Trail mix, all day. Crackers, candy, baked things. Maybe I have worms. Missypie, maybe your neighbors have worms, it’s possible.</p>
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<p>Great combination of adjectives!</p>
<p>Miami, wish I could. The running and skiing was caused by a bad ski accident that has resulted in four back surgeries. I can’t risk a fall. Sounds fun!</p>
<p>Anyone have suggestions for forms of very lean beef? I’m getting better but wonder what others choose except for the packages clearly marked with fat content.</p>
<p>hmom…that sounds painful. Maybe swimming? I’ve always been a horrible swimmer, but I feel like I should give it a try someday…very low impact.
Regarding beef, have you tried grass-fed beef? Very low in fat and high in Omega 3s. A bit of a different flavor but I like it. Expensive though so I buy very small portions.</p>
<p>I’m so confused these days about what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat, how much we should weigh. I finally came to a point last year when I simply portion control eat off a salad plate with all “my boys.” I spent a couple months calculating the calories and % of fat/protein/carb, etc. and realized that at that point I was eating about 1600 calories each day. It works. I’m an “OK” weight according the the BMI charts, but I had been slowly gaining a pound per year since my twenties and because I was very athletic then and am office dweller now with a few gym trips each week, I’m sure I burn many, many less calories. Started in my 20s at the bottom of m BMI range and am now at the top. We try to eat healthy. Try not to eat alot of refined “stuff” and we eat at home almost every night. Red meat once maybe twice a week, pork, chicken, fish, veggie, pasta rotation, lots of veggies. I’ve decided I’m never, ever going to analyze this again and shut my ears to each passing fad. Am I thin? No. Am I fat? No, but 1 pound below the cross-over point on BMI when I’m naked and first thing in the AM. But I’m in my mid-fifties and I don’t have crows feet so I’m keeping those 30 pounds from my twenties for now fortunately I’m extremely tall and can still buy clothes off the rack in the normal sizes, so I keep telling myself I’m OK LOL and sorry, but not very many women look good in a bikini in their mid-fifties so what do I want really other than to be healthy and happy about my body?</p>
<p>I’m a vegetarian, but I’m not overweight, grumpy or sanctimonious. I think that’s because I’m not an evangelical vegetarian. I don’t care what other people eat, and I have always cooked meat for my kids and let them choose. One will eat meat occasionally, and the other two enjoy meat regularly. I’m happy to cook that for them and take pride in their enjoyment of my cooking. I just don’t eat meat with them. My only quirk is that I prefer no one cook pork in certain of my pans, but I don’t think it’s too much of a hardship. I just truly don’t believe in depriving oneself, but I do believe in moderation.</p>
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<p>This is pretty much my approach to things as well (though I would also add “since I am healthy” - I would obviously change my approach if I had, say, diabetes, or high cholesterol). I believe in enjoying my food, even if it doesn’t meet Food Puritan ideas of what is good.</p>
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<p>No, we say it because it actually isn’t healthy. It can compromise your immune system, increase the risk of osteoporosis, cause pregnancy complications, affect your hormones, and make you more susceptible to hypothermia. People think that since being overfat is detrimental to health, its opposite, being underfat, must be good for it. Wrong. Both extremes are unhealthy.</p>
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I am rather attached to my Junior Mints. And I do like bread and bready what-nots.</p>
<p>jessiehl:
“compromise your immune system”, I haven’t been sick since forever, except for puffy eyes but that’s due to the cats and dog
“osteoporosis”, nah. I’m within the demographic – white, skinny little squab-bones that I am but my bones are holding up
“cause pregnancy complications” , I never had problems conceiving even when my diet consisted of coffee, chocolate and cookies, and had 3 healthy babes
“affect your hormones”, mine are fine
“hypothermia”, well I live in the ‘land of the frozen chosen’ and here we shovel snow, so hypothermia is not a problem</p>
<p>I can’t be afraid of everything, and it’s Sept. 11th and all. Enjoy your Junior Mints. You earned 'em.</p>
<p>LOL about the vegetarians, Annuddahmom! A holier-than-thou dieter of any persuasion can be extremely annoying. I don’t care what someone wants or doesn’t want to eat-- thats perfectly fine. Just don’t push those beliefs onto, or lecture, others about their choices. Thats unnecessary and annoying. If they want information on diet or food consumption, I am sure they will ask. Unsolicited advice isn’t necessary.</p>
<p>As for comfort food snacks, I am attached to my York Peppermint patties. I buy the big box of small individually wrapped mints (if that makes sense) at Costco, and eat them as snacks. Takes care of the chocolate and sweet cravings, and they are very low fat. Low fat foods are my way of staying at a good weight. I should exercise more, but I dont. Will do it in spurts and I feel better when I do, I just don’t seem to get it into my routine. </p>
<p>DH is a runner, though has had to scale back since he broke his ankle and leg and tore ligaments in a nasty break last year (requiring 2 surgeries and lots of hardware). He has gotten back into 10K’s and is aiming for a 1/2 marathon at Thanksgiving. He runs regularly, and is average height/weight. I dont run at all, and I am an average weight for my height.</p>
<p>AnnuddahMom, I believe the points Jessiehl was making were in reference to being too thin. Those are the problems which can occur when one is at the extreme opposite of overfat.</p>
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<p>Our eyes are not very adept at distinguishing what is healthy from what is unhealthy, especially when it comes to people’s appearances. Perhaps these folks have chosen their diet not for looks but because their bodies function optimally with that fuel. I equate hard-core food management types with hard-core sun management types, in that they recognize it is best for human bodies to exercise extreme care with the food/sun they take in. The opposite extreme is folks who eat/sunbathe without regard for the effects their behavior has on their bodies. Most people fall somewhere in the vast area between the two extremes, trying to exercise good food management skills/limit sun exposure and use sun block. We inaccurately suppose it is unhealthy for anyone to carry extra weight, and we think a bit of tan makes us look healthy when it is simply evidence of sun damaged skin. For what it’s worth, good health is not the same as what we have come to identify as good looks.</p>
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<p>Good health is usually reflected in a person’s looks. There are always exceptions, of course, but generally, it’s true. There are obvious physical markers of poor health, disease, even something benign like allergies, and an experienced doctor can often evaluate a person’s general health based on visual cues.</p>