HUSNG Official fitness, diet and healthy being thread

[lyncks2002]

Seeing that more and more posters keep talking about diets and how to live a healthy life in general, i think we could have a thread just for this.
I'll start with what has changed in the past year in my life.
First i lost around 50 lbs of fat by following a rather easy to follow diet (Slow Carb Diet, by Tim Ferris)
Other good stuff happened because of that diet like i finally have good blood tests (LDL, triglycerides and all that were sky high before it); i also realized i don't have a bile problem (like all the doctors told me), i was just being overweight.
When i got skinny, i switched to Intermittent Fasting, and since then i started a body recomposition lifestyle (from around 15% bf when i started, i am at 11% now and actually 4 pounds heavier so yay for muscle mass); also first 5 months of gym i was using bro science, like do one exercise for each tiny little muscle and had like almost zero improvements; currently doing stronglifts program and i already got to the point where i can deadlift and squat way more than my bodyweight.
BUT, the biggest thing i did for a healthier life is quit smoking.
And damn, this was hard... i had dreams about it (still do), but now, when i can actually smell stuff, i can run like a maniac and not get tired and all of the good things that come with it, i can honestly say it was worth it; tip for who wants to quit smoking: read allen carr's book
I am not following any diet right now (except fasting which is not really a diet), but i am not eating bad stuff either (basically i think twice before i order something). Haven't eaten at MCD or KFC or other like that since last year in May and i must say I am really happy about this.
Tip for everyone who is overweight: Don't eat everything on the plate, chances are that you don't need to finish your meal to have enough calories in; remember that after 30 minutes after a meal we can feel if we had enough or not, just give it 30 minutes.
Another tip: If you were to choose from eating 4 pancakes and go to the gym to burn them down, and staying at home on the couch not eating those pancakes... first option is always better!
So, what do you guys do for a healthy living?
P.S. and a motivational wallpaper

[dhcg86]

great idea. Ima post regularly in here

who is down to do a prop bet regarding daily workouts

[coffeeyay]

(This is coffee's wife, he asked me to describe our diet) We follow the McDougall Plan, which is a low-fat vegan diet. He has lost 20 pounds in the past few months (despite cheating on the plan a lot) and I've lost 15 pounds (however have been building muscle so this is 3 dress sizes) following this plan, eating as much as we want. These might not be the most impressive numbers because neither of us was that overweight to begin with.

How did we do it? We eat as much whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and beans as we want, whenever we want. We have things like soya milk, peanut butter, white bread or pasta, sugar, and fruit juice in moderation. We don't ever have animal products or refined oils (olive oil, margarine, whatever).

This is a starch-based plan so most of our diet is brown rice, porridge, whole wheat pasta, quinoa, potatoes, corn, things like that. We usually serve these things with veg for meals, though we often snack on plain starches.

The China Study is the book that inspired me to follow this diet. We also loved Forks Over Knives.

Cheers bye!

[HokieGreg]

i like the thread idea (obv).

"diets" are suboptimal imo. when someone says they are "going on a diet", they are basically saying "im going to eating healthy...for a while...". this mindset + reality is why the vast majority of diets fail imo.

it's all about lifestyle changes. "i eat healthy now." "i don't eat fast food anymore (very rarely)." "i go to the gym regularly." none of this implies stopping at any point...that's a lot better attitude to have imo.

i've lost about 50 pounds over the last 1.5 years and put on about 20 pounds of muscle. i epic failed different diets and fad-exercise programs for a few years before that. changing my mindset from "dieting" to "making lifestyle changes" was pretty much the key in my success (mental game ftw).

[HokieGreg]

Originally Posted by dhcg86

great idea. Ima post regularly in here

who is down to do a prop bet regarding daily workouts

down.

[coffeeyay]

Originally Posted by coffeeyay

(This is coffee's wife, he asked me to describe our diet)

+1

Personally this diet appealed to me for a few more reasonse:

The statistics show a huge negative correlation with cancer rates, heart disease (i have family history of both) as well as other things like diabetes and stomach/bowel issues. You're basically heart attack proof if you follow this diet. This is why Bill Clinton is on this diet and probably why he's not dead yet.

It's incredibly ecologically friendly--as i posted in the regs thread, it takes 80 calories of energy (oil, electricity, etc) to produce 1 calorie (like the kind we eat) of animal based food whearas it only takes 2 calories of energy to make 1 calorie of plant based food. It's just simple math. It comes out of physics tho--plants get energy from the sun, animals eat plants, we eat animals--but adding an extra chain of animals eating plants is necessarily wasteful because of conservation of energy. It's significantly more efficient to eat the plants directly--both in terms of economics and ecology.

If you ever feel like you should do more for the planet the one thing you should do is quit eating meat. It's simple math and science--it would lead to more global prosperity, less environmental damage, less global warming, etc. It's really that big of a difference too. For example, lots of hipsters eat local to reduce environmental strain. Eating local for 365 days is equivalent to eating vegan for 1 day in terms of benefits to the environment.

Lastly, besides weight loss--which i achieved with little to no exercise, I occasionally go on 30 min walks but that's it--and environmental/global citizen issues where I know many people don't care about--I just feel amazing on this diet. I'm always bursting with energy despite having cut coffee out of my life. I used to get stomach issues like heartburn and stuff--all 100% gone now. And i get to eat as much as I want I love having seconds and thirds and never feeling guilty or bloated or sick after eating--it's really an amazing feeling. I used to get tired after eating. Now if anything I have more energy. Plus it's super cheap $ wise.

There's a reason a ton of CEOs use this diet. It gives me more mental clarity/focus too--I used to feel borderline ADD now I feel like a normal person and can multitable and study and be able to maintain focus throughout the day.

I used to be a skeptic too, but it's really amazing and simple and win win win almost any way you look at it. Dr McDougall calls it the starch solution. Seems like a really clever solution ton of problems. There's a really nice lecture on this topic on youtube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XVf36nwraw

[coffeeyay]

Originally Posted by HokieGreg

i like the thread idea (obv).

"diets" are suboptimal imo. when someone says they are "going on a diet", they are basically saying "im going to eating healthy...for a while...". this mindset + reality is why the vast majority of diets fail imo.

it's all about lifestyle changes. "i eat healthy now." "i don't eat fast food anymore (very rarely)." "i go to the gym regularly." none of this implies stopping at any point...that's a lot better attitude to have imo.

i've lost about 50 pounds over the last 1.5 years and put on about 20 pounds of muscle. i epic failed different diets and fad-exercise programs for a few years before that. changing my mindset from "dieting" to "making lifestyle changes" was pretty much the key in my success (mental game ftw).

I agree with this. This is why I love McDougall--it's definitely a decision you make for life, and I definitely consider it a lifestyle decision and not a diet. I'm never going back to what I ate before.

[Chumplestultz]

I don't even know anything about food or diet, i've just always eaten whatever I wanted and I still look like a stick. but now i'm curious if there's like a +EV poker diet? like maybe if you eat almonds before you play or something you concentrate more? lol i dunno, help me out plz

and then there's the stuff about warming up the first few days of the week, hitting it hard for a few days and then taking a day or two off. I take a day off every week just cause I think I should give my eyes a rest more than anything... But is this kind of thing proven to improve performance?

And gym/exercise is good too? I've never done it haha I'm such a fish at this stuff. If I want to gear my diet/routine around crushing what are the first steps? I need someone who crushes life to take me under their wing imo.

[u cnat spel]

With regards to the McDougall Plan/China Study recommendations;

Firstly, I want to stress that a mostly plant-based diet will not work for everyone. This is something called "metabolic typing". Three metabolic types exist: 1) carb types 2) mix types 3) protein types. Some people following a plant-based diet focused mainly on carbs will feel absolutely miserable and low on energy. Others will feel fantastic and have their body regulate itself because of their appropriate diet. A "one-size-fits-all" approach to nutrition does not work. This is why some people breeze through with the Atkins (protein types) while others struggle with it.

Personally, I'm a protein type. You can figure out what type you are by taking this test: http://nutritionaltyping.mercola.com/Login.aspx
I absolutely need my meats and fats. Carbs do not satisfy me like a steak does. I get hungry after a few hours when I eat spaghetti. I gain weight pretty easily on carbs aswell. It's just the way my body works. Protein types digest carbohydrates too quickly, thus we balance it out by eating slower digesting foods.

I encourage people to figure out which metabolic type suits them. If you're a carb type, hey, coffeeyay's suggestion seems to be working for him, so try it out. If you're like me: enjoy your meats, cheeses and eggs as staples in your diet. If you're a hybrid... eat whatever you want, you lucky bastard.

The important thing is to listen to your body. If you're trying a vegan diet and don't feel good, don't stick with it because the China Study said it's the best diet.



Further reading:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...-part-one.aspx

[coffeeyay]

Metabolic types makes no sense to me--I often try to look for common sense reasons for such things, and I don't find any with this, and all the data seems to suggest other things. It's kind of like saying that you shouldn't suggest quitting cigarettes because everyone is different. Smoking causes cancer and so do meat and dairy. Smoking causes heart disease and so do refined oils--whether they're coconut oil or lard, yes coconut oil may be marginally better than lard but that's like saying light cigarettes are marginally better than full strength.

But regardless I can see a desire for more protein or whatever--sure everyone is different, maybe you happen to need a bit higher % protein. Fine, eat more oats quinoa and beans--all very high in protein compared to what the world health organization suggests which is 5%. Human breast milk is 10% protein and is the perfect food for growing developing babies--all the foods above have way more than 10% protein in them.

Saying you want more protein is no excuse to eat meat imo--meat has far more % protein than you ever need, it is linked to many different cancers as well as heart disease. But more than anything it's just destroying the environment. It's not sustainable to eat meat every day. It is the leading cause of global warming. It is just purely irresponsible imo.

As for dairy, cow's milk is pretty toxic. It's intended for baby cows not humans, and cows are ridiculously maltreated in order to produce milk in the quantities they do--even so called organic milk is terrible. Milk is not a health food! It's linked to leukemia, has been proven to cause type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders. The one purported benefit--calcium--is retarded since dairy is linked to osteoperosis--if you look at data of people who eat dairy vs people who don't, you'll find a huge correlation with osteoporosis because dairy is so acidic that it leeches calcium out of the bones. Furthermore there are no known cases of calcium deficiency. By most metrics most people are allergic and intolerent, particularly people whose ancestors didn't eat it (a bone to the eat what your ancestors ate crowd ).

Also, i tried to read that article by Mercola but then it referenced Weston Price--his foundation is just terrible, his research was bad and he was a dentist not a doctor--so I stopped reading. Sorry. I guess i just prefer raw data, metrics and math and the China Study plus McDougall do really good job convincing me using those things.
I tried to do the quiz but it needed my email and I didn't want to give it away.

Lastly, are you sure that using personal beliefs and feelings is a good idea when dealing with food? Like the notion that how you feel after eating a steak--imo that should be completely irrelevant in the short term. This is because obviously it will feel better, so will eating fried fatty food--our body seeks high calorie density foods because of neural circuitry. I think that you may be caught in what's called "The Pleasure Trap" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxf4kj8Rb6Y this lecture is worth watching even if you're not interested in the diet, it has a lot of cool psychology in it about neural circuits), just like being addicted to drugs or nicotine, where if you cease eating your foods you feel worse just as if you cease smoking cigarettes or snorting cocaine you will feel down. Is that a reason to not stop smoking cigarettes though? Perhaps if you switched to a McDougall diet for a few weeks (10 days is standard) you would feel better.

Besides if you aren't full after you eat pasta, you can eat again in 3 hours or eat twice as much. It's hard to get used to the quantity of food you can and should eat because it's so much lower calorie density. Compared to a steak, a huge bowl of whole grain pasta with no oil tomato sauce will probably be fewer calories and pasta is one of the highest calorie density foods you can eat in unlimited amounts. For me that the fun part about McDougall you get to eat a ton of food as often as you want and be happy about it

[lyncks2002]

@cofeejay: I actually read about 10 books (incl China Study) before i chose Slow Carb diet to be the "diet" to lose weight with.
Never been to a doctor or stuff like that (i've seen a few paid diet... God they are retarded -it's like you eat EXACTLY 114.5g of this yoghurt and in EXACTLY 2 hours you go and do X- cba to do those really).
I chose Slow Carb because of the obvious improvements i was about to have while following it (like i said i had huge triglycerides, i think around 400) and cutting fast acting carbs and sugars was pretty much the way to go for me back then.
I honestly think that us humans must eat meat, that was basically the first thing we did since like one of us saw the first animal and said "oh that should be our dinner"; i really think that animal protein is really needed in our bodies and i agree with ucnatspell that you should do a test (don't know anything about mercola except that he stole a lot of ideas from other nutritionists so don't know about his test).
From what i read, McDougall, SLow Carb, Paleo.. all of these are easily followable for life so they are not really diets, but more of a lifestyle.
@coffejay: also i used to not have a week pass by w/o huge stomach pain and stuff like that until i started slow carb, so basically any "healthier" living style will obviously help one's body

@hokiegreg and dhcg86: i'm down too, but i must warn you, i will win it by far (i just haven't missed a workout in like 6 months (except one week in which i was abroad);
BTW, PM me for invites to fitocracy.com and we can create a group there and log all our workouts (need the email addy, 8 left, but each invitee gets 10 for himself and so on)
I am just too hyped about being lean and can't wait to go back to the gym
@chumple: read this http://www.muscleandstrength.com/art...endomorph.html
You are probably an ectomorph which means it's pretty hard to gain weight (either lean or fat)

@hokiegreg: I know it feels awesome, i lost that in about 7 months, gained some muscle too and feeling great overall
Actually my main reason to start playing poker again was this (after several epic fails):
first time i have a general feeling of well being, no more stomach pain, no more sleepiness and stuff like that; also no more coughing and the need for a cig after a bad beat; so now i'm basically started to play poker for the first time for real.. don't think i actually had a shot until now to be successful being like that (you know... healthy mind in healthy body)
P.S. www.leangains.com - what i'm currently doing and it changed my life, really nice resource for fitness/dieting

[Cydonia]

Everybody's talking here about losing weight, but I'd like some tips on what exactly should I eat to gain weight.

I'm currently 138lbs and 6'0 which is considered as somewhat skinny. I've been doing triathlon for the last 5 years so I'm no stranger to running/swimming/cycling and gym.
The weight I'd like to achieve is something around 165lbs. The problem is, that I'm going to need an exact plan on how to put on 27lbs, because I want the most of gained weight to be lean body mass not just "bulk up".

I'm currently second month into this training-programme and I'd like to be at least 150lbs something if not 160lbs by the time triathlon season starts (the the beginning on June).

[lyncks2002]

as long as you dont do the bro science from the gym you can gain weight nicely.
like i said before: www.leangains.com
exactly what you need
also you should really have someone with medical history check up on you... combining extreme endurance training with weight training and not proper feeding may result in really ****ty situations... just a headsup

[u cnat spel]

Originally Posted by coffeeyay

Metabolic types makes no sense to me--I often try to look for common sense reasons for such things, and I don't find any with this, and all the data seems to suggest other things. It's kind of like saying that you shouldn't suggest quitting cigarettes because everyone is different. Smoking causes cancer and so do meat and dairy. Smoking causes heart disease and so do refined oils--whether they're coconut oil or lard, yes coconut oil may be marginally better than lard but that's like saying light cigarettes are marginally better than full strength.

I don't understand this comparison at all, tbh. Also, coconut oil is not marginally better. It is exponentially better. The research is all pointing towards coconut oil being by far and away the healthiest edible fat currently known. Do some research about "extra virgin coconut oil", you'll be quite surprised. http://www.amazon.com/Coconut-Miracl...9584581&sr=8-2 is a recommended book.



But regardless I can see a desire for more protein or whatever--sure everyone is different, maybe you happen to need a bit higher % protein. Fine, eat more oats quinoa and beans--all very high in protein compared to what the world health organization suggests which is 5%. Human breast milk is 10% protein and is the perfect food for growing developing babies--all the foods above have way more than 10% protein in them.

Saying you want more protein is no excuse to eat meat imo--meat has far more % protein than you ever need, it is linked to many different cancers as well as heart disease. But more than anything it's just destroying the environment. It's not sustainable to eat meat every day. It is the leading cause of global warming. It is just purely irresponsible imo.

The relationship between meat, cancer and heart disease is weak at best. Cancer and heart disease have too many factors to pinpoint meat as one of the causes. Lifestyle habits must be taken into consideration.

The heart disease cautioners will often point out the high saturated fat content of meat. Saturated fat has been vilified mostly because of trans fats (which are universally accepted as terrible). Wherever there's trans fats, saturated fat is usually nearby. A recent report by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition even admitted saturated fat had no link with heart disease. I strongly suggest you do your own independant research about this.

The cancer associated with meat is much more likely to be caused by the cooking process than the meat itself. Cooking creates many carcinogenic byproducts, so this is gives merit to a plant-based diet. The solution would be to have your foods eaten as close to raw as possible.



As for dairy, cow's milk is pretty toxic. It's intended for baby cows not humans, and cows are ridiculously maltreated in order to produce milk in the quantities they do--even so called organic milk is terrible. Milk is not a health food! It's linked to leukemia, has been proven to cause type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders. The one purported benefit--calcium--is retarded since dairy is linked to osteoperosis--if you look at data of people who eat dairy vs people who don't, you'll find a huge correlation with osteoporosis because dairy is so acidic that it leeches calcium out of the bones. Furthermore there are no known cases of calcium deficiency. By most metrics most people are allergic and intolerent, particularly people whose ancestors didn't eat it (a bone to the eat what your ancestors ate crowd ).

Definitely agreed that pasteurized milk is by all standards NOT a health beverage. If you choose to drink milk, it should be raw coming from free range grass-fed cows.



Also, i tried to read that article by Mercola but then it referenced Weston Price--his foundation is just terrible, his research was bad and he was a dentist not a doctor--so I stopped reading. Sorry. I guess i just prefer raw data, metrics and math and the China Study plus McDougall do really good job convincing me using those things.
I tried to do the quiz but it needed my email and I didn't want to give it away.

I don't understand your critique. The only point Weston Price brought up was:

"The diets of all the indigenous peoples were tremendously varied (being dependent on geography, climate and the food stuffs naturally available)"

This is absolutely true and brought nothing to the actual research behind the article.



Lastly, are you sure that using personal beliefs and feelings is a good idea when dealing with food? Like the notion that how you feel after eating a steak--imo that should be completely irrelevant in the short term. This is because obviously it will feel better, so will eating fried fatty food--our body seeks high calorie density foods because of neural circuitry. I think that you may be caught in what's called "The Pleasure Trap" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxf4kj8Rb6Y this lecture is worth watching even if you're not interested in the diet, it has a lot of cool psychology in it about neural circuits), just like being addicted to drugs or nicotine, where if you cease eating your foods you feel worse just as if you cease smoking cigarettes or snorting cocaine you will feel down. Is that a reason to not stop smoking cigarettes though? Perhaps if you switched to a McDougall diet for a few weeks (10 days is standard) you would feel better.

I agree I could of been unclear. I did not mean judging how you feel immediately after one meal. I meant trying a diet for a while and evaluating how you felt after 30 days or whatever metric you use. I've tried going meat-free for 2 weeks and did not feel good. My current protein/fat centered diet is what works best for me after trying a bunch of different approaches.



Besides if you aren't full after you eat pasta, you can eat again in 3 hours or eat twice as much. It's hard to get used to the quantity of food you can and should eat because it's so much lower calorie density. Compared to a steak, a huge bowl of whole grain pasta with no oil tomato sauce will probably be fewer calories and pasta is one of the highest calorie density foods you can eat in unlimited amounts. For me that the fun part about McDougall you get to eat a ton of food as often as you want and be happy about it

A final caution about calories. They are mostly a useless concept. This will be a shocker to many. I don't really feel like going through the whole process, but here are a few things to consider:

1) Do you think 500 calories of sugar will have the same impact on your weight as 500 calories of lean meat?

2) Suppose a pound of fat is really 3,500 calories. If you weigh 171 in 2002 and ten years later STILL weigh 171 pounds, this would be an amazing feat if you really thought about it. Over the past 3,652 days or so, you managed to burn EXACTLY the same amount calories as you consumed with absolute pinpoint accuracy. All of it without a calculator! If all you did was overeat 10 calories a day (which is about an almond and a half) while still burning the same amount of calories, you'd be 10.4 pounds fatter after ten years.

The real world doesn't work like this. The law of thermodynamics would apply in a CLOSED system. The body is anything but a closed system. Thus, the calories in, calories out myth holds no truth whatsoever.

.

[mela]

Originally Posted by u cnat spel

The real world doesn't work like this. The law of thermodynamics would apply in a CLOSED system. The body is anything but a closed system. Thus, the calories in, calories out myth holds no truth whatsoever.

Yep this.

Body is an open system that can exchange materials and energy. It is also non-adiabatic (or, duh, diabatic) system but that's slightly beyond the point.