People and Diets...


MonochromaticMoose's avatar
OK, so I used to be a hefty size 16. I got thinner, but still had issues with diet, exercise and general health.

I recently started following a Lacto-Paleo/Primal diet+lifestyle and my health has improved all round! Lost that last few inches of fat, gaining muscle, got more energy, tooth sensitivity gone, hair greasiness gone, etc, etc... Plus, I can now eat as much as I like and not put on fat! :D Mystery solved: I needed to go Lacto-Paleo/Primal to "hack" my body into health.

Now, the annoyance. This hasn't happened to me as much as it has to some folks I know, but the fact it even happens to anyone annoys me and experiencing it makes it worse.
Person 1: "Wow! You're looking good! How did you do it?"
Paleo person: "*explains principles of Paleo*"
Person 1: "Oh! Isn't that really bad for you?"
Paleo: "*reiterates how their health far surpasses what it was before, states numbers and measurements, including stuff like cholesterol levels, proving they're actually healthier than average*"
Person 1: "But it MUST be bad for you! You'll be ill/die in a month, eating like that!"
***two months later***
Person 1: "Wow! You're looking so good! What are you doing?" *conversation carries on as above, as though you can't REALLY be doing what you say you're doing*

Or (more commonly):
Person 2: "I wish I could lose weight/gain muscle/gain strength... *sigh* How do YOU do it?"
Paleo: "Well, remember how I used to be, with weight issues, worrying about food...etc? I got rid of it by going (insert version of Paleo here)."
Person 2: "Aha. Was that all you did?"
Paleo: "No, but the diet fixed almost everything first, then I started exercising more, because I actually HAD the energy to exercise by then! *lists improvements from the diet alone*"
Person 2: "Wow! What do I have to do?"
Paleo: "*explains their version of the Paleo diet or points the person towards a Paleo-based site*"
Person 2: "I couldn't possibly not eat (insert arbritrary food here)!!!"
Paleo: "But it might be bad for you. *lists statistics for low-level gluten intolerance and the health issues related to it* You might not be, but you only find out if you try."
Person 2: "It isn't worth it! It wouldn't work for me anyway! I KNOW it! You're lucky to have such good genetics!" *walks off*
Paleo: *thinking* WTF?! Didn't you hear a WORD I said?!!!

:icontealdeerplz: Idiots being idiotic, nonsensical and uncooperative about a diet, even in the face of visible evidence it works, usually at the same time as complaining about their own poor health.
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e-c-h's avatar
btw, congrats with your diet so far :)
e-c-h's avatar
OMG this reminds me randomly of one of my favorite Madtv sketches: [link] EAT LESS..MOVE MOAAAR!!!
Xadrea's avatar
I hear you. I lost about 70 lbs a few years back (and I've managed to keep almost all of it off :)) and there was one girl at my old job who constantly bugged me about my exercise habits. When I was still hitting the gym everyday I would try to burn no less than 2500 calories. For some reason she couldn't understand that combining exercise, portion control and BASIC SENSE could lead to a more healthy you. Needless to say she's picked up a few more pounds since then :no:
SSPirate's avatar
Actually that sounds like a great diet for me. I'm lactose and gluten intolerant anyway. And from reading your posts I already pretty much do that diet already, I'd just have to make a few small changes. I'm not concerned about my weight- I'm pretty healthy as is and I like the way I look. I'm actually much more concerned about managing my IBS than anything else.
PurpleAmharicCoffee's avatar
The word 'diet' is negative and invokes failure, but making small changes to your daily habits does work... eventually. I have lost 20kg from changing my exercise habits and eating habits over the past year. I banned the word diet from my vocabulary, and called it a challenge instead.
MonochromaticMoose's avatar
Yeah, the idea of "going on a diet" is a pretty stupid notion. I guess the conflation between "going on a diet" and a "diet" as-in: "what you eat" causes issues for some.
Debit's avatar
At the bare basic level, I think what needs to be done is to measure an individual glucose/insulin tolerance. If this is low, then he should change his diet to contain less carbohydrates. If this is high, then he can handle moderate amounts of carbohydrates. In addition, his gluten and lactose tolerances need to be evaluated as well as they cause inflammation and allergy in case of low-tolerance individuals.

Paleo diet seems to be rather interesting. For example, the level of insulin spike after eating a cooked sweet potato is considerably higher than its uncooked counterpart. Not to mention, it is much easier to overindulge the cooked one.

In terms of public health, perhaps the two worst mistakes the US has ever made involve: 1) Demonizing saturated fats and cholesterol; 2) Lopsided USDA food pyramid. The official recommendations have done nothing to reduce increasing rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Overall, squandering billions of public funds on ever-expensive and questionable drugs instead of looking for fundamentals.
MonochromaticMoose's avatar
If you think the food pyramid's bad, look up the NHS "EatWell Plate". You will weep tears for Britain's health.
Debit's avatar
The NHS 'eat well' plate looks almost like the USDA 'food pyramid' in that both of them are way too loaded with carbohydrates. These two groupthinking zombies are really telling the public -- Hey, let's get fat! :D
MonochromaticMoose's avatar
There was an awesome graph at gnolls.org that showed the 1977 "healthy diet advice" which recommended high-grain, low-fat (for the first time. It DIRECTLY correlated with a sharp rise in obesity only a few years later, which got faster and faster until today. The tag-line the blogger added? "Well, that worked."
Debit's avatar
I would even go further and say -- That worked splendidly too well!

I have browsed through gnolls.com and I think one of the best articles from that site is titled 'Why Snack Food is Addictive'. [link]

Most dieting typically fails because their proponents do not get into the fundamentals like how hunger and satiety relate to nutritional compositions. This would be equivalent to teaching a learner how to control the steering wheel without teaching him how to read the odometer and the fuel gauge.
TheMaidenInBlack's avatar
You know, that's really mind opening, in a way.

I couldn't care less for sweet foods, but I love chips in every form they come, and I don't usually know when to stop. I mean, I can stop myself, but I could easily eat tons of it. That's my only weakness; and I'm not fat nor chubby, I'm average, but I could still get rid of some belly fat if I knew to behave better.
Debit's avatar
Regarding snacks ... (Not an exhaustive list, but my immediate thoughts)

Potato chips/crisps versus something like walnuts: You will have hard time trying to overeat the latter, while very little problems with the former.

French fries (American) or chips (British): On their own, uncooked potatoes are not that palatable. Either cook them into something attractive or else. But have ketchup, salt & vinegar, or mayonnaise combine with these potato products: You can consume them like crazy.
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MonochromaticMoose's avatar
Very good article there! I knew about the fat-sweet hypothesis, but some of it has shed new light, especially that nutrient-deficiency study!

One thing I WOULD add onto it, however, is that modern hunter-gatherers are frequent snackers. If they're out and about, tracking, gathering, checking snares or moving camp; they'll be picking berries off bushes and insects out of the grass and popping them into their mouths as they go. However (in the tribes that do this and during the seasons they do): their meals are FAR smaller than a modern human's (think: fistful of meat, piece of fruit) and they may only have a meal a day. When they snack, it's one or two berries or a locust. Modern humans, by comparison, eat HUGE meals, three to four times a day and, when they snack, they finish the bag/box.
Hunter-Gatherer: 5 nuts, four locusts, an earthworm, one meal of a fistful of meat, one meal of crushed fruit and nuts.
Modern human: a bowful of kcal-dense, sugary grain, a 10oz steak with chips, a large sandwich with mayonnaise, eggs, ham, cheese and some salad, two packets of crisps.
Basically: the easy availability of food is ruining what may have been a natural instinct (the odd snack when out and about).

Indeed! I find myself eating 1300kcal in warm weather, low activity; 1500kcal in warm weather with high activity or cold weather with low activity; 1800kcal in cold weather with high activity and about 2000kcal in VERY high activity (which is becoming more frequent, as I want larger, stronger arms). Before, eating a "healthy" diet I needed about 2000kcal as a minimum to keep satisfied and, eating a typical diet, I needed 2500kcal to keep satisfied. Yes, the 2500kcal one made me fat, but I couldn't go through the day without craving certain foods.
Now that I eat no grain, no legumes (save green ones, like peas and runnerbeans, of course), no junk and fill myself on healthy, natural fats, I eat less and feel more satisfied and stronger. My body must've been seriously out-of-whack, because I've not felt like this since I was a toddler!
Debit's avatar
I started taking interest in diabetes and obesity after watching presentations made by Dr. Robert H. Lustig (a pediatrician from University of Calfornia at San Francisco, 'Sugar: The Bitter Truth -- can be found in YouTube) and Gary Taubes (a science writer who has authored two books, Good Fats, Bad Fats and Why We Get Fat. He can also be found in YouTube). Furthermore, my mom and uncle have diabetes (type 2). Consequently, I have become particularly interested in the biochemistry of metabolism and how our bodies handle nutrition.
theleaveshaveeyes's avatar
My mom tried to get me to do that diet.

Everybody's different. It won't work for everybody. What worked for me was just eating whole foods, lots of vegetables and fruits. I didn't do any specific measurement. I just ate healthy. It took some time but I dropped from a 12 to a 5.
Mitoma's avatar
Usually I don't care about others' diets, unless they're obnoxious about it. You're coming off kinda "Well, that's fine for you, but I eat what was MEANT to be and thus I'm actually right." At least it's when people ask what you do. How do you tell someone is mildly intolerant to gluten or dairy anyway? Maybe they ignore you because you come off a bit preachy? My diet is mainly high in protein and fiber, and because of protein it often follows with some fats. I have a buddy who was raised anti-any fat and it drives me up the fucking wall when she tells me how bad some of my (lower processed foods, mind you) are bad for me...When she goes a bit crazy on portion control and will choose some higher processed stuff over lower, because it's lower fat or just quicker to make. Pretty sure she'd be just as unhappy if I lectured her about her habits, even if they're bad.

Maybe "damn man, how u get skinny?" is just a rhetorical question. :shrug: I've been asked how I got skinny because I lost a lot of weight over this year, and I feel like I'd be treading some really dangerous territory if I elaborated.
akihua's avatar
I don't like diets.Food is so delicious.
rockstar1009's avatar
A chaotic summer has left me wrecked in terms of sleep, mental focus and energy (energy depletion being a direct result of the first two). I'm now 10 lbs outside of my recommended BMI (no bigs - I'll blame it on being due to winter bulking season :D), so I have to drop about 15-25 to be back at my prime weight. Thankfully, my schedule is going to become far more stable in a week or two, so I can actually develop a workout routine again. :la:

At some point in that time (probably around March), I'll probably start on keto, which will be a small challenge since I've gone full vegetarian since February. I see LOTS of eggwhites, nuts, avocado and olive oil in my future...
MonochromaticMoose's avatar
-avocado
-nuts
-butter (low in lactose, high in fat)
-drink 300ml of double cream a day
-eat the whole egg
-mix extra olive oil into soups and stews AFTER cooking them, that way the fats don't become denatured
-try coconut oil, sprinkled with nuts as a snack (sooooo good!)
EvilDoctorHobbit's avatar
:lol: When people blame things on genetics...

Sure, some people have a better metabolism. But there are ways you can boost your metabolism- and make it decline. It's all on the food you eat, brother.

Haha. I just find it funny that when people actually see people actively getting more healthier they blame it on genetics. 'Mericans.
MonochromaticMoose's avatar
Not just 'mericans. Westerners in any bloody shape and form.

Fuck, I've found North-African Muslim Blacks that are more likely to understand the health benefits of barefoot walking than British chavs. *despair* Smeimes I'd swear my race is half geniuses and half the thickest humans on the planet... *sigh*
EvilDoctorHobbit's avatar