Thanks. I’ve come across the argument when looking into ways of eating to improve, or at least better manage my kidney disease. The source isn’t one I fully trust to be honest. That said, I’ve had good results from changing my diet to vegetarian, bordering on vegan which is becoming an increasingly well known way of helping. But this along issue with oil and other things recommended by the source of that information raised an eyebrow or two to be honest.
But like weight loss the discipline is the greatest challenge. I’m currently trying the 16:8 fasting with a serious upturn in exercise as I want to lose about 1-1.5 stones, 10kg would be great.
I agree, the jury is still out on whether a high saturated fat diet is beneficial or otherwise. The research is incredibly difficult unless you are able to strictly control the food intake of the participants and not rely upon memory and questionnaires as the basis of research. This is true of all types of dietary research.
This more recent study from September 2020 indicates that consumption of the Mediterranean diet - so olive oil, animal fats, oily fish etc. improves FMD.
“*Our results suggest that the Mediterranean diet better modulates endothelial function compared with a low-fat diet and is associated with a better balance of vascular homeostasis in CHD patients, even in those with severe endothelial dysfunction.”
It is a very interesting area of research and by no means settled. It is a good thing that there are forums such as this that allow the exploration of new ideas and theories. As with most things I keep an open mind - what is obvious is that the standard dietary advice/practices of the last 40 years has contributed massively to the obesity / diabetes epidemic. In short - they got it badly wrong. So any realistic attempt to discover the causes is IMO admirable.
Chris Kesser may be a Quack. A quick google search indeed finds him to be an acupuncturist. However, Chris Knobbe (unfortunate name) whom I quoted, is a qualified MD and Professor:-
"Dr. Chris Knobbe is an ophthalmologist and Associate Clinical Professor Emeritus, formerly of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, Texas. He is also the founder and president of Cure AMD Foundation, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to the prevention of vision loss from age-related macular degeneration"
So he most certainly is a physician and almost certainly not a “Quack” His qualifications are listed on the first slide of the video I posted. Maybe watch it before disparaging him and his ideas?
Time to revive this thread a little given the recent excellent discussion in the Covid thread.
For some context I think there’s some agreement that past advice on what forms a balanced diet has been misguided and this has lead to modern western diets being far too high in carbohydrates.
On a personal level earlier in this thread I revealed that I no longer eat meat due to health reasons. I’ve been successful in that transition and dont really miss it, struggled with cheese though. I do however consider my diet to still be in transition. I still need to lose weight and have struggled with cutting down on sugar and with the loss readily available protein, carbohydrates have been the easy fall back. To add to the complication I need to watch protein levels among other various things (Sodium and Potassium) you can find in food naturally. Protein puts extra pressure on your kidneys, mine are pretty well scorched and can easily reignite so I need to be careful. I do need to see how well your body handles plant based protein though, my info so far is a little sketchy on that front. I am slowly managing to ween myself of sugar
So I need tips and have the discussion on how to have a healthy diet and what constitutes a good diet.
I happily yoyo. I love to cook and cook expansively. If I can fry it in butter then all the better. Cheese fondue, hmmmmmm. When I was a young adult and through to my mid thirties I could probably have been a competitive eater. I could eat ridiculous portions in even more ridiculous times. Think a plate full of Sunday lunch in a few minutes. But my metabolism changed and something had to alter or I was going to turn into a blimp. So I embarked on my initial diet that saw me drop several stone by keenly counting calories and exercising a lot more. This worked well and I was very happy with the results. Interestingly it also reduced my long term appetite. I’m now very happy with a fee small snacks and one meal a day (much to my wife’s utter hatred).
However, I might have a drink or two and apparently alcohol (beer) is not entirely wonderful for long term weight loss and management. So I now know that if I eat too much of my own cooking, drink like a fish and don’t exercise, I put weight on. If I cook healthy food, run 3 times a week and generally do more, I lose weight. I’m very happy with this as I know that in the next few months I’m going to work like a beast and eat little which will set me up perfectly for absolutely blowing out at Christmas.
I’ve just lost 3 stone by doing the above, can’t decide between steaks with home-fries, whole BBQ chicken with sliced potatoes in olive oil and butter or just good old lasagna for tea tonight (with a LOT of cheese) Or I could call for some fresh veg and do a nice light Asian inspired stir fry with the 3 chicken breasts I have in the fridge with noodles or maybe garlic and veg boiled rice. Pass the butter
Ultimately, something will work for you. But eating less shit and exercising more will always help. Oh and drinking less, apparently.
Stress is no doubt an issue for me. Lock down hasn’t helped and working from home means it’s been too easy to stay in front of the computer trying to deliver the undeliverable. Thankfully there are plans to change the work side which should open up new opportunities to become more active again.
My diet still needs a little work though, I need better balance and quick and easy recipes for meat free meals.
Everyone is different, of course, but I’ve lost over a stone from following a very simple diet six days a week: cereal for breakfast, Huel for lunch, Huel Hot for dinner. I have plenty of fruit during the day and only drink water and green tea.
On Fridays I usually go to the pub, so that’s my beer day, and one day at the weekend I’ll have a takeaway or cook dinner with the missus; we’ll have a bottle of wine with the meal.
I also bought a rowing machine during lockdown and that has helped trim the old waistline. Could barely manage 500m to start with; I now do a minimum of 5k five days a week.
Good to hear. I’ve always struggled with the home exercise thing. Physically leaving the house and getting my “head on” to exercise has been fine. Getting into that same mental state at home has been incredibly difficult. I’m even struggling to head out on the bike or a run.
I desperately need a life style change at the moment. It’s coming but frustrating to get there.
I need some kind of target.
Back in the day when I played football and then rugby in particular I wanted to be the best rugby player that I could be. I was also playing catch up having started playing late and was also playing at a club that was at a pretty decent level.
That triggered something in my mind that lead to a training programme of gym 2-3 days a week and club training 2-3 times a week and a match. That was in season. Out of season I was in the gym 4-5 times a week. Good times, being single helped at that time as well to be 100% honest.
Not sure how this affects some of you but one of the reasons I embarked on this initially was that although I’d put a few stone on, a gentleman never discusses his wife’s weight. Ahem.
Seeing me lose weight and actively being fitter and healthier for absolutely no reason that I could work out encouraged my better half to do the same. Odd that.
Good to hear. I’ve always struggled with the home exercise thing. Physically leaving the house and getting my “head on” to exercise has been fine. Getting into that same mental state at home has been incredibly difficult. I’m even struggling to head out on the bike or a run.
I was told many years ago the best exercise to take, offering most benefits in the shortest time is… skipping with a leather skipping rope.
The more you get used to it the faster you can whip it around…
I dare anyone to say how easy it is without first trying it out…
Your whole metabolism benefits from it…
Fish and Chip supper every Friday night then no problem :0)
I’ve got a decent skipping rope for exactly the reason you point out. Cant get my head straight to use it, along with the kettle bells, the bike and the camera gear which usually results in a semi decent hike.
been 90kg for a decade. during lockdown at Christmas with my parents for 3 days, we ate and drank. however, that 3kg I gained in 3 days never left. have been eating very healthy, especially with the garden in full production all summer. but just not getting the weight off. first match of the season tomorrow night and I feel like my knees will hate me running in my mid 40’s and 10kg overweight.
@Iftikhar I will gladly donate my extra 10kg to you.
There’s an app from fitify on the Google play store for kettlebells. They have a free version that you could try. I use it a few times a week and find it pretty good.
For skipping I use an interval timer, start off with 10 seconds on, 20 seconds off, or whatever you feel comfortable with then progress from there.
Get some dance music playing through your earphones and everything seems much easier.
tried it. Cant be asked carrying on with it. Same reason as above, it’s that motivation (and time) to get up and do it. Every time I start something screws up my plans / routine and that’s it, it’s gone lost until I get the next prod
Believe me, I’ve tried 5-6 times to get into a home exercise routine.
Been there before more than a few times so understand the frustration. Lost my dad last year to heart disease, he was overweight and I’m sure that didn’t help his situation. That kickstarted me trying to lose weight again. Started intermittent fasting and didn’t exercise until I’d got down to my target weight of 11.5 stone. Found previously if I was exercising it made me more hungry so lost the weight first this time.
I’ve done some intermittent fasting in the past with some success. I had two problems with it, the urge to binge after a fast and secondly doing it in such a manner that it was sustainable. I’m kind of trying to get into the habit of eating if I’m hungry. If I’m not, then I wont eat even if that little peanut between my ears tells me it’s tea time.
That’s proving to be a battle but I’m making small steps. I’ve come off sugar, and I’m stopping the late night suppers in the last week or so hopefully that will help a little. Trying to build good and easily sustainable habits at the moment rather than diving into something that proves overly hard, takes a heap of mental effort and ultimately falls by the wayside.
Yeah the mental side of trying to cut down or stop something you enjoy is tough. I dont know why but everything just clicked for me this time. I did intermittent fasting with 2 meals a day. Nothing in between my meals and nothing after. Pepsi max is good for a sweet tooth with 0 calories
+1 with wasting time and money on home exercise stuff and gym memberships over the years.
The best exercise is the one you enjoy. I’ve recently joined a powerlifting gym and I play sport about 3 times per week, and ‘exercising’ is now one of the things I look forward to the most rather than being something that requires will power or discipline.
Just got myself an ab-roller and some push up bars to try and kick it up a notch from regular push ups and situps. Absolutely love the ab-roller and the push up bars are instantly obvious how much of a difference they make. Arms are burning.
July 1st 2020 I weighed 230lbs which was by far the heaviest I’ve been (a mixture of becoming a first time parent and then indulging too much during the first lockdown when my ultra marathon was cancelled). As of today I weigh 186lbs although I did down to 183 for a while but I’m struggling to consistently be in the low 180s. Feels like if I have anything to eat at all I immediately jump back up to 188 (I’m 6’2" though so this is still considered a healthy weight range).
