Obesity Epidemic

[MaggieTheCat]

So what do you recommend for those of us who don't have a day to laze around and cook and instead are go-go-go 24/7?

I love to cook and tend to think I'm pretty good at it. I also don't think I'm "lazing around" when I'm cooking. I understand that you and many people don't have time to cook healthy, homemade meals on a regular basis, but that doesn't mean that those of us who can are wasting time by doing so.

As far as suggestions, I think someone already mentioned a crock pot? There usually isn't much prep work in making crock pot meals, and you can cut that down even further by buying pre-chopped vegetables and meat, etc. One crock pot meal I make is a six can chicken tortilla soup. Cream of chicken soup, chicken stock, canned chicken, canned black beans, canned corn, and canned tomatoes with green chilies. Dump everything together in a crock pot and let it go till you're ready to eat. No, it's not the healthiest meal you can make, there will be a lot of sodium from all the canned items. But it makes a LOT, is stupidly cheap to make, freezes and reheats well, and personally I think it's better (both taste and health-wise) than eating Subway, McDonalds, or Lean Cuisines every day.

Speaking of Subway, what about making your own cold cut sandwiches? Again, it won't be the healthiest thing in the world since lunch meat has a lot of sodium in it. But for around $15 -- the cost of 3 of those $5 footlongs -- you can get a half a pound of turkey, a half a pound of cheese, a loaf of bread, a head of lettuce, and a couple of tomatoes. Enough to easily make you at least 5-6 sandwiches depending on how much meat/cheese you use. And sandwiches do not take long to make. Even with washing the lettuce and tomato and slicing the tomato, I can make a sandwich in under 5 minutes.

[Andara Bledin]

I don't have time to do even that.

You could do quite a lot of cooking with just half of the time you spend posting here.

Yeah, I have no idea how to cook. I once had to ask my wife how to make toast in a toaster and she stopped me from microwaving hamburger once.

You have access to the internet; you have access to as much information as you want to find.

But you have to want to have the information instead of just excuses.

^-.-^

[Boozy]

Yeah, youi'll gain weight back if you stop doing low carb. Not doing low carb is how people gain weight.

Everyone's body, tastes, and motivations are different. The one thing everyone has in common is that they will lose weight when they produce a calorie deficit due to diet and exercise. Whether those calories are in carbs or fats or proteins.

Low-carb diets work well and feel relatively easy for the average American because:

- It forbids potato chips and french fries. These are two of the most popular, highest calorie, easy-to-grab snacks for Americans.

- They are removing foods from their diet that they didn't think to "count" before. The donut they mindlessly grabbed out of the break room on the way to the water cooler. The bread they ate from the basket before dinner.

- Low-carb diets will make you burn fat (especially at first) with very little exercise. Given the sedentary lifestyle of the average North American, this is a bonus.

I find that there are a lot of people at my gym who are on low-carb diets and are in great shape. There are also a handful of people at my gym who are in phenomenol shape, as in, top athletes. I've overheard them chatting about what they eat enough to know that their diets include carbs.

I think low-carb diets can be relatively safe and effective for people, compared to others, but I don't think it's the Holy Grail of diets.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

My diet does indeed include carbs, and plenty of them. However, carbs from a handful of blueberries or a stalk of broccoli are not the same as carbs from a cola or a bag of fries. Low carb does not mean no carb. It means smart carb.

And I eat crap carbs, too. I mean, I go over to my mom's place and she's got fresh garlic bread, I'm gonna eat it. However, I may go "I'm gonna eat another piece of that awesome bread instead of a cupcake for desert."

Got to pace yourself.

And I'd like to add soft drinks to the "french fry and chips" list. I personally am of the opinion that if we had a pie chart of what's making us fat and sick, sodas would be the largest piece of the pie. They are touted as "Low fat!" Well, they're low in killer clowns, too, but that doesn't mean they're good for you. They are AWFUL for you. You might as well eat a candy bar instead every time you drink one. In fact, that would be probably healthier.

Hard core athletes often need to "carb dope" because they need that sugar boost for energy when they're doing heavy athletics. Most of the rest of us get the same thing from our fat stores. Someone with very low body fat needs to do this, but the rest of us don't. And a lot of top athletes have low fat, high carb diets and these work for them because of their level of physical activity. The average joe doesn't do this level of exercise, which is why these sorts of diets are very hard to maintain and often don't work.

Once you get used to low carb lifestyle, it's not that hard to maintain. I started doing this back when I had a full time job, too. What I do is, as others have said, use a crock pot a lot. Throw a roast in there with some onions and carrots (carby, but again, veggies are not starches). I do burgers with no buns and lots of veggies. I keep a bowl of hard boiled eggs and cheese and fruit in the fridge. Fruit is mostly pretty high carb, but I eat it because I want it and crave it. It's my indulgence. If we eat pasta, we eat low carb pasta. Cut down on sugars until your tolerance for it is lower (if you get used to eating less sugar, your tongue will detect lower amounts of it and you need less to satisfy your sweet tooth.) Canned diced chicken or tuna can make instant chicken or tuna salad.

Most people think they need "protein, veggie, and starch" for a meal. You don't. Cut the starch out. You don't need it. Honest.

Many people have dropped weight after simply giving up sodas.

[lordlundar]

Ascorbic acid=Citric acid(from oranges and lemons)

Just a small correction here: Ascorbic acid is not the same as citric acid. While they both contribute Vitamin C and are used to counter Scurvy, they are not the same acid.

[Rapscallion]

Just a small correction here: Ascorbic acid is not the same as citric acid. While they both contribute Vitamin C and are used to counter Scurvy, they are not the same acid.

I was going to say when I saw that at the head of the list.

Most citric acid in commercial use these days is produced as a by-product of aspergillus niger (a fungus or mould), and I don't have to rely on googling to know that. It's information I have to quote every so often in one of my jobs. Lemon juice contains, and this is slightly hazy memory, up to 8% citric acid at best, and you have to work to extract it.

Rapscallion

[Cazzi]

I had something interesting pointed out to me a few weeks ago.. All those diet books that are out there in bookshops? They ALL work. They just don't all work for everyone.
On going low carb in my case, as I said earlier, traditional diets just made me feel bad & energy-less.
What turned me onto low carb was a discussion of how humans evolved... the fact that we've spent X millions of years evolving to where we are now subsisting on what we could kill or gather... then in the last 3-4 thousand years, suddenly throw in stuff we've had to start to grow as out population started expanding too quickly. It made sense to me

Except that this is a false situation. You can buy more cheap and healthy food than you can cheap and unhealthy food.

Unless you live in a grocery desert.

Not just that. Small towns/ villages in affluent areas often have higher prices on the good stuff which takes it out of the range on those with little income. Add in maybe an exhausted & ill single mum who can't afford a car to get out & shop around or have the ability to walk miles between stores; greengrocers & butchers shops which charge a lot more than the supermarkets, then you get stuck buying the "store" value processed stuff. It took one or two of the "lower priced" stores moving into the area to trigger a bit of a price war to make it a little more affordable round here!

In an ideal world it would be as easy as Andara says, but this is definitely not an ideal world. I am aware of food & nutrition, but even after sitting down with a calculator and taking into the equation an autistic child who couldn't tolerate some textures/flavours in food, unless I timed it lucky at the greengrocers to grab some bruised veg for soups etc, a lot of the time we were stuck with the over processed stuff... and I'm sure I wasnt the only one!

Luckily these days my finances have improved somewhat and I'm now in a position to be able to shop around, others aren't so lucky. I also don't smoke (any more) and rarely drink alcohol which means more cash for good quality foods.

Because I'm cooking more, as opposed to just grabbing a sandwich or snack, I've also found myself getting more efficient in the kitchen too. If I'm using the oven to cook something, I'll cook off say a tray of bacon, some sausages or more chicken portions etc and store them in the fridge or freezer ready to throw in the microwave when needed. It takes no longer than the original planned cooking, plus cuts down a little on energy bills too, which is a plus in this day & age!
I've also found that a lot of meals now take me minutes to make. I can cook up say chicken & mushrooms in a cream & garlic sauce in about 10 -15 mins... or less if I dice my chicken up small Throw that on a plate, with a good handful of mixed salad leaves & there's dinner

Damn, now I've thought of that, I'm hungry.... guess what I've just talked myself into for lunch

[BlaqueKatt]

Just a small correction here: Ascorbic acid is not the same as citric acid. While they both contribute Vitamin C and are used to counter Scurvy, they are not the same acid.

actually no there is no vitamin c in citric acid-I learned something today! yay

[Seshat]

Yes - I was going to say that vitamin C is ascorbic acid, and citric acid is entirely separate.

One that's pretty damn good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) is that I have gastroparesis. All that "eat lots of raw veggies and fruit?" Will make me very sick because I'm supposed to have a low-fat, low-fiber diet. Which confuses the fuck out of me on what I'm supposed to eat.

And that's when you see a nutritionist or dietitician. You're a special case, you should be able to get affordable help. ('should' in the sense that I can't see any reason for a first world society to not provide affordable basic medication.)

Regardless: low fat, low fibre should be doable. Try getting your vitamins through juiced vegetables and fruit: take the servings you should be having, run them through a juicer. Experiment with which combinations you like.

The juicer removes the fibre, and leaves almost all the rest of the good stuff intact.

Except that this is a false situation. You can buy more cheap and healthy food than you can cheap and unhealthy food.

That depends on where you are, and on exactly how poor you are.

If your 'cheap and unhealthy stuff' is potato chips and store-made pizzas, then yes. If your 'cheap and unhealthy stuff' is unflavoured ramen noodles and brown rice ... probably not.

[Mytical]

Do you know why there are so many diet plans on the market, besides the obvious? Some do work, and work well, for some people. Heck since there are about 300+ million people in America..having 1% success rate for a diet means that there are a lot of people it DOES work for. However, every body's body is different. That diet that helped jimbob lose 50 lbs in a healthy way could almost kill Joebob.

Now mind you, even after losing 70lbs I am 'obese'. I also am not a serial dieter. It took a disease to get me sick enough I could not eat to get me started on loosing weight. I was not eating 20 double quarter pounders a day, or had bags of chips by my side 24/7. In fact, I probably ate less then most people..and 75% of it was actually things that are believed to be healthy for people (lots of fruits). My lunch at work typically involved some melon of some sort, several types of fruit, and yes Ham (which was the 97% fat free kind). My problem was what I was drinking . 20% of calories come from what they drink for most people..mine was nearly 40-60%. I didn't know at the time, but it was because of diabetes. Made me super thirsty so I was drinking WAY too much (which only made things worse).

Now after the illness went away..I kept losing weight by drinking water before eating or drinking anything else..helped a ton. The point is (yes I know I am rambling again) that some things work for some, and not for others. Water works for me. Drink 16-24 oz before any meal..fills me up..so I eat and drink less. Won't work for everybody. You have to find what works for you.

[Andara Bledin]

I didn't know at the time, but it was because of diabetes. Made me super thirsty so I was drinking WAY too much (which only made things worse).

Both daibetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus will make you pee like crazy, which will dehydrate you, which will make you thirsty. My ex had this symptom when he first developed type 1 mellitus as a baby.

Generally, if you can't sleep through the night without having to get up and urinate, and your urine is mostly water (it'll look clear rather than the typical yellow tint), then it's a good idea to see a doctor to find out why.

^-.-^

[Eisa]

And that's when you see a nutritionist or dietitician. You're a special case, you should be able to get affordable help. ('should' in the sense that I can't see any reason for a first world society to not provide affordable basic medication.)

Regardless: low fat, low fibre should be doable. Try getting your vitamins through juiced vegetables and fruit: take the servings you should be having, run them through a juicer. Experiment with which combinations you like.

The juicer removes the fibre, and leaves almost all the rest of the good stuff intact.

Yeah, should and actual ability don't match here. -sighs- I would love to, though. The PA at my doctor keeps going "eat healthy and you will be fine." Yes, but how? I'm not a mind-reader.

Oooh, thank you for the juicer idea! Not sure if we have a juicer, but would not be surprised (my aunt gets...erm...everything, it seems).

[RecoveringKinkoid]

This guy Sean Croxton is BRILLIANT. He is a personal trainer and he reads everything he gets his hands on. He knows his stuff. Check him out.

http://undergroundwellness.com/


http://darksideoffatloss.com/

Also, go to youtube and just do a search on Underground Wellness. This guy does wonderful vlogs.