Speaking of Obesity...

[XCashier]

Try yoga, IDR....You can pick up a DVD or tape at the library to get started. If you get into it, let me know and I'll PM you the titles of some of my favourites.

Can you recommend a DVD for someone with a gut, bad knees and zero flexibility?

[ElMarko]

Here's the thing.

For the vast of majority of the history of life on earth food for most organisms was hard to come by and few offspring survived. If you didn't eat the most energetic food you could get when you could get it you starved and died before you could reproduce. If you didn't fuck whenever you could you didn't have enough offspring for your genes to continue into the next generation.

As a consequence we are deceded from animals that ate and fucked whenever possible. Now you don't need to do those things but the drives to do so are still there. We have contraception to deal with the problems of fucking whenever you can but not with eating whatever you can.

[Slytovhand]

For the vast of majority of the history of life on earth food for most organisms was hard to come by and few offspring survived. If you didn't eat the most energetic food you could get when you could get it you starved and died before you could reproduce. If you didn't fuck whenever you could you didn't have enough offspring for your genes to continue into the next generation.

As a consequence we are deceded from animals that ate and fucked whenever possible. Now you don't need to do those things but the drives to do so are still there. We have contraception to deal with the problems of fucking whenever you can but not with eating whatever you can.

But it's only recently that obesity has become the major societal problem it has... and that comes down to something else you implied... having to get the food.

Way back when... we had to chase it down, or work out in the 'fields' ('fields' being either actively cultivated, or naturally grown - but had to be searched for).

If you're lucky, you could get yourself into some sort of trading arrangement with the stuff you got for the stuff you want/need. eg - a tanner could trade off the skins from her kills, for the fish caught by the kid on the river.

We don't do that now, so people don't get out as much and do the physical stuff - thus.....

[AFPheonix]

Even then, I think we can trace obesity to more industrialized food supply. More refined foods = fat people.
People had desk jobs in the 50's and 60's, it wasn't until the last few decades that waists really started expanding astronomically like they have now.
Of course less physical activity also comes into play, but I think the quality and quantity of food is more suspect.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

That's exactly right. You know when obesity and metabolic disorders became seriously, seriously rampant in this country?

About the time the food pyramid came out pushing the idea that fat was evil and grains and pastas were what we needed to eat the most of. Who put that out? The Department of Agriculture.

Conflict of interest, anyone?

Anyways, also about that time, we started seeing a lot "low fat" products out there, all plumped up with nice, cheap, plentiful corn additives, particularly high fructose corn syrup. Obesity and diabeties skyrocketed.

Just think, most of the "Low fat" diet crap people consume in an attempt to help them lose weight are probably what is making them fat and unhealthy to begin with. And all this could be traced back to the late 80's, early 90's.

We as a society are fat as a result of what we eat. Yes, sitting on your butt all day behind a desk does not help. But it's not the bottom line. You body will regulate itself if you don't stuff it full of empty, nutritionally deficit crap.

Thank you, US government! I'm sure your buddies over in Big Pharma love the food pyramid! After all, look at all the insulin and statin drugs they are selling these days!

[AFPheonix]

A lot of the big selling statins are going generic now so Big Pharma is really not making a ton of money off of them. They probably make a lot more money off of the various repackaged OTC remedies out on the market. Cracks me right up when I don't have a particular combo in stock and just recommend that the person get the plain product with the active ingredient that they need, and they get all huffy because that one "doesn't work". Uhhhh....

I just try to shop around the outside perimeter of the grocery store and not go down the aisles where all the prepackaged foods are. I find that cooking up from scratch is about as fast as a prepackaged dinner, and tastes so much better.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

..... and they get all huffy because that one "doesn't work". Uhhhh....

I just try to shop around the outside perimeter of the grocery store and not go down the aisles where all the prepackaged foods are. I find that cooking up from scratch is about as fast as a prepackaged dinner, and tastes so much better.

Actually, what's REALLY funny about that is that in the long run, really, NONE of them "work." Statins, they way they are marketed now, are a sham and a scam. They may work for some people...maybe...but not because they lower cholestrol.

Prepackaged foods are horrid.

Here's a little anecdote. Woman who plays music with me was pretty much chronically sick. Turned out to have a corn allergy. So she cut out everything that had corn in it. We went over for practice one night, and she had all this stuff sprawled all over her kitchen table and was giving it away. At the time, we didn't really appreciate just how pervasive stuff like high fructose corn syrup is in our food supply. And it's HORRIBLE, horrible stuff. Some suprising examples of the food she was giving away: canned gravy (gravy! WTF is that doing with corn syrup in it???), tomato sauce, alfredo sauce, wine coolers (made with corn sugar) breaded meats, salad dressing, cheese spread, marinades, barbeque sauce, cocktail sauce, ketchup....the list goes on. Un frigging believable.

She dropped 20 pounds without even trying, after that. Didn't even diet. Just quit eating things filled out with corn syrup and corn meal and corn starch. And this woman is in her 50's and post-menopausal, so she's of a demographic that has particular trouble losing weight.

It's everywhere, folks. Read your ingredients. Believe me when I tell you that Americans are not fat because they just can't stop eating fatty foods. That's about as far from the truth as you can get. They are fat because we are misled, misinformed, and force fed stuff that cannot do anything but make us fat and unhealthy.

Did you know we have an enormous surplus of corn in this country? We do. Gotta do something with it.

What's particularly awful is that we've been so trained to expect sugar in our food that if it's not there, we feel like there's something wrong with the food. There's no way in hell there should be corn syrup in fucking gravy. Gravy should be savory, salty, fatty. In other words, rich and satisfying. They skim the fat out then tell you it's low in fat, so you'll buy it. Then they pump it full of sugar so you'll like it and keep buying it. Meanwhile, you get fatter and sicker, thinking that now you REALLY need low fat products. It's a vicious, desperate nosespin.

[IDrinkaRum]

People look at me like I'm crazy when I'm in the bread aisle reading the ingredients on packages of bread. I only buy the breads that have either sugar or brown sugar as their sweeteners in their ingredients lists. (All of the Wonder Breads have high fructose corn syrups).

I'm trying to get away from less package, processed foods. However, I don't like cooking for 1 or 2 people & hubs is always coming home LATE. So it's just easier for me to pop in a microwave meal for daughter and I usually end up with a PB&J sammich for myself. Yes, it's bad, but it's my hubs who wants all the fruits and veggies fresh & he's not around to enjoy them and it makes me mad. So it's either canned (very rarely) or frozen veggies.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Hmmmm, IDrinkARum, your post made me wonder about the bread we buy. (yes, we eat bread. Not a lot, but we like toast and sammiches as much as the next person) I've got the loaf here now. Low carb bread is hard enough to find that, at least for me, HFCS is not going to put me off buying it. It will put me off everything else, but in the case of bread, I have to take what I can find.

Nature's Own 9 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar.

Doesn't seem to have any sugar at all of any sort, which is odd because bread won't rise without sugar. However, I see where there is ammonium sulfate (yeast food), so that explains that, I guess. There is no hint of sweetness in it, which I like quite a bit. I don't like sweetness in foods other than deserts or fruits.

It's good bread, you'd never know there was anything different about it (low carb bread is sometimes very chewy. I kind of dig chewy bread, but I've also had some extremely low carb bread that was literally like eating blown paper insulation.)

Good stuff, you might give it a try if you can find it.

[anriana]

AI just try to shop around the outside perimeter of the grocery store and not go down the aisles where all the prepackaged foods are. I find that cooking up from scratch is about as fast as a prepackaged dinner, and tastes so much better.

What are you cooking? Peanet butter and jelly sandwiches? Or are you saying ten minutes of cooking vs popping something in the oven/microwave, waiting ten minutes, and coming bacK?

[IDrinkaRum]

RK - Nature's Own is one of hte few brands I'll actually buy as it doesn't have any HFCS. However, if you read any of the Wonder Breads, from their basic White to their Light breads, there is listed in like the first 4 ingredients HFCS. Yeah, scary, right? Right now, I'm happy with Martin's Potato Bread. I switch between the regular Potato Bread & their Whole Wheat Potato Bread version. Neither makes good toast, but I don't like toast. If I want something toasted, I get English Muffins. Thomas' brand brags they no longer make them with HFCS right on their packages (at least the ones I've found at Sam's Club).

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You guys want to see some interesting stuff, check out Sean on YouTube. Do a search on "underground wellness". Here's a great one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufMKbOaYWok

BTW, I'm reading the book he mentions in the beginning. Amazing book, and I highly recommend it to EVERYONE.

[AFPheonix]

What are you cooking? Peanet butter and jelly sandwiches? Or are you saying ten minutes of cooking vs popping something in the oven/microwave, waiting ten minutes, and coming bacK?

Depends on how motivated I am, but a stir fry takes me about as long as the rice cooker takes to cook up some sticky rice. The fastest one I can do involves prepeeled shrimp, a bag of mixed asian veggies, and a splash of this yummy spicy lemon sauce. I can do fajitas in about 30 minutes including prep.
Barbequed kebabs take a little longer to prep, but I can skewer the stuff the day before and let it marinate overnight in the fridge and bbq in about 10 minutes.
My slow cooker is my friend. A roast, a package of powdered onion soup mix, a bottle of Jones cola tossed in in the morning, all done by the time I get off shift. Just gotta boil some red potatoes while I spread some asparagus on a cooking tray, drizzle with olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper and pop in the oven for maybe 5 to 10 minutes until super green, mash the taters with garlic, butter and milk, and voila, dinner's done.

If I'm more motivated I can get homemade mac and cheese made in about 30 minutes (so much better and filling than boxed) and quick fry some yummy chicken apple sausages to go with.
I work more than full time and train horses on the side, plus just got done with a 6 credit class. Granted, I have no kids, but if I can make time to cook a decent dinner now and again, anyone can.

[Slytovhand]

Nature's Own 9 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar.

Doesn't seem to have any sugar at all of any sort, which is odd because bread won't rise without sugar. However, I see where there is ammonium sulfate (yeast food), so that explains that, I guess. There is no hint of sweetness in it, which I like quite a bit. I don't like sweetness in foods other than deserts or fruits.

Ai Ai Ai....

I'm possibly a bit rusty, but...

As far as food goes (and, for that matter, anything that was once living on this planet fairly recently) there is only 3 types of stuff that is in foods... Carbohydrates (ie - any combination of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms in general), Proteins (Carbon, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen compounds), and Fats & Oils (similar to Carbs - but different chemical structures). Then, there's also vitamins and minerals - oh, and additives...

Sugar is a complex - but easily break-downable - carbohydrate. Fibre is a complex carbohydrate (which doesn't break down so well). So... if that bread has 9g of "carbohydrates", and also 2g of fibre, and 1g of sugar - that's 12g's. (not all of it will be absorbed by the body.

Each molecule of sugar gives about..(?ummm - forgetting precisely now) about 4.1joules of energy. Each molecule of fat gives off about 3 times that. But sugars are absorbed straight into the body (hence a sugar high), but fats need to be broken down - and thus go into storage.

Oh - and as far as packaging is concerned - 'sugar' is usually 'cane sugar' of x-formula (?) C12H22O11 - yay google ). Other sugars get nicely hidden away under different names - just to confuse people - fructose, sucrose, glucose, etc etc etc - all still does the same thing though... meh...This link is a lot easier Interesting to note the graph around 1/3 of the way down - and the relationship between corn and cane!

As for the massive amounts of corn in the USA... why not go convert it to ethanol, and help make the environment better and oil less needed??


Slyt

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Ai Ai Ai....


Sugar is a complex - but easily break-downable - carbohydrate. Fibre is a complex carbohydrate (which doesn't break down so well). So... if that bread has 9g of "carbohydrates", and also 2g of fibre, and 1g of sugar - that's 12g's. (not all of it will be absorbed by the body.


As for the massive amounts of corn in the USA... why not go convert it to ethanol, and help make the environment better and oil less needed??


Slyt

The 9g of carbs includes 2 of fibre and 1 of sugar, so it's effectively only 7 grams of digestable carbs.

I am just saying there was no added sugar listed in the ingredient list, which seems odd to me.

Why thy aren't using more corn for fuel is beyond me. Maybe because you don't get as much power out of ethanol, but so what? We've got an energy problem and corn surplus. I'm right there with you.