Do you watch what you eat?

I've always struggled with my weight so am constantly watching portions and general fat/calorie intake. I'm also a vegetarian and try to avoid too many processed foods so that is a whole other set of concerns. That said, I love food and indludge at least once a week. It would be too boring otherwise!

Yes, I pay attention to what I eat, but the nutrition class that I'm taking makes me want to eat really unhealthy stuff way more often. (so immature...)

I also work in the nutrition dept at Harvard so am costantly being bombarded with info about what to eat and what to avoid! x-post to self.

i kinda avoid processed food and over eating.

I tend to drink low-carb beer if i'm binge drinking, and I never eat fast-food. And, in general, I prefer savoury food rather than sweet. I try to avoid things with added sugar and so on.

(low carb beer is a relatively new deal in Australia)

this seems like the kind of behavior that might provoke considerable scorn from your rowdy countrymen

I think it's increasingly acceptable..

well, I like to think it is anyway

Well it may seem crazy but I really do make a consistent and committed effort to eat healthy and low-fat. jhoshea is right! People think I'm completely weird for eating salad every day! It's just become a habit with me that I try to get as many veggies and fiber into my daily routine as possible. This is even true on the weekends when I'm drunk. I'm just puzzled that people seem to single me out for this or like they're jealous or they think I'm strange. It just seems normal to me. Granted I still have high cholesterol and it's frustrating because I know for a fact that I eat healthy and don't deserve that. It's the alcohol that doesn't help.

I avoid cheese unless it's the vegetarian/vegan variety. I also avoid sugar unless it's evaporated cane juice, which doesn't seem to hurt my teeth as much. I'm hoping I manage to avoid being diabetic if I stay away from sugar. I can even resist those delicious orange pumpkin shaped candies for sale at Halloween, which were a real weakness for me in the past.

I rather wish I was a nutritionist myself...I guess that's the career path I'll just never get the chance to know. I'm always looking up info online about foods and what they do for the body and stuff. I was intrigued to find that spinach is just slightly healthier than romaine.

Anyway, this might be more than anyone here wants to know! ;)

I watch what I eat to make sure it doesn't try to escape on the sly.

oh, that was cute.

Just kidding. I'm a vegetarian, and tofu is a slow-moving beast.

I voted "no," but I have the unfair advantage of being naturally averse to certain foods, like candy. Can't really do that at all, even though I love a nice small piece of really fine chocolate. If I gorge on sweets, I will pay dearly by having a major sugar crash that is really unpleasant for myself and anyone around me.

spinach is just slightly healthier than romaine

isn't there something about raw spinach that's not near as good for you as cooked spinach? "Nutrition blockers," I've heard them called, chemicals that cancel each other when you eat them raws and make many raw foods no more nourishing than lettuce.

*curious, interested high tone of voice* I'm not sure about that Kenan, I will have to read up on it. I know the vegan cafe here seems to have this thing about "raw foods".

Anyway regarding Tofu...They say tempeh is much easier for your system to digest than Tofu because it's fermented, but I admit I hate going to the trouble of cooking it. You really have to boil/ fry it in a bunch of water first before baking it or it's not that great. It needs to absorb water to really be any good. I found this out from a fantastic vegetarian buffet place in Canada. I don't understand why we don't have places like that here in the States. Sure I love the vegan cafe here, but it's so much nicer when you have this big variety to choose from at will.

here we go:

"Oxalic acid in raw spinach forms an insoluble complex with calcium and iron and renders uncooked spinach a non-nutritious green."

http://forums.chef2chef.net/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=383255

How fucking weird! I've been eating spinach salad at work for the longest time, too!

I do know that cooked tomatoes are better for you than raw.

well, raw spinach is not going to hurt you, and I doubt very much that any raw vegetable will actually cause *damage*. That's gloom-and-doom stuff, imo. But it seems to be true that in many cases, you get way more out of veggies when you cook them.

I will only eat at a raw food restaurant that also serves raw meat. Sushi will do, but I would love a restaurant that served reasonably sized, safe portions of raw red meat.

xpost

But in some sense I must disagree with that, I mean...doesn't heat destroy Vitamin C for example? I mean I like steamed veggies, but surely if you overdo it and boil them then all the nutrients get lost?

Oh no - no red meat for me - I only eat fish every once in awhile, mainly Salmon. I believe I'm healthier that way than if I never ate any meat at all.

ENBB, can you shed any light on this cooking vegetables thing? The article Kenan references just bugs me the more I analyze it.

I had heard of Basil's toxicity but god I'm crazy about pesto sauce and strangely I haven't died yet.

I worry about what I eat, which isn't quite the same as watching it.

I have a hunch that the zero carb diet will eventually turn out to be the right balance, given the rise of diabetes 2 and 'fatty liver' condition. I don't follow it myself.

I'm quite careful about portion control, try to eat a lot of fruit and veg, avoid overly fatty or processed stuff (that said, proper butter (non-processed) wins out over odd spread stuff (low fat) every time), I eat less meat and buy organic when I do for reasons of ethics and taste and I try to buy fish that are caught sustainably, only buy free-range eggs and try really hard to keep the food miles down. But I am not adverse to the occassional gooey browny, big slice of cake, massive bacon sandwich etc. And I don't eat too much wheat because it makes my stomach look like a balloon. Also, my boyfriend is allergic to all forms of pea, so they're out too - don't really want to kill him by accident.

That sounds mental all written down, but it basically means I tend to eat things that look like actual food, rather than a colourful display of chemicals. Well, except for the wheat and the peas.

I drink too much though.

They say tempeh is much easier for your system to digest than Tofu because it's fermented, but I admit I hate going to the trouble of cooking it. You really have to boil/ fry it in a bunch of water first before baking it or it's not that great. It needs to absorb water to really be any good.

Huh, why bother baking it? Just rip it out of the package, and fry it up in some sesame oil, and dump some tamari or soy sauce on it. If you're feeling ambitious, throw some minced ginger and maybe a little garlic/onions in the oil. Sliced this is wonderful on a sandwich w/tomatoes...or cubed it's great in a stir-fry context with some brown rice (or millet!) and whatever vegetable(s) you are feeling ambitious enough to throw into the mix.

(low carb beer is a relatively new deal in Australia)

lol pure blonde lol

(you pussy drink coopers sparkling and all the yeast that goes with it)

this seems like the kind of behavior that might provoke considerable scorn from your rowdy countrymen lol

soy is not actually all that great for you, supposedly*

*excuses, excuses

kenan your source for the info that raw spinach is "non-nutritious" is not exactly bullet-proof

i don't always have the most nutritious meals but i never eat chocolate bars, v. rarely crisps, never drink coke, and try to buy only "real food"

What is real food?

I don't understand why people categorically decide that all processed food is bad. This just isn't the case, and oftentimes the opposite is true.

pls explain

...go on

I'm gonna have such a hard time losing all this excess weight. On top of that I have water retention which means this month I gained 6 kilos! Urgh.

Water retention doesn't count Nath. Unless it's coming off.

Huh? How do you mean, it doesn't count? :-( (Bear with me, I'm extremely slow these days...)

stop eating frites with mayo belgians!!!! then maybe you might be skinny like the rest of us!!

not likely but still try

"real food" = no diet, no skim, no decaf

I meant you shoudln't really count water weight when you weigh yourself and feel all 'ugghh' about it, because it's not that big a deal, but if you loose weight it's fine to celebrate, even if it is just the water.

Anyway, don't feel bad, you're in the late stages of pregnancy! You get a lovely baby at the end of it and go back to your lovely slenderella self.

I usually watch what I eat in terms of health/weight consciousness. I do generally feel better when I do this. However when I'm stressed/depressed all bets are off and I'll just eat what I want. Not a healthy attitude I know but it's better than crack.

I've also really being trying to avoid processed foods lately. Although I won't deny myself the occasional crap any way I can cut it out of my life the better. (Like absolutely using butter instead of "spread". The extra calories are worth it.)

I've recently all but given up soda. I went from 3-4 a day to maybe one a week. Replaced it with sparkling water and am very happy.

i know this will sound smug but i just can't even stomach soda any more, it makes me feel gross and phlegmatic

Nah, well, I bring my lunches to work and often skip dinner, seldom eat out, cook at home. So as long as I know that fresh ingreds. went into my dinner, I don't calorie-count. I probably should. Altho I do try to ramp up the taste of things I like, instead of upping the quantity. So for instance, cheese: I buy it sharper and stronger, instead of greater quantities.

Still apt to have a rootbeer float for dessert, though.

Salt, salt is my downfall. If I ever turn out to be salt-sensitive I'm going to be in big trouble, becuase I adore salt.

So do I but I gave it up

Well, apart from the fact that it's already in everything you eat anyway!

i just can't even stomach soda any more, it makes me feel gross and phlegmatic

Me too now that I've all but stopped. When I do have one I usually don't finish it because it just feels so heavy and gross.

Because of one of my medications I'm actually discouraged from cutting back on salt. Yay!

i'm in a starvation cycle.

Ramadan?

no thanks

http://goveg.com/feat/chewonthis/index.asp

this video is a little hand-wavey, but i am sort of the mind that if you can't stomach the site of someone slitting a cow's throat, you probably shouldn't eat meat

also, yes, i watch what i eat

this video is a little hand-wavey, but i am sort of the mind that if you can't stomach the site of someone slitting a cow's throat, you probably shouldn't eat meat

Utter piffle. I can't stomach the site of open heart surgery but I'm not going to turn it down if I need it.

christ i learned all this just a few months ago and it's already going.

Okay, thanks! What about repair of tissues under repeated exercise, ie a daily regimen of 20 miles walked or 100 miles biked for, say, three weeks?

however, according to my biochem prof (who was awesome, and crazy smart): the average american diet provides us with WAY too much protein. like, most of it goes to waste.

spare me your medical mumbo jumbo

nah im kidding

well, the thing to remember is that food can provide (a) raw material for tissue repair and (b) the energy necessary to enact those repairs. i never got into the physiology of muscle repair, so i can't speak to that.

i do know, however, that by and large, most of the protein the average person consumes goes straight into their pee pee

most of the protein the average person consumes goes straight into their pee pee

i don't know where it goes, but my understanding is that the kidneys should be taking OUT the protein, that's one of their functions, and protein in your urine is a cause for concern.

That is so sad, I love protein. xp

the proteins you get from animals are only useful for spare parts: we want their amino acids, right? because that way we can use those in our own protein synthesis (some of which will end up as muscle fiber, some as other stuff). moreover, animals have the "essential" amino acids, which are those that our body can't produce. then again, so does a plate of beans and rice. so an athlete that is ripping up their muscles all the time might need more than the average person's intake of "protein" (actually amino acids), but the source is irrelevant. and if you eat steaks all the time, most of those AAs are superfluous, and get turned into urea more urea means more peeing, which leads to dehydration. apparently vegetarians are less likely to be dehydrated (according to prof).

iron is a concern, however.

proteins get broken down in a bunch of different places. some are broken down in yr saliva (if i recall correctly), others elsewhere.

i'm enjoying this, it's like a fun lesson in health class

ah i see. The not-protein-anymore is what's in your urine.

i can just see the image of the athlete, running, and it zooms in on his/her abdomen and then shows a diagram of the proteins being broken down

This has changed from "Do you watch what you eat?" thread to a "Do you understand what you eat?" one

NB i'm probably screwing up some details, perhaps some important ones.

well, watching i guess means "caring to understand."

At best I spose it's the same thing. xxxp

xpost not always. It could just mean counting calories or something superficial like that.

or WANTING to understand.

counting calories is sort of dumb.

HOW MANY HEAT UNITS ARE BEING PRODUCED BY THIS FOODS

i find the idea of cheese so much less gross than the idea of the squirmy things pictured above! which is kind of a reminder that food - be it vegan cheese, squirmy things, or a hunk of steak - is not *objectively* appetizing or disgusting based on what it is made out of or where it came from. (big xpost!)

I've never counted calories in my life and have virtually no idea of how many calories foods have. I'm okay with that. I've always been very thin and have had a high metabolism, and being vegan, I think it's a good thing for me to eat as much as I want so long as it's healthy and balanced. I eat a lot, and I don't think I need to keep track of calories.

i don't think counting calories is stupid, basically because the main reason i gain weight is not being careful of the amounts i eat and counting calories has helped me figure out how to adjust that and lose said weight. obviously it's not the only thing one should pay attention to in nutrition - like, 2000 calories of ice cream a day is not a balanced adult diet - but for people like me who for whatever reason don't have a great sense of how much is enough to get through until the next meal or snack but not too much, it does make sense. (annoying though!)

yeah, nutritional calories are not units of energy, but are converted based upon standard tables according to energy density... i don't understand it, honestly.

b/c it is based on weird politically motivated science

i think that as more scientific discoveries are made concerning interactions on the molecular level - esp re: "epigenetics" - we're going to see a lot of rethinking about how the body processes everything that goes into it, food or otherwise, and just how much this process can actually vary from person to person

i mean, certainly energy goes in and 'calories are burned' and etc, but there are so many other factors to consider that it def causes me concern to prescribe the same diet guidelines to everyone. e.g., classic food pyramid works for some, doesn't work for others

plus all the psychological, social, cultural issues around food

it is all freaking fascinating

i am totally eating chocolate and drinking coffee right now
lol both of them are organic

how are calories politically motivated?

this sort of outlines a bit of what i mean
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/pyramids.html

oh ok, yeah. The foods themselves are in contention, not necessarily the calories. Unless the calories are "empty."

what i also mean is that i'm skeptical of calories being the 'baseline' of nutrition

*snore*

and also, science research - what/who gets funded, what/who doesn't - is crazy political!
but that's a dif topic
xpost

it is interesting to me

I used the website "the daily plate" to count my calories and ended up losing 50lbs in 4 and a half months. I think the counting worked since it made me realize that my diet was atrocious and that I needed to cut back on some stuff (take out food/beer/sweets) and increase other stuff (mainly fruits and vegetables). This was also coupled with working out 4 times a week.

xpost

want to see more insects. Or better yet, people eating insects.

protein in your urine is a cause for concern.

Esp if you are pregnant.

(Uh, you not as in YOU KENAN or I'd be worried about you being pregnant.)

d'oh where did my " ;) j/k " to rrobyn go?

haha it's cool

Speaking of calorie-counting, does anyone remember Richard Simmons' "Deal A Meal" infomercials?

hah, "shmoo for dinner" upthread was brilliant

I am still waiting for Jeff to explain in what circumstances processed food is better for you.

Sorry Kenan, I was just trolling. No explanations from me! lollercaust.

I'm the least fussy eater I know and I've started to take a peculiar pride in it. I appreciate moral issues around meat eating but other food neuroses seem a little unhealthy and ascetic to me. I want to say yes to all food.

Except beetroot obviously that fucking stinks.

Humans are not herbivores. The modern world makes it so that you can live this way but I do not think history and biology support this. *prepares to be proven wrong*

I know this is from way upthread, but I think this ('modern world' sentence) is kind of the point for a lot of ethical eater types. It is for me at least. I don't know that there are very many people who seriously believe it is never, under any circumstance, permissible to eat animals. And certainly the stories of 'long-time veg has moment of weakness in time of uncertainty' kind of attest to this. Like ppl who are rly hungry are gonna eat what's available. But as for history not supporting it, I think we're (obv a certain geographic space here) in a time with no historical precedence: abundance without a foreseeable threat of shortage. And as for biology, I dunno, ppls mileage may vary, I've managed to keep healthy levels of all the bugaboo (iron, b12, calcium, protein) nutrients for the last 4 years. I ain't no doctor or nothing though.

Uh, to actually answer the question, when I watch what I eat, I usually watch it all go right into my mouth. I guess just as a matter of course I avoid a lot of unhealthy shit, but I am basically at the same level of discretion I was at 5 years and 75 pounds ago, new diet notwithstanding. I kinda resent implications that vegans are ascetic food-hatahs (not that anyone is saying that here) cos I can eat my own weight in groceries, but I rly prolly shouldn't.

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