Eating habits, diets, etc

[Balfree]

I've grown more and more interested in a raw food diet and have been looking at a nice way to get into it slowly rather than a crash diet as to not lose interest in a week after I crave good old comfort food.

I wanted to give it a try because I've followed what you'd call a "balanced" diet because its just easier, top that with exercise everyday and you'd think that would be enough to get in shape. It is, sort of, but recently I had to cut down on expenses and the gym subscription was canceled along with other stuff. All of a sudden I'm putting on more weight slowly and that just depresses me.

I got interested in raw food because I saw this film/documentary on raw food that helped these people with their high cholesterol and diabetes. Even though I have my doubts that that was all they needed to do, it just picked my interest.

From Raw Food Diet - What is the Raw Food Diet :

What is the Raw Food Diet?

The raw food diet is a diet based on unprocessed and uncooked plant foods, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, sprouts, seeds, nuts, grains, beans, nuts, dried fruit, and seaweed.
Heating food above 116 degrees F is believed to destroy enzymes in food that can assist in the digestion and absorption of food. Cooking is also thought to diminish the nutritional value and "life force" of food.
Typically, at least 75% of the diet must be living or raw.

(I recommend following the link if you're interested, as there are ups and downs to the diet, depending on the physical state of the individual)

So, I'm going to give this a try slowly adding more raw ingredients into my eating habits to see how it goes.

What are your eating habits and makes you follow those habits?

[Raydeus]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

I don't limit myself on what I eat, only try to keep quatities in check. And I exercise on my own because I hate gyms. That pretty much does it for me.

But if I was to suggest a type of food it would definitely have to be Japanese (what a surprise coming from me, eh?), they don't have one of the longest life expectancies for nothing.

Just get the real Japanese food, not the foreign-ized Japanese food though. In my case I hate seafood except on things like the awesome Takoyaki, but if you like Fish and other stuff from the sea you are golden with this type of food.

Check this Youtube channel as a start if you are interested.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

I agree that people need to get away from processed foods. Processed foods are frozen, canned, boxed, fast food from restaurants, etc. The problem is that we don't want to spend the time cooking anymore. If you can nuke something frozen/canned/boxed that takes minutes to prepare, then why buy fresh and have to take 20-30 minutes prep and possibly an hour to cook? People just have too much convenience at their finger tips and it is very hard to resist that.

As for your diet, I disagree with some of it. When I read:

"People must be aware that certain nutritional deficiencies can occur on the raw food diet, including:

Calcium
Iron
B12 – The Journal of Nutrition study found that a raw food diet increased levels of homocysteine due to vitamin B-12 deficiency.
Protein
Calories

I get worried. NO diet should do this to you. Diets are to improve your health, not cause detrimental deficiencies.

When I go shopping, I make sure it's on a day I'm totally free. Then after I get home, I get out the slow cookers, baking pans, etc. and prepare my meats for the week. I'll also prep some softer stuff ahead of time but only 2 days ahead. (Like chopping fruit up for a fruit cocktail.) So when the day arrives, I have less than half the prep/cook time but good non-processed food.

Oh and look into other things in your diet like salt and caffeine consumption. Cutting down on both is very beneficial.

[Raydeus]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

Diets are bad. Very bad.

Unless you can afford a full time nutritionist/cook and a physician to keep you well balanced that is.

And the one thing you should never, ever do under any circunstances is skipping meals. Eating too little is also very bad but there's nothing worst for both your weight and your health than skipping meals.

It not only makes your body go into starvation mode but also can cause many health problems very early in your life.

But I guess everyone knows that nowadays. So I'm just being redundant here.

[Malacite]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

Diets are bad. Very bad.

This. Simply put, they don't work.

What people need is a change in lifestyle. You have to take into account your daily physical activity, stress (this is huge and quite possibly the biggest cause of most health problems in the west) and your diet. You can't just decide to cut out some foods in favor of others for a while, lose weight and then go right back. That's mistake a lot of people make.

Assess what you're eating, and try to make healthy changes that you intend to stick to for the rest of your life. Take note that that doesn't mean cutting out junk food, ice cream etc entirely. What fun is life if you can't even enjoy it? Again, moderation is the key. I know this is all easier said than done, but you really should consult a doctor and a nutritionist and not just leap into the next fad diet.

The hardest part is making a change and sticking to it.

[Nandito]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

I don't! :D I'm an asshole when it comes to food. Very picky about what I eat, mostly the good stuff, and I drink soda like a fish in water!

...

Weird how I can say that with no remorse, huh? ._. I'm so gonna die. Then again, my body has always been weird. I don't gain weight. At all. You lucky people and your diets and whatnot.

[Feba]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

they don't have one of the longest life expectancies for nothing.

They also have tons of snack foods, smoke like they've never seen a surgeon general's warning, and have excessive drinking as one of the few societally acceptable ways of venting.

I mean, fish and rice beats BIG MAC NOM NOM, but a lot of it isn't your diet so much as what you do with it.

There are people who exercise lots, but have sedentary life styles, which lead to them having issues. There are people who never exercise, but they get lots of physical activity in the form of their commute, their hobbies, their chores, their work. I'd imagine the fact that most people in Japan do lots more walking than most people in other countries has more to do with it than anything else. That's a simple matter of cars here being a pain in the ass, and everything else being so damn convenient.

[MrMageo]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

I eat whatever the hell I damn well please, whenever the hell i please it. Guess I lucked out with my metabolism I have weighed 135 pounds for over decade, and I eat all the good stuff to fatty foods, sugary foods, cooked foods, I drink trans fat straight from the carton.

Enjoy your blue steak ya hippie!

[Raydeus]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

They also have tons of snack foods, smoke like they've never seen a surgeon general's warning, and have excessive drinking as one of the few societally acceptable ways of venting.

I mean, fish and rice beats BIG MAC NOM NOM, but a lot of it isn't your diet so much as what you do with it.

There are people who exercise lots, but have sedentary life styles, which lead to them having issues. There are people who never exercise, but they get lots of physical activity in the form of their commute, their hobbies, their chores, their work. I'd imagine the fact that most people in Japan do lots more walking than most people in other countries has more to do with it than anything else. That's a simple matter of cars here being a pain in the ass, and everything else being so damn convenient.

So the moral of the story is:

"Smoke like a train and walk just as much as one"?

[MrMageo]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

oh i also smoke and drink heavily. I am a winrar.

[DakAttack]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

Anything listed a natural catches my eye, but I usually take a quick glance over the ingredients just to be sure. There's a lot of food out there that's good and good for you. It's not that difficult to find, you just have to know what to avoid.

[Murphie]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

I'm all for a healthy diet. And I don't mean a "diet" where you change your eating habits for a while to achieve one result or another. I mean a healthy diet, meaning a healthy ingestion of foods. Combined with an appropriately active lifestyle as well, of course.

That said, I don't personally believe it's necessary to go to a completely raw diet. You can eat well, eat healthfully, eat in a way that doesn't impact the environment as much, and still have it be delicious and fulfilling without throwing out the baby with the bath water.

[Balfree]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

I agree Mom, a full on Raw Diet is probably not the thing I'm looking for, I just want to add more raw food into my diet, I'm not letting go of meat and fish at all.

Its the snacking on junk food that needs to stop, instead eat some more fruit and vegetables, sprouts, nuts, etc. They are awesome.

I'll do all my cooking as I love to cook, takes me ages sometimes but it is gratifying specially when you cook for someone else too.

[Icemage]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

Cooking isn't the enemy; it's the other stuff that will get you. Certain foods are nutritionally superior after cooking; mushrooms come to mind.

More to the point...

The Cold Truth About Raw Food Diets : Disease Proof

As with so many things, careful moderation will get you much further than just the terribly misinformed viewpoint that some people have of "raw is obviously better" - since it's not.


Icemage

[Vyuru]

Re: Eating habits, diets, etc

Just in general for me. I had to cut down on the dairy, not eat out so much, and preferably do more of my own cooking, just being smart and sensible with how much I ate and stuff.

Keep in mind, I grew up on a small family farm which yeah, small on about 2.5 acres, but still a decent amount of work, and I was a growing boy. My weight issues didn't hit me until I was in college not doing anywhere near as much physical activity and I was still eating like I was.

If you can find some kind of decent/fun exercise to do while at home, that'll help as well.