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Healthy options - identity crisis.

onelegged (28 posts) • 0

I personally think meat, eggs, butter, cholesterol etc, are fine and healthy. Saturated fat and cholesterol serve real functions in your body.

Its the mixing them with refined carbs, low quantities of greens, sedentary lifestyle/obesity, and lack of other kinds of fats that is so deadly. The low fat craze of the 80's and 90s seems to have caused plenty of health problems.

And I think after 50, EVERYONE needs to be an athlete ( i really just mean a fitness freak). Its actually only young people who can afford not to be.
Walking fast is a good start. Swimming may be good as well.
Chinese herbs can also be helpful here. Fasting from dinner time to tomorrow's dinner time, once per week, is an easy way to lose weight, as it cuts down you weekly calorie total, and also good for your organs.

No traditional or modern society on the face of the earth is vegan, so its hard to say if it is healthy or not. I think it works for a few people, but not all. I do believe a healthy diet has veggies in first place and beans, white rice, bread, noodles, potatoes, beer, etc. in last place.

Marco Polo (19 posts) • 0

Tigertiger. I'm over 50. I left corporate life two years ago and was probably heading for a heart attack at some point. My wife and I have had a lot of time to look into health and nutrition while we were in Kunming over the last 18 months. My wife is a celiac so I ended up following her diet. I started reading a lot about nutrition. There is a great site run by Mark Sisson called Mark's Daily Apple (go into the forum section and read what others have experienced - it may change your life). It's basically a primal regime and you can make it very pleasurable (we are foodies too!).
First cut out smoking. Second, cut out grains (no bread, pizza, cereal, beer etc) and pull back on sugar.I agree with Onelegged on saturated fats (again read up in Mark's site for explanation) - don't give those up. My cholesterol stats all went the right way, I lost 14 kg, threw away my acid reflux pills (never used one in Kunming), and felt amazing. On the exercise front, brisk walking is one of the best exercises you can do. Re food sources - Sal's have omeletes, salads, wine, burgers(without the bun), rice (and even fries!). Cut back sugar but you need to have the occasional treat (Sal's choc cake and iced cream are gluten free). Barbara at Slice of Heaven will do a gluten free roast dinner on a Sunday. You could also cook yourself using the amazing fruit, meat and veg in the markets (why do you think most Chinese ar so slim?). I'll stop here but contact me if you want more ideas/resources.

PerNordin (50 posts) • 0

If I may add 2 cents it would in the line of what Marco Polo wrote, but maybe with a slightly different angle... eat "real" food. Avoid processed foods (western fast foods).
The reason why so many Americans are overweight is not over eating, but eating foods that have been so processed that our bodies just dont know how to use it and it winds up as fat instead of usable energy and building blocks for muscle, bone, etc.
I don't know (or understand) your avoidance of Chinese foods. If you eat in the small back-street restaurants (especially in direct connection to a farmers market) you will get wonderful healthy real food, with slow carbs and lots of nutrients (and in my opinion) great flavors. My body never feels as great as when I am in China and eating real food.
Good luck!

GoK Moderator (5096 posts) • 0

My avoidance of Chinese food is that I live outside the city and the restaurants here are 'fancy', or unappealing. If I am going out to treat myself, it is with western food. I eat Chinese at home, and so I need a change.
I do avoid fast foods, a lot of my problem was the 'modern' Chinese diet, excessive oil, fatty meat, cooking in pig or chicken fat, salt, MSG, sugar, etc. But you can't tell a 65 year old Chinese mother-in-law how to cook, and you can't throw her out of the kitchen.
I now cook my own food, and to be honest, I don't like most Chinese food. Back home, yes. But here, no. Especially not Chinese home cooking.

Marco Polo (19 posts) • 0

Hi tigertiger. Sorry to hear you don't like Chinese food - maybe worth another go at home with someone who can show you easy, good tasting recipes, without MSG, and using olive oil instead of the normal engine oil I used to see being recycled everywhere. We used to find a rice-cooker really easy and you can do a great leftover stir-fry with an egg mixed in for breakfast!.

Anyway, if you have to stick to Western food, just try this one thing: cut out all grains (that includes cereal, bread and beer).I'm serious. Interestingly we are now living in Buenos Aires. There are very few overweight people here. Guess what they eat and drink? Lots of steak and salad and wine. Only those tucking into empanadas, made of flour, or beer, are a bit fat, but most people are slimmer than the US or UK. Bottom line - cut the grains. Try it for three weeks and see if that inspires you. Go for a GF Sunday roast at Barbara's too - that should help! Good luck.

Geezer (1953 posts) • 0

tigertiger, sorry to hear about your heart attack. I had my first one in Dec 1995, and two more by March 1996. I am 68 now and enjoy every day. You will get a lot of well intended advice most of which is worthless. My advice is get your weight down anyway that works, eating less is a start. Walking is great.

As for cooking, I find using water rather than oil works for me. If I use oil, it is usually olive oil. Plain yogurt tastes like sour cream. Very lean beef/hamburger from the Muslim guy is good. I agree with onelegged on fats and Marco Polo on grains. I chop up onion, chili and garlic and by eyeballing it, try to keep the meat, mutton, beef or pork, less than 25% of volume.

I live near Bei Chen and can give you some tips on buying stuff. Meds are a pain, I go to Beijing to get one I can't get here.

Most important thing is to be intelligent. You have to adjust somethings but not everything. Moderation works so if you like it, eat a little bit and appreciate you are still here to feel guilty once a week.

PM me if you need help or support.

Mr. T (11 posts) • 0

Hi mr. tigertiger. Its sounds like you still live for eating, but now trying to eat healthyer. Congratulations of your weight loss so far! yes, they say that 8kilos in one month is maybe to much, but its all depend of how big you are. The most of the kilos that goes in the start is mainly water. And concidering hart-attack or a slightly rapid weightloss, that wouldt make your life easyer, i would choose the second alternative.

a little comment to all the comments so far. There are many extreme suggestions that i think does not suite you.

I used to work with weightloss programs as a therapeust. I realized that the clue of loosing weight, is a little exersize. Its really easy math. You need to use the amount of calories that you are putting in your mouth. At the same time, you methabolism (BMB) could be low. And while loosing weight your methabolism will actually getting even lower. But, if you do some exersize everyday, you will use the calories that u got plenty of, and your methabolism will get higher. the exerzise does not have to be any extreme. You could walk for an half an hour or so, and you will soon feel a difference.

An extreme diet, that in my belife isn so healthy, is the keton-diet. Its not healthy cos its chemical effect of the body, but in the long term, its nice to start with this diet to loose weigth rapidly. Its about not eating carbs! Only protein and fat. some people think its an fat-diet, but it is really an protein diet. By not eating carbs, your body will go in a state that we call cetolizes(dont know the word in english). The body will use the body fat to make energy, and will then burn the fat away RAPIDLY! But before u try this method. make shure your bloodpressure is up for it. So consult a doctor before trying this method.

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