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Thread: What the Health

  1. #11
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by freshstart View Post
    Are Fat Head and That Sugar Film on netflix if you know off hand?
    No, I don't know. They're both on Amazon, though.

    I forgot my favorite of all--My Big Fat Diet, which used to be available on YouTube, but doesn't seem to be now. It told the tale of Dr. Jay Wortman's small study of a group of Canada's First Nations people and how they embarked on a life-saving eating plan. My library has it; maybe Netflix does, too.

  2. #12
    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HappyHiker View Post
    Sure, eating wholesome food benefits our health in wonderful ways. Living on fast and processed crappy food is very likely to harm our health. Don't we all know that by now? But our diets have become so politicalized. Eat MY way or you're doomed. Takes a lot of the joy right out of food.

    I endorse Michael Pollan. Eat "mostly" vegetables. To me that means that on the rare occasion, one can eat a bit of bacon -- or even--gasp a burger. Jeez, let's lighten up. It's not one way or the highway. Food has become a battle zone. Let's lighten up a bit. And enjoy our food--whether vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore.

    Common sense, yes?
    I wonder how common the traditional American diet of bacon and eggs, meat and potatoes, and fast food is. It seems like people are more conscious of what they eat, but even the simple Pollen advice is a stretch for many or most. I certainly don't want to push my veganism off on anyone. It's a bit of a challenge and you have to want to do it.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rogar View Post
    I wonder how common the traditional American diet of bacon and eggs, meat and potatoes, and fast food is.
    except for that last part about fast food, I often suspect that is healthier than what ACTUALLY constitutes the typical American diet, because the supermarkets are full of weird processed foods and someone must be buying them. OTOH some people are super health conscious of course.

    People think the SAD is meat and potatoes (or fine chicken and potatoes and maybe a vegetable - the standard meat, starch, veggie combo), but those can be real foods (well if the potatoes aren't from a box etc.), and when we talk about SAD these days we might not even be talking about real foods like that at all (which might make worry about whether the villain is the steak or the potato or the butter on the potato a dead end as far as the SAD - maybe study it somewhere where they actually eat real food in that case ...).
    Trees don't grow on money

  4. #14
    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore View Post
    except for that last part about fast food, I often suspect that is healthier than what ACTUALLY constitutes the typical American diet, because the supermarkets are full of weird processed foods and someone must be buying them. OTOH some people are super health conscious of course.
    Yes, I suppose that is right. I shop at a Sprouts that is in an ethnically diverse area and people seem to load up on their inexpensive vegetables and fruits and not a lot of processed foods. I'm routinely impressed when I visit the standard supermarket with all the inner store and shopping baskets full of various forms of processed foods.

    All of the niche diets that are in the media, Wheat Belly, What the Health, Forks Over Knives, or whatever, might have their place but really get into territory where following the diet is not sustainable for most people over the long term. It might make better sense to promote a Pollen or Mediterranean style diet that people can at least try to stick to.

  5. #15
    Senior Member gimmethesimplelife's Avatar
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    Ay Carumba, interesting issue, very interesting for me. Food for me is such a loaded and emotional topic, for several reasons. One is that for parts of my life I have dealt with food insecurity - when I say this please let me make it clear that I was never a starving third world world scarecrow (and yes I am grateful for that as it's just the luck of the draw that I have not had to deal with that as many of our fellow travelers on this planet do) - bur for some time growing up I was noticably underweight. Some of this was economics and some of this was also reaction to a stressful environment. In other words, when I was young and I was stressed out I had no real interest in food......I graduated college at the age of 24 weighing 129 pounds with a height of 5' 8". I also remember when I was working retail years ago I used to consider food an enemy as depending on how busy the store was, I might not have the chance to eat for eight hours or more and it was a real pain as stress cuts my wish to eat but the flip of this is being in a situation where I can't eat when I am hungry because of corporate policy or customers "needs" or because I'll get written up if I do and potentially fired - this is emotionally very trying to me, and one of the key reasons I gave up on retail years ago.

    Moving along to my life waiting tables, I found that due to the stress and the complete and total lack of control of any of the variables I had to deal with and was directly responsible for - for some reason in this environment, I wanted to eat more and I sure did and for the first time in my life I gained weight. It's only been since I read YMOYL and got some kind of handle on my finances that I gradually became concerned with what I eat and what the consequences to both myself and the planet are from my food choices. Today I am a weight I am truly OK with- 160 which is within guidelines for my height - and am (mostly but not 100%) vegetarian. I will still eat chicken and fish from time to time but no more pork or beef. What makes it hard for me to eat meat (and I still hypocritically eat chicken, I know.......) is that I have read about the conditions that animals are forced to deal with before being slaughtered so that the profits of corporate agriculture can be maximized. The first time I became aware of such I had fantasies of getting on a life raft in the ocean in Florida and setting out for Cuba - the opposite direction from most of the folks on the life rafts lol. It's just so......dehumanizing is a good word - to discover how animals are treated and how the often go insane from being crowded together to maximize profit to such an extreme that some animals go insane as they are unable to behave how they normally would in the wild due to lack of space.

    One thing I will say is that this is something I screen any potential employer for these days - whether or not I will be expected to work under conditions of food starring in the role of enemy. In other words, will I be forced to be hungry for long periods of time with my need to eat meaning absolutely nothing due to polices/employer expectations/this is life suck it up and deal if you wish to remain employed. Thankfully working on my current gig - banquet serving work for a temp agency - I do get a lunch (or dinner depending on the shift) break and the chance to eat and I also get a free meal too when I work most sites and sometimes the food is incredible, too, as it's usually the same meal the guests get. I honestly don't believe I could last long in retail or cringe, cringe, cringe, in health care, either - two environments where employees basic needs such as the right to eat mean absolutely nothing based on the level of business. I have a real hard time with my basic needs meaning nothing, especially in a for profit environment.

    I guess my overall point is that I have had and continue to have a interesting relationship with food - at least at the moment it's not a relationship based on fear or worry and I'm grateful for that, and at this point in my life I am making what I consider mostly wise food choices, too. It's taken a long time to get here but I'm here finally!!! Rob

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