Everything you need to know about proper diet: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

[Zenlitened]

The threads on obesity got me thinking about this article in the NYT a while back. It's still free to read even though technically it's in the archive by now. Anyway, I thought the author had some very good points to make, about how we could go back to actually enjoying meals if we removed a few helpings of angst and anxiety.

The main challenge I see is that it's so easy to eat poorly these days. We're all burned-out and bedraggled trying to keep a paycheck coming in. Get to the grocery store (or pull in to the McDrive-through before you ever reach the store) and there's a vast array of food we can just cram in our gullets with minimal effort. Often these are the least expensive items, too. The least healthy? Sure. But hey, convenience has a price, right? Besides, I'll eat better tomorrow. Or maybe over the weekend...

Unhappy meals

By MICHAEL POLLAN
Published: January 28, 2007

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy. I hate to give away the game right here at the beginning of a long essay, and I confess that I’m tempted to complicate matters in the interest of keeping things going for a few thousand more words. I’ll try to resist but will go ahead and add a couple more details to flesh out the advice. Like: A little meat won’t kill you, though it’s better approached as a side dish than as a main. And you’re much better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That’s what I mean by the recommendation to eat “food.” Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket. These novel products of food science often come in packages festooned with health claims, which brings me to a related rule of thumb: if you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat.

Uh-oh. Things are suddenly sounding a little more complicated, aren’t they? Sorry. But that’s how it goes as soon as you try to get to the bottom of the whole vexing question of food and health. Before long, a dense cloud bank of confusion moves in. Sooner or later, everything solid you thought you knew about the links between diet and health gets blown away in the gust of the latest study.

(snip)

The story of how the most basic questions about what to eat ever got so complicated reveals a great deal about the institutional imperatives of the food industry, nutritional science and — ahem — journalism, three parties that stand to gain much from widespread confusion surrounding what is, after all, the most elemental question an omnivore confronts. Humans deciding what to eat without expert help — something they have been doing with notable success since coming down out of the trees — is seriously unprofitable if you’re a food company, distinctly risky if you’re a nutritionist and just plain boring if you’re a newspaper editor or journalist. (Or, for that matter, an eater. Who wants to hear, yet again, “Eat more fruits and vegetables”?) And so, like a large gray fog, a great Conspiracy of Confusion has gathered around the simplest questions of nutrition — much to the advantage of everybody involved. Except perhaps the ostensible beneficiary of all this nutritional expertise and advice: us, and our health and happiness as eaters.

Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?ex=1177560000&en=40829fdddeeda677&ei=5070

There's much, much more to the article -- 12 pages worth -- and I found it to be a good reinforcement for the "shop the perimeter" approach to grocery shopping that I've adopted. (Of course, the bakery section is in the perimeter, too. Those bastards!)

The author of the article, Michael Pollan, is also author of The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. I haven't read it, but it's on my "next" list now! :)

P.S. The intro and first chapter of Omnivore's Dilemma is online in PDF form at Pollan's website:
http://www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore_excerpt.pdf

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Agreed. Eating too much of the wrong foods can actually make you

malnourished as your body isn't being given the proper fibre, vitamins, and minerals in order to regenerate cells that are dying daily, to maintain a healthy constitution, and to give you the sufficient energy. Also there are scientific reports that indicate that the wrong foods can actually induce pathology over time such as some types of cancer and ulcers.

[rurallib]

2. How does he feel about GMOs? Can't seem to avoid them.

[Matariki]

3. Good article. But be prepared.

posts on this topic seem to turn into long angry threads. funny how the suggestion to 'eat your vegetables' pisses a lot of people off ;-)

[porphyrian]

4. Diet is only one part of the problem.

People are mostly sedentary. It doesn't matter much what you eat if you only do an hour of strenuous activity spread out over each week.

[jebediah]

6. this thread makes me so angry

I resent this biological fascism. In a free country we should be able to decide what's nutritious for each of us. And it's no business of my pancreas what I put into my mouth either. I'll have to eat a couple of mcGoopy's just to recover from the draining indignation. This whole fruit/veggie culture thing has gone way too far.

Now you've made my chest hurt.

[MissMarple]

12. How about a "slopper"?

It's a greasy hamburger with bun drowned in a bowl of chili, often green chile. It is quite popular in a certain part of Colorado, and can cause quite a bit of chest discomfort.

Welcome to DU, jebediah!! :hi:

[Zenlitened]

13. LOL! Here, have a chocolate sugar-bombed iced latte for that heart pain!

Don't drink it too quickly, though -- you don't want to end up frozen-treat-induced brain freeze!

:D

Seriously, though... welcome to DU. :hi:

[porphyrian]

28. Heh, heh, sorry. - n/t

[Little Wing]

32. Keep up the outrage, it's a form of sitting down and exercising at the same time

;-)

[WinkyDink]

86. LOVE it! "The Outrage Diet".

[ThomCat]

39. Best. Post. Of. The. Day.

:applause:

[Lorien]

56. Hey, I'm free to believe if gravity exists or not

Those "reality fascists" man, when will they ever shut up! It's what you BELIEVE that counts in a free country!



(Oh, and since I actually do believe that gravity exists I won't be jumping off any skyscapers anytime soon). ;-)

[myrna minx]

66. LoL. Welcome to DU, jebediah.

:hi:

[yellowcanine]

14. You are so correct. Train for a marathon and you can eat pretty much what you dang well please.

And still lose some weight.

[Virginia Dare]

17. You won't necessarily be healthy though...n/t

[porphyrian]

36. Define "healthy."

Organochlorides permeate us all and our entire environment. You can't find food that isn't full of the shit. How healthy is that?

And where does mental health play into the issue?

[Virginia Dare]

41. As healthy as you could be...

if you ate non-processed natural foods. You can find food that isn't full of shit, but it's not as easy as finding food that is, unfortunately.

I guess the point is that if you took two marathoners, one who ate whatever he wanted to and didn't worry about it, and one who ate a diet heavily concentrated in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, ate very little processed foods, it is much more likely that the overall health of the former would be much better, in terms of heart and other vital organs.

[porphyrian]

43. Well, that' making a lot of other assumptions, too.

A marathon runner who trains in the country would have a different level of health from one who trains in a city environment, generally speaking. And that's completely ignoring any genetic predisposition or ailment which may or may not be diagnosed.

What we eat is only a single factor of the equation, and it's intellectually dishonest to put more weight on it than all of the others.

[Virginia Dare]

49. I disagree with that...

and I don't think it's intellectually dishonest at all. What you eat has a profound effect on your health, especially your immune system.

I'm not saying that if you eat healthy you will never get sick, or you will never get disease, but taking all factors into consideration, your overall health will be better, than if you did not eat healthy.

[porphyrian]

51. But it isn't more or less important to your health than any other factor.

Saying it is more important is intellectually dishonest, given all of the physical evidence.

[Virginia Dare]

59. It's intellectually dishonest..

to tell yourself that you can improve your overall health by exercise alone. You might lose weight, but you're probably not doing much for your blood pressure or your heart if you don't adopt a healthy diet. Classic example, Jim Fixx.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0826/is_n3_v10/ai_15244219

[porphyrian]

60. I didn't say that. I said it's a complex issue with a bunch of factors.

It's intellectually dishonest to misrepresent what I said.

[Virginia Dare]

65. What you said...

"It doesn't matter much what you eat if you only do an hour of strenuous activity spread out over each week."

I disagree with that statement.

But I do agree with you, that it is a complex issue with a bunch of factors.

[porphyrian]

67. And I stand by my statement.

You can eat as "healthily" as you'd like, but you aren't going to be very healthy if the most physical activity you get is walking the distance from your door to your car in the driveway twice a day.

[Virginia Dare]

68. Probably true..

conversely, even if you are getting a lot of physical activity, you aren't going to be very healthy if you are hitting the drive through at McDonald's three times a day.

[porphyrian]

71. Probably not, but it depends on all of the other factors as well. - n/t

[yellowcanine]

69. I was thinking more in terms of portion size than anything. Of course it is still important to eat

lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

[Zenlitened]

21. You're definitely right about the need for exercise.

In my own experience, though, I've found it's not a good idea to make the "eat right!" and "more exercise!" vows both at the same time.

Exercising increases appetite, for me, so I've found it's better to get my eating habits back on track for a few weeks first, and then add in the more exercise component.

:)

[porphyrian]

30. I guess my point is that it's a complex issue and not as simple as "do this one thing."

I mean, you've found out what works for you and what doesn't, so that's great. But that might not work at all for someone else. I don't know. I likes my sugar and fat, and I am still overweight, but it's incredible how much difference just getting off my ass and doing some physical activity has done for me.

[Zywiec]

5. I eat lots of vegetables, but also fish for protein

I need to have my protein everyday. Not only does it make me feel better, it keeps me from being hungry. I say stay away from sugar!

[Zenlitened]

8. I definitely agree on the sugar. Pollan talks about how we're "mainlining glucose" these days.

I lost a ton of weight after overcoming my Coca-Cola addiction. Archway Frosted Lemon cookies, too. Pure, delicious evil, those are! :D

But I'm definitely an omnivore. Chicken, fish, a nice piece of steak now and then. Meat is a smaller percentage of my diet than it has been in the past, though. That's what I think Pollan is saying: Enjoy it, but in reasonable serving-sizes surrounded by plenty of veggies.

[MissMarple]

7. In the 90's I began to roast veggies with a little olive oil, garlic and salt&pepper.

Rosemary and thyme are good additions, as well. I make this quite often, and in the summer veggies do quite well on the grill.

One evening that is all I made, a nice variety of veggies including potatoes and carrots, adding a very nice loaf of artisan bread. The kids liked it, I liked it, but hubby looked a bit bewildered. He looked around and said, "If anyone asks, I had a nice steak with this". :rofl:

[Zenlitened]

9. Mmmmm... veggies on the grill. Olive oil is the key -- just a bit to bring the grill marks out.

:hi:

[MissMarple]

72. So, Zenlitened! I found a little poli sci gem in the article!

Yes, I am actually reading the article. He is referring to "nutritionism", of course, but this says so succinctly, what I have been thinking for some time about political ideologies. They are an attempt to order reality, but they tend to become static, and however they accurately reflect reality, over time they do so less reliably. Take that you conservative ideologues! The same thing happened to socialism and communism....and fascism. Progressive liberalism is less ideological, more flexible and more responsive to change. That is why it is a better basis for government. But it is messy and inexact, so it drives authoritarians crazy.

"Ideologies are ways of organizing large swaths of life and experience under a set of shared but unexamined assumptions. This quality makes an ideology particularly hard to see, at least while it’s exerting its hold on your culture. A reigning ideology is a little like the weather, all pervasive and virtually inescapable. Still, we can try."

I love this thread.

[Zenlitened]

80. Interesting thought. Definitely worth examining assumptions about what we eat and why.

I mean, when did "What's for supper?" turn into an ideology-based "ism," anyway? LOL!

There's plenty of good science about nutrition, but also a fair amount of stuff being presented to us as science that ought to be sent back to the kitchen, so to speak.

I like the way he goes about questioning the assumptions here. He does it by teasing out the various threads of research, politics, marketing and newspaper-selling that have gotten all tangled together to obscure what we can state reliably, with a good degree of scientific certainty, versus what the latest fad being foisted on us happens to be.

[MissMarple]

84. His observation that scientist see what they see, missing the complexities they can't..

Taking a "nutrient" out of a food and using it as a supplement may do something entirely different that consuming the nutrient with the plant or other food it comes in. And the nutritional degradation of our crops from corporate farm production subsidized by the Farm bill, simply amazing. Corn, soy, wheat, and rice, our four basic food groups. Oh, and the "What's for dinner?" meat, can't forget that.

Also, his point about the relationship between the quality of the soil and the quality of the food that comes from it...interesting stuff.

Good thread.

[TechBear_Seattle]

10. Good advice, but not complete as others have pointed out

Also: "Get some regular excercise. You don't need much. How about a walk?"

I had a friend who promised on his web site a three point guaranteed, fool proof way to lose weight, improve health, increase libido and generally become happier. The idea (never carried out) was to sell memberships that gave access to this information. This is what he posted:

1. Eat smaller quantities of better quality food.
2. Excercise more.
3. Give up the fantasy that there is an easy fix.

Best diet advice I've ever seen. :hi:

[Zenlitened]

81. "Get some regular excercise. You don't need much. How about a walk?"

I like that! Complements the easy-as-1-2-3 diet advice nicely! :D

[Thothmes]

97. Finally some sanity

[yellowcanine]

11. So I take it from this that eating "cheese product" straight out of an aerosol can is probably not

a healthy way to eat? Who knew and why didn't someone tell me before my pants didn't fit anymore?

[Zenlitened]

18. OMG. Remember that stuff! Yee-ikes!

:rofl:

[MissMarple]

20. It's ok, my mouthful of coffee missed the keyboard.

:) Also check for poly unsaturated fats, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, and enriched or bleached flour. They are putting high fructose corn syrup in almost everything today. It is very, very bad. Very.

[Zenlitened]

24. Interesting theory on corn syrup: that we digest it and take it up into the bloodstream TOO QUICKLY.

From the article:

...The case of corn points up one of the key features of the modern diet: a shift toward increasingly refined foods, especially carbohydrates. Call it applied reductionism. Humans have been refining grains since at least the Industrial Revolution, favoring white flour (and white rice) even at the price of lost nutrients. Refining grains extends their shelf life (precisely because it renders them less nutritious to pests) and makes them easier to digest, by removing the fiber that ordinarily slows the release of their sugars. Much industrial food production involves an extension and intensification of this practice, as food processors find ways to deliver glucose — the brain’s preferred fuel — ever more swiftly and efficiently. Sometimes this is precisely the point, as when corn is refined into corn syrup; other times it is an unfortunate byproduct of food processing, as when freezing food destroys the fiber that would slow sugar absorption.

So fast food is fast in this other sense too: it is to a considerable extent predigested, in effect, and therefore more readily absorbed by the body. But while the widespread acceleration of the Western diet offers us the instant gratification of sugar, in many people (and especially those newly exposed to it) the “speediness” of this food overwhelms the insulin response and leads to Type II diabetes. As one nutrition expert put it to me, we’re in the middle of “a national experiment in mainlining glucose.”...

[zalinda]

29. The thing is

as ethanol becomes more popular and more profitable, we may see corn syrup replaced with real sugar once again.

zalinda

[yellowcanine]

34. That's really crazy because you can get a lot more ethanol out of sugar cane than out of corn.

I get so confused sometimes.

[yellowcanine]

37. And actually in terms of good nutrition, we should not be drinking/eating stuff with either corn

syrup OR sugar added, by and large. In moderation, ok. But real fruit juice and fruits with naturally occuring fructose is better and you get some fiber as well.

[TechBear_Seattle]

98. Fructose can be a culprit too

All of the stuff I've seen points not to corn syrup in general, but to the high fructose corn syrup which is in just about everything. Significantly, HFCS is added as a preservative, to extend shelf life.

[JitterbugPerfume]

15. In the past about 15 yr

I have completely turned my diet around . I NEVER thought I could eat that many veggies and give up red meat

but I have.

I never thought I could live without all of that salt

but I do

and sugar? I used to crave that crap!

soda and snacks? Yuck!

It is amazing how adaptable we homo sapien sapiens can be when we set our minds to it.

[wiggs]

16. Thank you for this post. nt

[Zenlitened]

88. .

:hi:

[notadmblnd]

19. Basically, get away from the process and packaged food

They are basically empty calories and actually cause you to eat more. There was an article yesterday on this, (IIRC the NYT's). I've never been one to shop in the frozen section, but now I've decided to say away from the middle aisles too.

[Zenlitened]

22. Hmmm... I'll have to look for that article. Yeah, the center aisles can be deadly.

That's the idea behind "shop the perimeter," a clever bit of advice I heard somewhere and have tried to adopt.

Of course, I notice more and more junk is migrating to the perimeter these days, too. All the fake "yogurt" loaded with candy, and the pudding snacks, showing up in the dairy case. The breaded, processed chicken patties in the meat case. Etc. etc.

And, as I mentioned above... the bakery section. Two types of fresh-baked bread to choose from. A thousand varieties of cookies, doughnuts, brownies, cakes... :eyes:

[NashVegas]

63. I Found It

And started a new thread on it a little while ago.

[KittyWampus]

Note- Lentils, Rice, Beans (the Goya section) is not on the perimeter!

:)

[Zenlitened]

27. Excellent point.

But don't stray too far up that aisle in my local grocery store: you'll run head-on into taco kits, chips, soda and all sorts of other tempting stuff! :D

[Xmark]

23. Moderation is the key

I've been saying for so long that moderation in life is the key. (Assuming one doesn't have an actual medical problem).

Eat what you should, fiber, protein, carbs and have treats every now and then. Exercise several times a week.

But also realize that we're all different body shapes and sizes. Don't beat yourself up for not looking just like someone else, who may seem ideal. People are short, stocky, tall, lanky, etc.

[Zenlitened]

26. Good point about body shapes and sizes!

I try to measure my overall fitness by how I feel after a long brisk walk. Does my breathing return to normal pretty quickly? Do I feel good about having gotten some exercise, fresh air, a few glimpes of wildlife, etc.? Or do I feel I've just been in a car crash, ready to collapse?

BTW, welcome to DU! :hi:

[Ron Green]

25. How about a couple more R's for this thread?

There's lots of sanity and some good ideas in here.

[cliss]

31. The proof

is in how you feel. This past week, I switched to a mega-power-food diet. It was done more or less as a joke, just to see what would happen. It was mostly fresh sprouts (like alfalfa, mung bean, other grains).

The difference was dramatic. I started to see clearly again. My hearing started to improve. It was nothing short of amazing.
Now, keep in mind, it wasn't just the sprouts that did this. I got rid of all the junk food, no salt, no coffee, and eating mostly sprouts.

What a difference! Yes, I agree with this article.

[Thirtieschild]

33. Advice from a nutritionist

Her prescription: with every meal eat
a protein
a vegetable
a fruit
a water-soluable fiber (brown rice, whole wheat bread, etc.)

Also, the good oils are from olive, salmon, avacado, walnut. BTW, the salmon should be Alaskan. According to our son, who worked summers as a guide for people who wanted to see bears at a salmon fishery in Alaska, farm-raised salmon is fulll of PCBs. Must be because it makes me deathly ill.

Following this regimen, eating zero sugar and exercising every day (water aerobics) I lost 20 pounds in six months. Two bites on the leg (during sleep) from a brown recluse spider stopped the exercise and I never got back into it with the same enthusiasm. Every time I start a serious weight-loss program something like that stops it. My own internal resistance? Probably. Was always slim, gained 60 pounds over the last 25 years - a combination of quitting smoking, menopause and hating exercise. I don't think of myself as heavy until I see a photo. Horrors. But I digress. The nutritionist's diet is fantastic, you don't count calories, you don't go hungry, you're eating healthy, and the weight comes off.

[Zenlitened]

40. I agree, calorie-counting can be crazy-making!

That's what appeals to me about the "Eat food - Not too much - Mostly plants" idea.

I find that if I'm eating well, I'm eating less as a matter of consequence.

Hmmm... my body is getting good sustenance, and the Entenman's crumb cake craving goes away. Radical!

:D

[IronLionZion]

74. nutritious food is quite filling and satisfying

so you eat less of it. that's an astonishing thing.

[Virginia Dare]

42. I did something similar to that..

along with giving up diet soda, and I had great success. Attention to portion control is key too.

It's easy really, you don't need to count calories or fat or anything like that. Plus, if you stick to the regimen and keep up the excercise, you can afford to splurge every so often.

[Beausoir]

55. My entire family made that change in September. I'm down about 40 pounds.

We cut out the fat.
Cut out the processed flour.
Cut out the sugar.

We eat a big salad first before we eat dinner.

Lots of veg and grilled chicken, fish and lean beef.

No chips. ZERO sodapop.

My kids are happy. My 11 year old even had 3 helpings on his asparagus the other night.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. I gave up sugar and white flour for Lent and lost 10 lbs.

Having gained 20 since moving here in 2003, I had an ironically happy Lent.

I plan to continue limiting sugar and white flour, since I feel so good on that diet.

Oh, and no matter what diet you go on, every single one of them says, "Eat your vegetables and choose whole grains over refined carbs."

[Zywiec]

38. Great job Lydia!

Sugar is definitely the worse thing I could put in my body. I try to limit this daily along with fats and refined carbs. It's simply junk.

Cheers!

[MissMarple]

47. This is such a great thread.

I've just about given up white flour, some breads I just can't resist. But I do keep them in moderation. Pasta was a problem, we love it, then I found Barilla Plus. I make that about once every week or two. There are more and more products being made with whole grains, thank goodness. When we lived in the boonies, pasta was our "fast food". Throw in some chopped broccoli and red and yellow peppers when the pasta is almost done, drain then toss with a bit of olive oil and seasoning. It's dinner.

I've been having trouble with weight gain, too. And I'm adopting the You on a Diet philosophy. I've committed to walking a least 30 minutes a day. More veggies, minimal refined carbs, much more fish, red meat only occasionally. I feel better, look better, have lost an inch and a half around my waist....but the pounds are still there. But I'm patient. Congratulations on your weight loss.

[bcoylepa]

44. Pollen also said

"Don't eat anything your great great grandma wouldn't recognize."
great advice - cuts out a lot of the garbage posing as food today

[Zenlitened]

101. Heh heh... "edible food-like substances." LOL

Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket...

[Lasher]

45. Lucky for me, beer is cereal.

No wonder I'm so manly.

[MissMarple]

50. They say that villages in the middle ages that survived winter the best, made the best beer.

Of course, it was a VERY thick beer full of vitamins and minerals. Just a fun bit of trivia. :)

[Lasher]

64. I love trivia.

I wash my vitamins down with beer every day so maybe I'm onto something.:toast:

[Occulus]

52. .

:rofl:

[Lasher]

70. A one anda two anda...

Hoping for forgiveness from the OP author,

This is your fault:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-2dmih_c74

This is too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB1RRKJ1ks8

[Zenlitened]

82. Those were hysterical!

But now I'm all thirsty, for some reason. Hmmmm... wonder what's in the fridge...

:toast:

[Nye Bevan]

46. "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

As the old joke goes, follow this advice, and while you are not guaranteed to live longer, it will certainly seem like it.

[jebediah]

48. I've had to turn my lifestyle around after a pneumonia

that left me with some lung damage. Now I'm overly sensitive to bad dietary choices-- I'm the big canary in a coal mine. I'm still learning all the variables and degrees that'll either trigger the asthma, clog my lungs, or weaken my immunity which I can't afford. Here's what I've discovered (abbreviated, of course)--

The naturopaths (and their ilk) are right! Dairy is a really bad way to get a few good things. Sugar affects immunity and contributes to inflammation. Refined flour is basically a powered lung oyster. Meat preservatives make me feel ill in the short term, so I believe they're probably not innocuous in the long term. Herbs absolutely, positively *do* work. Food based supplements are excellent and can be great transitional vehicles through healing. pH balance is essential to monitor and maintain. Proper hydration with filtered water (*not* slamming a liter at lunchtime, *not* diet soda) is non-negotiable. If I don't vigorously exercise at least 4 days a week I feel the difference and the wet coughs increase. There's so much more, but none of it is original... .

I do stink of garlic more than the average American (nature's powerful antibiotic with which I've avoided multiple rounds of pharmaceutical stuff). The garlic hummus from the coop has saved my marriage (my wife loves it so she doesn't have to eat raw cloves to tolerate me), and garlic has to smell better than the consequences.

[Virginia Dare]

53. It's amazing how when you actually tune in to your body's reaction..

to certain substances, how much you realize that they effect you.

Good luck with your healing process, it sounds like you are well on the road, and welcome to DU!

[jebediah]

58. Thanks! nt

[MissMarple]

54. Roasted garlic is great when spread on bread.

It's great just as it is.

[jebediah]

57. I agree,

But when you're starting to cough green (trying not to be too visual), you need it raw and in quantity. 3 days of 6 medium, raw cloves a day is the minimum for me. However, for my preschool son I'm very slowly getting him used to the roasted garlic on bread. I wouldn't try raw garlic for a kid (good luck with that anyway), but a really thin spread seems to work for him at this point.

[MissMarple]

62. Well, I can see where the hummus comes in handy.

Have you tried pico de gallo? Six cloves would make a very powerful concoction.

Good luck with your health.

[Evoman]

79. Garlic ROCKS!

Man, I put garlic in everything. I love that shit. Ignoring my little rant about addictions below, I am addicted to garlic.

[NashVegas]

61. Update - New Pollan Article

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x742712

[Evoman]

73. The secret: its not even that fucking hard.

Really. I started eating really healthy a couple of months ago. I've actually SAVED money doing this...the only really expensive food that is good for you is fish. Veggies are cheap, and so are things like Oatmeal and fruit. And cooking vegetables is really fast..I mean, I could probably cook up some asparagus that would make you think of heaven in the time it takes for a person to stand in a line and get their Rotten Ronnies hamburgers.

I don't get why this shit is such a big deal for some people. Its not hard to stop eating donuts and twinkies. Or to stop drinking so much damn coke. People are just full of excuses.

I'm a grad student. Believe me when I say that I probably work longer and harder than most people.
And I make SHIT money as a student. And I can still manage to lift weights four or five times a week and eat healty. And get this...I don't even OWN a fucking car, so I have to walk to school (which takes me about half an hour or longer).

Your not doing yourself any good by coming up with lame excuses.

(p.s. I use the word "your" in a general way..I'm not talking directly to the op or anyone here).

[GreenPartyVoter]

75. It's not hard to quit drugs or alcohol either.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

76. You can be physically addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Unless you're suggesting that people can become physically addicted to McDonalds, it ain't the same thing at all.

[Evoman]

78. I though I was addicted to MacDonalds for awhile after I stopped eating it.

But I was full of shit. I know I was full of shit....I just wanted an excuse. Its bullshit. After you change your habits, you don't even want it anymore. Really...NOT. THAT. HARD.

[GreenPartyVoter]

91. Sounds liek you did not have an eating disorder. You just made bad food choices.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

95. An eating disorder is not the same thing as an addiction.

Stop conflating entirely seperate things.

[Scout]

85. you can become addicted to sugar n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

89. No.

You can't become physically addicted to sugar.

[GreenPartyVoter]

90. Yes, you can and in fact it's often the sugars in the alcohol that people become addicted to.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

96. Indeed.

That's why step 1 of AA is switching to Coca-Cola. :crazy:

Sugar "addiciton" if that's what it can even be called, has been proven to be far, far less severe than caffeine addiction.

[Evoman]

77. Yes it is...those are physiological addictions, not just habits.

Drugs (I imagine..I've never had an addiction) are very hard to kick...and in some cases, dangerous as well. I could see an argument for coke (seeing as how there are physiological responses to caffeine) but anything else is an excuse.

Seriously...whats so hard about eating vegetables and lean meats. Whats so hard about doing some excercises.

[NashVegas]

87. Unless You're An Addict, It's Not Hard At All

...

[Scout]

92. veggies taste bad, and smell bad ... the only fruits that are good are apples

and bananas. I hate twinkies. I rarely eat donuts.

Corn, raw or stir-fried carrots, steamed or stir-fried green beans are the only vegetable that are good. Sometimes little bits of broccoli, but only the flowers not the stems...

See, everyone isn't like you! And thank goddess for small favors we don't have to be.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

94. Yes, it takes no time at all to steam or microwave vegetables, and

even stir-fries don't take long once you get your chopping techniques down.

Besides which I can make up a big stir-fry, curry, or soup and freeze portions of it for later use, so that it's cheaper yet. I get about three meals out of each mess of stir-fry I cook up.

[ecstatic]

100. the key is to not buy the stuff at all

If it's not in your house, then you don't have to worry about eating it. I'm trying to get my parents to understand that it's not appropriate for them to buy all those pastries and sodas. They are always offering it to me but most times I have the courage to say no.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

83. That is your basic weight watcher Core Plan.

They have two plans, the Flex and the Core. Flex lets you eat anything as long as you count the points that are assigned to every food. With Core, you can only eat natural foods, nothing processed, but you have to stop eating when satisfied. I was hungry all the time on Flex because of all the sugar I was taking in. Three weeks on Core and I haven't been hungry yet. And I've lost thirteen pounds. And exercise is also a requirement.

[DarkTirade]

93. This is why I taught myself how to cook my own meals.

When I went off to college I gained something like 30 pounds. Then I realized, Hey, I have a refridgerator and a freezer. I can make a big, healthy, homecooked family sized meal for fairly cheap, and live off of it for a few days. :)
Now I'm gonna go make me a salad while I'm heating up some leftovers. :)

[ecstatic]

99. lean meat, fruit and veggies works well for me (read Scarsdale's Diet)

**You can't go wrong if you stick with foods that appear in nature and avoid man-made, over-processed stuff. Can't go wrong.**

I ballooned my way up in college. I tried Atkins and that aggravated the problem and turned me into a full blown sugar addict.

Over the years of yo yo dieting, I finally realized that what worked for me was a Scarsdale type diet that is low in carbs, yet has an allowance for many "good carbs" like some grains, wheat, fruit, and vegetables. People tell me I'm too slim now. Can't win.