You Are What You Eat

[StinkerBell]

You Are What You Eat
By Dr Gillian McKetih

I am reading this book. Good Book.

I discovered that I am a twinky. I guess that is better then being a ding dong.


Actually I am enjoying the book.

[glenn kangiser]

I think you are a ding-dong, Stinky...

[peternap]

You Are What You Eat
By Dr Gillian McKetih

I am reading this book. Good Book.

I discovered that I am a twinky. I guess that is better then being a ding dong.


Actually I am enjoying the book.

[NM_Shooter]

Well, this certainly is not good news for me.

[Redoverfarm]

Well, this certainly is not good news for me.

Likewise Frank.  I am just trying to figure out " does this mean the things I eat the most of or just eat"? Either way it is hard to tell what I will turn out like. Scarey in a way. 

[RainDog]

I've always wondered how much benefit eating healthy does a person.

My personal experience? When I was at my most healthy and strong, I was eating total crap. Drinkin' plenty of beer too. Was working hard, drinking tons of water during the day, and cross country running as well. Seems to me that the biggest factor isn't what form your protein, carbohydrates, and fat come in, but rather what you do with them.

Sit on your butt and eat healthy... no good.

Eat junk food and have an active life... just dandy.

I dunno. Just have my experience to draw on, and recognize it's at complete odds with the consensus. I've been wrong before.

[Redoverfarm]

Before the "health concious" grabbed our menu's the older farmers would eat things that would certainly raise eyebrows in todays society.  Salt back, country ham, gravy, bacon, organ meat of all varities and everything else that is suppose to be bad for you and they lived to their 90's.  There were two big differences though.  They did not make a meal off sweats and they worked off what they ate. 

[RainDog]

Before the "health concious" grabbed our menu's the older farmers would eat things that would certainly raise eyebrows in todays society.  Salt back, country ham, gravy, bacon, organ meat of all varities and everything else that is suppose to be bad for you and they lived to their 90's.  There were two big differences though.  They did not make a meal off sweats and they worked off what they ate.  

Granddad lived to 104, and he ate standard home-cooked meals. Two eggs, bacon, buttered toast every morning. Tried whiskey once, didn't like it and never drank again, though I don't think that was the key.

The key to his longevity in my view was an active life of moderation. Moderation in everything he did, food or otherwise.

Me, I'll be lucky to make it to 60. Nobody has ever used the word "moderate" in the same sentence as my name, except perhaps as a joke.

In any case, I'm not overweight and have no blood pressure issues or other diet related problems, so I'll continue to eat whatever's closest to my hand at any given moment, and hope for the best. It's worked fine so far.

[MushCreek]

Raindog, you've got the best going for you as far as longevity- good genetics! There have been plenty of healthy people who did the right things, and died young. Look at football player Gaines Adams, who recently died at age 26. George Burns was famous for his bad habits, and he made it to 100. Don't get me wrong; we can always take better care of ourselves, and hopefully extend our lives, but good genes are hard to beat.

[LeoinSA]

The key to his longevity in my view was an active life of moderation. Moderation in everything he did, food or otherwise.
In any case, I'm not overweight and have no blood pressure issues or other diet related problems, so I'll continue to eat whatever's closest to my hand at any given moment, and hope for the best. It's worked fine so far.

Raindog, you've got the best going for you as far as longevity- good genetics! There have been plenty of healthy people who did the right things, and died young. Look at football player Gaines Adams, who recently died at age 26. George Burns was famous for his bad habits, and he made it to 100. Don't get me wrong; we can always take better care of ourselves, and hopefully extend our lives, but good genes are hard to beat.

Let's take the second quote first - I too used to think that genes would get me close to a healthy 100.  Ancestors on both sides of the family did, but I prolly won't make it.  I'm more and more convinced that (first quote now) that activity is the key and moderation too.

I'm around 6' tall and have weighed 180 pounds (± 5) since I finished growing at about age 22.  From the time I was discharged from the Navy in 1977 until 2001 I led a reasonably active lifestyle.  Skilled heavy industrial manual labor was my profession and I got out into the mountains and surrounds for family camping, hunting and fishing in addition to have a small ranch where we raised our own food animals and other 'chores' all that entailed.

I did however suck down lots and lots of sucrose in the form of corn syrup in Pepsi.  36 to 60 ounces a day - depending.  Summertime, beer and sweet tea were added into the mix.  Seldom did plain ol' water quench my thirst.

So after my divorce I met a woman that decided in mid-life that her teaching in public schools wasn't what she wanted to do and she pursued a PhD in her chosen field.  I committed to her that I'd leave my 20+ year job and move with her to anywhere she found a permanent university teaching position - that's here in San Antonio.  Looking for a position after arriving here I was hired by North America's 3rd largest soft drink bottling company - behind Coke and Pepsi - that you've probably never heard of.  Nearly every house brand of soda pop and bottled water is produced by Cott Beverages.  Wal-Mart is a major buyer of their product.  The plant I worked in had a capacity of 135 million (24) cases (equivalent) of beverages every year.  Wal-Mart took about 40% of that capacity.  The SA plant was one of (at the time) 14 plants in North America.  Each plant had about a 40% production capacity commitment to Wal-Mart.  That folks, is lots and lots of flavored sugar water!  At the time one of the largest weekly production runs was 2 liter bottles - 18 to 20 hours a day (4 to 6 hours for scheduled cleaning and maintenance) at about 250 to 300 2L bottles per minute.  About a 50% runtime factor - that's something on the order of 150,000 bottles a day.  And we'd average a 2.5 to 3 day run of these for Wally World.

I tell you all this to make the point that soda pop is about 30% sugar - corn syrup specifically.  I started work the week before 9/11.  By mid-October I'd seen enough of how soda pop is made to make me swear off Pepsi - it's no different than what the Cott plant was producing with the exception of the exact flavoring and the label.  There's no soda in the house - well, a few cans of 7-Up for mixing 7&7's.    Wanna know more of the bad stuff about soda pop?  Here: http://www.unhinderedliving.com/soda.html and here:http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/51311/dont_drink_your_caloriessoda_pop_is.html

So... at this point I'm using brains instead of brawn and am sitting behind a stoopid computer keyboard. That means that I'm a refugee from the summer heat and humidity of south Texas and no longer working outside or in any physical labor setting, we need to go to the gym to make up for that lack of exercise.

In late 2002 I notice that I'm tiring very easily with minimal exertion.  No overt symptoms of anything so no doctor visit - tough manly man that I be.  In early 2003 a new regional VP comes in and within 8 weeks my job is - 'poof' - eliminated.  I get hired (as a temp worker) by my current employer to do the same thing - sit behind a computer keyboard and write technical documentation.  I do this well enough that I'm offered a permanent position in late 2003.  In early 2004 my insurance coverage kicks in and I go to my PCP for a 'normal' checkup.  Being over 50 that also entails a 'routine' EKG.  Hmmm... Anomalies appear and its off to a cardiologist for specialized tests.  As near as can be guessed, I had a 'silent' heart attack - a myocardial infarction - somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 to 18 months prior to the EKG.  FYI - Approximately one quarter of all myocardial infarctions are silent, without chest pain or other symptoms.

Stents and stuff later I'm on pills and a new low fat diet.  But how the heck did this happen to a reasonably healthy and active non-overweight - not even a beer belly - guy?

Books and books and more books - research and cross-reference this and that.  Sort the wheat from the chaff.  Bottom line of over 2 years of focus is sugar, salt and refined foods.

My and your ancestors - up until the late 1800's - lived on a pretty limited diet.  There wasn't refrigeration and there certainly wasn't fast freighters that could bring bananas to their local mercantile in winter.  Most produce was locally grown in the summers and though some was commercially canned, most was put up by home canning or other preserving methods for winter use.

If the woman of the house was an excellent baker, the family might have seen cakes or pies with some sugar in them on a few times a week basis.  But sugar - in any processed form - was mostly absent from the normal diet.  That's not to say that sugar in other natural forms - honey is but one example - wasn't there, it was, but it did not make up as large a percentage of the daily diet as it does today.

Processed foods - Today you can't go into a supermarket and find much food that hasn't somehow been through a factory somewhere.  Oh, some is still available, but even the meats we buy have been through at least 2 factories - the corporate factory farm and the corporate slaughter house.

Now don't get the wrong idea that I'm 100% down of factory food production - I'm not totally.  I still like cheese and bacon and breakfast sausage.  I eat eggs and drink orange juice.  Pasta is OK and tomato sauce is fine too.  Every one is produced in some sort of factory setting.  But what I don't buy is cheese whiz or hamburger helper or canned soups or Lutefisk.  I don't buy salmon as it's probably farmed raised and full of chemicals that were present in the factory produced feed pellets - see the melamine contamination scandals of a couple years ago as but one example of why I'm so leery.

Excess salt fits right in with processed foods.  Notice above that we do not eat canned soups.  Simple reason is the amount of salt therein. 

Yes, salt is an ancient food preservation method.  Yes, the body needs some salt to keep the chemical balance within tolerance.  But the amount needed is measured in micro-grams per day.  Like Pepsi, I used to eat salty foods with abandon.  Lays - bet ya can't eat just one!  Pringles - same-o same-o.  Chips and salsa?  Nachos & beer?  YEAH!  Planters nuts.  Hot Dogs?  Bring on the spicy mustard!  You get the picture.  After the MI and my research, no more of that crap.

Look at the ingredient labels on any product and look for sugar in all its forms - sucrose, dextrose, corn syrup, et cetera and et cetera.  If you care, do the research and get as scared as I was/am.  Same for salt.  Same for processed food stuffs.  Look it all up and be afraid, very afraid, because you are what you eat.

So... After all that, what's my bottom line today?  Moderate exercise - walking 3 to 5 miles 3x a week and a light 30 minute workout with light weights 3x a week.  Rest one day.  Vary the routine to minimize ennui.  Looking to take up Tai Chi as another exercise form.

Food - Moderation.  Not too much beef and what we do eat is from ranches that specialize in grass fed - not feedlot finished.  4H project turkey and lamb from local sources.  Pork - unfortunately no local sources as of yet - so not a big part of the monthly fare.  Fresh Gulf shrimp delivered to SA by a crewman on the shrimp boat, often times less than 12 hours out of the water.  Yeah, polluted waters on the coast, but better than farm raised in SE Asia is my rationalization.  Lots of veggies, especially cauliflower, broccoli, squashes of all sorts, cabbage, carrots, onions and garlic. Lots of greens for salads - olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the dressing.  Potatoes - not so much as a decade ago.  Fruits - in season and not those flown in from Chile or Columbia.  Wine - you bet'cha!  Red preferably.  Beer?  Sure.  Shiner Bock or Negro Modello.  But in moderation.  Texas BBQ?  Got the smoker under the back eave and we fire that up about once a month to cook chicken/turkey/brisket as needed.  Freeze the left overs and thaw-em when needed.  Lots of stews and homemade soups.  Little fried food but lots of veggies sauteed in olive oil.  Sea salt as needed.  Black pepper and spicy peppers as needed for flavor.  We get 3 gallons of raw milk per month from a local certified farm.  I personally drink about a half gallon per month, as does my wife.  Two gallons go into kefir http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir production which is used for fruit smoothies and an additive to our 125 pound dogs daily diet.

So as you can see we eat a varied diet with as little as possible pre-prepared or overly processed ingredients.  All of this does not mean that I do not eat ice cream or that I don't eat chips and salsa.  I do - as a sometimes treat.  I think that's called moderation.   

So to my current way of thinking a long (relatively) healthy life means that you're as active as possible, you eat as close to fresh as possible, you avoid chemicals, chemical environments and chemical contamination as much as possible and try with all your might to not be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  As always, YMMV.

Best,

Leo

[MountainDon]

I read somewhere that if your grandmother wouldn't recognize it, you should not eat it. Pretty much true I think.

Avoid sugar in all its forms as best as you can. Also avoid the artificial sweeteners. Lower the sodium intake. Eat more whole wheat and fiber; whole wheat pastas are easy to find these days. Lots of fiber in beans. Brown basmati rice is great; we buy "texmati" organic, grown in TX.

[NM_Shooter]

My grandfather passed away 3 months shy of his 103rd birthday, complications from pneumonia and shingles.  Shortly before that (2 months?), he was riding an exercise bike 30 minutes a day and walking regularly.  He lived in his house in Chicago until he was 93, and only moved out because his vision was failing and he didn't want to pay somebody to clean out the gutters on his 2 story house 

He ate butter, eggs, pork roasts, home made sausage, and German chocolate cake.  Drank wine, never smoked.  He had an amazing garden and canned huge amounts of veggies that he ate year 'round.  He was very active, and enjoyed food.  Ate lots of fish too. 

Seems like if you stay away from the preservatives, get exercise, and consume in moderation you'll do okay.  I spend too much time in fast food drive throughs.  I need to swear off the soft drinks too.  Good post Leo.