Eat Right

The topic of how to lose weight has come up frequently on this forum with fad diets being requested and recommended.


I think any nutritionist or doctor will tell you that dieting is pointless and results in a weight yo-yo effect as people tire of following most diets quickly.


The only way to remain healthy is to change one's lifestyle becoming more active and eating properly.


But what is eating more healthy? Some diets would have you believe that you can eat almost anything except carbohydrates. Surely that makes no sense... can eating pounds of red meat daily be good for you?


I'd suggest we all have a look at the GI Index and try to follow this. It was researched specifically to help diabetics so there is sound theory behind it and proven long term health benefits from following this lifestyle for you and your family.


http://www.glycemicindex.com/

http://ginews.blogspot.com/

http://www.glycemicindex.com/subscribe.htm

I don't think this is quite the same as the South Beach diet because it is not actually a diet. The usual use of the word diet implies something that you do for a period then revert to old habits...


From what I can see of South Beach it is essentially a low carb diet that incorporates some of the GI foods.


The GI index is an index used to determine which foods foods maintain more level blood sugar levels (low GI foods) as opposed to those that cause spikes in sugar levels which lead to illness and weight gain (high GI foods).


If you review the home page of the university of sydney's home page you can find the rationale for avoiding high GI foods and some info on how easy it is to follow these eating habits. Of course you can go overboard and cut all all high GI foods using that GI database function on their site but if you dont want to be fanatical you can just follow these rules of thumb:


* Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran

* Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough

* Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat

* Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables

* Use Basmati or Doongara rice

* Enjoy pasta, noodles, quinoa

* Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing

A few other useful tips:


Anything out of a can is probably bad for you - tons of sodium and preservatives


Minimize red meat intake as well as any processed meats, fried and deep fried foods.


Drink loads of water.


White rice and white bread are very unhealthy (0 nutritional value and they spike sugar levels making you hungry again right after they digest)


Dump fast foods (I was motivated to post this info here because I've been on the road seeing some of our hotel clients in the region and it seems that every restaurant has a kids menu chock full of fast food choices only - ironic in that we have so many people concerned about what they feed their babies on the Moms Forum then most restaurants turn that all upside down and encourage unhealthy habits...)

I think the biggest problem is lack of education on what is actually good and not good for you. This lack of knowledge along with the constant bombardment of ads for fast foods is the reason for obesity in society.


Well... that and the fact that some people simply dont care, which is fine as to each their own, except that the eating habits get passed down to kids who follow those habits.


In a former life I taught phy ed and tried to have the school ban french fries and other garbage in the cafeteria. There was considerable outrage, not from the students but from the other staff. Their rationale was if we dont sell it they will just buy it down the road at McD's. My response was well then, we may as well sell smokes and 6-packs of Molson in the cafeteria to because.....


Anyway, hope this forum can provide some useful tips for those looking to live healthier lives.

Sorry if that came across as knocking it. My concern is the reference to the word Diet because I think that using that word to refer to a change in eating habits implies that it is a temporary thing...


From what I see South Beach for the most part the same as the GI Index in terms of its recommendations, and if putting a name on it that is catchy helps it catch on I am all for it.

When's the last time you had a tomato that tasted like.... something other than cardboard.


Every tried free range chicken? It actually has flavour...


Strawberries sure look nice but they are bland.


Obviously we have to weigh the need to feed the masses with the need to feed people quality food... but as the article below points out, are we going to far in the wrong direction?






We Are What We Eat


Mass production of food is ruining our health, environment, and taste buds. How did this happen?


The following is an excerpt from Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed edited by Vandana Shiva (South End, 2007).


I am not a scientist, journalist, or other specialist. I sell food. I help run a family-owned and operated neighborhood market and café that buys and sells predominantly local, clean, and sustainable food. I cannot speak about the reality of our food supply around most of the world. I can only can speak of what is happening in the first world, where, unfortunately, only the privileged elite can choose to put real food on their dinner tables.


Lately it seems every mass media newspaper or magazine, from the New York Times to Rolling Stone, has an article digging into the true filth that most food in the U.S. really is. Some people are actually questioning mass produced and monoculture organic food. Even Time magazine proclaimed "Local Is the New Organic" on its cover. Everywhere I turn people tell me that there is a new wind in the U.S.; that people are now concerned about eating local, clean, and sustainable food. From my vantage point in the market, behind the counter, I just don't see it. Yes, in Massachusetts there are more farms today than in the last 20 or so years, but fewer total acres than ever recorded. Farmers markets are becoming popular or perhaps trendy. Chain supermarkets are "listening to their customers" and capitalizing on cheap "organic" food. But the chain-supermarket owners are some of the same people who screwed up our food supply in the first place. How can we trust them?


Outdoor food markets are a mainstay in most cultures in the world and were once a given in our culture. Now most people go there to shop for the luxury food treats (locally grown food) and get their staples at the supermarket. I think that because of the Depression (when there was no money to spend on food) and World War II (when there was rationing and everyone was focused on the war effort) Americans lost their taste-buds. Along came the mass-produced foods of the 1950s at cheap prices. Supermarkets were a "progressive" thing, as suburban living was progressive. Rural culture and production was frowned upon as old-fashioned and primitive. Food from all over the world suddenly became available and at prices lower than local food. Protecting America's foreign interest, the beginning of what we now call globalization, became a new form of colonialism. Foreign resources, raw materials as well as labor, were now easily exploitable by the nation's new superpower status. As the economy grew, money filtered down to the managerial and to some of the working class and was coupled with an influx of cheap products made cheaply and available to most classes of the U.S. Consumerism took off. Our food changed as well, especially with faster transport and technologies trickery to extend the shelf life of food. Seasonal produce became available year round; exotic food (such as bananas and oranges in Boston) became readily available and affordable. Everything was cheaper, the shopping was more convenient, and exotic foods became staples in our diet. Small and local farms shut down or were forced into monoculture farming. A disconnect sprouted between our diets and our food sources. An orange, once a special and rare treat, became an everyday commodity.


Supermarkets are part of mainstream America's identity. Working-class people have little choice but to shop at conventional supermarkets. Middle-class people can shop at places like Whole Foods and appease their consciences with the notion that that food is safer and tastier than conventional supermarket food. And those of the flat earth society -- middle- and upper-class people who do not believe that their climate is changing, that a global market is a bad thing, or that our food systems are in trouble -- favor the conventional supermarket. However, both conventional and progressive supermarkets operate on the same model: mass-produced foods, made cheaply, and sold at cheap prices.


Supermarkets sell commodities. They buy mass-produced food from big business. This model of efficiency, which mirrored the production of things like automobiles and VCRs, is what created the mess our food supply is in. Efficient ordering and deliveries, no seasonal variety of stock, little to no blemishes (whether natural or from human error), significant quantities -- enough to keep all those shelves constantly filled with whatever the customer might want. I describe this model as "I want what I want when I want it," and it goes against everything about food that is local, clean, and sustainable. It cannot be done at a mass level.


Read more: http://www.alternet.org/environment/69262/

this is exactly why I miss shopping in UK - sunday farmers markets! Got to love it!! seasonal, home grown produce which actually tastes of whatever it is, rather than of cardboard..

Why not buy organic vegetables from the Organic Farm (http://www.organic-farm.com./) here in Hong Kong? I have just started to get their vegetable deliveries and I can say that so far the tomatoes, etc. taste great and the selection has been good. If you look at their website info they don't use any chemicals at all, it's purely organic and it's local. The produce they deliver will be seasonal, so I don't really know what I'll be getting in each delivery (though they have a guide to what they tend to grow in each season) - but, to me anyway, this seems like a great way to get organic, local vegetables and I have to purchase fewer of my vegetables from the mass supermarkets.

I feel a little silly buying organic vegetables that have been flown all the way from Australia or North America with all the pollution involved in the plane travel for the vegetables to get to me in HK. Plus, if people start buying local organic vegetables, maybe this would encourage other farmers to start growing more organic stuff. In my opinion, this would be a great thing. More greenery instead of concrete.

It took me some time to find out about this organic vegetable delivery service - so I thought I'd share it with others in case anyone is interested. And no, I have nothing to do with the Organic Farm at all - I'm just a recent customer.

Agreed. Buy local wherever possible.


I've started asking for locally bottled water at restaurants when on the road; its cheaper and at the end of the day its pretty much all the same eh, just vaporized tap water with the poisons removed.

Lifelong Effects of Childhood Obesity:


http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1692184,00.html