A Healthy Diet

[aanallein]

If you think that all tap water is fine or all of it is gross, you simply haven't lived in enough places to tell the difference. Either that or you have a poor sense of taste.

I've drank tap water from Tahoe which tastes wonderful, I've lived in Davis and Tracy where the water is from the delta and tastes horrible, and I've lived in Oregon where it came straight from a well or a creek and you know what? I don't think it matters very much. Our internal organs are designed to filter. They do an amazing job at it. The taste doesn't matter that much to me because most of the taste is just going to be residuals after the filter/chlorinating process and nothing that harmful.

 

[yellodolphin]

Take a whole-food supplement daily (NOT synthetic vitamins). It's impossible to get all the nutrients you need by just eating food, even if it's all organic.

nooo way! difference between something difficult and something impossible. its not impossible, you just have to know the proper foods to eat.

there are many very nutritionally dense foods and actually u can get all ur nutrients from not even that many of them. so do more research

 

[Mehm]

I'm in absurdly good health, thanks. You realize the Eskimos live on a meat only diet and are just fine? There is little to no scientific evidence to suggest that a meat only diet will cause any long term health consequences. Ketonisis isn't that big a deal.

And tap water isn't that bad seriously. You body NEEDS certain minerals and the rest you can filter out if need be.

The obsession with random supplements which can be just as bad for you as anything else since they've had no long term studies while telling people not to drink tap water and only organic foods... sigh.. its just nonsense. I'm in incredible shape and I don't do any of that stuff. The best thing you can do is drink 1-2 gallons of water a day and exercise to exhaustion daily. That and eat a ton of protein and you are good to go.

I'm sorry for being harsh..its no excuse but maybe I was in an argumentitive mood or something...sorry About the ketonisis, I've read otherwise and think that individual body type, ancestory and genes play a big factor in what balance of foods a person needs. If I only eat protein, I feel ill and get constipated. Since my metabolism is very high, I really need to feed it massive amounts of carbs all day to feel energetic.

My opinion on tap water is that the less stress one places on the body's filtration systems, the better. Furthermore, a balanced diet will easily provide all necessary minerals. I really don't think drinking pestacide run off is good for you. Just get a Britta filter or something, not that big of a deal.

The two supplemets I was refering to are healthy. Read my post. If you want to say they are bad, please provide some evidence.

Once again, organic foods do not have accumulated pestacides and have higher concentrations of phytochemicals. How is that nonsense?

Many yogis who live to very old ages would highly disagree with your statement regarding daily exercise to exaution and a high protein diet, but to each there own.

 

[aanallein]

We can agree to disagree, I have no problem with that. As for the organic foods - there are reasons we feed our animals antibiotics and that is because we don't want to get diseases that animals tend to carry or which grow on food while its left refrigerating. As for the supplements - you truly never know the side effects of taking large doses of random herbs. There is no difference between herbs and drugs, they are one in the same. These drugs/herbs being pressed on the public without proper testing (long and short term) or FDA approval are just as dangerous as any other medication. Eating a bit of milk thistle is obviously not going to kill you, but taking a daily does of high potency extract? Who knows? I'd rather avoid anything derived from herbs especially in high daily doses. But that's just me.

 

[Mehm]

We feed animals antibiotics because they live in confined conditions, literally in their own shit. Cows in particular need antibiotics because of their diet in concentrated feedlots. Said diet consits of corn mush, rendered fat from any source (including other cows and animals), and molases/urea mixture for protein. This diet is very acidic, while cows are ruminants with PH neutral stomachs. The acidic feed eats holes through the cows stomach, which gives it blood and liver infections. This is why cows are fed antibiotics. As for other animals, they recieve antibiotics because living in cramped conditions in their own feces is wholely foreign to them evolutionarily. Animals raised in more human/natural ways do not require any antibiotics.

Beyond that, non-organic animals eat grain with pestacide residue. This bio-accumulates in the animal, which once again bio-accumulates in us. Pestacides are a different issue and substance than anti-biotics. While organic animals are raised in confined conditions with grain feed (and are often fed anti-biotics because of it), they eat organic grain (which has no pestacide residue). Therefore, organic meat and dairy does not deliver the pestacide dose of its conventional cousin.

Also, green tea has been drank in large quantities for thousands of years, I wouldn't worry about it :D. I definitely agree about other supplements though. People need to be cognizant about what goes into their body...which brings me back to the pestacide/hormone/anti-biotic issue. The large concentrations of these substances in the american diet has not been analyzed by the FDA. Preliminary human and animal evidence gives me all the warning I need though.

 

[aanallein]

I don't think organic foods escape "contamination" as much as you would like to think they do. The contaminates are all around us. The organic foods interbreed with the GM foods. The pesticides are carried downwind and downstream. The animals drink from streams and breath air contaminated as well.

Also, animals are just as susceptible to disease as people are. While we may give animals antibiotics to prevent disease in crowded conditions, people have gotten sick from contaminated meat for over 10,000 yrs, thus the first codes put into place for Judaism regarding diet.

Ultimately I just find it absurd that people basically condemn modern diets and say that everything we consume is bad.. even to the extreme of saying that microwaves and such are evil.. yet our life expectancies continue to grow longer by the year. When I was born the life expectancy was something like 65, now its like 82.. at this rate I may never die.

 

[Mehm]

The organic standards are quite rigorous regarding field placement and pestacide drift. For instance, I worked on an organic farm in New Mexico that was caught in a certification approval dilema because of the field's proximity to a road and neighboring non-organic onion fields. Cross pollination certainly occures as well. However, certified organic crops must come from certified organic seed, which has massive oversight.

As for the animals, there is a big difference between grass ranged cattle in the country side and a concentrated feed lot. The biggest being that feed lot animals are sick and raised unnaturally, while grass ranged animals are healthy and raised naturally. The difference in meat from a health and contamination standpoint is clear and conclusive, grassed ranged is much better for the animal, nature, and humans.

Unfortunately, the organic label is slowly being hijacked by large farming conglomerates which are inturn degrading the standards. The next wave will be sustainable, locally produced food. It is my opinion that energy economics and increasing knowledge over the unhealthy food sold to us over the last 60 years will drive the change.

BTW, my generation (I'm 24) will be the first American generation expected to live less years than the last.

 

[aanallein]

BTW, my generation (I'm 24) will be the first American generation expected to live less years than the last.

that's not accurate. Its still climbing for both men and women in america.

 

[DJDannyUhOh]

that's not accurate. Its still climbing for both men and women in america.

Actually it's quite true. Given the exponential rise in obesity and cardiovascular disease in the past few years, we will soon start to see future generations fall sharply in life expectancy. It very well may start with generations already alive today.

 

[aanallein]

according to what? I'd like to see data, not guesswork.

 

[DJDannyUhOh]

Geez, at least google it before you need your precious references. I'm going for my masters in health education and I'm not gonna post anything false....but you skittish people on BL always play the skeptic. Here's a few articles. This has been discussed among health professionals for years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4357325.stm

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/obesity_life_expectancy.html

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/16/obesity.longevity.ap/

If you have access, JSTOR and Proquest are science/health journal resources. You'll find plenty there.

 

[aanallein]

Why should I be forced to verify others claims? Thats completely backwards.

The operative word in every one of those links is that life expectancies MAY decline or MAY have peaked. Both you and Mehm assert that this is the case. None of those 3 articles do that.

Researchers said based on the current obesity levels life spans could fall by between four months and nine months.

For decades, Americans' life expectancy has been growing, but a new health study suggests that life spans may have peaked.

By their calculations -- disputed by skeptics as shaky and overly dire -- within 50 years obesity likely will shorten the average life span

 

[DJDannyUhOh]

Let's see, take the word of public health officials or believe aanallein that we will all live happily ever after?

There's a slight difference between the opinion of someone looking for casual information in a BB and the years of health behavior research by those in the field.

The truth is if our current social health behavior continues, we WILL see a decline in life expectancy. Our health care system can only do so much to TREAT obesity. It must be PREVENTED rather than dealt with when it's too late.

...and they mention words like "could", "may", and "likely" because we still have an opportunity to reverese that prediction if we all start living healthier lives....but realistically don't look for that to happen. The smart thing to do is prepare for it rather than assume everything is going to stay the same. And when reading an article, don't focus on words, focus on the bigger picture. Only focus on words if you keep them in context. Also, focus on the content and what implications it has in the long run.

Here's an artice from the National Institutes of Health. If you can somehow disagree with them, then you're a better person than all of us.

http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/mar2005/nia-16.htm

 

[aanallein]

You are claiming absolutes when every single article you've posted, even this one say MAY, could, might, threatens to, etc.

Get a grip.. statements like

Let's see, take the word of public health officials or believe aanallein that we will all live happily ever after?

are absurd when the articles you posted speak flat out against what you're saying. public health officials believe its a future threat AND MIGHT decrease life expectancies. They DONT state that life expectancies today are lower than once before, they state the exact opposite of that. I think its you who needs to focus on words and context since you are flatout ignoring them.

 

[DJDannyUhOh]

You either have stock in life insurance companies or just plain in denial.
The articles are saying exactly what I'm saying. A word like "likely" means it has more than a 50/50 chance of happening and to flat out say there's no data that supports we're heading in such a direction is absurd.

according to what? I'd like to see data, not guesswork.

There is plenty of data (all over the net and in medical journals) that show increasingly higher prevalence of obesity and as a result, we have exponentially higher incidences of death of cardiovascular disease. In fact, it's the number one cause of death followed by stroke in which obesity is also a major risk factor. We simply cannot continue to see increasing incidence and prevalence without expecting a drop in life expectancy, I don't care how you spin it. The NIH states that...

The U.S. could be facing its first sustained drop in life expectancy in the modern era, the researchers say, but this decline is not inevitable if Americans — particularly younger ones — trim their waistlines or if other improvements outweigh the impact of obesity.

Inevitability can ONLY be avoided if we live healthier lives. If we DO continue to see obesity and cardiovascular disease rise, I will personally bet my career that life expectancy will decline because that is what NIH is stating.

The New England Journal of Medicine also states this claim.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/352/11/1138

Read the full text article and you'll understand.

You're turing this thread into a farce because you seem to either misunderstand the truth about national health or are just to stubborn to admit ignorance.

 

[Mehm]

BTW, my generation (I'm 24) will be the first American generation expected to live less years than the last.

aanallein: Like you said, the operative word here is "expected". According to all of the reputable science that djdannyuhoh posted, I made a true statement. The life expectency of americans is expected to decrease in my generation. Since I'm only 24, one can't say that the life expectancy has decreased, because it hasn't happened yet.

I think danny and I are ahead in this debate until you post some solid evidence for your viewpoint.

 

[aanallein]

/shrug

so far all 5 of the articles presented by yourselves have used the operative word MAY. that is hardly a cut and dried situation. You guys haven't proven anything and aren't "ahead" in the debate. We will wait and see if life expectancy truly declines in the USA.

You're turing this thread into a farce

Nothing I've said to date has been discredited. Life expectancies HAVE NOT declined. They MIGHT. Where do you not understand this concept?

Since I'm only 24, one can't say that the life expectancy has decreased, because it hasn't happened yet.

That is based on the presumption that they WILL decline. You guys obviously don't understand what might, may, or could mean. Maybe you should look them up because in SCIENCE a fact isn't a fact until it leaves the realm of maybe. And you guys are the ones saying I should resort to science...............

 

[DJDannyUhOh]

Well in health care, "may" is something that isn't taken lightly because people's lives are at stake. And history as a witness, what "may" happen almost always does. Our current obesity epidemic is an example of just that. We sat back until what we thought would happen, actually did given the increase in calorie-rich and saturated fat foods, given our decline in physical activity, given our altered perceptions about susceptibility of disease, given our national cognitive dissonance about the dangers of smoking. And now we're in the thick of it.

 

[Mehm]

I said that life spans are EXPECTED to decrease. Lo and behold, life spans are EXPECTED to decrease. How exactly do I not understand this word?

 

[aanallein]

This is my last post on this subject as we're simply beating a dead bush but you said:

BTW, my generation (I'm 24) will be the first American generation expected to live less years than the last.

the expected in that statement obviously refers to life expectancy. you tried to pass off the claim that life expectancies are now lower than they were previously. they aren't. we'll see how diabetes, obesity, and heart disease play a role here. personally I have my doubts but w/e.