Excellent article on food

[Mekanix]

Lots of other good articles there...

http://www.westonaprice.org/abcs-of-nutrit...o-nutrient-land

I've been playing with the idea of seriously bumping up my fat intake and dropping carbs even farther. All data I can find from non-mainstream sources point to the fact that a high fat diet and seriously restricted carbs are the way to go.

The role of fats in curbing appetite was recognized as long ago as 1863, when William Banting first proposed a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet for weight loss. Today this diet is promoted by the famous (or infamous) Dr. Atkins, who looms over the card-carrying dieticians like the Cheshire cat. Atkins' guidelines of 55 percent or more of calories as fat, 25 percent as protein and less than 20 percent as carbohydrates is exactly what Alice achieves with her initial diet of brisket, broccoli and potatoes with butter. If she eliminates the potatoes and puts butter on her broccoli instead, she lowers her caloric intake by about 70 calories and raises the percentage of fat to 65 percent. To achieve a really high fat diet, one that would put her into a state of metabolic ketosis (where the body burns off stored fat), she would need to eat a rib eye steak instead of brisket. This would raise her total calories to 651 with a whopping 83 percent of calories as fat

If you are eliminating most carbohydrate foods from your diet, then it is important to consume plenty of fat. Several researchers have reported that a diet of lean meat leads to nausea in three days, symptoms of starvation and ketosis in 7-10 days, severe debilitation in 12 days and possibly death in a few weeks.21 Vilhjalmur Stefansson lived for many years among the Eskimos and thrived in a diet that was 20 percent protein and 80 percent fat.22 When he and his colleagues tried to eat lean meat, they quickly developed diarrhea and a lack of energy.

The current dietary guidelines make a mockery of Price's discoveries. We analyzed a diet of real food based on the USDA dietary guidelines (see Table 7). Levels of most nutrients met the stingy amounts called for in the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA), but these amounts are much lower than the levels of nutrients Price found in the diets of healthy primitives. If you find a politically correct diet of real food unpalatable—actually only a masochist could stay on such a diet for any length of time—then you can still stay within the USDA guidelines and get your RDA of vitamins and minerals by eating processed foods with synthetic vitamins added—which is the whole point of the exercise.

Dieticians are trained to dispense processed foods and what the focus on macronutrients does is turn us away from the real foods that nourished our ancestors. Whole milk, eggs, cheese, organ meats, sausage, bacon, hamburgers, roast chicken with crispy skin, gravy, butter and even nuts simply don't qualify under the US dietary guidelines, but dry breakfast cereals, pasta, lowfat dairy and veggieburgers certainly do. Only when we recognize the dietary guidelines and their spinoffs (Ornish, McDougall, Sears, etc.) for what they are—nothing but a pack of cards—can we wake up and enjoy real food again.

My biggest hurdle? I really like my bourbon.

[Mekanix]

I also have another thing fighting me on this whole weight loss thing. Since my crash, I developed a sleep eating disorder. First it was just weird because I would wake up and find evidence of cooking when I was clearly sure I had cleaned up before going to bed. It was just funny and a little concerning and I was putting on the pounds until I left the vacuum in the hall and tripped over it in my sleep on the way to the kitchen. Split my forehead open on the ceramic tile floor.

Apparently no treatment or cure, nothing to take for it. What I find controls the impulse in a huge way is to eat just before sleeping. I found that eating a piece of meat with some fat (chunk of boneless beef rib wrapped in a slice of cheese is my favorite) was enough to pretty much put that behavior to a stop. Mostly now I am just finding a way to slowly make changes without triggering the sleep eating thing again. FML, but at least I am still here as opposed to the alternative.

[TuffguyF4i]

The best diets are ones you can sustain.

Eat a limited amount of non processed carbs with lean meats. Think chicken/steak and brown rice.

That is sustainable, keep your energy up, and shed fat.

Anything else is just a fad and you run a very high risk of turning back into a big fatass with a bad hankering for grease.

[DaveK]

I eat a shit load of fruit...a few times per day. I probably eat 5 to 7 pieces of fruit a day. Apple, Orange, Banana, Pear, Frozen Grapes, Mango, Palmelo, Grepefruit, Pinapple....lots of fruit.

I also drink 2 gallons of water a day.

I have a trick....that has really worked for me.

Before going to a party or out to dinner that I really don't want to eat a lot at is...

...2 hard boiled eggs, 2 apples, and a large glass of water with metamucil in it and I am not only full...I am not tempted to eat.

Probably not the best way to go at it...but it works for me. I need things that work.

I have also found out that if I drink alcohol...I'm fucked. I eat like a slob. Can't help it.

[TuffguyF4i]

There is no wrong way... Just do what works for ya Dave.