Godd calories, bad calories, or just calories?

Aarrghh.. must not bite… argh…

Eh? Why not?

Ahhh… It’s not on the plan?

the basic problem is that we consume too much (and probably do too little although that is yet another argument

The basic problem is that we consume too much yup, but why? For many people it has a lot to do with the type of food we eat in the first place (and the massive marketing/availability/cheapness of unhealthy food). I’m guessing it’s not a problem for you.

I’m guessing it’s not a problem for you.

Er… Yes, it can be a problem for me, but I deal with it by not eating as much and trying to do lots of exercise. I appreciate that there is research that shows that this is not a workable solution for everyone, but it’s a straightforward way of me dealing with my ‘problems’.

I’m shutting up in a minute, honest.

I do think that a large percentage of the over weight issues we see are people simply consuming too much. I see evidence of this daily at work; people who work with me regularly, predictably, sadly, put on 1-2-3 stones in their first 2-3-4 years of work. It’s because we have 3 meal breaks a day, and people eat 3 full meals a day. They’re not ‘hungry’ in any physiological sense because they don’t do that much physical work, but they all feel obliged/pressured or just plain ‘it’s eating time, I must eat’ so they do.

The role of food in our society has long since stopped being about fuelling, it’s now social, bonding, comforting, and so on. The pressure to eat biscuits with coffee, sweets at Christmas, cake on someones birthday and so on all adds to the underlying misery.

iDave, and curse me for mentioning it again, is one way of addressing this, but it’s not getting to the root of the problem, which in my opinion is too much food, not the type of food we eat.

or maybe we’re sold too much of the wrong type of food

i mean who in god’s name thinks it’s a great idea to feed cereal coated in chocolate to kids in the morning?

The world’s largest diet study disagrees with you crikey. And anecdotally, I find I get much less hungry when I don’t eat much bread, pasta, sugary food etc in the first place. I agree it’s partly cultural (and marketing driven) as well.

the world’s largest diet study:

” If you want to lose weight or avoid gaining weight, you should cut down on finely refined starch calories such as white bread and white rice and instead eat a diet that is high in proteins with more lean meat, low-fat dairy products and beans.”

or maybe we’re sold too much of the wrong type of food

Yes, but that implies that we have no choice but to buy it. We, ( that’s a Royal we) have a messed up relationship with food, which is largely a result of it becoming so plentiful.

iDave – Member
i mean who in god’s name thinks it’s a great idea to feed cereal coated in chocolate to kids in the morning?

But if I didn’t do that there would be none in the house for me!

Yes, but that implies that we have no choice but to buy it.

But, but, but, the marketing man told me to…. 😥

I’m not disagreeing with you crikey. people don’t give a shit about their own health. then want bailing out when it goes wonky. unfortunately when people do want to do something about it, they are faced with a huge amount of mis-information, snake oil and faddy foods like grains that we’ve only been eating for around 10,000 years 😉

It’s interesting research grum, but it ignores the last few hundred years of history; the only reason we are here now in the Western world is because of a surfeit of high carb foods that could be cheaply and easily produced.

Obesity is a disease of excess; given enough time, one could become obese on the iDave diet; I suspect it works in part because of the effort required to produce as a meal.

My point is that we need to consume less as individuals, and that’s the tough part.

people don’t give a shit about their own health. then want bailing out when it goes wonky. unfortunately when people do want to do something about it, they are faced with a huge amount of mis-information, snake oil and faddy foods like grains that we’ve only been eating for around 10,000 years …and people like me saying ‘For Gods sake shut up!’ 😀

It’s a social problem, and is deep seated and bound up with marketing, with production, with the economy and with politics.

It’s also like smoking; the real issues associated with diet take years to become apparent and require years of what appears to be self denial to overcome.

Dunno…

Maybe I’m not quite getting across what I mean, and perhaps I can’t

Thanks for continuing to try though (genuine, not sarcastic!). I think I might know what you are getting at sort of.

What’s distasteful is that so much of the world has so much that they can afford to piss about with it and make it into silly things, and the rest of the world is starving.

However, most societies would do the same. We all want plenty – it’s what we crave, for obvious survival reasons. We also all want starches and fats, this is hard-wired into our brains and bodies, again for survival reasons.

The role of food in our society has long since stopped being about fuelling, it’s now social, bonding, comforting, and so on

It’s the same the world over. Societies that have enough food as most do, to be honest, have the same rituals. It’s because food is core to our social system, as it is with most higher mammals even. The way that pack carnivores handle kills is integral to their structure.

Most animals don’t intrinsically know what to eat – they just go by taste. Dogs will scoff chocolate, ducks fight over bread, cows will eat the wrong stuff and make themselves ill. We’re not that different 🙂

Aarrghh.. must not bite… argh…

Don’t resist, just be sure to get those legs spinning afterwards. Oh and don’t go blaming anyone else for the crap you throw down your throat, either eat well or play hard, do both and win.

So the general conclusion is basically eat in moderation, balance with exercise and defer to the “caveman” diet (it has a name but I can’t remember it) by not eating all the processed rubbish that shops offfer you, and eating au natural / berries / grains / meat. / fish.

FWIW as Mrs Kryton is west indian I tend to eat a lot of chicken, rice and fish and by choice I defer to protien based offers – for example always choosing Tuna on a baked potato type of thing.

My original post was inspired by putting on 1/4 stone after not riding for two weeks becuse of the rain / work. Friday is usually “treat day” for me, hence the bacon roll. But it had become a daily occurance.

Now, I’m (due to the content herein) torn between eaten only when hungry today, or piling it in as I intend to ride a 100k tomorrow morning……..

i mean who in god’s name thinks it’s a great idea to feed cereal coated in chocolate to kids in the morning?

I do. How can anything coated in chocolate be bad? It tells you everything you need to know that Mexicans make really great hats, climb very well on the road and have chocolate on their chicken. What could possibly be wrong with that?

snake oil and faddy foods like grains that we’ve only been eating for around 10,000 years

It could be that ancient people didn’t get fat because they didn’t eat lots and sit around on the sofa, not just because of what they eat.

Now, I’m (due to the content herein) torn between eaten only when hungry today, or piling it in as I intend to ride a 100k tomorrow morning……..

Your body can only store enough carbs for 90 minutes or so of hard exercise, so eating more carbs today won’t help you tomorrow.

(You can cram a few more carbs in by carbo loading, but carbo loading is more complex than just eating a load of pasta and if you’re at work you won’t have time anyway.)

Your body already has hundreds of thousands of calories of fat stored in it, so eating more fat today won’t help you tomorrow.

100k is only 63 miles. You don’t need a special diet to do that. Big breakfast 3 hours before, nothing in the first hour then snack on carbs while you ride.

If find all this stuff very interesting, having become a recent convert to iDave. Although I think I understand what Crikey is getting at, I’ve found the process of thinking a bit more about what I eat to be quite revealing, mainly because I’ve realised how much my own diet has changed since I was a kid. When I grew up in the 60s and 70s, my mum made most of the food we ate from scratch, often with veg that my dad grew out in the garden. We bought meat from the local butcher, and ate plenty of fresh fish. With the exception of a regular intake of homegrown potatoes, most of the rest of our meals could probably have been close to the recommended guidelines from the diet study quoted earlier.

Since then, companies that sold processed food have spent a fortune convincing us that eating that way was “old fashioned”, and that the modern way of life involved packet food and reconstituted potato. Side by side with that process has come a growing obesity epidemic that appears to be spreading with the adoption of a western diet in other parts of the world. I think we’re long overdue a wake up call on the subject of diet and convenience food, much the same way we’ve taken too long to get serious about tobacco and alcohol.

That’s what I do anyway idave, but I’ve always worked under the (now disputed) theory that eating a lot the day before will give me extra energy in the day.

There’s a calorie calc system – I forget the name but it’s available on the internet, which works out your approximate daily intake based on bmi / sport in order to have the correct fuel stores. Mine came in at 2770 calls per day fwiw.

Ok then, my resistance is broken – what’s this idave diet?

i am beginning to believe that the problem is related to the fact that nobody cooks for themselves enough.

There is sugar in everything you buy ready made and all sorts of other sh1t. I think this is what is going to get us all in the end

idave are you ever going to get back to me?

Poncey Guardian Interviewer: ‘So Joss, you’re an extraordinary athlete with a long list of impressive mountain running achievements. Any special diet tips?
Joss Naylor, all-round legend, pope of Lakeland running: ‘I eat out, really’
PGI: ‘Really? I’m surprised you can fit that into your schedule, living in the remote Wasdale valley and everything.’
JNARLPLR: ‘No. I eat ‘owt really.’

2 rules

1. Eat good quality food, i.e. not processed crap.
2. Only eat when you are hungry.

Would solve most of the problems we have with food.

It could be that ancient people didn’t get fat because they didn’t eat lots and sit around on the sofa, not just because of what they eat.

Or because they were dead before the long term effects of their diet had an effect. It’s very difficult to look back and say the most ancient diets would suit us today when for a long period of human existence 40 was extreme old age*.

* based on very scant evidence I know as very very few truly ancient human remains have ever been found to estimate average life expectancy. But that works both ways and there is just as little evidence to suggest such diets were the ideal for a long and healthy life.

Whatever way you get your calories remember:

Calories in should equal calories out…
Have different colours on your plate…

works for me, ain’t dead yet.

Matt

I’m having a tin or Sardines and a Fruit Medley for lunch.

I hate you all.

I’m having a tin or Sardines and a Fruit Medley for lunch.

Fruit! Are you insane?

Lunch today:

A chopped green pepper, two grated carrots, some chopped cucumber and chorizo. Plus a couple of pickled chilli peppers and some chargrilled aubergine. With added black pepper, balsamic and olive oil. Bought a tub of Mexican bean salad and some beetroot and onion to chuck in with it at work.

seadog101 – Member
Whatever way you get your calories remember:

Calories in should equal calories out…

Its such a silly meaningless expression. Yet loads of people spout it out like a mantra.