Healthy Eating and Living

[Cotter]

Hi Folks!

Thought I'd start a thread for people to share thoughts, suggestions, and discussion about healthy eating and living.

Now, you probably are thinking this type of thread has NO place on a rock n roll forum that quite often talks about slamming the booze, chasing women, and melting faces, but hey, think of it like carbon credits. If you live healthy some of the time, you can whoop it up the others and it cancels out.

Here's one that touches upon the good and the bad - anyone here cook with quinoa regularly?

"Bolivian indigenous farmer Carmelo Flores, who could be the oldest person to have ever lived, attributes his longevity to quinoa grains, riverside mushrooms and around-the-clock chewing of coca leaves"

http://disinfo.com/2013/08/123-year-old ... uAKfB.dpuf

[beantownbubba]

discussion about healthy eating and living

I'm against it.

[John A Arkansawyer]

discussion about healthy eating and living

I'm against it.

Whatever it is...

[beantownbubba]

I thought for sure you were gonna go w/ a Ramones clip, JohnA.

[Clams]

Hi Folks!

Thought I'd start a thread for people to share thoughts, suggestions, and discussion about healthy eating and living.

Now, you probably are thinking this type of thread has NO place on a rock n roll forum that quite often talks about slamming the booze, chasing women, and melting faces, but hey, think of it like carbon credits. If you live healthy some of the time, you can whoop it up the others and it cancels out.

Here's one that touches upon the good and the bad - anyone here cook with quinoa regularly?

"Bolivian indigenous farmer Carmelo Flores, who could be the oldest person to have ever lived, attributes his longevity to quinoa grains, riverside mushrooms and around-the-clock chewing of coca leaves"

http://disinfo.com/2013/08/123-year-old ... uAKfB.dpuf

I'm all in favor of healthy living and eating, and I try, but I'm just not that good at it. The problem is that unhealthy living and eating is a lot easier and more fun. Being healthy is an uphill fuckin' battle, every day.

As for quinoa, I fucking love it. I like to cook up a cup or two of quinoa, throw in a cut-up chicken or turkey patty, then add a bunch of random spices and keep it in the fridge for a week's worth of meals and snacks. Also Trader Joe's carries these frozen black bean and quinoa patties that are really good. Love me some quinoa (though the rest of my family despises it).

[Tequila Cowboy]

Hi Folks!

Thought I'd start a thread for people to share thoughts, suggestions, and discussion about healthy eating and living.

Now, you probably are thinking this type of thread has NO place on a rock n roll forum that quite often talks about slamming the booze, chasing women, and melting faces, but hey, think of it like carbon credits. If you live healthy some of the time, you can whoop it up the others and it cancels out.

Here's one that touches upon the good and the bad - anyone here cook with quinoa regularly?

"Bolivian indigenous farmer Carmelo Flores, who could be the oldest person to have ever lived, attributes his longevity to quinoa grains, riverside mushrooms and around-the-clock chewing of coca leaves"

http://disinfo.com/2013/08/123-year-old ... uAKfB.dpuf

We love quinoa. Especially the red.

[Iowan]

If I was single, I would eat so much better. Left to my own devices, alcohol and the occasional weekend breakfast potatoes would be to sole sources of high carb food. My wife sometimes makes large pasta dishes for multi-day consumption and often orders pizza (and brings half of it home) when she bartends.

Basically, I try to eat uncooked vegetables, fruit, non-battered meat/fish, cottage cheese, and oatmeal as the cornerstones of my diet. When we lived in a larger city, we ate out a lot and put some pounds on. Now we eat out much less, eat better when we do, and I'm back to a size 34 after about 4 years in a 36. By basically quitting eating bread and junk food, I can still drink good craft beer most nights and stay ahead on my weight. If the pizza just wouldn't come home every damn weekend lingering into Monday, I'd be even further ahead. I find I'm happy eating those feeds, and rarely crave fried foods, sugary foods, or processed junk. If I could get over beer, I'd be even better off, but if I can slowly get ahead without giving up my all-time favorite consumable product, I'm going to do it.

I also exercise a lot. More than it looks like I do (again, pizza). On average, I workout (run, bike, or hike) 6 days a week.

[bovine knievel]

Pussies

[Tequila Cowboy]

Pussies

Cotter brought us some of the most kick ass bacon we've had in awhile. Just sayin'. One needs one's enthusiasms

[beantownbubba]

If I was single, I would eat so much better.

This may be the first time this has ever been said. Not just here. I mean in the entire history of the world.

[John A Arkansawyer]

Pussies

That's what bacon is made of? It puts a whole new light on things.

[Tequila Cowboy]

If I was single, I would eat so much better.

This may be the first time this has ever been said. Not just here. I mean in the entire history of the world.

Yes, I kind of wondered about that but just moved along.

[Iowan]

If I was single, I would eat so much better.

This may be the first time this has ever been said. Not just here. I mean in the entire history of the world.

By "better" I only mean "healthier".

Like I said, I can subsist pretty simply and be happy with it. Maybe this is a better way to put it: I have enough discipline to avoid buying food that's bad for me. I don't have enough discipline to ignore it when it's brought into my home.

[schlanky]

If you live healthy some of the time, you can whoop it up the others and it cancels out.

That's pretty much my life right there. Most of my grocery money goes to the farmer's market instead of the grocery store during summer. I cook up enough stuff to have vegetable plates for dinner for a week. I love quinoa and often cook that for protein (I'm vegetarian, so always looking for ways to add protein). I'm pretty active around the house. I often tell my wife I'm off to the gym when I'm headed out to work in the yard for a couple of hours. I do a lot of hiking.

And on the flip side of that, I have a huge sweet tooth, love french fries and pasta, generally overeat and drink a lot of beer. While I like cooking healthy, it's a lot easier to just order a pizza when I'm busy.

I burn a lot of calories, but have a lot of bad habits.
---

Wow--I made TC's sig line. Also made beergut's a couple of weeks ago. I feel like I've finally arrived!

[Penny Lane]

I try but it's hard. Here are the things I stick to or try harder at sticking to:

apple every day (for years), sometimes 2 a day
avocados whenever possible
add kale to every salad
quinoa instead of pasta or rice
use almond oil instead of olive oil (would like to incorporate more coconut oil)
can't get enough greek yogurt (watch what sugary stuff you're adding to it)
switch from regular potatoes to sweet potatoes (master a sweet potato fries recipe)
always choose fat above sugar- so avoid potatoes and pasta not the steak
skipping breakfast is better for you than eating breakfast because most breakfast food is sugar
put lemon over all foods and in your water
drink lots of milk!

*my weakness is diet coke

[Flea]

Secret to a healthy diet:

1. Don't eat highly processed food
2. Eat more vegetables than meat. A lot more.
3. Seafood is your friend. Beef is not. And chicken sucks, because it's boring; eat pig instead (always following Rule #2).
4. Hard liquors, particularly clear ones, are better than beer. It's a complex carbohydrate thing.
5. If you smoke enough weed, it actually curbs your appetite.

[Cotter]

Pussies

Cotter brought us some of the most kick ass bacon we've had in awhile. Just sayin'. One needs one's enthusiasms

Glad you liked it! It was natural and organic! Bacon is still a very important part of a healthy diet.

And for the record, I by no means am claiming I participate wholly in a healthy eating and living lifestyle.

Anyone here get into coconut oil?



1. Coconut Oil Contains a Unique Combination of Fatty Acids With Powerful Medicinal Properties

Coconut oil has been demonized in the past because it contains saturated fat. In fact, coconut oil is one of the richest sources of saturated fat known to man, with almost 90% of the fatty acids in it being saturated.

However, new data is showing that saturated fats are harmless. Many massive studies that include hundreds of thousands of people prove that the whole “artery-clogging” idea was a myth.

Additionally, coconut oil doesn’t contain your average run-of-the-mill saturated fats like you would find in cheese or steak. No, they contain so-called Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) – which are fatty acids of a medium length.

Most of the fatty acids in the diet are long-chain fatty acids, but the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are metabolized differently.

They go straight to the liver from the digestive tract, where they are used as a quick source energy or turned into so-called ketone bodies, which can have therapeutic effects on brain disorders like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s.

Bottom Line: Coconut oil contains a lot of medium chain triglycerides, which are metabolized differently and can have therapeutic effects on several brain disorders.

2. Populations That Eat a LOT of Coconut Are Among The Healthiest People on The Planet

Coconut is kind of an “exotic” food in the Western world, primarily consumed by health conscious people.

However, in some parts of the world, coconut is a dietary staple that people have thrived on for many generations.

The best example of such a population is the Tokelauans, which live in the South Pacific.

They eat over 60% of their calories from coconuts and are the biggest consumers of saturated fat in the world.

These people are in excellent health, with no evidence of heart disease.

Another example of a population that eats a lot of coconut and remains in excellent health is the Kitavans.

Bottom Line: Plenty of populations around the world have thrived for multiple generations eating massive amounts of coconut.

3. Coconut Oil Can Increase Your Energy Expenditure, Helping You Burn More Fat

Obesity is currently one of the biggest health problems in the world.

While some people think obesity is only a matter of calories, others (myself included) believe that the sources of those calories are critical too.

It is a fact that different foods affect our bodies and hormones in different ways. In this regard, a calorie is NOT a calorie.

The medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) in coconut oil can increase energy expenditure compared to the same amount of calories from longer chain fats (5, 6).

One study found that 15-30 grams of MCTs per day increased 24 hour energy expenditure by 5%, totalling about 120 calories per day.

Bottom Line: The medium chain triglycerides in coconut oil have been shown to increase 24 hour energy expenditure by as much as 5%, potentially leading to significant weight loss over the long term.

4. The Lauric Acid in Coconut Oil Can Kill Bacteria, Viruses and Fungi, Helping to Stave Off Infections

Almost 50% of the fatty acids in coconut oil is the 12-carbon Lauric Acid.

When coconut oil is enzymatically digested, it also forms a monoglyceride called monolaurin.

Both lauric acid and monolaurin can kill harmful pathogens like bacteria, viruses and fungi (8).

For example, these substances have been shown to kill the bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus (a very dangerous pathogen) and the yeast Candida Albicans, a common source of yeast infections in humans.

Bottom Line: The fatty acids and breakdown products in coconut oil can kill harmful pathogens, potentially helping to prevent infections.

5. Coconut Oil Can Kill Your Hunger, Making You Eat Less Without Even Trying

One interesting feature of coconut oil is that it can reduce your hunger.

This may be related to the way the fatty acids in it are metabolized, because ketone bodies can have an appetite reducing effect.

In one study, varying amounts of medium and long chain triglycerides were fed to 6 healthy men.

The men eating the most MCTs ate 256 fewer calories per day, on average.

Another study in 14 healthy men discovered that those who ate the most MCTs at breakfast ate significantly fewer calories at lunch.

These studies were small and only done for a short period of time. If this effect were to persist over the long term, it could have a dramatic influence on body weight over a period of several years.

Bottom Line: The fatty acids in coconut oil can significantly reduce appetite, which may positively affect body weight over the long term.

6. The Fatty Acids in Coconut Oil Are Turned into Ketones, Which Can Reduce Seizures

A so-called ketogenic (very low carb, very high fat) diet is currrently being studied to treat various disorders.

The best known therapeutic application of this diet is treating drug-resistant epilepsy in children (14).

This diet involves eating very little carbohydrates and large amounts of fat, leading to greatly increased concentrations of ketone bodies in the blood.

For some reason, this diet can dramatically reduce the rate of seizures in epileptic children, even those who haven’t had success with multiple different types of drugs.

Because the MCTs in coconut oil get shipped to the liver and turned into ketone bodies, they are often used in epileptic patients to induce ketosis while allowing for a bit more carbs in the diet.

Bottom Line: The MCTs in coconut oil can increase blood concentration of ketone bodies, which can help reduce seizures in epileptic children.

7. Coconut Oil Can Improve Blood Cholesterol Levels and May Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease

Coconut oil is loaded with saturated fats, which actually do not harm the blood lipid profile like previously thought.

Saturated fats raise HDL (the good) cholesterol and change the LDL cholesterol to a benign subtype (17, 18).

In one study in 40 women, coconut oil reduced Total and LDL cholesterol while increasing HDL compared to soybean oil (19).

There are also rat studies showing that coconut oil reduces triglycerides, total and LDL cholesterol, increases HDL and improves blood coagulation factors and antioxidant status.

This improvement in cardiovascular risk factors should theoretically lead to a reduced risk of heart disease over the long term.

Bottom Line: Studies in both humans and rats show that coconut oil improves important risk factors like Total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, which may translate to a reduced risk of heart disease.

8. Coconut Oil Can Protect Hair Against Damage, Moisturize Skin and Function as Sunscreen

Coconut oil can serve various purposes that have nothing to do with eating it.

Many people are using it for cosmetic purposes and to improve the health and appearance of their skin and hair.

Studies on individuals with dry skin show that coconut oil can improve the moisture and lipid content of the skin (22).

Coconut oil can also be very protective against hair damage and one study shows effectiveness as sunscreen, blocking about 20% of the sun’s ultraviolet rays

Another application is using it like mouthwash in a process called oil pulling, which can kill some of the harmful bacteria in the mouth, improve dental health and reduce bad breath.

Bottom Line: Coconut oil can be applied topically as well, studies showing it to be effective as a skin moisturizer and protecting against hair damage. It can also be used as a mild form of sunscreen and as mouthwash.

9. The Fatty Acids in Coconut Oil Can Boost Brain Function in Alzheimer’s Patients

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia worldwide and occurs primarily in elderly individuals.

In Alzheimer’s patients, there appears to be a reduced ability to use glucose for energy in certain parts of the brain.

Ketone bodies can supply energy for the brain and researchers have speculated that ketones can provide an alternative energy source for these malfunctioning cells and reduce symptoms of Alzheimer’s (28).

In one 2006 study, consumption of medium chain triglycerides led to immediate improvement in brain function in patients with milder forms of Alzheimer’s.

Other studies support these findings and medium chain triglycerides are being intensively studied as potential therapeutic agents in Alzheimer’s disease.

Bottom Line: Studies show that the fatty acids in coconut oil can increase blood levels of ketone bodies, supplying energy for the brain cells of Alzheimer’s patients and relieving symptoms.

10. Coconut Oil Can Help You Lose Fat, Especially The Dangerous Fat in Your Abdominal Cavity

Given that coconut oil can reduce appetite and increase fat burning, it makes sense that it can also help you lose weight.

Coconut oil appears to be especially effective in reducing abdominal fat, which lodges in the abdominal cavity and around organs.

This is the most dangerous fat of all and is highly associated with many Western diseases.

Waist circumference is easily measured and is a great marker for the amount of fat in the abdominal cavity.

A study in 40 women with abdominal obesity, supplementing with 30 mL (1 ounce) of coconut oil per day lead to a significant reduction in both BMI and waist circumference in a period of 12 weeks (19).

Another study in 20 obese males noted a reduction in waist circumference of 2.86 cm (1.1 inches) after 4 weeks of 30 mL (1 ounce) of coconut oil per day (32).

This number may not seem too impressive on the surface, but be aware that these people aren’t adding exercise or restricting calories. They’re losing significant amounts of abdominal fat simply by adding coconut oil to their diet.

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-ev ... conut-oil/

[bovine knievel]

Big fan of coconut oil. I infuse some with cannabis too. 1 tsp = ~50mg of THC in my recipe!

[Cotter]

Big fan of coconut oil. I infuse some with cannabis too. 1 tsp = ~50mg of THC in my recipe!

Oil or just fine ground?

[Tequila Cowboy]

Big fan of coconut oil. I infuse some with cannabis too. 1 tsp = ~50mg of THC in my recipe!

Oil or just fine ground?

I was just reading how THC dissolves much better in coconut oil than butter and is a way better choice for making pot brownies than butter. Have never tested that but regular brownies made with coconut oil are delicious.

[Cotter]

Does 3DD have a 'Recipes' Thread?

LOL!

[bovine knievel]

The 50mg/tsp is the infused coconut oil ratio. I use the oil for all kinds of things. I've made cookies with it, fried an egg in it, added it to tea, rubbed it on my sore back, and there is even this application.

[Cotter]

I'd hate to come upon a K-9 unit after using it for...umm...the 'other' application.

[rlipps]

If I was single, I would eat so much better.

This may be the first time this has ever been said. Not just here. I mean in the entire history of the world.

By "better" I only mean "healthier".

Like I said, I can subsist pretty simply and be happy with it. Maybe this is a better way to put it: I have enough discipline to avoid buying food that's bad for me. I don't have enough discipline to ignore it when it's brought into my home.

That's exactly my problem. When I single and living alone in college, I didn't bring any junk food into the apartment and I never missed it. Once I got married and had kids, now it's in my house and like Cotter, I don't have the willpower to ignore it. I've gained about 50 lbs since graduating from college in 2002 and probably gained 30 of those since being married in 2005.

[Cole Younger]

Iowan if they didn't know what you meant when you said you would eat better if you were single I did.

Man I have totally fallen off the wagon. I used to be fanatical about eating healthy and working out. I was a jock in high school, then I was a Marine, and I had never been out of shape in my life until I got married (to my second and now wife). I'm 6'1" and since I was about 17 I had always stayed somewhere between 220 and 230lbs depending on how heavy I was lifting and how much I was running. My body fat percentage was never above 10 percent. I never ate fast food except on the weekend and even then I limited it. I've always liked beer so I ate very little bread and no sweets.

Now I'm married and happy and have a kid. I weigh 255lbs. I Probably couldn't run to the stop sign. My job is pretty physical so it helps but man, my wife is an unbelievable cook. And she keeps things like cookies and Little Debbie's in the house because she lets our daughter have one a day. I've gotta get back on it. Being out of shape sucks. And I know I'm not going to stop drinking beer.

[scotto]

I've been a vegetarian for over 20 years. For me it's easy because I can't stand crappy processed food and love to cook. I'm as healthy now as I've ever been. And I can still wear that Philmont Scout Ranch belt I got when I was 14. But more important than what goes into my mouth is what goes through my mind--I'm fortunate to be able to handle stress well and not worry. To me that's one of the keys to healthy living: relax and let go.

[John A Arkansawyer]

But more important than what goes into my mouth is what goes through my mind--I'm fortunate to be able to handle stress well and not worry. To me that's one of the keys to healthy living: relax and let go.

From your mouth to god's ear.

[Clams]

If I was single, I would eat so much better. Left to my own devices, alcohol and the occasional weekend breakfast potatoes would be to sole sources of high carb food. My wife sometimes makes large pasta dishes for multi-day consumption and often orders pizza (and brings half of it home) when she bartends.

Iowan if they didn't know what you meant when you said you would eat better if you were single I did.

she keeps things like cookies and Little Debbie's in the house because she lets our daughter have one a day. I've gotta get back on it. Being out of shape sucks. And I know I'm not going to stop drinking beer.

That's exactly my problem. When I single and living alone in college, I didn't bring any junk food into the apartment and I never missed it. Once I got married and had kids, now it's in my house and like Cotter, I don't have the willpower to ignore it. I've gained about 50 lbs since graduating from college in 2002 and probably gained 30 of those since being married in 2005.

It's always the wife's fault. Love it.

At least you didn't blame me

[Beebs]

To me that's one of the keys to healthy living: relax and let go.

I fully support this as it applies to all the nonsense we can get worked up about. But there are stresses that do not allow for relaxing about or letting go of.

[Iowan]

And I know I'm not going to stop drinking beer.

Once I came to this same conclusion, it made the rest of my health goals more streamlined.