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Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

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Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#141

Post by mitjak »

niels_olson wrote: post #97
mitjak wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While the whole "people did it for ages" argument never works I must admit I'm rather puzzled how one would give up potatoes, rice _and_ bread. How exactly are they evil? What is so dangerous about carbs? Aren't snacks to blame? In a typical Russian home one of which I grew up it's a loaf a day or more. Italians and French eat even more bread. And as the OO mentioned, Asian nations consume unimaginable amounts of ric…

1) glycemic index 2) the unbelievable number of calories you can get before triggering a satiety signal 3) the social norm of scientifically huge portions. My wife and I have gotten the point of ordering a single entree and splitting it, sometimes we can get away with a single appetizer. 4) Two billion people in Asia do eat a lot of rice. They also do more physical work and probably don't eat as much rice per serving…

Of all these, the universal problem is only number one, and still only due to the amounts of food. Portion sizes have nothing to do with carbs being evil on their own, and are definitely something one can restrain self on. Anything in large amounts is detrimental.

Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#142

Post by Gonsalu »

Jake541 wrote: post #117
illumin8 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best comment I've read the entire thread - people don't realize that the GI of carbs is the most important factor to weight loss. Managing blood sugar and keeping a steady, non-spiking blood sugar level will result in pretty much automatic weight loss, without even having to diet. My snacks are usually a small handful of almonds and a piece of fruit. Also, you can combine a somewhat high GI fruit like an apple with a…

Yet you contradicted him. Are apples low or high GI? Thanks for both of your comments. They were enlightening.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/glycemic-index#values

I'd say average. Bananas don't have an high GI either, it seems.

Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#143

Post by rwhitman »

I grew up in a household with unlimited junk food & dessert supply, and when I was 20, decided to rebel.

The trick is simply: don't buy junk food. Don't buy it for at least 3 months, possibly forever. Keep it out of your house. Its easier to not buy it at the store, than not eat it when its around.

Once you've lived without sugar, salt & bad fats for a while, you stop craving them and its much easier to manage. If you need to snack, eat something with no flavoring - raw almonds or carrots for instance. Drink only water.

When I first made this change I actually went totally cold turkey on a 'no flavor' diet, where I intentionally only ate rice, boiled chicken, string beans, raw nuts and dried fruit for a month and only drank tap water. No joke. It worked for sure.

(Also chewing gum works wonders as well. You may just have an oral fixation)

Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#144

Post by evo_9 »

jules wrote: post #139
evo_9 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this is a really important point for sure that I didn't really capture in my original post. Anytime you can choose healthy fresh food - fruit or otherwise - you are doing your body good. It's just important to keep in mind that even fruit can cause you to be more hungry if you aren't careful.

Are you saying that some fruits, like bananas, can make you more hungry when you eat them? I have certainly never experienced this myself. When you're cycling and you haven't eaten enough you can sometimes get incredibly hungry and tired in a short amount of time. I take a ripe and mushy banana with me for when that happens. It fixes the hunger and tiredness very quickly.

I'm certainly no expert on this matter but yes, certain foods do exactly that (like banana's).

I think the key to what you are describing is that you were exercising at the time - taking in something like a banana during that would actually do exactly as you describe - boost your sugar level when you need it the most, aka throw some fuel on the fire.

But again, I'm just a guy that has had tremendous luck with monitoring my GI and my hunger and have a few really knowledgable friends that have helped me along the way.

Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#145

Post by Benjo »

cambrianboom wrote: post #137
burke wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't quite buy this. You're still getting all the fiber in a smoothie, it's just pre-chewed. By the time I swallow a chunk of apple, it's pretty well juiced. The only difference is that actual juice has the solids removed.

It is essential to understand GI not as the contents of an ingredient, but how your blood sugar reacts to you ingesting it. If it is pre-chewed, your body will have an easier time consuming it, and your blood sugar levels will change in a different way then if it is not pre-chewed.

My non-expert undestandung is that glycemic index does refer to the total simple sugar content or food by volume. Glycemic load, aka glycemic load index, is a more recent metric that measures the rate of absorption into the blood stream. This is the largest factor causing large blod sugar shifts, which can lead to fat conversion and lack of concentration.

Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#146

Post by jules »

evo_9 wrote: post #144
jules wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that some fruits, like bananas, can make you more hungry when you eat them? I have certainly never experienced this myself. When you're cycling and you haven't eaten enough you can sometimes get incredibly hungry and tired in a short amount of time. I take a ripe and mushy banana with me for when that happens. It fixes the hunger and tiredness very quickly.

I'm certainly no expert on this matter but yes, certain foods do exactly that (like banana's). I think the key to what you are describing is that you were exercising at the time - taking in something like a banana during that would actually do exactly as you describe - boost your sugar level when you need it the most, aka throw some fuel on the fire. But again, I'm just a guy that has had tremendous luck with monitor…

I have experienced that sometimes eating something can make you more hungry. It happens when you were hungry some time ago but you didn't eat anything. After a while the hunger fades away and when you eat a little bit it comes back. But I haven't noticed this being different for different foods.

So are you saying that if you eat something with a high GI then your blood sugar rises, and this makes you hungry? This seems counterintuitive as high blood sugar usually makes you not-hungry?

Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#147

Post by nkurz »

niels_olson wrote: post #129
nkurz wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty skeptical of traditional calorie counting, but wouldn't your experiment be simply explained by the 5x difference in caloric content between the two? http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+walnuts http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+oz+white+rice Wouldn't it be more fair to compare equal calories rather than equal weights? I'd have to guess that eating 15 oz of rice might have a significant appetite s…

1 oz ~ 15 g 1 g carb ~ 3.4 kcal 1 g fat ~ 9 kcal 3 oz fat ~ 405 kcal 3 oz carb ~ 153 kcal 405 / 153 ~ 2.65 That's assuming the nuts are pure fat. They're actually about 1:1:1 fat:protein:carb => 246 kcal, or a ratio of about 1.6 Ah, wait, yes, fair enough, the cooked rice would be much less calorically dense. Do let me withhold the water. Please cook 3 oz of rice. My basic point remains: fats satisfy, calorie for cal…

  My basic point remains: fats satisfy, calorie for calorie,
  faster than carbs.
OK, I'd agree with that. I wasn't sure if that was the point you were trying to make, or whether you were saying something more subtle. And obviously there is a limit: eating 1250 kcal of cooked white rice (1 kg) would be rather a feat and would probably physically prevent you from eating any thing else for a while, whereas the same number of calories in the form of nuts (200 g) could sneak up on you!

ps. Your numbers above are quite a bit off, as 1 oz is actually closer to 28 g, but you are forgiven as I'm guessing you are European and don't use ounces that often.

Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#148

Post by Benjo »

evo_9 wrote: post #80
edw519 wrote: post #40

Your cravings are a signal from your body that something is wrong. You need to address the cause (whatever it is) and not the effect (the cravings). Unfortunately, the cause may be difficult to determine. Fortunately, there is a great hack that probably addresses the cause: fruit. Lots of fruit. Always raw. Preferably on an empty stomach. Not too much variety. Fruit is loaded with just about every nutrient your body…

The problem with this advice is it doesn't take onto count the Glycemic index of the fruit. Case in point - Watermelon and Pineapple. While it seems reasonable to say eat as much fruit as you want, both these items very high glycemic values - above 85 out of a 100 point scale. Why does this matter? High glycemic foods cause a spike in your blood sugar - this causes hunger, among other things. The best 'hack' to contr…

I you are interested in glycemic index, be sure to research glycemic load as well. It is a more relevant factor in blood sugar swings a it tracks how quickly sugar is absorbe rather than just the total amount that will be absorbed.

This link actually shows watermelon has a very low GL, suggesting that it shouldn't result in blood sugar spikes:

http://www.tshc.fsu.edu/he/nutrition/nutrition_specialneeds/...

Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#149

Post by illumin8 »

illumin8 wrote: post #96
niels_olson wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Granted, glycemic index is a useful measure. I don't recommend it, initially, only because I find most of my patients glaze over at that point. If you grok it, more power to you. > husk of the grain takes a lot longer to digest Well, most husks don't digest at all. That's "fiber", which is good for you for a whole different reason. > your rules Incompletely capture the conditions of your weight loss. How long have yo…

Sorry I meant 3.5 hours of exercise a week, not 2.5. Married, no kids, commute 1 hour each way to work every day, work about 8 hours with occasional overtime. Live in the Northeast so cold winters, warm but brief summers. I've kept it off for 1 year now and still manage to eat out once or twice a week - you don't have to follow the rules all the time. I also like to eat a lot during holidays.

Totally fail at math today - I meant 0.5 hours, every other day which is 1.5 or 2 hours a week depending on which week.

Re: Ask HN: Food hacks for eating well?

#150

Post by illumin8 »

cma wrote: post #140
illumin8 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry I meant 3.5 hours of exercise a week, not 2.5. Married, no kids, commute 1 hour each way to work every day, work about 8 hours with occasional overtime. Live in the Northeast so cold winters, warm but brief summers. I've kept it off for 1 year now and still manage to eat out once or twice a week - you don't have to follow the rules all the time. I also like to eat a lot during holidays.

That is a hellish commute; 30+ waking days a year spent in your car to or from work. Move closer.

I agree, but it's easier said than done. Living closer in a house in a non-ghetto neighborhood is going to cost me at least $600-700K or more and will probably lose value in the next few years due to deflation. Renting the same would cost me $3-4k/month. I'd rather live farther away and save the money.
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