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Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

nytimes.com

81–90 of 322 posts

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#81

I dropped all forms of sugar and corn syrup a few months ago. I was never a health nut. Quite the opposite. It's incredible how much your physiology alters just from that. Water tastes good now. I used to drink water with crystal light, because it was so bland. Shed 20lbs without even exercising. I eat bananas, apples, peanut butter and chicken. Learned to cook a few things. You sort of have to, if you want to avoid…

I don't get why you would exclude potatoes and eat bananas. They are very very similar foods.

Everything that is flour based is refined, lacks fiber etc so I get the pasta and bread exclusion, but the potatoes one makes no sense imo.

Overall in this thread, once again americans discover that they eat shit and simply cooking meals yourself from scratch (with limited fat of course) with no treats between meals makes you lose weight. For Europeans, the whole USA deal with food is really laughable. An american friend (largely overweight of course) was taking a starbucks with cream extrasugar and what not everyday. He was astonished when we said that it was really high on calories (and has stopped since). What is wrong that most americans (even educated ones) seem to have no idea of what an healthy diet is ?

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#82

I dropped all forms of sugar and corn syrup a few months ago. I was never a health nut. Quite the opposite. It's incredible how much your physiology alters just from that. Water tastes good now. I used to drink water with crystal light, because it was so bland. Shed 20lbs without even exercising. I eat bananas, apples, peanut butter and chicken. Learned to cook a few things. You sort of have to, if you want to avoid…

Dropping sugar from your diet definitely is beneficial, however it's easier said than done. There's sugar in almost any food. After all, the fructose in apples and bananas is sugar as well, just not processed sugar. What else do you eat besides bananas, apples, peanut butter, hotdogs and chicken? Doesn't exactly sound like the most varied diet. Also, peanut butter and hotdogs aren't exactly among the healthiest food…

> Dropping sugar from your diet definitely is beneficial, however it's easier said than done. There's sugar in almost any food. After all, the fructose in apples and bananas is sugar as well, just not processed sugar.

People are generally referring to dropping _added_ sugar when they talk about dropping sugar. Pretty much every model of nutrition thinks that whole fruit is good for you (in general, and of course excluding most juice).

> Also, peanut butter and hotdogs aren't exactly among the most healthy food options. Quite the opposite in fact.

Is peanut butter unhealthy? Obviously excluding the crappy ones that have added sugar.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#83
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I applaud your efforts to eat well, I'd posit that with some attention, you could measurably decrease the expense if you factor in certain foods and factor out others. For example, I enjoy tacos as lunch a few times a week. I make them from scratch, and while this doesn't adhere to your recommendation of no starches, I doubt they cost me $1.00 per taco, and that's with avocado, beans, onions, and peppers (plus…

I am quite surprised to see a recommendation to shop at Walmart on HN. I thought it was common knowledge that Walmart is a pretty terrible company and that people shouldn't support that? Sure, you save money, but at what cost?

That's presumably because most people who frequent this forum don't fall into the same tax bracket as I do.

Ever read Les Miserables?

When it's the difference between making the car insurance payment and shopping at Wal-Mart, or not making it, and shopping at, say, Publix, the choice is less about ethics and more about practicality.

For what it's worth I do grow a garden, albeit a limited one due to the law restricting my garden to my backyard. I hope to plant fruit trees this Spring to offset more of my food costs and enjoy fresher, healthier fare.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#84

I dropped all forms of sugar and corn syrup a few months ago. I was never a health nut. Quite the opposite. It's incredible how much your physiology alters just from that. Water tastes good now. I used to drink water with crystal light, because it was so bland. Shed 20lbs without even exercising. I eat bananas, apples, peanut butter and chicken. Learned to cook a few things. You sort of have to, if you want to avoid…

Dropping sugar from your diet definitely is beneficial, however it's easier said than done. There's sugar in almost any food. After all, the fructose in apples and bananas is sugar as well, just not processed sugar. What else do you eat besides bananas, apples, peanut butter, hotdogs and chicken? Doesn't exactly sound like the most varied diet. Also, peanut butter and hotdogs aren't exactly among the healthiest food…

Insulin is a fat-storing hormone so keeping the insulin response low is key--that's Endocrinology 101. Fructose is a sugar but is co-mingled with fiber and dose not raise the insulin response as much as unadulterated sugar.

Maybe the hot dogs we're used to eating at the ballpark are terrible for you but better-sourced variants do exist. It's just ground meat within a casing.

As for peanut butter, the jury is still out. Unfortunately it's a legume and not a nut which doesn't have that going for it.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#85
post #81

I dropped all forms of sugar and corn syrup a few months ago. I was never a health nut. Quite the opposite. It's incredible how much your physiology alters just from that. Water tastes good now. I used to drink water with crystal light, because it was so bland. Shed 20lbs without even exercising. I eat bananas, apples, peanut butter and chicken. Learned to cook a few things. You sort of have to, if you want to avoid…

I don't get why you would exclude potatoes and eat bananas. They are very very similar foods. Everything that is flour based is refined, lacks fiber etc so I get the pasta and bread exclusion, but the potatoes one makes no sense imo. Overall in this thread, once again americans discover that they eat shit and simply cooking meals yourself from scratch (with limited fat of course) with no treats between meals makes yo…

Well, it's because our government published official diet recommendations (look up the Food Pyramid) and told us we should be eating more grains than absolutely anything else. Science on sugar has been repressed in our country, and the corn industry has exerted pressure in various ways to put corn syrup into absolutely everything. When I grew up, everything I had ever learned told me it was normal and healthy. I have more recently learned to avoid it.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#86

I dropped all forms of sugar and corn syrup a few months ago. I was never a health nut. Quite the opposite. It's incredible how much your physiology alters just from that. Water tastes good now. I used to drink water with crystal light, because it was so bland. Shed 20lbs without even exercising. I eat bananas, apples, peanut butter and chicken. Learned to cook a few things. You sort of have to, if you want to avoid…

Dropping sugar from your diet definitely is beneficial, however it's easier said than done. There's sugar in almost any food. After all, the fructose in apples and bananas is sugar as well, just not processed sugar. What else do you eat besides bananas, apples, peanut butter, hotdogs and chicken? Doesn't exactly sound like the most varied diet. Also, peanut butter and hotdogs aren't exactly among the healthiest food…

Mm, all I can say is that it works for me. Kind of weird, yeah, but I suspect we know very little about health. There are too many variables to control for. It's not too surprising that simply dropping the manufactured stuff is beneficial.

I guess I meant added sugar. It's nuts that the food we eat won't clearly advertise how much added sugar is in it. They love conflating the two.

Nathan's hotdogs are nice because it's meat with nothing else, and it's quick to make. Bananas go bad quickly. My main diet is just apples, really, and chicken. I can't think of much else.

Kanzi apples are way better than Fuji apples, but they seem pretty rare. The peanut butter I get complements the apples wonderfully, and there's no added sugar. It says 1g with 12 servings in the jar, and it takes a couple days to go through a jar. So that's like 12 grams of sugar from the peanut butter. The apples and bananas have way more.

I don't know why it's working so well. Maybe it won't continue.

I probably gave the impression that "These are the only things you're allowed to eat," but really you can eat whatever you want as long as it fits the criteria laid out in the original comment. (No corn syrup or any of the other things I listed.) Apples and bananas just happened to taste great. Tomatoes, onions, squash, zucchini, pretty much whatever veggies you want are fine. Mushrooms too.

A ton of salt and pepper. And spice. Love me some spices.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#87
post #47
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have now been seeing from numerous sources that in order to lose weight, diet dominates exercise. One of the reasons is that exercise is associated with compensatory behaviors (such as increased hunger). So exercise for the health benefits, but alter your diet to lose weight. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-exercise-para...

The Dutch have the lowest obesity rates in the developed world, at 8%, and 35% of their trips are taken by bicycle. Is that just a coincidence? I mean,technically, sure, you got to eat less than you burn to lose weight, but observably, people who regularly get moderate exercise as an ongoing practice tend to have their weight under control. I had one winter where I didn't cycle and I gained 15 pounds before I even no…

> The Dutch have the lowest obesity rates in the developed world, at 8%

Source? According to [1], obesity rate in NL is 19.8%, with some other European countries being lower.

[1] https://renewbariatrics.com/obesity-rank-by-countries/

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#88
post #4

This is only tangentially related, but I've been practicing intermittent fasting for the past year, and I cannot recommend it enough -- it honestly changed my life. I feel better, I sleep more regularly, I have more energy, and my mind is more alert. I only eat from 12PM to 8PM. IF is also supposed to have an impact on your microbiome, reduce inflammation, and encourage autophagy (especially in the brain). PS: Please…

Can recommend. Not sure about physiological benefits (although by common sense it should at least help with dental health), but it feels great to be able to control food intake like that. And first meal of the day tastes much better.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#89
post #47
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have now been seeing from numerous sources that in order to lose weight, diet dominates exercise. One of the reasons is that exercise is associated with compensatory behaviors (such as increased hunger). So exercise for the health benefits, but alter your diet to lose weight. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-exercise-para...

The Dutch have the lowest obesity rates in the developed world, at 8%, and 35% of their trips are taken by bicycle. Is that just a coincidence? I mean,technically, sure, you got to eat less than you burn to lose weight, but observably, people who regularly get moderate exercise as an ongoing practice tend to have their weight under control. I had one winter where I didn't cycle and I gained 15 pounds before I even no…

This is another case of correlation != causation. The lifestyles that people choose to lead can heavily affect their dietary choices. A sedentary couch lord is more likely to binge on pizza than a daily bike commuter, perhaps.

This is why nutritional studies in the past need to be taken with a grain of salt. We all know from studies that too much red meat can have deleterious consequences on your health. But what we don't know is what type of lifestyles these participants led. Did they also eat junk food while rapaciously devouring heaps of sugar and soda on the side?

We're not working in a strict lab environment here so there are lots of variables that we can't possibly account for.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#90
post #15

I dropped all forms of sugar and corn syrup a few months ago. I was never a health nut. Quite the opposite. It's incredible how much your physiology alters just from that. Water tastes good now. I used to drink water with crystal light, because it was so bland. Shed 20lbs without even exercising. I eat bananas, apples, peanut butter and chicken. Learned to cook a few things. You sort of have to, if you want to avoid…

I highly suspect any highly restrictive diet will have the same effect no matter the restriction. Especially if "junk food" is one of the restrictions. You hear plenty of stuff like "I went vegan, food tastes so much better now, I've lost weight, I have so much energy, my mood is better, blah blah blah." Same with "alkaline diet," "cabbage soup diet," "low inflammation diet," "bacon diet," "salad diet," "gluten free…

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