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Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

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Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#51

Post by russdill »

knaik94 wrote: post #21
ericmcer wrote: post #19

I feel like you almost need some kind of eating disorder these days. Our Bread, milk, meat is all unnatural and mass produced, there is a massive amount of sugar in everything. If you aren’t actively monitoring your food intake and making deliberate decisions to not eat your gonna be unhealthy. I like the quote: “keep whatever addictions kill you the slowest”. I think a minor eating disorder is preferable to eating 1…

Moderation in eating isn't equivalent to a minor eating disorder. I agree though that some behavior you need to do today might have been seen as symptoms of a type of disordered eating in the past. But by definition, if it's keeping you healthy, it mostly shouldn't be considered disordered. I know in the past cutting up food into very small pieces was seen as a symptom of disordered eating because the thought was tha…

Really wish there was a polite and socially acceptable way to ask for a reasonable portion.

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#52

Post by bluecalm »

Spivak wrote: post #24
armchairhacker wrote: post #15

This may be a hot take, but I think the obesity crisis and that most people are overweight actually increases the prevalence of eating disorders. People don't know what a genuinely healthy body and diet/fitness regimen look like, and thinness (even extreme, unhealthy thinness) is popularized and praised as a sign of beauty and willpower because so many people are trying to lose weight and so few are trying to gain.

Anorexic here. I think this misses it a bit. People with ED’s know what a healthy body looks like. You’re talking about a population that is unhealthily obsessed with food and their body in one way or another. Like I can name the calories and macros for basically any food off the top of my head. I know the calories burnt by most common exercises and what muscles they work. I don’t even need MFP to count anymore. It’s…

Thank you for your post. I've often wondered how it is to deal with a mental problem that makes you perceive yourself one way (too fat) even though your conscious mind knows you're not that. Do you feel some kind of internal struggle when for example looking at your photos or in the mirror? It looks like you know the objective assessment (you're not only not too fat but even thinner than others) but somehow other part of your brain can't accept it. Do you experience this kind of struggle between conscious and unconscious thoughts? Do you feel the unconscious ones are winning or maybe switching off the conscious ones sometimes? Does conscious part win sometimes?

It's fine if you don't feel like elaborating. I am just very curious as I've read about anorexia and "you perceive your body as overweight even though you know it isn't" phenomena sounded like something I can relate to in a way although in way less serious areas (for example I know some social behavior are desirable and seen as friendly even though my mind tells me they aren't).

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#53

Post by djtango »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #26
acchow wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sugar only comes from eating packaged products. Buy groceries to make your own food and there's no sugar problem. Snack on vegetables and tree nuts.

Fair warning everybody: nuts are incredibly calorie dense.

Calories are not just calories. They're a useful rule of thumb but they're not a metric to live and die by.

Always remember that calorimetry is basically burning mass(nut) and measuring energy(nut) by how much it increased the temperature of some water.

Combustion is an extremely primitive hand wave over the VERY COMPLEX digestive system not to mention how we then go on to store that energy (glycogen vs fat) and then eventually burn that energy.

Drinking x ml of olive oil vs eating y g of nuts for equal calories will have different outcomes even though they're primarily both fats. Fiber is key and will affect energy absorption intake. Even chewing efficiency will affect how well you absorb that energy. Let's not forget that digestion itself takes energy.

Obviously if you eat an extra 2kcal of nuts a day you're going to see the effects of that, but calorie for calorie, I'd rather eat nuts than a big mac or ice cream (and expect to see less weight gain)

Or being healthy - I'd rather have whole almonds supplementing my meals than cottage cheese (from a pure calories perspective)

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#54

Post by MrGilbert »

adrianN wrote: post #47
smegsicle wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mass production isn't inherently bad Mass production is inherently corner-cutting, and, given that nutrition is an unsolved problem, natural is inherently wholesome in a way that artificial can, at best, only attempt to duplicate.

In Germany we mass produce bread that essentially contains exactly the same things I'd put in it if I made it myself.

This. Even if something gets „mass-produced“, it doesn't mean it has to be bad. It just won't be the cheapest product on the market any longer.

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#57

Post by ericmcer »

adrianN wrote: post #47
smegsicle wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mass production isn't inherently bad Mass production is inherently corner-cutting, and, given that nutrition is an unsolved problem, natural is inherently wholesome in a way that artificial can, at best, only attempt to duplicate.

In Germany we mass produce bread that essentially contains exactly the same things I'd put in it if I made it myself.

The entire point of bread is turning wheat seeds into a digestible food. Part of that is milling, part is baking, and a big part is the fermenting and the long natural yeast rise.

Mass produced bread never does this long natural yeast rise. Cheap versions use all kinds of chemicals to get the texture right, even the high quality variants use rapid rising yeast because natural yeast is way too slow. Only in a local bakery or at home will you find bread that is made in the healthiest way possible. The natural yeast fermented slow rise results in a much healthier product, bread that even gluten-sensitive people have no issue eating (and it tastes better)

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#59

Post by sundvor »

throw__away7391 wrote: post #33
armchairhacker wrote: post #15

This may be a hot take, but I think the obesity crisis and that most people are overweight actually increases the prevalence of eating disorders. People don't know what a genuinely healthy body and diet/fitness regimen look like, and thinness (even extreme, unhealthy thinness) is popularized and praised as a sign of beauty and willpower because so many people are trying to lose weight and so few are trying to gain.

In my whole life I've known like two people with eating disorders (the not eating enough kind). Almost every single other person aside from those two eat too much, and I'd say mostly they eat way, way too much. Now, those two people definitely had a problem, but knowing them it was one I knew couldn't begin to understand, and I can't imagine that any of the pithy things people say all they time to express concern abo…

Every body is beach body ready etc.

Can't have anyone have their feelings hurt, lest they get the idea that getting into shape might not be a bad idea - instead of getting to live in the delusion that obesity is normal and to be embraced.

Re: Calorie Counting App Has No Effect on Mental Health or Health Behaviors

#60

Post by adrianN »

ericmcer wrote: post #57
adrianN wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany we mass produce bread that essentially contains exactly the same things I'd put in it if I made it myself.

The entire point of bread is turning wheat seeds into a digestible food. Part of that is milling, part is baking, and a big part is the fermenting and the long natural yeast rise. Mass produced bread never does this long natural yeast rise. Cheap versions use all kinds of chemicals to get the texture right, even the high quality variants use rapid rising yeast because natural yeast is way too slow. Only in a local ba…

I usually buy sourdough rye bread in the supermarket because that's the cheapest form of bread and I like it. It contains no "chemicals" that the legislator deemed necessary for inclusion in the ingredient list, save some sodium acetate as pH regulator and preservative. Sure, the artisanal bread at my local bakery is tastier, but it also costs about ten times as much.

To my knowledge yeast doesn't touch gluten at all and only breaks down the starch. I really doubt that there are measurable health benefits of artisanal bread. Do you have any studies to back up that claim?

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