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Why is the American diet so deadly?

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Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#191

Post by KPGv2 »

moojacob wrote: post #98
KPGv2 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really don’t understand this “I don’t have a choice all fast food is bad” some are pretty healthy I agree with you, but when you factor in cost, availability, familiarity, and other psychological factors, you end up with people instinctively choosing really unhealthy options. There's an acculturation issue IMO. I grew up white trash, while my wife grew up wealthy in an Asian household. I cook lots of healthy food…

So you’re saying eating low quality food is a deeply ingrained habit because you grew up with a family that ate those foods. They are comfort foods. That’s a really good point.

Thank you. That is what I was saying. It's a habit that all the knowledge in the world I've amassed still doesn't help me completely overcome. It's something I have to be conscious of my entire life.

You should see the meals I cook: loads of healthy bean-based vegan dishes, salads, etc. But then it's 10pm, I'm thirsty, but my body struggles to tell the difference between thirst and hunger, and I drift over to eat some spicy chips instead of chugging water like I should be. And then I realize what I"m doing.

In grad school, it was really easy to avoid this: every meal, exactly the same thing. Nothing in the pantry except things necessary to make those meals.

Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#192

Post by KPGv2 »

hypeatei wrote: post #124
KPGv2 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really don’t understand this “I don’t have a choice all fast food is bad” some are pretty healthy I agree with you, but when you factor in cost, availability, familiarity, and other psychological factors, you end up with people instinctively choosing really unhealthy options. There's an acculturation issue IMO. I grew up white trash, while my wife grew up wealthy in an Asian household. I cook lots of healthy food…

This comment resonates a lot with me, so thanks for writing it. In order for me to lose weight, I had to completely upend my view of food instilled during childhood which meant no longer eating three meals a day "because that's how it is" and focusing on a few areas like drinks since those are easy to go overboard with.

Constant vigilance. IN grad school it was easy bc I only kept things in the pantry necessary to make the same meals every day: oatmeal with fruits, chicken breast and various vegetables, a variable bean and rice dish like Cuban black beans or rajma masala.

But now I'm married and have kids and it's a ridiculous way to expect to have a family, eat the same meals every day for years.

Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#193

Post by aziaziazi »

nradov wrote: post #165
deeviant wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Brown rice isn't that good for you Based on what, exactly? Japan has one of the highest average lifespans, and the healthiest demographic in this already top-of-the-lifespan-pack nation consume significant amount of white rice, let alone brown.

Brown rice tends to contain more arsenic. A little bit is fine but if you eat large amounts frequently then that can be problematic. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1209574 Many foods can become toxic in excessive quantities. That's why it's best to eat a wide variety of different foods and not get too many calories from any one food. Everything in moderation.

For my friends reading this from Europe, you probably can keep on eating brown rice. In American it’s from pesticide and in Asia from mines erosion to water to rice. Americans might be good with organic one. IMHO the price difference worth the nutritious benefit.

You also can wash your rice to remove 90% of arsenic, basically putting it to wheat and other grains levels.

Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#194

Post by n4r9 »

antisthenes wrote: post #177
n4r9 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing. Diet soft drinks get a bad rap but are imo an incredibly useful tool for health. I can probably count on my fingers how many standard soda drinks I had in 2024, compared to 1 or 2 diet soda drinks per day on average. I get the enjoyment of something sweet, fizzy and with a kick, but without the calories. And they're often just as tasty; in fact, I'm not sure I can even taste the difference today b…

> Diet soft drinks get a bad rap but are imo an incredibly useful tool for health. If you have diet sodas on one hand and obesity on the other, they're definitely the lesser evil. But that's also a pretty low bar, since obesity is THE co-morbidity factor for just about everything.

As far as I can tell, they're by far a lesser evil. There seems to be two health arguments against diet soda: that they can erode teeth and that they can degrade insulin function. The first of these is just as true for - say - eating an orange, and can be combatted by drinking or rinsing with water afterwards. The second is still a subject of research.

Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#195

Post by jaybrendansmith »

MrSkelter wrote: post #190
jaybrendansmith wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your build. I'm 6'5" but my 'normal' weight when I was 19 with zero fat was 225 lbs. 30 years later at 250lbs, I'm continually annoyed that my BMI shows me as obese.

As a guy your height 225lbs is not “zero fat” unless you are absolutely stacked with muscle. Likely on steroids unless you are a bodybuilder and eat and train like one. Though he was shorter, natural bodybuilder Sean Connery was 6’3” and 190lbs at the start of his bond run. That’s a useful data point. Not only is he close to an ideal male physique for non bodybuilders, he was also very fit. Ad an inch and a half to h…

I definitely had some muscle for sure, on a fairly large frame. But I could see my ribs and had no belly (then). My point is BMI does not seem valid for tall people, unless perhaps there's something I'm missing.

Re: Why is the American diet so deadly?

#196

Post by verteu »

verteu wrote: post #188
bumby wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cut out the part that said the diets improved people’s health at 6 mo. But they were hard to maintain for 12 months. I think a lack of consistency is the issue. From your link: > What if they'd lasted 12 months, or two years, or a lifetime? The benefit would likely have been greater and more long-lasting. The trick is to pick a diet with foods you actually like so that it's not so hard to stick with it. Meaningfu…

I think metabolic adaptation plays a larger role. In this Biggest Loser followup study, even after six years (!), participants' resting metabolism burned 20% fewer calories than a "typical person of their current weight": https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4989512/#:~:text=co... > In contrast, a matched group of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery patients who experienced significant metabolic adaptation 6 months…

Update: I also found a dissenting letter, with some references: https://www.ejinme.com/article/S0953-6205(21)00241-7/pdf

"Metabolic adaptation is not a major barrier to weight-loss maintenance" (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000291652...)

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