Interesting thread, and a good read. I am not personally ready for this leap yet, but I would like to 'butt in'.
Regardless of whether you choose the life-style change suggested here or not, you should do SOMETHING if while reading this you feel guilty about your diet and exercise habits.
I highly recommend a book written by Dr Walter Willett, that provides basic nutrional info and good common sense backed by 25+ years of clinical research. Dr Walter Willett is on the Faculty of Harvard's School of Public Health, and is a key researcher in one of the most comprehensive diet studies ever done, known as the Nurse's Health Study.
Anyway, using the research from this, Dr Willett published a book that is a very important read for anyone wanting to understand nutrition and health, and one that offers real research-backed advice on what to eat.
The book, and much of the approach doesn't point to any particular trick, or diet, but does show how to eat heathy, including plenty of vegetables. Dr Willett caught alot of attention a few years back suggesting the USDA Food Pyramid is upside down, and that the foundation should be vegetables and complex carbs. Of course this advice is right inline with what is being discussed here.
So, if you want to learn more so that you can take up healtier dietary habits, check out this book:
You should understand that this book is written to help regular people understand this info, and also written to help take the wind out of the sails of all the fad diets out there, especially diets such as 'Adkins' and other.
You can also read about much of this info on Harvard's Nutrition web site:
BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
edited August 12, 2007
I've come to a surprising conclusion wrt Vitamixes... What I thought I'd do is keep the kitchen stocked with produce from the various farmer's markets in our area, and with the stuff we used to get by subscribing to Farm Fresh to You.
But... I spent a lot of time shopping, washing, & chopping off stems and cores and peeling oranges and removing pits from peaches.
And what I was eating wasn't that fresh. It had to make its way to sale, then wait in my kitchen for a few days on average. Any my smoothies weren't brain-freeze cold like I like them.
When I was lazy or in a rush, I'd just throw frozen stuff in the Vitamix.
I finally decided the action was in the freezer section. I buy big bags of frozen berries, mixed chopped fruit, collard greens (can you believe it?!) and other stuff you'd think was disgusting. Zzzzt. Into the Vitamix it goes. Yum!
It's picked ripe, it keeps its nutrition, it's chopped, it's cheap, it's cold... What's not to love?
I finally decided the action was in the freezer section. I buy big bags of frozen berries, mixed chopped fruit, collard greens (can you believe it?!) and other stuff you'd think was disgusting. Zzzzt. Into the Vitamix it goes. Yum!
It's picked ripe, it keeps its nutrition, it's chopped, it's cheap, it's cold... What's not to love?
I still have this argument with my mother in law on a regular basis . She thinks I'm cheatin' the kids by serving the frozen stuff but I swear by it - if for no other reason that it works with my lifestyle. My job requires constant frequent travel and fresh foods often spoil before we can use them. Messy and wasteful. But .... I love to cook, and find it relaxing and fun to prepare foods. I still love to make things from scratch, from the selecting of individual ingredients to the creating of dishes. Love it.
I actually came to find this information about frozen foods quite by accident. In editing a friend's research on bio-engineered foods, I was educated on something I hadn't thought about until reading it and having it spelled out in front of me: foods were picked unripe and expected to ripen en route or at their final destination (groceries, markets, etc.). Duh! I hadn't ever thought about that! At the time, bio-engineers were called upon to create a food product that would better sustain travel time and conditions.
Meanwhile, frozen foods are picked at ripe and flash frozen ... thus making them more nutritious and ironically, more fresh. I was hooked, and we've never looked back I knowthat I'm not cheatin' the kids by indulging my laziness and relying on a convenience food!
That said, nothing beats fresh from your own garden and I only wish I could find frozen grapes because I can't ever seem to yield any decent grapes . Anyone with secrets, feel free to PM me ... I'd be eternally grateful.
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
edited August 12, 2007
Hahaha. You're right, the garden rules.
I just read a big story about the Oregon berry industry. They were big producers of strawberries but the farmers in California went with a variety with longer shelf life at the expense of taste and nutrition.
Consumers chose shelf life and Oregon's strawberry industry was gutted.
They came back by flash freezing other berries, which is where Costco's 3-berry blend comes in. They didn't have to choose varieties with long shelf life.
We actually by 'fresh' and the freeze them as they get older. Bananas for example. Then you don't need to add ice to get the smoothies cold. It isn't in there long enought to get freezer burn. And here in the midwest, frozen fruits Like Baldy & Stirfry are talking about are often LESS expensive than the fresh on the shelf stuff.
I know most here aren't doing meat, but a butcher told me one time the freshest fish is the frozen stuff - flash frozen right on the ships at sea. Anything else is not as fresh.
"Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to. Oh well."
-Fleetwood Mac
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
I know most here aren't doing meat, but a butcher told me one time the freshest fish is the frozen stuff - flash frozen right on the ships at sea. Anything else is not as fresh.
I eat some fish. I love the frozen tilapia filets that Costco sells. Frozen at the time of the catch.
Relying on a pill to complete your diet doesn't sound very natural to me.
You talking about B12? Yeah, fish has some.
I say I eat fish 2-3 times a week but I've noticed I haven't been getting around to it more than once a week. I do it because I like to race triathlon and work out a lot. I read Martina Navratilova's book and she said she was vegan for 7 years, winning championships, but felt better when she ate small amounts of fish & poultry. Dave Scott, who I've met, 6-time world IronMan champion & former vegan, says he also feels a little bit better with fish 2-3 times per week but otherwise vegan.
I can't seem to tell the difference if I eat a little fish or not so I don't stress over it.
Ok, I keep seeing the posts about the Vitamix and yea, it looks good. Anyone have any opinions on the Blendtec blenders? http://blendtec.com - I love their "Will it blend" videos but is Vitamix somehow better?
Ok, I keep seeing the posts about the Vitamix and yea, it looks good. Anyone have any opinions on the Blendtec blenders? http://blendtec.com - I love their "Will it blend" videos but is Vitamix somehow better?
The tamper in the Vitamix sets it apart, I believe. There's a post above with a link to a smoothie site, and they compare the two, and come to that conclusion.
The tamper in the Vitamix sets it apart, I believe. There's a post above with a link to a smoothie site, and they compare the two, and come to that conclusion.
BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
edited August 13, 2007
Yesterday a young woman approached me with a big smile and said, "I've wanted to meet you! I love what you're doing with my father."
Her father is a diabetic, a good friend of mine who I see at the gym several nights a week. His identical twin dropped of a fatal heart attack 5 years ago. After reading the China Study, he's been vegging, losing weight, and his blood sugar has been dropping.
Then she dropped the bomb. "Guess how much I've lost?!"
I expected her to say 15. She looks really good. If she has any more to lose it's not much. She said 100. I had to have her repeat it a few times before I was sure I heard it right.
I asked how. She said vegetables, cutting out the fruit juice she drank all day, and exercise.
I didn't buy Dr. F's Blood Orange Vinegar, but I did modify the salad dressing that calls for it in his book, and it's great.
My version is 3 cluster tomatoes, 1/2 cup of Balsamic Vinegar, pureed. That's it. Better than any non-fat commercial dressing on the market, and no added salt, sugar, fat or thickeners.
Bless you.
I just made this (with extra tomatoes because Scott's not a huge vinegar fan) and it was yummy. I threw in some fresh basil and a bit of garlic as well.
Because it had no oil, it was a breeze to clean up the Vitamix afterwards. And, I could go down on a big bowl of greens without a care in the world.
I'm psyched - I just found a really great market that has more variety than the one I usually use. There's a Whole Foods in Providence but that's totally a pain for me to get to. This place is near my work and has an excellent produce section, plus lots of other goodies.
They even had Kashi frozen dinners which will be a great thing for me on occasion. There's 6 or 7 varieties, but only one was vegetarian and one was vegan. Still, it will be convenient for when I'm rushing out to a baseball practice or whatever.
They also had more frozen fruits, like blackberry and mango. The old place only had strawberries and blueberries.
And I scored some almond butter, can't wait to try that!
I can see I'll be spending a lot of money in my new market! Best of all, I think the variety will be key in keeping me from straying into old habits.
Honestly though, I think I am losing the taste for the old junk. I used to down 3 or 4 diet Coke's a day and I haven't had one for a month. Today I figured I'd have a half a glass - meh, it wasn't that great. I don't miss it.
Hey Stone, do what I did and jump right in. Why wait for the reading to catch up? If you decide not to continue with it after your reading is done, you haven't lost anything.
I started by hacking out meat and sugar, oh and white flour. Tons of fruit and veggies, whole wheat pasta, natural peanut butter and "all-fruit" preserves were the beginning meals. I was surprised how easy it was.
I'm with DJ-S1. I had a frig full of stuff so I just phase into the whole eat healthy deal. I looked at this as a life change not a diet. Mainly replacing high caloric foods with food rich in nutrients (like a Double-Double and Twinkies with fish and fruit), cutting out red meats, fast food and reducing processed foods. What little meats I do eat are now fish and bird. But I took my time and eased into the new life style ... haven't purchased a high power blender yet ... sorta wondering what for ... I enjoy munching my fresh veggies and fruits rather than slurp them up. With summer here I have a ton of veggies and fruits in my backyard ... so my supermarket is within easy walking distance of my kitchen.
DJ-S1 ... get out of RI and come to CA ... plenty of organic foods, fresh veggies and fruits out here ... all year long.
Hey Stone, do what I did and jump right in. Why wait for the reading to catch up? If you decide not to continue with it after your reading is done, you haven't lost anything.
I started by hacking out meat and sugar, oh and white flour. Tons of fruit and veggies, whole wheat pasta, natural peanut butter and "all-fruit" preserves were the beginning meals. I was surprised how easy it was.
Welcome aboard!
I really don't like pasta very much but can handle just about everything else.
Oh yeah, bananas and egg plant make me queasy, believe me, I've tried. I've been taking lunch on the road at Thai or Vietnamese joints and have done really good at ordering the healthy stuff. I am a chicken addict but only eat beef about once a week in the form of a very lean top choice fillet. I don't eat fried or wings, just roast in various forms. I just need to knock off the snacks, ice cream, cookies, candy bars and so on. I'm looking forward to getting to the next step. I do lots of kayaking and the days that I do are the days that I eat the best, I pack water, granola bars, p&j sandwich, orange/apple/grapes etc. We'll see how it goes on further improving the intake.
Tempting! My father-in-law lives in San Diego, so I've been there a few times. The weather just can't be beat!
aaahhh San Diego ... great place ... great surfing, diving and sailing. No mountains in SD ... so no winter sports ... hell no winter anyway - lol
LA isn't as mild as SD ... hotter in summer cooler in winter ... unless you live within five miles of the Pacific, then, it rarely get hot in summer or cold in winter. On the coast the summer nights are down right chilly ... long pants and sweaters for thin blooded locals.
Comments
Regardless of whether you choose the life-style change suggested here or not, you should do SOMETHING if while reading this you feel guilty about your diet and exercise habits.
I highly recommend a book written by Dr Walter Willett, that provides basic nutrional info and good common sense backed by 25+ years of clinical research. Dr Walter Willett is on the Faculty of Harvard's School of Public Health, and is a key researcher in one of the most comprehensive diet studies ever done, known as the Nurse's Health Study.
Anyway, using the research from this, Dr Willett published a book that is a very important read for anyone wanting to understand nutrition and health, and one that offers real research-backed advice on what to eat.
The book, and much of the approach doesn't point to any particular trick, or diet, but does show how to eat heathy, including plenty of vegetables. Dr Willett caught alot of attention a few years back suggesting the USDA Food Pyramid is upside down, and that the foundation should be vegetables and complex carbs. Of course this advice is right inline with what is being discussed here.
So, if you want to learn more so that you can take up healtier dietary habits, check out this book:
Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating
You should understand that this book is written to help regular people understand this info, and also written to help take the wind out of the sails of all the fad diets out there, especially diets such as 'Adkins' and other.
You can also read about much of this info on Harvard's Nutrition web site:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/
Good luck and healthy eating!
But... I spent a lot of time shopping, washing, & chopping off stems and cores and peeling oranges and removing pits from peaches.
And what I was eating wasn't that fresh. It had to make its way to sale, then wait in my kitchen for a few days on average. Any my smoothies weren't brain-freeze cold like I like them.
When I was lazy or in a rush, I'd just throw frozen stuff in the Vitamix.
I finally decided the action was in the freezer section. I buy big bags of frozen berries, mixed chopped fruit, collard greens (can you believe it?!) and other stuff you'd think was disgusting. Zzzzt. Into the Vitamix it goes. Yum!
It's picked ripe, it keeps its nutrition, it's chopped, it's cheap, it's cold... What's not to love?
I actually came to find this information about frozen foods quite by accident. In editing a friend's research on bio-engineered foods, I was educated on something I hadn't thought about until reading it and having it spelled out in front of me: foods were picked unripe and expected to ripen en route or at their final destination (groceries, markets, etc.). Duh! I hadn't ever thought about that! At the time, bio-engineers were called upon to create a food product that would better sustain travel time and conditions.
Meanwhile, frozen foods are picked at ripe and flash frozen ... thus making them more nutritious and ironically, more fresh. I was hooked, and we've never looked back
That said, nothing beats fresh from your own garden
I just read a big story about the Oregon berry industry. They were big producers of strawberries but the farmers in California went with a variety with longer shelf life at the expense of taste and nutrition.
Consumers chose shelf life and Oregon's strawberry industry was gutted.
They came back by flash freezing other berries, which is where Costco's 3-berry blend comes in. They didn't have to choose varieties with long shelf life.
I know most here aren't doing meat, but a butcher told me one time the freshest fish is the frozen stuff - flash frozen right on the ships at sea. Anything else is not as fresh.
-Fleetwood Mac
I throw one in a pot black bean soup. Yum.
Why?
Health, or you just like it?
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I
Love
My
Vitamix.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I say I eat fish 2-3 times a week but I've noticed I haven't been getting around to it more than once a week. I do it because I like to race triathlon and work out a lot. I read Martina Navratilova's book and she said she was vegan for 7 years, winning championships, but felt better when she ate small amounts of fish & poultry. Dave Scott, who I've met, 6-time world IronMan champion & former vegan, says he also feels a little bit better with fish 2-3 times per week but otherwise vegan.
I can't seem to tell the difference if I eat a little fish or not so I don't stress over it.
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
http://philu.smugmug.com
The tamper in the Vitamix sets it apart, I believe. There's a post above with a link to a smoothie site, and they compare the two, and come to that conclusion.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Ah, I see - very cool. Thanks for the info!
http://philu.smugmug.com
Her father is a diabetic, a good friend of mine who I see at the gym several nights a week. His identical twin dropped of a fatal heart attack 5 years ago. After reading the China Study, he's been vegging, losing weight, and his blood sugar has been dropping.
Then she dropped the bomb. "Guess how much I've lost?!"
I expected her to say 15. She looks really good. If she has any more to lose it's not much. She said 100. I had to have her repeat it a few times before I was sure I heard it right.
I asked how. She said vegetables, cutting out the fruit juice she drank all day, and exercise.
I'm still in awe.
Bless you.
I just made this (with extra tomatoes because Scott's not a huge vinegar fan) and it was yummy. I threw in some fresh basil and a bit of garlic as well.
Because it had no oil, it was a breeze to clean up the Vitamix afterwards. And, I could go down on a big bowl of greens without a care in the world.
-Anne
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
They even had Kashi frozen dinners which will be a great thing for me on occasion. There's 6 or 7 varieties, but only one was vegetarian and one was vegan. Still, it will be convenient for when I'm rushing out to a baseball practice or whatever.
They also had more frozen fruits, like blackberry and mango. The old place only had strawberries and blueberries.
And I scored some almond butter, can't wait to try that!
I can see I'll be spending a lot of money in my new market! Best of all, I think the variety will be key in keeping me from straying into old habits.
Honestly though, I think I am losing the taste for the old junk. I used to down 3 or 4 diet Coke's a day and I haven't had one for a month. Today I figured I'd have a half a glass - meh, it wasn't that great. I don't miss it.
Hey, my username and password still work!
:lurk
I started by hacking out meat and sugar, oh and white flour. Tons of fruit and veggies, whole wheat pasta, natural peanut butter and "all-fruit" preserves were the beginning meals. I was surprised how easy it was.
Welcome aboard!
DJ-S1 ... get out of RI and come to CA ... plenty of organic foods, fresh veggies and fruits out here ... all year long.
Gary
Unsharp at any Speed
I really don't like pasta very much but can handle just about everything else.
Oh yeah, bananas and egg plant make me queasy, believe me, I've tried. I've been taking lunch on the road at Thai or Vietnamese joints and have done really good at ordering the healthy stuff. I am a chicken addict but only eat beef about once a week in the form of a very lean top choice fillet. I don't eat fried or wings, just roast in various forms. I just need to knock off the snacks, ice cream, cookies, candy bars and so on. I'm looking forward to getting to the next step. I do lots of kayaking and the days that I do are the days that I eat the best, I pack water, granola bars, p&j sandwich, orange/apple/grapes etc. We'll see how it goes on further improving the intake.
aaahhh San Diego ... great place ... great surfing, diving and sailing. No mountains in SD ... so no winter sports ... hell no winter anyway - lol
LA isn't as mild as SD ... hotter in summer cooler in winter ... unless you live within five miles of the Pacific, then, it rarely get hot in summer or cold in winter. On the coast the summer nights are down right chilly ... long pants and sweaters for thin blooded locals.
Gary
Unsharp at any Speed
You should read the china study if you haven't.
http://photos.mikelanestudios.com/
BTW- There is a "Newport" here in SoCal ... so changing your address would be less painful.
Gary
Unsharp at any Speed