Keeping Fit after Aging Out - A new diet book

[year1buick]

If you want to get into really good shape, this is not the recipe. If you just want to take some air out of the spare tire, this should work fine.

I agree. But to simply be healthy, you don't have to go all out with exercising. I'm assuming not everyone is shooting gladiator-level fitness. (I suppose it boils down to how you define "really good shape.")

[atlvalet]

I agree. But to simply be healthy, you don't have to go all out with exercising. I'm assuming not everyone is shooting gladiator-level fitness. (I suppose it boils down to how you define "really good shape.")

We agree then. Holy crap, this is DCP, right?

I am also willing to admit that living in LA has skewed my version of what qualifies as "really good shape."

[ouooga]

We should all just do P90X. I'm starting Sunday. Who's in?

[year1buick]

We agree then. Holy crap, this is DCP, right?

I am also willing to admit that living in LA has skewed my version of what qualifies as "really good shape."

LOL, unfortunately, living in San Antonio (diabetes capital of the northern hemisphere) has skewed mine as well. Wanna trade? (My tire needs deflating...)

[leeb]

Another dietary idea to consider is the Paleo Diet. I have personally see it work wonders. It's not a fad, it's based on human dietary anthropology.

My family has been eating Paleo for a couple of years. It does really work. We have wondered what if the entire corps ate Paleo, how much more energy they would have? They would probably need to employ some of the options in Paleo for Athletes book.

[RetiredJedi]

We should all just do P90X. I'm starting Sunday. Who's in?

I'd love to but I'm honestly not in good enough shape to do it yet. I'll get there. It looks like it's the real thing tho'.

[emtbill]

Another dietary idea to consider is the Paleo Diet. I have personally see it work wonders. It's not a fad, it's based on human dietary anthropology.

I would recommend it also.

[hboyce]

This topic is where I feel I can help.

Background: RN specializing in nutrition and weight management. Before that, an ER nurse with 8 years experience.

Muscle burns fat. Period. Cardio is great, but building muscle mass will keep your body burning fat much more efficiently - and then you can eat a bit more. (honesty check: this is not my strong suit.)

When it comes to weight management, it's all about calories in vs. calories out. Most of us underestimate the calories we take in and over-estimate the calories we burn. ("I walked a mile, I can eat a couple of donuts today." Nope! Does not compute!)

- This is where I disagree. The human body is a lot more complex than just eating less calories in and exercising more to burn off calories. If you look at the hormonal response (i.e. insulin) to food, our body reacts differently to carbohydrates, proteins and fats. A pound of body fat is estimated to be worth 3,500 calories. So taking out 500 calories in your diet per day should equal about 1 pound of weight loss per week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories = 1 pound fat). I have never found this to be true. What science is finding out is, "You are what your body does with what you eat."

There is no magic dietary bullet. Lots of unprocessed fruits and veggies is the bulk of a healthy, balanced diet. Add to that a couple or three servings of lean protein sources, 2-3 whole grain sources and 2-3 dairy sources and you're good to go. Just be careful about added sugars and fats. The food pyramid is your friend.

- I agree with unprocessed veggies, but not lots of fruit. Fruit has fructose (fruit sugar), which can promote fat storage. I would even say people don't need that much grain if at all, and not that much dairy either. Eating more fat and protein and less of the carbohydrates helps quite a bit. Low-carb diets do show better correction in HDL (good cholesterol), triglycerides, cholesterol, and change in particle size of the LDL (the "bad" cholesterol). The Atkins diet works well for initial weight loss, but its difficult to maintain that low of carbohydrates long term. So any diet with some carbohydrate restriction (less than 120 grams per day) seems to work well. And no, Dr. Atkins did not die of a heart attack, he died of brain trauma. And the food pyramid is upside down. We feed cows a lot of grains to fatten them up before slaughter. Its no wonder why America has an obesity problem.

Most Americans have no idea what a portion size is, and we have been trained to love the taste of high fat, high sugar, highly processed foods. I was one of those people, and I had the pounds and the 2X size clothes - and the blood pressure - to show it. Woo. Go American food industry! (and the truth is that most of us with weight issues have refused to look in the mirror to examine what the real problem is. If we as a culture would stop buying all that crap, the food industry would respond. It's already happening a little, which is good.)

- Now that I agree with. Agribusiness has no concern what so ever for your health, they just want your money. Watch the movie Food Inc. to get a better understanding of this. It is on Netflix.

Restaurant eating is difficult - portion sizes are enormous, social pressure to eat large is enormous, they bring chips or bread to your table without asking, and then there's the whole appetizer/main course/dessert trio of death. I've learned to ask for what I need and avoid what I don't. The customer wins when the customer goes in informed and ready to be specific.

- I agree with that also.

Look. The simple fact is that when our government started telling us to eat less fat, we just got fatter. Eating fat doesn't make us store fat, we store a some and use some for energy. However when we eat a lot of carbs.... our bodies can only use so much blood sugar at one time, so it has to put the excess somewhere. In our fat cells. So when we eat a lot of carbs, they pretty much demand to be used as an energy source first, before fat. So with the American diet, a lot of us don't use our fat for energy, we just store more and more of it. If you don't want to be overweight or obese like 67% of Americans, don't eat like them.

Here's some links to reinforce this. Happy reading.

http://www.nmsociety.org/

http://liberationwellnessblog.com/

http://www.why-low-carb-diets-work.com/ This one explains the science really well.

http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/

If you want more info or have questions, you can send me a message. And if you want to make sure I'm the real thing, I'm the last person on the bottom of the page. http://monarchmedical.net/our_team.php

This is one of the most well informed posts ever put on dcp.

Carbohydrates illicit an insulin response which tells your body to store fat. Keeping carbs under 100-120g a day is really easy. Under 50 is harder, but easily done if you just think before you eat.

For awhile I did a "eat whatever the hell you want staying under 50g of carbs" diet. I ate 4-5 burgers sans buns in one super burger. I also inhaled the double downs from KFC. Most people would think this is a very unhealthy lifestyle but I lost 10lbs in about 3 weeks when first starting this diet.

Also if diabetes runs in your family you are doing yourself a huge favor to limit your carbs.

[emtbill]

This is one of the most well informed posts ever put on dcp.

Carbohydrates illicit an insulin response which tells your body to store fat. Keeping carbs under 100-120g a day is really easy. Under 50 is harder, but easily done if you just think before you eat.

For awhile I did a "eat whatever the hell you want staying under 50g of carbs" diet. I ate 4-5 burgers sans buns in one super burger. I also inhaled the double downs from KFC. Most people would think this is a very unhealthy lifestyle but I lost 10lbs in about 3 weeks when first starting this diet.

Also if diabetes runs in your family you are doing yourself a huge favor to limit your carbs.

Thanks Hboyce. Low carb does work very well. There's even a thing called "normal-weight, metabolically obese". You've heard of thin people developing heart disease, having heart attacks, and developing Type 2 diabetes. These people tend to get healthier going low-carb. I advocate all of my patients to restrict carbs to less than 120-100 grams of carbs per day because its realistic and doable. People are thrilled to be able to be able to eat more fat and protein and still have some carbs.

Here's a short video that explains why we get fat.

I can't imagine how well a corps would perform on a Paleo/restricted carb diet. I could almost guarantee that the kids would have more energy, have better focus (especially after meals), thus play better and perform better.

It seems lately some corps have invested in doctors, personal trainers, and perhaps nurses to look at the physical aspect and health of the marchers. Would it be the time to address the nutrition aspect of the kids? It probably would add an additional financial burden to provide more natural and whole foods, but I think the return on the investment would be worth it.

There's a new paleo book that will be released soon that might be a good read for a lot of you out there, even if you're "too old" to march. The authors blog is also very well worth checking out.

http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Solution-Origi...3094&sr=8-1

www.robbwolf.com

I love this discussion and think that its overdue.

[Blaritone]

The point of aging out is GETTING to be fat again