Is eating right worth it??

[Dr sharp]

I ask this because , how many times do you see someone up in their 90s who eat anything and are in perfect health. Im starting to think its all in the jeans. Anyone have any pros or cons to proper diet.

 

[Emanuel]

You mean genes, not jeans.
And yes, your predisposition to certain diseases and so forth are often in your genes, so that will have an effect on how long you live.

I think the real trick though to a long life is eating the same type of foods your whole life.

Different types of foods seems to overburden the body and digestive system to the point of shortening your life expectancy.

 

[Gollnick]

Not a good time be asking this as Fmr. President Bill Clinton, famous for detouring the Presidential motorcade through the McDonalds drive through, rests comfortably in a New York hospital bed following his bypass surgery.

 

[fruitbat]

Good point Dr. Gollnick!!!
I know you're not a doc, but if you where you would be a good one!!!!!

 

[Kaxter]

Nobody dies of old age anymore, so I say **** it.

I have had 3 friends die this year, all under 25.

It has totally soured me on doing anything to prolong life. I eat whatever I want.

 

[ACMarina]

If I could eat whatever I wanted and not become totally obese, I'd do it. But I can't, and I'm much happier when I'm at least in moderately decent shape. That way at least I can get around and move. .

 

[Point44]

Fat sucks man...

I've just been told by 4 different people in 24 hours to lose weight...

Went to the ear, nose and throat doctor and he said lose weight and you'll snore less...

Went to the orthopaedic surgeon today and he kept making fun of me...

I think the key is you can eat anything but in moderation...and exercise...that way you can still taste good food and still be in good shape...
Just imagine a life without pizza, cheeseburgers, lamb chops etc...NOOOOO!!!!!

 

[Mr.BadExample]

Fat sucks man...

I've just been told by 4 different people in 24 hours to lose weight...

Went to the ear, nose and throat doctor and he said lose weight and you'll snore less...

Went to the orthopaedic surgeon today and he kept making fun of me...

I think the key is you can eat anything but in moderation...and exercise...that way you can still taste good food and still be in good shape...
Just imagine a life without pizza, cheeseburgers, lamb chops etc...NOOOOO!!!!!

You can always sit on him!
You can eat all that in moderation and not be unhealthy. If you're snoring due to your weight, you probably have sleep apnea, which can really wear down your body. I had it for years- I was constantly tired, got sick more often, had no energy.
I know what you mean, DrSharp. My great-grandfather used to braise the fat from a cut of meat on the side of the wood-burning stove and eat it, he lived to be 94. Though I highly doubt his lifestyle was sedentary.

 

[allenC]

I think alot of our lifespan is determined by our genes, but I think it works in combination with our eating habits.

Example:
Someone might be genetically predisposed toward alcoholism, but it's his choice to abstain from booze or to drink.

Some folks have very efficient bodies and store fat very well, so they have to really monitor their consumption.
Others don't have to worry about it much.

Point44,
The eye-nose-throat doctor was probably being honest.
But you should'nt put up with being teased or made fun of by any doctor.
YOU ARE THE PAYING CUSTOMER!

I work in healthcare (as an Radiographer), and the professional thing to do is treat the patient with respect and dignity.

I'm not saying that we don't have predjudices and that we all "love everybody equally no matter what their appearance".
But openly making fun of you is just down right unprofessional!

BTW,
Heavy patients are not near as bad as obnoxious loudmoths or body-odor-stinking-filthy patients.

Good luck,
Allen.

 

[fruitbat]

My great-grandfather used to braise the fat from a cut of meat on the side of the wood-burning stove and eat it, he lived to be 94. Though I highly doubt his lifestyle was sedentary.

Good point. I'm still amazed at the stories about the things my grandparents ate. I'm told that my grandfather would work in the fields all day long. No tractors, just him, his sons and a couple mules. When he came in to eat, he always had to have a big hunk of fried meat, fatback and some kind of gravy with plenty of fat drippings in it. Some joke that he thought of gravy as a beavage. At breakfast he had sawsage and bacon every morning.

The one that always gets be is that he like his coffee super strong. So who ever made it would make a pot just for him and STRONG. But if it still wasn't strong enough, he would mix in some instant coffee. And if it still wasn't strong enough he would just eat spoonfulls of the instant coffee. My mother always said that was probably why caffine had almost no effect on her or me. It's in my genes!!!!!

 

[MikeH]

Yes, eating right is absolutely worth it! You have to work within the parameters of your genetics, but there is still a lot of room for improvements. I have a family history of heart problems. Ten years ago after heart surgery I totally changed my eating and exercise habits. If I had not done so, I would have had to drag my formerly obese old self through each day, without the energy to really live well. I would not have reinvigorated my sex life. I once had lots of problems with crippling gout. I have not had one single gout episode in the last ten years. Even improvements in my eye health have been noted. After losing the weight my chronic back problems have cleared up, and today I do a high intensity weight training workout every third day. And best of all, the cardiologist says that I have the stress test of a man who has never had any heart problems.

I have not had a potato chip, doughnut, fried food, fast food burger, milkshake, or any other high fat/low nutritional value food in ten years. I don't miss them at all, and the thought of a thickly marbled piece of beef has become repulsive to me. And life is great! Nothing that I have given up tastes as good as the way I feel!

Living a long time has become secondary. The real benefit is really living while I am alive. I am addicted to oxygen and ice water.

Sounds like an infomercial, except that I am not selling anything.

 

[mycroftt]

I think alot of our lifespan is determined by our genes, but I think it works in combination with our eating habits.

Example:
Someone might be genetically predisposed toward alcoholism, but it's his choice to abstain from booze or to drink.

Some folks have very efficient bodies and store fat very well, so they have to really monitor their consumption.
Others don't have to worry about it much.

Point44,
The eye-nose-throat doctor was probably being honest.
But you should'nt put up with being teased or made fun of by any doctor.
YOU ARE THE PAYING CUSTOMER!

I work in healthcare (as an Radiographer), and the professional thing to do is treat the patient with respect and dignity.

I'm not saying that we don't have predjudices and that we all "love everybody equally no matter what their appearance".
But openly making fun of you is just down right unprofessional!

BTW,
Heavy patients are not near as bad as obnoxious loudmoths or body-odor-stinking-filthy patients.

Good luck,
Allen.

I agree that your genetic makeup provides the "baseline" or "anchor" for certain factors. I think cholesterol is a good example - if you are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol you are going to have it but you can be Under or Over, or Good vs Bad, compared to that baseline and that is determined by your diet, lifestyle, medications, etc.

I also agree about being treated with dignity and respect too, but I think that is an individual thing that can take different forms depending on the doctor/patient relationship. For example, I once had a doctor who would continually exhort me to commit suicide in order to "save (my)self from the suffering that is sure to visit itself upon a diabetic who refuses to stop smoking cigarettes after doing so for 27 years". He wanted me to go to the top of the Washington Monument and "hurl (my)self off. After all, what would (I) be missing - (I am) not likely to live long enough to see my children grow up anyway since (I would) soon be afflicted with significant heart disease and emphysema." When I mentioned lung cancer he dismissed it with a wave of his hand, declaring that I shouldn't worry about that since I would never live long enough to die from cancer anyway. He called me a coward and a fool and wanted to bet me my house against his house that I would have serious health problems related to smoking within the next five years.

It was definitely an unusual approach but I guess he figured I could take it and it definitely made me think about what I was doing. Guess what? It worked. I finally up and quit - mid-day, mid-pack - I just stopped smoking. That was over 4 years ago. I occasionally experience a little wheeze when exhaling and every time I do I realize where I would be today had not that doctor gone outside the box to push my buttons. Quitting was the single best thing I have ever done for my own health and I owe it to that man.

 

[Kaxter]

I eat ice cream, all fast foods, candy, and drink beer nonstop. I weigh 150lbs and I am 6'2.

I can eat ANYTHING I want and I dont gain a single pound, I eat all day long.

My buddy eats twice a day and gains weight, so I guess it is all genetics.

I just wanted to clarify that. I eat whatever I want because I wont gain a pound, but if I was pushing 300lbs I wouldnt eat much at all.

 

[JohnG]

MikeH, that's an amazing story. Congrats! What's your diet like day to day?

 

[MikeH]

John G: The only grains I eat are whole grains. Whole wheat bread, brown rice, etc. Any vegetable is ok if cooked without added fat. I go easy on white potatos, preferring the lower glycemic index of yams. Skim milk. Low fat yogurt, regular or frozen. Skinless chicken, broiled or baked. Just about any seafood, as long as it is not fried. Luckily, I love fish. I could eat canned tuna (packed in water, not oil) every day. I infrequently have a burger made at home with extra lean ground round. Also use extra lean ground round for chili, stews, etc. Cook it, sit it in the refrigerator, and then skim off any remaining fat that accumulates on the top. Eggs and egg beaters in about a one to three ratio, scrambled using PAM no-stick spray.
Restaurant salads are a real trap, as dressings add a ton of fat. Use fat-free dressings or, as I prefer, get your favorite dressing on the side and use just enough for a little flavor.
It was a great day when I discovered that Hershey's chocolate syrup is fat free!


If you buy the book "Body for Life", what it prescribes is almost exactly the way I eat, although I developed my diet through my own research before I bought the book. I don't use his resistance exercise regimens, however, preferring high-intensity, one or two sets to failure, with lots of compound movements.

I do eat certain fats, but it is deliberate. Flax seed cereal. A little peanut butter or a small handfull of nuts every day. Olive oil. Deep ocean fish. In other words, the heart-friendly fats.

It is amusing to me that the current popular opinion is that you cannot lose weight on low fat diets, that low carb is the way to go. I don't even keep track of carbs at all, and lost eight inches in the waist. And in my opinion, any heart patient who goes on Atkins over the long haul is nuts.

Any older man (I am 58) who wants to control fat and keep his testosterone
and GH levels up by natural means should consider resistance training, in addition to some regular cardio.

In a routine visit a couple of years ago, my cardiologist said that my chloesterol was great, my triglycerides were great, my weight was fine, and that I could back off on the exercise if I wanted to. Then in the same visit he called me "obsessive/compulsive" about diet and exercise. I just grinned and told him that I had no problem at all about staying that way.

 

[Walking Man]

Fat sucks man...

Went to the orthopaedic surgeon today and he kept making fun of me...

.
That's someone I would never go to again. Doctors have no right to ridicule anyone especially because you have no choice but to take your clothes off in front of them. Too bad it wasn't Danny in Japan he was making fun of.
(see H.I. thread) And I might even go as far as to complain to my states Medicial Association.

 

[Walking Man]

I eat ice cream, all fast foods, candy, and drink beer nonstop. I weigh 150lbs and I am 6'2.

I can eat ANYTHING I want and I dont gain a single pound, I eat all day long.

My buddy eats twice a day and gains weight, so I guess it is all genetics.

I just wanted to clarify that. I eat whatever I want because I wont gain a pound, but if I was pushing 300lbs I wouldnt eat much at all.

Hold on one minute there, Kaxter, Pardon me for asking this, but don't you have a medical condition that causes this? I seem to remember a thread a while back where this was discussed.

 

[glockman99]

Hell NO! Since I might be hit and killed by a bus tomorrow, or have an airplane fall out of the sky and squish me at any second, why should I try to die healthy?

Eating healthy means not being able to eat the things that taste good to me. None of us are getting out of "this" alive, and even a man on death row gets to eat what he wants for his last meal...

I'll eat like a pig 'till I die and die pleased.

 

[Kaxter]

Hold on one minute there, Kaxter, Pardon me for asking this, but don't you have a medical condition that causes this? I seem to remember a thread a while back where this was discussed.

Ya, its called Hypoglycemia, it is my curse

 

[FreeFall]

This thread hits home for me. I am 40 years old, eat right, run, exercise, and don't smoke. The people at work analyze my lunches, since many of them have never seen fresh vegetables.

I just got over a case of "diverticulitis". Basically, something gets stuck in a little pocket of your intestine, and you get real sick. It feels like you are going to explode.

My advice...live it up...eat and drink whatever you want.