To Winston first of all, your friend gave the classic cop-out answer of "we can debate this forever, so let's just not debate it at all." Is that seriously what Happier Abroad is all about? Not discussing things because we aren't always going to all agree?The reason there are 500-pound guys in McDonald's is because of all the carbs they eat. All those french fries and especially the soda.
Now to reply to everyone else:
This isn't "going to extremes". The ideal human diet should have the majority of its calories from animal fat with some animal protein too. You say he should increase his protein and keep his fat the same, but I disagree: he should eat a diet high in animal fat and moderate in protein. The scientific reason for this is that in order to stay in fat-burning mode (as opposed to glucose-burning mode), the caloric intake needs to be predominantly fat. Too much protein can actually switch a person back into glucose-burning mode, even if they're eating no carbs whatsoever, since the body converts excess protein into glucose.Jackal wrote:There's no need to go to extremes. Yes, Winston seems to be carb-sensitive and he probably would lose a lot of weight if he switched to a diet which was higher in protein and lower in carbs, but going on a high-fat diet isn't necessary. He might do well just keeping the amount of fat he consumes the same.
The first time I tried a low-carb diet, my caloric intake was about 50% fat/50% protein with no carbs whatsoever. I was not losing weight at all. It was only when I switched to 80% fat/20% protein that the weight started to come off.
Even if your claim is true that calories do not matter (which I will discuss in just a few seconds), eating 10,000 calories worth of fat or protein a day is nearly impossible. A gram of protein contains 4 calories, which means you would need 2500 grams of protein a day to get 10,000 calories from protein.Jackal wrote:No way, that's just a simplification that's used in diet books to appeal to the masses. If you eat 10,000 calories worth of chicken breasts everyday, you're guaranteed to get fat! The total number of calories you consume is very important. Losing weight is at its heart a matter of calories eaten vs. calories burned.
As for fat, it is almost impossible to binge on fat. To get even 2000 calories from fat, you would have to eat over a cup of fat, whether it be butter, lard, beef tallow, etc. In other words, even if it were true that excess calories do matter, fat and protein are next to impossible to binge on.
Now, back to your claim that the number of calories matters. If this is just a "simplification" then it seems to be a very good simplification. I eat about 3,000 calories a day on an 80% fat/20% protein ratio and do not gain weight, despite this being above my so-called basal metabolic rate. I do no cardio to burn off the excess calories either. My only theory is that as I said before, my body is excreting the excess fat in my feces (which is why I never get constipated despite eating no fiber whatsoever).
Ah, the old "genetics" cop-out. Like humans differ so much genetically that two random men just happened to be the lucky two who can eat no vegetables and still be okay! Stefansson in particular wrote that during his one-year animal-only diet, his health greatly improved over his previous mixed diet. I seriously doubt anyone would be healthy eating only lentils and cabbage, since they would not be able to get all the necessary amino acids as well as have deficiencies in many other nutrients. As for Stanley, he started eating a no-carb diet at the age of 24 and ate that way for 52 years! He died this March in a car crash at age 76, still in extremely good health. I saw a picture of him taken at the age of 65 and he looked at least 10 years younger, if not more.Jackal wrote:Now this I disagree with. The fact that two men were healthy after not eating vegetables for a long time doesn't prove much conclusively. Maybe their ability to do this was genetic. Maybe they would have also been just as healthy eating only lentils and cabbage.
I think a more plausible explanation than "genetics" is that these two proved that the ideal human diet is animal-based.
A grain is a grain is a grain. They both are high in carbs and both cause insulin release and fat storage. Perhaps the only advantage of whole grains over refined grains is a lack of chemicals. Other than that, they have the exact same effect on the human body. Both cause obesity.Jackal wrote:You should distinguish between whole grains and refined grains. Whole grains are much better for the body.
Why?Jackal wrote:The most ethical diet is a vegan diet...
Long-distance running is not healthy for the human body. The only cardio which should be performed is sprinting.Jackal wrote: And also do a lot of cardio to burn some of those extra carbs you're eating as a vegetarian.
All of these studies linking high meat consumption to heart disease and colorectal cancer are flawed, for the simple fact that they all used high-carb diets. Carbs are what truly cause heart disease, since heart disease is at its core an inflammation issue, and nothing is more inflammatory than carbohydrates. Meat is irrelevant to all these diseases: carbs are the cause.jcris7 wrote:To the OP:
Not necessarily true. High meat consumption is linked to higher risks of heart disease and colorectal cancer. Our GI tract is not built, nor equipped with the digestive enzymes like the true meat eaters in the animal kingdom, to process a fleshy carcass. They kill their prey and tear directly into the stomach where the blood filled organs are. They need the nutrients from the stomach, liver, and intestines. When we cook raw meat, we are cooking out a lot of the necessary nutrients that true meat eaters need to survive, so if we were meant to eat meat, we would eat it raw and bloody.
So, the result from how humans eat meat -- toxic and unhealthy BMs, and undigested meat in the form of impacted fecal matter on the colon walls. It is a cumulative effect, and that's a breeding ground for disease, especially if one does not take proper measures to cleanse the colon throughout their lifetime.
Have you never heard of the theory that the reason why we have such high intelligence compared to other species is because we needed high intelligence to hunt, kill, and COOK meat? Meat is what spurred our development into human beings. Without our hunting past, we would still be Neanderthals.
I don't know where you're getting the idea that meat causes unhealthy bowel movements. As long as your fat intake is high enough, there is no problem whatsoever with meat.
I truly care about Winston's weight, which is why I am trying to help him. For so long we have been fed lies by the US government about saturated fat and red meat and needing to eat a diet which is high in complex carbs. The result is that we have more obesity than ever as well as higher rates of cancer and heart disease. Before the 1950s, obesity, cancer, and heart disease were rare. And what did people eat back then? Lots of animal fat. They cooked everything in bacon grease and lard and yet didn't get fat or have heart disease.well-informed wrote:AIM is such an idiot honestly. There's no magic diet that can replace the practice of exercising your body. When you complain about your own sweat, eat cake and cookies as a snack.... you're going to end up like Winston. He's not fat because he's vegetarian, you just wanna sound like a health expert at the expense of his weight.
Just shut up and leave this forum already
As long as I have something valuable to contribute, I will not leave this forum. You're just mad simply because I said you're not a Latino. Be mature and move on.
Exactly. Exercise is totally irrelevant to fat loss. All it does it make a person hungrier while ignoring the true cause of obesity: too many carbs causing too much insulin to be produced. There was a time that I had a 38-inch waist despite running 5 miles every other day. I don't run at all anymore and I never get fat, simply because I keep my carb intake low.odbo wrote:Not true. I have lost weight without doing any exercise. While I have gained (fat) weight while being on the soccer team running ~10 miles a day.
I halfway agree with you. I personally believe that strength training combined with sprinting is the ideal human exercise program (for both men AND women). I also feel that we are bred to walk long distances and therefore should try to walk at least two miles a day.well-informed wrote:Good point, i always thought cardio alone was overrated for the human male body since we have testerone (except Winston) . Strength training combined with aerobics i think is the best way to shred fat and tone your body. Kind of like the workouts from P90x
I would say it would be the other way. Eating like crap does more than make you fat; it also weakens the immune system and increases the risk of disease.magnum wrote:exercise and nutrition go hand in hand, but if you were limited to any ONE thing, the truth be told it would be better to do exercise and eat like crap, then just eat healthy and not exercise!
I was thinking the same thing, just not in as harsh words. But you're right, he basically gave a cop-out answer where instead of actually debating the topic, we're supposed to just not do anything because we're never going to agree.swincor__ wrote:That's right, Winston: quote an opposing response from one of your experts. That way, nothing is definitively settled one way or another. And most important: you can justify doing nothing, and go back to being a lazy, pussified, fat-ass.
Good thing I never said that. What I said was that a vegetarian diet is what is making Winston fat. Vegetarian diets are by nature high in carbs, and carbs cause obesity. It's not the vegetables making him fat, it's too many grains and sweets.odbo wrote:The idea that vegetables makes you fat, IS f***ing RETARDED.
This goes back to what I said above. If you eat a diet high in fat, large portion sizes will be non-existent since only a few people could eat an entire cup of fat and not throw up. In other words, fat intake is self-limiting.momopi wrote:Americans are fat because they eat too much and drive instead of walking. Some vegetarians are fat because they eat imitation meat (junk food) and fried foods.
When I'm in Taiwan and order a bowl of hot soy milk for breakfast, it's a small bowl. Why is it that when I order the same thing in the US, it's like twice the size in a large bowl?
This is the serving size in Taiwan, note that the little white disposable plastic spoons are smaller than the regular soup spoons:
As a final note, just look at the Native Americans on reservations. A century ago they were lean. Now they have the highest obesity rate of any ethnicity in the United States. What changed? The diet. 100 years ago they did not eat bread, pasta, or potatoes and ate a diet high in animal meat and animal fat. The US government as usual thought it knew best and told them to abandon their traditional diet and eat more grains and less meat. Obesity skyrocketed as a result.
