"Literally hundreds of studies link ultra-processed foods to obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and overall mortality"

[Muse]

Well yeah, I shouldn't be eating donuts, pasta, cakes because my periodontitis is not yet treated(NIH is slow). But the temptation is too powerful at times, like yesterday.

I downed four 4 donuts, one bowel of ramen yesterday. Scared myself even that I was doing neuropathy to myself. I woke up today not wanting food and feeling that I better fast today or else I'm screwing myself up.

Fasting may have benefits if adhered to for a certain period. Autophagy being one of them.

I am starting to suspect soybean oil may be legitimately part of the reason foods are "addicting". It's combination effect with a starch and/or sugar is pretty strong with me.

I read the article. The "self-regulation" does applies to me. Not the exercise. I'm thin even without any running or weight lifting.

Ancestry did provide me with some genetic info. I have the ACTN3 gene and some of the "endurance genes" well.

Exercise during formative years might have help. I had to walk home and the works required going up a hill.

I also was rather "competitive", so in gym class, I was not at the top but I was willing to burn myself out while others treated it as a social time.

My mom had endurance. My grandmother would bike and my mom would run with her because grandma could not get off the bike. Bike was the mode of transportation in Shanghai.

I have engaged in exercise in many forms, usually including some kind very aerobic self-enforced ritual or equivalent throughout my adult life. As a friend-acquaintance (who was himself, hell of buff) commented, "it's a positive addiction." As time has gone on, I've been more and more committed to "sticking with it," because I reasoned that dropping it even for a few weeks, much less months would make a "come back" more of a challenge any time I indulged a "break." The pandemic was a serious challenge and I'm eyeing a return to the gym, but haven't planned it yet. All I have to do is go in there, I've continued to pay my dues since my gym came out of it's financial restructuring. The pandemic seems to have bankrupted them. I may be surprised to see the place, maybe not. Could go today! But I'll very likely just do my customary 10 miles skate, which I adopted a few months after the pandemic shut us all out of that gym. I've gotten really good at that long skate (at first maybe 5 miles, then 7, 9, and eventually 10 miles daily) after a couple years. So far, only quad skate equipment failure has been the challenge (still hurting from wounds from those two failures).

There are certainly benefits to "staying in shape," but it's not enough to control my weight without being careful what I eat. I'm not going to suffer if I eat stuff that isn't good for me (I do NOT pig out or pull the plug on my self-awareness), but not monitoring my eating sufficiently will cause me to gain weight, to my chagrin. For me, it requires commitment. I have a 1/2 gallon container of vanilla ice cream in the freezer since before the pandemic. It's about 35% full now. I have chocolate I've had for years. I nibble a bit sporadically.

I used to love donuts but if I were to eat one now I probably wouldn't as much. That was my experience last I did that. I have Asian noodles in the house and that powdered Knoor chicken stuff too and can fashion something like a DIY ramen in a few minutes and do occasionally in cold weather. I'll enjoy that but only do it 2-3 times a year and not a large portion. I don't make cakes anymore. I make a relatively low calorie German cottage cheese cake regularly. I will make a high calorie pumpkin cake to bring to a party in a couple weeks. It's a holiday indulgence, quite delicious. I haven't made it since before the pandemic and then it was for a holiday party.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I downed four 4 donuts,

That's a great way to get yourself diabetic. I don't find them attractive at all. There is nothing about them that screams edible to me. It's a whole lot of sugar crammed into greasy white bread. I actually got some blood coagulation issue in my toe after eating one or two donuts few years ago. Went to the doc. He gave it one look and asked if I was diabetic. I wasn't at the time but maybe it was pre-diabetes. Never had a donut again and most likely never will.

 

[Muse]

That's a great way to get yourself diabetic. I don't find them attractive at all. There is nothing about them that screams edible to me. It's a whole lot of sugar crammed into greasy white bread. I actually got some blood coagulation issue in my toe after eating one or two donuts few years ago. Went to the doc. He gave it one look and asked if I was diabetic. I wasn't at the time but maybe it was pre-diabetes. Never had a donut again and most likely never will.

Damn, there's so much crap food out there. It's a reason I eat my own cooking 99% of the time. The only canned food I have bought in recent times is tuna (haven't opened a can of that for many months), canned corn (occasionally put some in a recipe, refrigerate the rest), bought a large jar of European olives and jarred marinated artichoke hearts for my once a week DIY pizza. Not really junk food! I do buy white flour, but am not cavalier in its usage.

I used to make cookies, scones, cakes, I even mastered baklava some decades ago (and immediately gave it up!!) but don't mess with that stuff anymore. I can make biscuits from scratch, but rarely do.

 

[Kaido]

You have a healthy gut. On days that I don't want dinner, I can feel the food from lunch still inside my intestines. My body is sometimes really slow at digesting.

Oof. I've had motility issues with SIBO, it was really crippling for me! Sapped my energy, gave me brain fog, etc. I had to manually stimulate my GI tract through exercise, except that exercise on slow motility created an energy crash, it was a viscous cycle!

 

[Kaido]

Does this mean I should stop eating Cheez Whiz with a spoon?

"Everyone dies, but not everyone really lives." You are living your best life!

 

[igor_kavinski]

I even mastered baklava

Ah. I don't get Arabic sweets. They actually like to have them with their Arabic coffee so maybe with that, it can be pleasurable but it's still an acquired taste. One guy in my office swears by Kunafa. Never tried that. It's expensive (around $4 to $5). Don't want to get addicted to wasting that much money on food that might not be healthy for me.

 

[WelshBloke]

They are right about the self regulation part. Sometimes I have no interest in having dinner. Just drink a glass of water and sleep.

I'd rather be a bit hungry than full. A little hungry makes you feel awake and focused, full just makes you feel sleepy and dull.

Does this mean I should stop eating Cheez Whiz with a spoon?

Nutella with a spoon is the way to go!

 

[Kaido]

I'd rather be a bit hungry than full. A little hungry makes you feel awake and focused, full just makes you feel sleepy and dull.


Nutella with a spoon is the way to go!

LPT:

1. Spoon
2. Jar of Creamy PB (I like JIF)
3. Share-sized bag of Mini M&M's.

Get a scoop of PB, dip into the Mini M&M bag, enjoy!

 

[Muse]

Ah. I don't get Arabic sweets. They actually like to have them with their Arabic coffee so maybe with that, it can be pleasurable but it's still an acquired taste. One guy in my office swears by Kunafa. Never tried that. It's expensive (around $4 to $5). Don't want to get addicted to wasting that much money on food that might not be healthy for me.

My grandparents used to treat us kids to halvah when we'd visit. It's basically toasted ground sesame seeds and sweetening, worked together. They'd buy it commercially. I've experimented with making it myself with some success. Of course, it's pretty rich and not the most healthy thing to eat but for a confection, I suppose it's a lot better than most.

The baklava was kind of a lark, a challenge in the kitchen. It's actually pretty difficult to produce. I experimented for a while before I figured out how to get it right. Once I had it figured out, I stopped making it, period. It's a rather elaborate process. Flour, honey, butter, IIRC that's about all that's in it.

 

[Muse]

I'd rather be a bit hungry than full. A little hungry makes you feel awake and focused, full just makes you feel sleepy and dull.

I rarely eat enough to feel full.

Nutella with a spoon is the way to go!

I have been tempted for years to buy a jar when I see it on sale but always succeed in resisting it. I have produced a facsimile in my kitchen a few times. Roasted hazelnuts, finely ground in a paste, sweetening, perhaps some oil.

Instead of indulging something like that I keep a large jar of mixed nuts. Cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, all unsalted. I roast them all but not the walnuts. I'll eat a 1 ounce portion on any given day, not more. Tasty, healthy.

 

[sandorski]

"Everyone dies, but not everyone really lives." You are living your best life!

Kinda thought so. Peanut Butter and Cheez Whiz sandwich, the Cheese Burger of bagged lunch.

I'd rather be a bit hungry than full. A little hungry makes you feel awake and focused, full just makes you feel sleepy and dull.


Nutella with a spoon is the way to go!

I kinda avoid Nutella, because that's what happens to most of it.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Does this mean I should stop eating Cheez Whiz with a spoon?

You should be eating it with your fingers. And if anyone tries to bother you just yell - "Go away! 'Baitin'!

 

[Muse]

GOOD article relevant to our discussion:

Why America Is Fatter and Sicker Than Ever

www.ahajournals.org

 

[Muse]

GOOD article relevant to our discussion:

Why America Is Fatter and Sicker Than Ever

www.ahajournals.org

Starts off by saying this:

Today America is fatter and sicker than ever. And the outlook is grim. According to a 2010 study released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 3 of 4 Americans will be obese or overweight by 2020.

So, that was written in 2012.

Now, I had a job in San Francisco in 2000 and they sent me to Philadelphia 3 times, each for a few days, to consult with a company they had contracted to work up an online system for them (the company I was visiting had developed a system that was reusable but it had to be customized for each customer). While in Philadelphia I noticed that the locals were exceptionally fat compared to what I was used to seeing in the region I was living in. This last Thursday I went to Costco (in Richmond, across the bay from San Francisco) and had the same feeling I'd had in Philadelphia over 20 years ago except that this time I was in my own region. I concluded that people have gotten a lot fatter here in the last 20+ years. Judging from a quick glance around at the 40 or so people I had a good look at, every one was overweight or obese with the exception of one woman, who I took to be an employee (she was 50 feet from me but she had that gait).

 

[igor_kavinski]

Judging from a quick glance around at the 40 or so people I had a good look at, every one was overweight or obese with the exception of one woman, who I took to be an employee (she was 50 feet from me but she had that gait).

You should have said "Hi!" to the woman

What was the age distribution for the other people?

Maybe one factor is that when you are surrounded by obese people, they may make you feel that you are not healthy enough. I know some people who have naturally lean bodies and they bemoan their bodies for being too lanky. I have also noticed that most obese people are not that bothered about their weight. They actually live more stress free lives (you don't wanna mess with a big person) and I think all of these things act as a positive feedback loop for them and it exacerbates the obesity epidemic. The only time these people may have regrets is when they have a serious medical issue due to coronary heart disease, blood pressure or diabetes. But amazingly, I have seen a lot of really huge people who seem to be very, very resilient to such medical problems. I guess they have really good genes.

 

[WelshBloke]

LPT:

1. Spoon
2. Jar of Creamy PB (I like JIF)
3. Share-sized bag of Mini M&M's.

Get a scoop of PB, dip into the Mini M&M bag, enjoy!

I do not like PB. I think PB as a spread is a peculiarly US thing.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I do not like PB. I think PB as a spread is a peculiarly US thing.

Yeah. Coz the children eat it early on in their life so they develop a taste for it. I mean, it's not a bad taste but it's not something I can enjoy as a meal. One tablespoon is more than enough for me, maybe once a week. The way it sticks to the teeth isn't attractive for me. I wish it was similar in its smoothness to hummus.

 

[Muse]

You should have said "Hi!" to the woman

What was the age distribution for the other people?

Maybe one factor is that when you are surrounded by obese people, they may make you feel that you are not healthy enough. I know some people who have naturally lean bodies and they bemoan their bodies for being too lanky. I have also noticed that most obese people are not that bothered about their weight. They actually live more stress free lives (you don't wanna mess with a big person) and I think all of these things act as a positive feedback loop for them and it exacerbates the obesity epidemic. The only time these people may have regrets is when they have a serious medical issue due to coronary heart disease, blood pressure or diabetes. But amazingly, I have seen a lot of really huge people who seem to be very, very resilient to such medical problems. I guess they have really good genes.

I was at the checkout lines and several lines were between us. It would have been awkward to say the least to approach her, besides I was figuratively tethered to my cart, in line to checkout.

The age distribution? Didn't give that any thought. I assume 20-80 more or less.

When I got home I saw a few people walking on the sidewalk who were less fatty than those I saw at Costco and thought to myself maybe the ones shopping there tend to be fatter. Very unscientific thinking.

Anyway, I think it's true. Americans, the ones around here, are a lot fatter than they used to be. Now, I don't recall seeing people in Costco on Thursday who were humongous. I see a fair number of people around here, usually black women, who are quite grossly obese. Many of them look like they struggle to get into their clothes. There's some of that in the apartment building next door to my house. One has to pity them. At least one of them is obviously very stressed, has a hard time walking about... she lumbers as she locomotes.

 

[igor_kavinski]

That's true. Black women grow to be very large for some unknown (to me, at least) reason. Could be related to vitamin D deficiency. They also suffer from higher cancer rates. Weirdest thing is, if they are not crazy, they tend to be very warm and friendly. I've had some really positive interactions with attractive African women (South African of Indian heritage / Ethiopian / Somali ). Two of them (both born in 1985) even offered to go beyond friendship (in a startlingly direct way). Lost touch with two of them (their fault). The one remaining wants a big African man with a huge bank account She's still looking (fussy woman).

 

[Muse]

OTOH, some American black women remain slender, and I don't think it's all genetics, they just for whatever reasons are not involved with the patterns of behavior that has some other black American women ballooning. I figure family history, the way they were raised, their particular personal experience has a lot to do with their lifestyles.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Tall African woman can be naturally muscular. I've been intimidated seeing a few of them around 6 feet tall. No thanks to having a gf who can just pick me up and throw me against a wall!

 

[MrSquished]

Starts off by saying this:



So, that was written in 2012.

Now, I had a job in San Francisco in 2000 and they sent me to Philadelphia 3 times, each for a few days, to consult with a company they had contracted to work up an online system for them (the company I was visiting had developed a system that was reusable but it had to be customized for each customer). While in Philadelphia I noticed that the locals were exceptionally fat compared to what I was used to seeing in the region I was living in. This last Thursday I went to Costco (in Richmond, across the bay from San Francisco) and had the same feeling I'd had in Philadelphia over 20 years ago except that this time I was in my own region. I concluded that people have gotten a lot fatter here in the last 20+ years. Judging from a quick glance around at the 40 or so people I had a good look at, every one was overweight or obese with the exception of one woman, who I took to be an employee (she was 50 feet from me but she had that gait).

Went camping in upstate New York in September in the middle of nowhere. When we went to a Walmart and a Lowe's and a dollar store to get supplies I saw more super fat people in that one hour that I've seen where I live in like two three weeks, if not a month.

 

[Mai72]

A recent study on colon cancer is alarming. Young people, those under 40 are getting colon cancer at a very fast clip. Its an average of 2% per year increase. It doesn't sound like much, but if this continues think what 20 years will look like. I've noticeed so many young people who eat nothing but processed foods every day. Hoagies, milkshakes, energy drinks, lunchmeat sandwiches, fast food, processed pizza, tasty cakes, donuts, etc. Nothing is fresh. Now, that 20 is year is pushing 40. Twenty years of eating nothing but processed foods. The cancer/ heart attacks among the young are going to skyrocket.

The US military is alarmed at the obseity rates of our youth.

Mission heaviness: Obesity poses serious threat to U.S. military readiness, study warns

Researchers say the rise in the number of overweight people limits numbers of available recruits for military service.

studyfinds.org

 

[Muse]

A recent study on colon cancer is alarming. Young people, those under 40 are getting colon cancer at a very fast clip. Its an average of 2% per year increase. It doesn't sound like much, but if this continues think what 20 years will look like. I've noticeed so many young people who eat nothing but processed foods every day. Hoagies, milkshakes, energy drinks, lunchmeat sandwiches, fast food, processed pizza, tasty cakes, donuts, etc. Nothing is fresh. Now, that 20 is year is pushing 40. Twenty years of eating nothing but processed foods. The cancer/ heart attacks among the young are going to skyrocket.

The US military is alarmed at the obseity rates of our youth.

Mission heaviness: Obesity poses serious threat to U.S. military readiness, study warns

Researchers say the rise in the number of overweight people limits numbers of available recruits for military service.

studyfinds.org

When I take notice of the fatsos around me (I don't go out that much, pandemic and all... I do skate every day but don't see crowds doing that), I am alarmed, to put it mildly. I eat a toasted Costco bagel with ~1/3 ounce cream cheese every morning and a small cup of hot cocoa. I figure I should maybe stop doing that. My diet is so so, no fast food at all, no cakes, basically no canned food, nothing from the freezer section. I prep 99% of my meals, a decent salad every day.

 

[Torn Mind]

A recent study on colon cancer is alarming. Young people, those under 40 are getting colon cancer at a very fast clip. Its an average of 2% per year increase. It doesn't sound like much, but if this continues think what 20 years will look like. I've noticeed so many young people who eat nothing but processed foods every day. Hoagies, milkshakes, energy drinks, lunchmeat sandwiches, fast food, processed pizza, tasty cakes, donuts, etc. Nothing is fresh. Now, that 20 is year is pushing 40. Twenty years of eating nothing but processed foods. The cancer/ heart attacks among the young are going to skyrocket.

The US military is alarmed at the obseity rates of our youth.

Mission heaviness: Obesity poses serious threat to U.S. military readiness, study warns

Researchers say the rise in the number of overweight people limits numbers of available recruits for military service.

studyfinds.org

Freshness has little to do with the effects of simple carb bomb and the resulting release of insulin. White rice is going to do the same. Fruit consumption must be done with care to make sure overconsumption of sugars is avoided.
Deli meat is nasty stuff, compounded by the preservatives used.
The oil used in donuts, etc may also be a factor in harming the colon.
In addition, the SAD diet may be deficient in vitamins like C, K1, K2, etc and possibly minerals like calcium.

As far as my family history goes, seems mom's side is quite certain in getting cancer of some form, which may be due to the diet (Chinese food from Shanghai), and it goes far back, before any Standard American diet existed. No one is fat in the family, but there is a fondness/addiction for similar foods that fat people consume, like sweets, frying in vegetable oil, and the stir-fry meat is always coated in cornstarch.