I learned a valuable lesson about eating healthy!

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I'm waiting for Jayson's book to come out -- "The Space Alien Monkeys Ate My Poo Diet".

 

[Jayson]

Probably the single most important thing you can do is start reading nutrition labels and steering clear of anything with high percentages of Saturated Fat, Colesterol, or even salt. And of course, limit fast food to a 'treat' item rather than a regular meal source. It really is amazing how much fat gets into what most of these places serve. Hell a slice of lard on a bun might actually be healthier than a lot of this stuff.

In general, eating more fish and chicken is a good idea as well. Nowadays when I cook I almost alway s use chicken instead. Ground chicken nachos or sphegetti sauce are teh yummeh!

Taking a daily aspirin and a fish/flaxseed oil dietary suppliment might not be a bad idea either.

I've heard about the aspirin thing. My mom takes one a day also. Is it really good for you? I always thought it was supose to be bad for you if you keep taking them all the time but then it seems like there was a change in opinion so the whole thing has been kind of confusing to me.

Jason

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Jason, How about a multi-vitamin?

 

[RJDiogenes]

The last time I went through the Drive-Thru at Burger King, there was an ad for a burger that was about six stories high; I was tempted, but I had already ordered a Chicken Sandwich.

Jayson, you should switch to drinking Iced Tea. There are a bunch of great brands out there now. Also, Healthy Choice, Smart Ones and Lean Cuisine make a ton of great-tasting and healthy TV dinners. The Paninis and the Flatbread Melts, in particular, are as tasty as junk food.

 

[StolenThunder]

I've heard about the aspirin thing. My mom takes one a day also. Is it really good for you?

Jury's out on aspirin if you've not had problems before (like a stroke or angina or a heart attack or problems with the blood vessels in your legs). If you take it every day, the chance of it preventing a heart attack balances with the chance of it causing serious bleeding.*

So for the individual it really comes down to what you think your risk is (Is your cholesterol high? Are you a diabetic? Do you smoke? How's your blood pressure? etc.), and also whether you want to take medication every day.

*For anyone interested, there was a meta-analysis this past month in The Lancet.

 

[freak]

I have also found out that fast food is not the best option for me as well. It raises my cholestoral levels, plus my weight becomes elevated. I've been eating more fruits, vegetables, salads, etc and have noticed that I've dropped about 7 lbs in three weeks. I also love drinking diet soda but have stopped it somewhat and am drinking low sugar juice drinks. I might need to start drinking more iced tea though.

 

[SicOne]

...
Sadly, I have yet to attempt a reduced version of the diet, eating more healthy foods while reducing greatly my junk food and pop, and I have ballooned back up to my previous weight, completely negating all of the hard three weeks I spent.

I guess the long-winded moral of the story is, don't take on a strict diet that you're not fully prepared to see through to the end. Find a diet that gives you a happy medium. If you begin to see good results and feel more healthy and fit, then you can look into a more strict regimen, but if you try and do too much, you're more likely to fail and not get back on the horse. If Strength For Life is a diet thoroughbred, then I guess I'm looking more for an old paint I can mosey along on, on my schedule (or, more specifically, lack thereof).

Hope this helps, and happy trails, cowboys.

The problem here, and this is the problem I see with the whole concept of going on a "diet" is that it is a temporary change until the desired weight is lost. That concept makes people endure a miserable eating experience and deny themselves of things they enjoy but only for a while. They do it because it is only temporary. However, if you want the weight to stay off, the change can't be temporary, it has to be permanent. So, if you want to be successful in the long term, you must figure out how to change your eating habits in such a way that you can do it forever.

Yeah. (sobs...) I know. (more sobs)

(tucks whole face into a mixing bowl filled with Blue Bunny Bunny Tracks ice cream)