Can we not make this yet another thread about how irresponsible and lazy fat people are?
Or one that implies changes in nutrition and exercise or mainly/solely valuable as tools for weight loss, rather than their impact on mental and physical health irrespective of bodyweight.
This is why I grow lettuce in my garden - no way could I afford as much lettuce as we normally eat in the summer - not because we’re low-carb but because we eat mostly vegees and you need variety. I’ve got 8 types of lettuce in the garden this year, most of which are very expensive “gourmet” varieties if you see them in the store.
Actually, this year the lettuce is doing so well I’m giving away bags of the stuff, mainly to two friends I know on disability who are even worse off financially than I am right now. I can’t really help them any other way, but at least they have good food to eat.
Its off topic, but how far off are you and your husband from qualifying for SS? To me, the period of age 50 until I hit retirement (60s) sounds terrifying from a financial perspective. Employers don’t want you anymore and are trying to push you out, but you are too young to qualify for SS and medicare to stay afloat. It seems like a period where a lot of people metaphorically fall off the edge of the earth and just struggle endlessly with finances.
Also, I read that in Indiana the HIP plan is planning to accept 8000 new childless adults starting august 1st. So you might want to reapply.
I’m in my mid-40’s, spouse in mid-50’s. So, a few years.
We’ve been on HIP for… three years now I think? Trust me, as soon as I get the notice to re-up I’m on it. I don’t know how we’d cope without it.
If America had a huge scurvy problem, conversations about nutrition would focus on vitamin C. 99% of the time, being overweight is a sign something is going wrong in your diet.There is no way to discuss a healthy diet without weight being both a huge proxy indicator and an end in itself. Even the best diet in the world is bad for you if you eat too much and end up with diabetes and bad knees. And this IS the primary challenge to a healthy diet in America. We are not missing macronutients. We are not vitamin deficient. We are ot getting ricketts or scurvy. We are not plagued with goiter. Why should we pussyfoot around the problem?
I don’t know that Atkins and Pollan are that far apart. Once you accept that at its core Atkins is not “all meat all the time” and that Pollans “mostly plants” is followed by a subguideline that the mostly plants is ‘mostly leaves’ - not plates full of french fries and mashed potatoes - you have pretty similar nutritional guidelines when you get to a mature phase (i.e. not Atkins for weightloss, but Atkins as a healthy maintenance diet). Which looks a lot like the USDA “plate.”
My experience trying different ways of eating has led me to conclude that it’s mostly about vegetables. Vegetables are an amazing miracle food. I tried paleo once, and while it didn’t exactly work out for me long-term, the one thing I learned is that eating mostly vegetables can make you feel like a new and improved version of yourself. Fresh vegetables in every color of the rainbow, raw and steamed. Carrots, beans, broccoli, cabbage, kale, spinach, radishes, tomatoes (yeah I know it’s technically a fruit, but tomatoes are wonderful.) I only wish I liked things like eggplant, squash, beets and sweet potatoes.
So I guess I’d come down on the Pollan side. Whole foods, mostly plants. Throw in some lean protein, a little fruit, and you’re good.
Of course, knowing what to eat and actually doing it are two different things entirely.
I’m going to resurrect the 3 year old thread because science finally got around to studying this.
They studied 6 healthy diets. Low carb, low fat, low glycemic, Mediterranean, Paleo and vegan. The consensus seems to be that none is really special above the rest for health, but certain themes among the diets are important for health such as:
Avoid:
Processed foods
refined starches
Sugar
unhealthy fats (omega 6s. They don’t mention Trans fats but those are bad too)
Eat:
Plants
whole grains
Animals that were fed on plants (which is odd since wheat and corn are plants. I assume they meant grass fed beef is better than corn fed)
Lean meats
Sea animals
Healthy fats
That is my impression. I didn’t read the entire article, and I’m still confused about meats. I’m assuming grass fed red meat, seafood and lean meats (chicken, turkey, etc) are all ok while grain fed red meat is not. I don’t know if that is strictly due to the omega-3/omega-6 ratios in meats (hence avoiding grain fed red meat, but lean meats are ok) or what exactly.
If so, that sounds easier to stick with. You can combine the Mediterranean diet with the paleo and end up with a pretty wide variety of food by doing that (whole grains, seafood, grass fed meats, fats, vegetables, fruits, oils, nuts, legumes, dairy, etc).
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182351
Wesley that’s a very nice review and opinion piece but not a new study.
Its bottom line is that there are lots of healthy approaches to nutrition and the mostly share in common those common sense bits: little refined carbs; little added sugar; little processed foods; relatively litle of “certain fats”; lots of whole plant foods; and with or without lean meats, fish, poultry and seafood. And that, as this old thread illlustrates, the apparent competing claims by advocates for one diet or another that emphasize their differences create noise that overwhelms the signal.
Mulch.