Is it possible to be eat terrible food and be healthy? (vegetables, BMI)
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I'm a 21 year old male and I have a BMI of 21, I also have a blood pressure of 105/65 and last time I had my blood drawn everything came back better than "normal". I'm also healthy as far as I can tell by virtue of the fact there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with me and I'm in pretty normal shape. So its safe to say I'm healthy now.
I've been eating like a fat person since I went to school 3 years ago and I never really ate that healthy growing up. Not to say I eat horrible food but my diet isn't that well balanced and I eat a ton of food for my size (ie a whole pizza in one sitting). I do drink a lot of water though. With that I rarely go to the gym and my lifestyle is not that active, albeit probably more active than a lot of people in this country, I do much less than a "healthy" person should according to everything I've seen.
I like living like this, its super easy and I'm in the kind of shape I'm fine with. I have no problem with what's going on now. What does concern me is everything and everyone (aside from my doctor) is telling me I should be overweight, or have diabetes, or be on the verge of a heart attack. I'm worried that I'm either missing something or this is going to come to bite me in the ass later. Is it possible that I just lucked out and can put all this junk into my body while I'm still young and not suffer any consequences later?
EDIT: To be clear this isn't about weight but general health due to my diet.
A normal week's diet will usually look something like this
-Fast food 2-3 times a week, usually get taco bell or Jimmy Johns but I will eat at McDonald's and KFC occasionally as well.
-Cereal or eggs for breakfast, its either or.
-Lots of ramen noodles, usually eat one package a day at some point
-Usually have a ham and cheese sandwich when I have my ramen
-Mac & Cheese with hot dogs twice a week
-Some sort of salad or "rabbit food" meal 2-3x a week
-Eating out somewhere "nice" either for a date or with friends
-Maybe 3 Sodas a week, usually when I eat fast food
-Lots of water, like 6-8 20oz glasses
-Then I drink with friends about every other weekend and that's usually 5 or 6 beers
So as you can see that's not very healthy and I'm probably over 2000 calories a day with way too much salt but I don't gain weight.
Eventually, it's very possible your current diet will take its toll on your body. It's like putting bad fuel into a car's engine. Car will run for a while but then will begin to sputter and backfire...fuel lines, filters may get clogged. Might need a new transmission, engine re-build...
At 21, you can eat almost anything, your metabolism may burn up excess calories...but down the road a piece...uh oh...breakdowns ahead.
Eventually, it's very possible your current diet will take its toll on your body. It's like putting bad fuel into a car's engine. Car will run for a while but then will begin to sputter and backfire...fuel lines, filters may get clogged. Might need a new transmission, engine re-build...
At 21, you can eat almost anything, your metabolism may burn up excess calories...but down the road a piece...uh oh...breakdowns ahead.
Well that's my question, is what I do now going to cause a problem later? Or if I eat poorly now and then eat properly when I'm out of school and have a more reasonable schedule and budget will I be fine? I'm planning on going to grad school so I'm going to be doing this for a while.
To go back to your car metaphor is it like using old fuel and/or gas with too much ethanol? Where the damage occurs slowly and builds up over time? Or is it like using low octane fuel in an engine and it's either a problem or it isn't and it may become one over time once carbon builds up after normal use?
Last edited by Skinnyfat; 12-23-2013 at 10:53 AM..
Well that's my question, is what I do now going to cause a problem later? Or if I eat poorly now and then eat properly when I'm out of school and have a more reasonable schedule and budget will I be fine? I'm planning on going to grad school so I'm going to be doing this for a while.
To go back to your car metaphor is it like using old fuel and/or gas with too much ethanol? Where the damage occurs slowly and builds up over time? Or is it like using low octane fuel in an engine and it's either a problem or it isn't and it may become one over time once carbon builds up after normal use?
Let's not over-think this...it could be either/or, both or neither. Each vehicle/body is different. You may be blessed with super-genetics and never get diabetes, cancer, hypertension, heart attack or stroke. Or you may.
There's so much anecdotal evidence on both sides...I bet you've seen it?--
"My uncle ate four dozen donuts daily and four pounds of sausage, swigged a bottle of Jack Daniels every night, smoked 4 packs of cigs, never exercised and lived to be 104."
On the other hand, there are seemingly fit people who drop dead at 40 of a heart attack.
Maybe you can map a middle path of eating semi-good? Try to get a big salad of mixed greens and orange & red things (bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes) daily and eat salmon or tuna (canned is fine) a couple of times a week along with some sweet potatoes...
If you avoid too much sugar (whether high fructose or regular), ditch the sodas, and avoid garbagey white carbs like white bread and junky baked things filled with additives, and run from the trans-fats (partially hydrogenated fats) you'll probably be fine...
Throw in 30 minutes of some kind of exercise while you're at it...hard to start a car that just sits, day after day....it gets...sluggish, yes?
Seems you're worrying about your future health, a good thing to do, so invest in some decent fuel and running time for your vehicle/body now.
Just read something that sticks in my head about healthy foods versus unhealthy foods and how to tell them apart:
"If it goes BAD--it's GOOD for you."
"If it stays GOOD--it's BAD for you."
So go for the whole, raw, natural stuff without all the additives/preservatives.
A lot depends upon genetics. You are getting some nutrition with the salads and even some good from the junk food. But you are also getting chemical additives, lots of fat and sugars. and lots of calories.
In the old days, people probably ate worse (minus the chemical additives, of course) and lived. People in northern climates practically starved in winter and spring until they could get their gardens growing. Many people died from improper nutrition but there were always some who would survive. It's in the genes. If you had a close relative who died young from some illness that could have been prevented with a better diet, that's a red flag to watch for.
There are people today who can eat 2500 calories a day and not gain weight but they are few and far between. It's the genes, the metabolism. My grandmother ate like a horse but must have weighed 90 pounds and was never overweight in her life. Lived into her late 90s.
At your age I would guess that it's probably not doing as much harm as it would if you ate that way ten years from now. A lot of people don't put on weight until years later so I don't know why anyone would comment that you should weigh more.
I think at your age the body can repair itself more easily so if you have to take your chances with bad diet, it's best to do it now. Anyway, eggs are not bad for you. You aren't drinking as much soda as some people who come on here. You're getting some vegetables. When you have the time and the money, get on a healthy diet and maybe you will have won. (in other words, nobody really knows but that diet at a young age isn't going to hurt you as much as it would later on.)
And should you be curious and want to research this further (the relationship of food/nutrients and disease) you might want to read this article: Oxidative Stress In Disease
Most of our modern diseases are caused by oxidative stress/inflammation. If you eat in such a way to avoid/prevent this, you should remain healthy and disease-free for a long, long time.
If you treat your body as a garbage receptacle you will feel like garbage. Your current diet is a one way ticket to obesity and disease.
You do not need to do much, just cut way back on the fast food and incorporate a LOT more fresh veggies and fruits. Lose the ramen that crap is pure poison. Eat kosher hot dogs if you must eat them. Real home made mac and cheese sparingly. The Kraft boxed crap is poison as well.
You're not going to be able to eat a whole pizza at a sitting and get away with it for very long; that's just a benefit of youth. Enjoy it while you can, and cut back when you notice you're gaining weight.
But yes, you can eat what conventional nutritional wisdom considers terrible food and still be perfectly healthy. Mostly because conventional nutritional wisdom is crap. Personally I eat "terribly", basically a meat-based diet with starches and a little citrus but no green vegetables, and I'm still healthy with low cholesterol and a BMI just under 23.
You're not going to be able to eat a whole pizza at a sitting and get away with it for very long; that's just a benefit of youth. Enjoy it while you can, and cut back when you notice you're gaining weight.
But yes, you can eat what conventional nutritional wisdom considers terrible food and still be perfectly healthy. Mostly because conventional nutritional wisdom is crap. Personally I eat "terribly", basically a meat-based diet with starches and a little citrus but no green vegetables, and I'm still healthy with low cholesterol and a BMI just under 23.
Ok, so you're saying there really isn't going to be an accumulation of whatever makes bad food bad so long as the easily identifiable markers of my health stay in check? As in the things I mentioned above don't get out of whack.
I mean that's really all I'm worried about. If I started to gain weight I would just cut back on the crappy food.
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