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I was in Northern Italy, close to the Alps... North of Venice. So there was Mediterranean food there, but it wasn't exactly a Mediterranean diet like in Southern Italy.
When I travel, a lot of times I'll order the strangest thing I can find on the menu. While I was there I had duck, horse, various kinds of seafood, mutton, humus, asparagus, cabbage, rare pork. A really wide variety of stuff, interspersed by pizza and beer because that's an easy choice. All of it was great... I didn't have a single meal there that I didn't like.
Every place we went had 'house wine' on the menu. I don't know much about wine except that I like *all* of it. These house wines were pretty simple... nothing super dry or oaky. Just really nice barely sweet red or white for maybe 3 to 5 Euros per glass. I usually just ordered a liter of the red wine... and maybe another liter sometimes . I never even had a hangover!
What I really liked there was the cheese and cured meat. They had that at a lot of places as appetizers, sometimes as meals. We weren't far from Asiago, so there was a lot of that cheese around, others too. Often with prosciutto, bresaola, nice mouldy salami, etc.
I think the food there was just better quality. And variety is a good thing. Whatever the reason, the food there just really agreed with my system. I was every bit the glutton that they probably expect of a fat redneck American... and I actually lost weight.
It's been a LONG time since I lived in Japan, but what I noticed about the Japanese is that, while they had rice at every meal, portions were much smaller than what we eat. The walked a lot everywhere, and they ate no sugar, no sweets, no baked goods. Rice was pretty much their *only* simple carb. They would occasionally have sweet buns and other treats at festivals. Even those fillings were made with "sweet beans." One of their grocery stores had beautiful pastries, mini-cakes. When I ate them, I thought the were terrible. They used very little sugar if any. I'd probably enjoy them more today.
You're right. Rice and noodles are the carbs that Asian food bring to my mind. I've never been there, and had been under the impression that poor Asians ate a lot of rice, but maybe that is their equivalent of our poor eating at fast food places or nuke food.
I cook Thai, Japanese, and Chinese, and as far as salt there just isn't any. I've never seen salt on a recipe in any of these cuisines. They use nam pla (fish sauce) to add any saltiness, and also adds that umami taste some of us like. Without Googling I'll say that Asians consume A LOT MORE seafood than Americans. (Me too.)
Alas some but not most Asian dishes are sweet. And me not having a sweet tooth I don't like them. Well, sweet 'n sour, who doesn't like that? (It's an example of an unhealthy treat I sometimes have.)
You're right. Rice and noodles are the carbs that Asian food bring to my mind. I've never been there, and had been under the impression that poor Asians ate a lot of rice, but maybe that is their equivalent of our poor eating at fast food places or nuke food.
I cook Thai, Japanese, and Chinese, and as far as salt there just isn't any. I've never seen salt on a recipe in any of these cuisines. They use nam pla (fish sauce) to add any saltiness, and also adds that umami taste some of us like. Without Googling I'll say that Asians consume A LOT MORE seafood than Americans. (Me too.)
Alas some but not most Asian dishes are sweet. And me not having a sweet tooth I don't like them. Well, sweet 'n sour, who doesn't like that? (It's an example of an unhealthy treat I sometimes have.)
No, the poor Japanese don't really just subsist on rice and gobs of it. At least 20 years ago, they just eat a variety of things but in much smaller quantities than we do. When I went out and ordered rice, it was just a small serving with varied veggies on top and some protein. Haven't been there in a while and I'm sure it's all changing.
That's for sure.
A few years back my gall bladder blew up and they had to remove it the old fashioned way.
I was in the hospital for a week. They knew I was a diabetic, yet were still trying to feed me sugar!
I told them that they were not going to feed me that crap. I also had to tell them how much insulin to give me.
How is it possible that a hospital doesn't know a damn thing about diabetes??
The vast majority of people, including healthcare workers eat the "SAD" diet(standard american diet). Many don't have the will power to change or simply don't care. Things are changing in hospitals, but very slowly. I don't know if you've seen the "Forks Over Knives" documentary on Netflix. A plant based lifestyle is very beneficial. Heart surgeons that do bypass surgery are often recommending plant based vegan diets to their patients following major heart surgery like bypass(CABG). I work for a University of Michigan affiliate hospital and a surgeon there created a plant based menu for his patients, many items don't have added sugar. So there is healthy options but it's limited. The best thing to do is complain to your hospital to offer better options, and in the mean time have a family member bring in food.
Seeing people dying of cancer and heart disease is eye opening. It motivates me to eat whole food plant based vegan. I'm not saying it'll save you from cancer, etc, but it does help with overall health. You can stay pretty slim and feel better. Some have reversed their diabetes eating that way. I supplement with b12, vitamin D, and other nutrients occasionally. And eat foods with omega 3's like ground flax seed. My wife bought a instant pot which has been helpful.
Last edited by Matthew_MI; 12-25-2018 at 02:32 PM..
You should understand your own body including your triglyceride behavior. Like in my case IIRC my LDLs are a bit high but my HDLs are high enough that the ratio is healthy enough to not have it be of concern.
I don't have any problem eating meat or fat, except simply the calories in whatever fat. In fact today I may have just prime rib, a bit of horseradish, maybe a veggie, and some wine with that.
I'm on a diet and I sometimes eat sorta-keto meals, although I think only specific people benefit from a full keto diet and I am certain I am not one of them.
Part of the problem is motivation, part of the problem is having the ability to understand nutrition and become informed, but in the end most people remain or become fat because they are weak willed or are medicating themselves with food because it always makes them feel better. And frankly, who doesn't enjoy eating? Very few.
Self control is a survival skill. On the average the more you have the more likely you are to live longer.
I agree one can eat healthy and still stay on a budget; I also think maybe your comment is a little self righteous. I can give you an example: I happen to be overweight; I am 80 years old, majored in nutrition in college, am thought of as a very good cook and I keep up with trends in what is healthy and not healthy. I also know people who are not over weight and eat crap a lot. There are a lot of things that contribute to having weight problems and health related problems. Yes many are too lazy or ignorant so they do not make good choices but to say everyone who eats unhealthy is ignorant or poorly educated is way over the top!!!!
Lack of exercise also leads to weight gain and some is related to genes: yes, that is the truth.
I agree about the self-righteous tone. Let's see, are they all lazy or are they just ignorant?
Frankly, it's been a couple or three generations now that people have been cooking mostly using convenience foods and the last generation even abandoning that. I don't blame younger people too much since they never saw anyone in their family cooking meals!
To extend the generational thing...all these "older" folks who put on weight and are now so preachy - let's see, you're retired now? So you not only can reach back and remember how you used to cook and put those old recipes to good use, but you also have all that time to plan meals, shop, and cook. Plus have all the time you apparently didn't use for working out before, since you put on that weight SOMEHOW, correct?
I'm glad to hear there is hope for the rest of us that it's possible to lose weight when you're 60 and older...maybe I'll have the time to do it when I hit that age! I'm just kinda half kidding.
I don't think everyone realizes how much obesity costs our society. There's 400-600lbs people in hospitals. Workers have to break their backs moving them around. They can't work so we pay for their medical bills. On top of it, many of the hospitals still have unhealthy menus. So, they can gain even more weight while in the hospital. When people are that large they often have heart, diabetes, breathing issues, skin wounds that require a massive amount of special supplies and a special bed. A few of my co-workers have been injured recently, because overweight patients need to be re-adjusted in their hospital beds often, and it leads to strains and back issues. Some are extremely demanding, pushing their call light every few minutes to move them, make a sandwich, get them soda from the fridge, etc.
When I worked on an ambulance they need specialized equipment, including winches to extricate people from their homes. Sometimes, walls needed to be removed.
You are talking extreme obesity, not what most of us are discussing. I don't know about others but I am referring to people that are maybe 40 or 50 lbs over weight. Some of these people are considered obese but do not weigh 300 lbs or more like the ones you are talking about.
I've been giving it a lot of thought this year as I lost 70 pounds in a bit over a year. I had been fat for only a short time (1-2 years max) and it has been a long struggle, I'm now down to BMI 22 so I'm normal now, and I have noticed some of the effects which I attribute to age and diet. Fortunately my weight loss taking place for more than a year (slowly) probably helped me, my theory is it may have given my skin more time to adjust to the smaller amount of guts inside.
In the end I decided that being healthy is the most important thing, feeling good and energetic second, and when it comes to my attractiveness to the other gender I guess I'll just bet that having a few wrinkles and sags beats having a pot belly, love handles, and a big rear end.
My kind of people! I haven't bought anything "gifty" lately but yesterday I was pondering my fitness program and wanted to use the body fat monitor at my LA Fitness, but they closed early. I looked on Amazon and they have the same Omron monitor for $35, so my Xmas present will be here Thursday.
I have a step-on scale with body fat readout (and BMI) but fat testing involves a small electric current, and in a step-on scale it can measure only body fat below the waist. The ideal BF monitor would have you stand on two electrodes and hold two others; that would get the best result of your WHOLE body.
I bought the Omron to measure BF through my arms and chest, it's a hand-held monitor. If nothing else I'll have two opinions of my body fat. I think the hand held will be a better indication of my body fat, and body fat is really more important than BMI. When you have a good BMI you should switch over to monitoring body fat, not BMI.
Just to add, BMI is a screening tool. It is a pop replacement for a full health assessment, but I think it is productive for people to use all the tools they have to achieve the best health they can.
My Fitbit has changed my life this year. (Any fitness watch would.) It keeps refocusing me on my goals. Each night before bed I go through ALL the readouts on my Fitbit app and scale app. Some may think obsessing is bad, but my obsessing combined with my sometimes not perfect diet control are working for me. Today I am 2 pounds above the exact middle normal BMI for my height.
OMG I cannot imagine an obese patient patient has no nutritionist working with them.
The sad thing is that most people could be physically fit if only they went to the effort to exercise and to eat a healthy diet.
It seems simple but most of America missed the message, particularly if you subtract that lucky group who seems to have perfect health without doing anything. I have perfect health but I have to work my butt off for it.
glad you have worked so hard to lose so much weight and learned to exercise as well. I doubt you are in the age group I am talking about. Are you 70 plus years old? Those are the people I am referring to. if you do not think skin starts to sag as we approach 70 you need to pay more attention. I am not saying everyone, I am generalizing.
I agree about the self-righteous tone. Let's see, are they all lazy or are they just ignorant?
Frankly, it's been a couple or three generations now that people have been cooking mostly using convenience foods and the last generation even abandoning that. I don't blame younger people too much since they never saw anyone in their family cooking meals!
To extend the generational thing...all these "older" folks who put on weight and are now so preachy - let's see, you're retired now? So you not only can reach back and remember how you used to cook and put those old recipes to good use, but you also have all that time to plan meals, shop, and cook. Plus have all the time you apparently didn't use for working out before, since you put on that weight SOMEHOW, correct?
I'm glad to hear there is hope for the rest of us that it's possible to lose weight when you're 60 and older...maybe I'll have the time to do it when I hit that age! I'm just kinda half kidding.
I agree with most of what you are saying and yes certainly many young families are so busy they do not have time or seem to not find the time to eat healthy or they spend time in fast food restaurant or order take out several times a week cause of their busy schedules. I give the younger members of my family credit for trying to eat healthy and exercising. They still do the "fast food" game a few times a week. And yes, as we get older we have more time to cook. The problem, too many, even with the time still do not do a lot of cooking or, in honesty, in my case i do a lot of cooking but I totally love eating. No, not a lot of fat foods, but enough that requires more time exercising and I don't mean exercising my fingers on the computer.
I still have a problem with people who are preachy. I always will.
also watch "the magic pill" of Netflix its a game-changer
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. I never even had a hangover!
