Perpetual Healthy Eating and Fitness Rant & Rave thread

[Ice Cream]

  <--- Jessica is reading with me this morning

I think she likes animals.

[diablita]

good guess

[GreenMan]

Cravings sometimes pop up at weird times. I'm almost two weeks in, and last night I had the oddest urge for some malted milk balls.  It's not a deprivation thing, like with pizza or whatever; I haven't had mmb's in AGES.  I might have succumbed if I hadn't felt sorry for the malted milk men. 

[triciaflower]

qarhon good luck!! I LOVED how I felt when I was doing the whole30. If I could only make it through the entire 30 days!

It all comes down to planning.

I will start it again soon. This sugar fog is no bueno.

[Courtney]

from the whole 30 website:
"Sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes and dairy are all food groups that have significant potential down sides, and may not contribute positively to your health.
The more you eliminate these “less healthy” foods from your everyday diet, the healthier you will be."


Grains and legumes, really??  But we have covered this before.  Hundreds of times.

You know, just because you do fine with them, and don't want/need to give them up doesn't make it BS. 

[Run Amok]

You know, just because you do fine with them, and don't want/need to give them up doesn't make it BS. 

Whole grains, legumes, and dairy, are unhealthy? For everyone? 

[diablita]

Cravings sometimes pop up at weird times. I'm almost two weeks in, and last night I had the oddest urge for some malted milk balls.  It's not a deprivation thing, like with pizza or whatever; I haven't had mmb's in AGES.  I might have succumbed if I hadn't felt sorry for the malted milk men. 

[Courtney]

Whole grains, legumes, and dairy, are unhealthy? For everyone? 

To be clear, I have never said that. 

But I get tired of people acting like it's bs that some people may not find themselves feeling good while eating either of them. 

[Run Amok]

To be clear, I have never said that. 

But I get tired of people acting like it's bs that some people may not find themselves feeling good while eating either of them. 

I totally did not read her post that way. What I read is that she was questioning the whole 30's position that grains, legumes, and dairy are unhealthy foods. They make a pretty broad sweeping statement. Not, "some people don't feel well when they eat them", but "the less you eat of them, the healthier you'll be". Personally, I think that's a bs thing to say. But, my feeling that way doesn't have any impact whatsoever on whether or not some people feel better eliminating all of those things from their diet. *shrug*

[Courtney]

I'm perhaps oversensitive. 

[qarhon]

Thanks for the craving related tips - I'll make sure to stash a couple of Lara bars in my office in case I need something super convenient.

Day 1 has been easy, not surprisingly.  I'm tracking my food consumption to see which nutrients I need to focus on (fairly easy for veggies/fruit/meat) -- I'm getting plenty of Vitamin A, C, and folate but lacking in several other things (iron, calcium, Vit D and Vit B12 are all a bit low, but I didn't eat any red meat today). I can't really account for things beyond iron/calcium/vitC/vitA for foods with nutrition labels, though - so I'm not sure how much the canned salmon on my lunch salad contributed to those other categories.

I don't normally track, but it appears that my super filling meals today are lower total calories than I normally consume. I'm pretty happy with my current weight and will have to see if I need to adjust. Even with relatively low carb consumption and no grains, I'm still easily meeting daily recommended values for fiber intake.

[nadra24]

Since you're eating meat you should be fine on B12.  Calcium and vit D might be more tricky since you're not doing dairy, but D is hard to get in food anyway. Leafy greens are high in calcium, but they also contain compounds that make it harder to absorb the calcium.  Can you do nuts and seeds?  If it were me, I'd probably take a supplement and not worry about it, but if you're close to hitting your needs but not quite there I probably wouldn't worry about it too much.

[triciaflower]

Yes to nuts and seeds.

And about grains being "unhealthy." It doesn't necessarily say that. It basically says some people are more sensitive to some food items, and thus it calls for eliminating them for the month. The whole purpose is at the end, you gradually add them back into your diet (in moderation and if you desire) and see what causes problems. They give reasons these foods are especially prone to causing problems (mold on peanuts, for example, may not affect everyone.)

I found my biggest addiction is sugar. It is also the one thing that causes my brain fog and crankiness when I eat too much of it.

So, yes.. I'm with Courtney. But maybe I'm just sensitive too. 

[Courtney]

Yes to nuts and seeds.

And about grains being "unhealthy." It doesn't necessarily say that. It basically says some people are more sensitive to some food items, and thus it calls for eliminating them for the month. The whole purpose is at the end, you gradually add them back into your diet (in moderation and if you desire) and see what causes problems. They give reasons these foods are especially prone to causing problems (mold on peanuts, for example, may not affect everyone.)

I found my biggest addiction is sugar. It is also the one thing that causes my brain fog and crankiness when I eat too much of it.

So, yes.. I'm with Courtney. But maybe I'm just sensitive too. 

Hey, at least we are in good company.   

Sugar.     GAH. 

[triciaflower]

Hey, at least we are in good company.   

Sugar.     GAH. 

I know. I just ate a giant Tiger's Blood shaved ice from the local sno cone stand. It was SOOOOOO good. But now I'm tired. 

[qarhon]

Since you're eating meat you should be fine on B12.  Calcium and vit D might be more tricky since you're not doing dairy, but D is hard to get in food anyway. Leafy greens are high in calcium, but they also contain compounds that make it harder to absorb the calcium.  Can you do nuts and seeds?  If it were me, I'd probably take a supplement and not worry about it, but if you're close to hitting your needs but not quite there I probably wouldn't worry about it too much.

I'm thinking going back on a multivitamin is a good move for now, anyway. I managed to end up with a B12 deficiency on a non-vegetarian diet while taking a multivitamin, and am a bit concerned I might have other undiagnosed deficiencies (docs only checked for most likely ones, I was on the low end in several). I took high doses of individual supplements for several months but stopped the multi at the time...

Nuts/seeds is a great recommendation - I hadn't realized they were so nutrient-rich overall! 20%+ DV iron in an ounce of pumpkin seed kernels and ~30% DV calcium in an ounce of sesame seeds is way more than I expected...

[GreenMan]

I'm thinking going back on a multivitamin is a good move for now, anyway. I managed to end up with a B12 deficiency on a non-vegetarian diet while taking a multivitamin, and am a bit concerned I might have other undiagnosed deficiencies (docs only checked for most likely ones, I was on the low end in several).

Was me, I'd focus on the B complex. It's been many years since I took a nutrition class, but IIRC the B vitamins are crucial for the Krebs cycle, which is how you're converting food energy into body energy, and if that isn't operating at high efficiency now that you're changing energy soucres,  then you're likely to run down (and crave carbs -- IIRC sugar cravings, especially, may be a sign of B deficiencies, where the body thinks it's not getting enough food when actually it's just not converting enough).

[merigayle]

we eat a lot of nutritional yeast, that is very high in B vitamins.

[CheryG]

B deficiency in undiagnosed celiac patients.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11280545

While comparing nutritional yeast to animal sources of b vitamins, I learn that most nutritional yeast is fortified and that's why it's so high?

[merigayle]

yes it is fortified. I like giving it to DD because it is also has protein and iron in it. I make a paste out of it with a little earth balance spread for her tofu raviolis or gnocci.