You know fast food is bad for you...

Hmmm.... some valid points Max.

I already posted what´s in a McDonalds bun.
Let´s have a look at Subways.

9-GRAIN WHEAT Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, barley malt, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate,
riboflavin, folic acid), water, yeast, high fructose corn syrup, whole wheat flour, wheat gluten, contains
2% or less of the following: oat fiber, soybean oil, salt, wheat bran, rolled wheat, rye nuggets, dough
conditioners (DATEM, sodium stearoyl lactylate), yeast nutrients (calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate),
degermed yellow corn meal, rolled oats, rye flakes, caramel color, triticale flakes, parboiled brown rice,
refinery syrup, honey, barley flakes, flaxseed, millet, sorghum flour, azodiacarbonamide, natural flavor
(maltodextrin, natural flavor, silicon dioxide, lactic acid). Contains wheat.
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How about the Subways beef?

STEAK Beef, beef broth (water, beef stock), seasoning (hydrolyzed soy protein, salt, dextrose,
modified corn starch, sodium phosphates, beef extract, soy sauce powder [soy sauce (soybeans, salt,
alcohol) maltodextrin, salt], yeast extract, natural and artificial flavor, grill flavor [maltodextrin, grill flavor
(from vegetable oil), modified corn starch, corn syrup solids]), beef flavor (water, natural flavors, beef
fat, gelatin/gum arabic coacervate, xanthan gum, citric acid, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate and
soybean oil). Rubbed with: salt, maltodextrin, modified corn starch, dextrose, caramel color, beef
extract, garlic powder, onion powder, natural flavor. May contain tomato, lemon, onions, peppers,
hydrolyzed corn protein, autolyzed yeast extract, modified food starch, acacia gum, sunflower oil,
tricalcium phosphate, silicon dioxide, spices and sulfites. Contains soy.
Click to expand...

That Philly Cheese Steak has 520 cal. most of the from fat.
It also has all that bad stuff in it as you can see from the excerpt above.

So at your rules, the Subway PCS is pure junkfood.

Yes, I know Subways offers Turkey Breast Salad @ 110 cal. and if you take the Italian dressing you can eat under 150 cal.

But why should you? A 35 year old man - mostly shining a chair with his arse all day long should eat between 2000 and 2500 cal. a day to stay in shape. That´s a lot of turkey salad.

Most food is processed. Ham, bacon, salami - unless you can afford to buy strictly organic food - it all has that bad stuff - more or less. I would say almost everything you buy in a supermarket (except sheer meet, fruit and fresh veggies), is in that league.

Ask your bakery if they only use flour, water, salt and natural yeast. I doubt it. It would not work in their machines.

The vitamins in apples - for example - decreased at a rate of almost 50% over the last 20 years - salad from greenhouses is almost worthless, tomatoes taste like water (until they not genfood) and don´t get me into soy.

It´s a disaster.

I´m not against eating unprocessed food, if you can find some (and afford it).
But I think it makes no big difference if you eat at a fastfood chain, at a regular Diner/Restaurant or prepare your own meals at home with stuff from the supermarket (given that, whatever you eat, you eat reasonably).

Frank

http://www.subway.com/applications/NutritionInfo/Files/NutritionValues.pdf
http://www.subway.com/applications/NutritionInfo/Files/usProdIngredients.pdf
 
As some of you know I've recently started down a path of reversing my poor diet habits, including beginning an intense workout regime. While the program did include a planned diet to follow, I chose not to use it and instead have been trying to understand nutrition for myself. Not because I don't think theirs works, certainly it does, but because I need to understand it so I can put it into play when I'm not following the program strictly, and when I go out to eat, or go to someone's house to eat, etc. I want to have knowledge for making the decisions on what I eat and why.

I say all that to say this ... reading through this thread, and based on my research now 4+ weeks into the program ... nutrition is confusing. I don't want, nor do I believe I need, a degree in nutrition to be prepared to make proper choices, but there is so much information, and so many factors, and so many people saying just the opposite of others on the same matter. As a general consumer it makes me want to give up sometimes.

I read one thing that tells me carbs are evil, then another tells me they are necessary, then another tells me it depends on what kind and how complex, but I can't seem to get a handle on how much of each kind I should, or shouldn't consume and how that translates to the foods I purchase or like. I hear that protein is good and important, then hear that too much protein is dangerous. I read about BMR and that once you know what yours is, you should consume at least that much, otherwise your body will go into starvation mode and produce cortisol and make you retain or increase weight. Then elsewhere I hear that you should work to consume less than that amount in order to lose.

I understand why the majority of American's just pull into the nearest fast food joint. Besides being overly busy (which is its own problematic topic), it's simple. I can pull in and a few minutes later leave with something that resembles a meal. I don't know how much of what is in it, and if someone made me stop and think about it, I'd certainly agree it was probably not the healthiest choice. But it's rationalized by the fact it looks like a meal and I don't have to think about it.

But all that said, I am glad I am educating myself. I hope to get myself into relatively decent health as I approach my 40s, so that the last half of my life might go nearly as well as the first half. I've been fortunate to be relatively healthy in spite of my poor eating choices, but I know time is against me and I need to improve my choices before my body forces me too.
 
Larry Rutledge said:
A... nutrition is confusing. I don't want, nor do I believe I need, a degree in nutrition to be prepared to make proper choices, but there is so much information, and so many factors, and so many people saying just the opposite of others on the same matter..
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Word!

The problem is that there is so much oppositional information out there, that it is like no information at all.

When it comes to nutrition and you love steaks, bacon and eggs, go to university A and have professor B telly you that a 20 year study on 10000 nurses said that steaks and bacon is good for you but avoid carbs.

If you into bread and spaghetti, go to university C and have professor D telling you that you have to avoid steak and bacon but eat more carbs.

That story goes on. Actually I think they all have no clue at all.

Fat is bad, salt is bad, sugar is bad, aspartame is bad, carbs are bad, milk is bad, fruit juice is bad. Hey, what´s left?

Listen to your body and forget all that rubbish.

Frank
 
To make matters more confusing what may represent a near-ideal diet for Larry may or may not be suitable for me, at all, and vice-versa - your genetic heritage makes a difference in terms of what will work well for you metabolically (witness the horrendous effects of the USDA-structured diet upon the Pima Indians, and the dramatic reversal in health problems they obtained by switching to a diet more similar to their traditional ways of eating...)
 
Larry Rutledge said:
As some of you know I've recently started down a path of reversing my poor diet habits, including beginning an intense workout regime. While the program did include a planned diet to follow, I chose not to use it and instead have been trying to understand nutrition for myself. Not because I don't think theirs works, certainly it does, but because I need to understand it so I can put it into play when I'm not following the program strictly, and when I go out to eat, or go to someone's house to eat, etc. I want to have knowledge for making the decisions on what I eat and why.
Click to expand...

Both my parents had pretty poor dietary habits living in the US and died in their 60's. My grandmother outlived both of them while living in a third world country. Her rule was that she would never eat a meal she did not prepare herself. She died at the age of 86.
 
Sad Max said:
I think that how one handles stress (which comes in at least two flavors, eustress and distress, that is, positive and negative stressors) is more important than simply the degree to which one is under stress. If you are effective in containing and resolving distress - which is a learned skill - you will suffer less harm than someone in the same position who, well, goes to pieces so fast that bystanders get wounded by shrapnel.

Being stressed out does not exempt your body from basic chemistry, or physics; if you burn more calories than you consume you will lose mass.
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+1

This is the point I was making all along. Stress is not an excuse. It is a major factor, but it is not an excuse. The body comes equipped with ways of dealing with all types of stress, but how you allocate energy toward those feelings determines the level of health wherein you fall: You can either stuff your face when something made you sad, or get completely trashed, or explore any of your vices; or you can rationalize your problems as a thinking human and learn something from the pain without giving in. Once you give in enough times, it becomes a habit.
 
I meant to post this yesterday but it slipped my mind. I think it's fitting...

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I AGREE
 
Rick Meyer said:
I meant to post this yesterday but it slipped my mind. I think it's fitting...
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I AGREE
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"And if you don't drink 56 bottles of water a week, many doctors say at the end of the week, you should take a garden hose and shove it up your @$$!!!" :grin: :grin: :grin:
 
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Nutrition is not confusing.

If you want to lose weight and stay healthy, eat fewer that 10 grams of fat each day. Limit saturated fat to 3 of those 10 grams. Avoid all trans fat. Always eat whole grains. Consume 3 or 4 fruits and 3 or 4 vegetables each day. Only drink water. Limit alcohol to one drink per day. Limit sweets to one serving per day.

It's that simple.
 
Jordan_S said:
Nutrition is not confusing.

If you want to lose weight and stay healthy, eat fewer that 10 grams of fat each day. Limit saturated fat to 3 of those 10 grams. Avoid all trans fat. Always eat whole grains. Consume 3 or 4 fruits and 3 or 4 vegetables each day. Only drink water. Limit alcohol to one drink per day. Limit sweets to one serving per day.

It's that simple.
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For those who claim that nutrition is confusing, you've just made their point.
 
Postmaster said:
I think it makes no big difference if you eat at a fastfood chain, at a regular Diner/Restaurant or prepare your own meals at home with stuff from the supermarket (given that, whatever you eat, you eat reasonably).
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It's not just about what's in the food, but how much of it.

I'm no expert, but based on taste, looks and what's refered to as "common knowledge" I'm willing to bet my bucks the meat in a McDonald's burger has more chemicals in it and is made from poorer quality meat than the average supermarket hamburger.

Also, from what I hear, the reason food in restaurants taste so good is the first thing they put in the frying pan is butter and the last thing they put in the frying pan is butter.

I've got no statistical evidence to back this up, but it does seem like a reasonable truth, doesn't it?

When I cook at home I use rapeseed oil, not butter or lard. Does that particular choice make a difference in the end? I don't know, I'm not a nutrition expert.
But I do have a choice what I put in the food. At a restaurant, I don't.
So saying it makes no difference can't be right.
 
And, just for giggles, why not make you own hamburger, using whatever you consider high-quality foodstuffs, and fries and leave it out on the counter.

It, too, will stay pretty much the same as the McD's version....that's just how beef and bread behave when left to dry in the open air. Nothing to do with preservatives, et al.
 
GenJerDan said:
And, just for giggles, why not make you own hamburger, using whatever you consider high-quality foodstuffs, and fries and leave it out on the counter.

It, too, will stay pretty much the same as the McD's version....that's just how beef and bread behave when left to dry in the open air. Nothing to do with preservatives, et al.
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I'll take that bet.

Heat season is over here and it's becomming winter time, but if I buy ground beef and make a hamburger, fry it up and leave it on a plate no way will it not stink up the place and rot if I just leave it there. Because THAT's what meat does.
 
Jordan_S said:
Nutrition is not confusing.

If you want to lose weight and stay healthy, eat fewer that 10 grams of fat each day. Limit saturated fat to 3 of those 10 grams. Avoid all trans fat. Always eat whole grains. Consume 3 or 4 fruits and 3 or 4 vegetables each day. Only drink water. Limit alcohol to one drink per day. Limit sweets to one serving per day.

It's that simple.
Click to expand...

That sounds great, but it just isn't that simple for everyone. I condone everything above, but losing weight and staying healthy depend on a lot more.
 
jscottprice said:
That sounds great, but it just isn't that simple for everyone. I condone everything above, but losing weight and staying healthy depend on a lot more.
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Losing weight depends on nothing else. Ten years ago, I lost 50 lbs. in two months eating exactly as I described, with one exception: once a week I ate a meal of whatever I wanted. Today, I'm (still) 6'3" and I weigh 160 lb. I run anywhere between 5 and 12 km a day, six days a week. During the summer I also swim a km a day. Ten years ago, I was a smoker with a beer belly, who tried running a few times but had to stop because of the pain everywhere.

The fact of the matter is that the food you consume is the most important contributor to health. Once a healthy diet has become routine, it's much easier to add exercise, spirituality, and positive social outlets. As they say, you are what you eat.

I guess you could point out that this is not the case for everyone, but I am referring to general rules, not exceptions.
 
Jordan_S said:
Losing weight depends on nothing else. Ten years ago, I lost 50 lbs. in two months eating exactly as I described, with one exception: once a week I ate a meal of whatever I wanted. Today, I'm (still) 6'3" and I weigh 160 lb. I run anywhere between 5 and 12 km a day, six days a week. During the summer I also swim a km a day. Ten years ago, I was a smoker with a beer belly, who tried running a few times but had to stop because of the pain everywhere.

The fact of the matter is that the food you consume is the most important contributor to health. Once a healthy diet has become routine, it's much easier to add exercise, spirituality, and positive social outlets. As they say, you are what you eat.

I guess you could point out that this is not the case for everyone, but I am referring to general rules, not exceptions.
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You're also male.
 
Hawk Teflon said:
Don't even get me started on the bo'berry biscuits.
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Thanks, Hawk. I have not ordered one of these in a long time, and this morning as I was on my way to a meeting and needed to grab breakfast (coffee mostly), I thought back to this thread and your mention of those blasted BoBerry biscuits. That is what I ended up getting today.

Yes, it was a conscious choice. I own that. But I still blame you. :thumbsup:

Stunningly, I looked at their nutrition information just now and those things are not as nasty as I had suspected. (LINK) Of course, they sell the biscuits in pairs...
 
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