Posts Tagged ‘unhealthy’

The worst (and best) magazines to read for a healthy lifestyle

03 Feb

Tags: America, article, Articles, Bad, basis, Calorie, difference, eating, everything, form, health, healthy, information, magazine, Man, Nutrition, Nutritional, Reason, recipes, Training, unhealthy, Women
Posted in Fat Loss | 16 Comments »

What surrounds you on a daily basis helps shapes who you are. From the check out counter to the doctor’s office, what you read influences what you believe. Should you be selective in the magazine you pick up? Yes.

A recent UK study found that food and food ads in magazines are made up mostly of foods high in sugar, fat and salt. Magazines that are more desperate and less selective of the type of advertising and articles they run are going to be more likely to land you toward higher calorie and less nutrient rich foods. They also lead you to bad information and dogmatic beliefs about “scientific” information. This encourages unhealthy lifestyle activity, eating, and training practices.

From all of the data and with the selection of magazines available at this time I have gathered the best (and worst) magazines to read to achieve a healthy lifestyle and encourage weight loss.

The Best:

*These magazines were chosen based on content and ease of availability and purchase cost.*

1. Eating Well

I don’t always agree with everything they say when it comes to why to eat the things they list. However, they provide great recipes and ideas on how to put together healthy, tasty, and sensible caloric meals.

2. National Geographic Adventure

While the original is great, this one provides a map and explanation to different places you can explore, and how to do that with ease. Even if you aren’t ready for travel yet, warm yourself up to it with the thought of fun and adventure that can await.

3. Men’s/Women’s Health

They aren’t perfect, but among all of mainstream diet and health magazines they are leagues ahead of the rest. There are fantastic authors and contributors, and the material is entertaining. The only mainstream fitness/health magazine I read and respect.

4. Science News

It is a fun magazine that explores everything from robots to psychology. Sure to entertain, but in ways that make you think and get amazed by the simple things we see everyday.

5. Art in America

A life is about more than just the jeans you can fit in. Art, music, and the people that make up our world of beauty and emotion can help you tap into something that can break the mundane, and enlighten untapped creativity.

The Worst:

1. People Magazine

I find it to be the worst because for some reason readers still think that the magazine carries integrity. I can say for certain it doesn’t. Month after month it delivers the worst in diet, nutrition, and training information.

2. Us Weekly

While it is just another of many in the gossip magazine pile, it seems to go that extra step to put horrible “facts” out on what to do to achieve a fit and beautiful body. Please stick to paying stalkers okay US Weekly?

3. Flex

The number one magazine for trying to hide the massive amount of steroid usage, ever.

4. Southern Living

I live in the south, you don’t want to eat and live like us. We are the fattest people there is in the world.

5. National Enquirer

If you actually take the information in there seriously, you should check if something is rattling in your brain. They also aren’t nearly funny enough to take down Weekly World News.

–

Socio-economic and gender differences in nutritional content of foods advertised in popular UK weekly magazines.

Adams J, White M. Eur J Public Health. 2009 Jan 18. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 19151418 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Why you care that Jessica Simpson is fat.

31 Jan

Tags: diet, fat celebierties, Fat Loss, Fit, food, health, jessica simpson, jessica simpson fat, jessica simpson put on weight, jessica simpson weight gain, mental weight loss struggles, personal trainers, unhealthy
Posted in Fat Loss | 14 Comments »

I read a study the other day that showed amazing promise in the ability to treat metabolic syndrome with diet and general activity. Every day goes by and I reap the benefits of piles of anecdotal and scientific evidence that further proves my ongoing points about training, diet, and society. That information will never beat a fat Jessica Simpson. Funny thing is, I think she looked pretty, and she didn’t look unhealthy. Granted I am not a fan of those pants because they remind me of a hayride gone bad in the 8th grade.

Why do you care so much? Why does the general public care so much? I can promise you that this will be one of my highest read writings because the title mentions the words “Jessica Simpson” and “Fat.”

Why we care

We tie one thing to celebrities that we rarely tie to anyone else. Easy.

They have it easy, we don’t. They have the luxury of “this” and “that,” we don’t. Celebrities have private chefs, personal trainers, and assistants, we don’t.

Question: How rich is Oprah?

Question: Has cooking food or training ever the reason for stalled fat loss?

Question: If those things are all true, then why are we having this conversation led off by one of the most popular pop stars their is right now?

I have no idea if Jessica Simpson wants or does not want to lose weight. I don’t care. I do know that having issues with diet, weight, and health have nothing to do with status, money, or help. It has everything to do with you.

I can say without a doubt that it takess education and knowledge to not be lost. Money or not. Do you have the education?

Mixed dating: The courtship of obesity

17 Dec

Tags: appearance, BMI, body, dating, everyone, fat dating, Fat Loss, fat sex, health, internet, livelihood, magazine, majority, obese, obesity, overweight, person, pressure, reading, relationship, relationships, safety, Studies, tips, unhealthy, weight loss dating
Posted in Fat Loss, health, relationship | 9 Comments »

Disclaimer:Let me warn you that this is a very sensitive topic, I am a very straight forward person, and am going to be using common sense, scientific data, and life experiences. This is a very generalized topic and is not going to be true for everyone. Please continue reading with understanding that I am not judging or claiming a right or wrong. This is simply a read of human character.

In my previous post I started the discussion of mixed relations in the aspect of weight and how it affects a relationship. What better place to start than how you pick your mate?

The process of mate selection for human beings is different from culture to culture and has evolved with the ages. Long ago the majority choose a mate purely on the ground of livelihood. If your mate could feed you or have children that was good enough. That isn’t to say there wasn’t always a rebel or two that caused a uproar in the normal flow of things. However, the majority of the time people chose mostly out of safety, and at best for love.

Flash forward to a time of internet dating, mail order brides, maxim magazine, and Flavor of Love. I think you will find that things are a little different. Self independence and prosperity is possible for both sexes. The ability to have children isn’t dependent on a penis and a vagina. Lastly, food is everywhere in advanced societies so the need to find a mate based solely on those past needs are getting cut more and more everyday. If those aren’t leading the ranks of why we pick a mate, what is?

There are many factors that have to do with education and status. This has always been a factor and will continue to be so. However their are other factors and expectations they weren’t always such a big issue that now are. How you look, the health you convey, and the body you have is now a extreme contributing factor. Studies and survey’s around the world are showing time and time again that the weight and appearance of a person plays a very large role in if they are found to be dating material or not. The question is, why?

If you say because “fat people are ugly” you would be wrong. Studies show that it isn’t the physical attraction to the person that is the issue, it is the underlying factors instead. For example, one study shows that on average medical costs are 36% higher for obese adults than their non-obese partners. Other studies also show that those who are largely overweight make a smaller percentage of pay vs those who have a healthier BMI. Obesity is also highly prevalent in low educated households, and the children of obese parents have a higher likely hood to drop out of high school.

When we combine all that above this means that through one scan of the eyes the average person when on approach for dating material can see someone who is obese as unhealthy, uneducated, and not financially secure. Obviously this is not true in all cases, but now if you find yourself in this position, not only do you have to worry about your own insecurities of being physically under par to yourself, you have to worry about your whole level of worth being judged from education to finance. Because of this overwhelming pressure, studies show that the mate you choose is going to be constantly less than your instinctual set standards because you feel that this is the best you can do. The cycle then starts of the problems in the relationship.

What about those of you who beat obesity or are in the effort of trying? Congratulations on not being able to shake your feelings of not being good enough, and the constant feeling of not living up to the standards of your counter part. Constantly those who are overweight will put “being fat” on the high list of problems in a relationship before they will put “living in self doubt.” Mixed couples fight more about cheating, have more short term separations, and will settle more in abusive relationships on average than couples who share in the same activities and physical physique. It is a lot more likely that one of you is nice and the other is a jerk.

The question is does this really have to do with your BMI? No, not really. It isn’t about BMI, that is just a side effect. That is merely the scapegoat for the problem. The problem is self worth and self esteem. Usually those who were married pre-obesity have less problems than those who go into the courtship already overweight. With marriage there is a level of knowing what can be there again if desire or a deep understanding of the person in when they felt their best. Since the person saw the “real” you at a point, even if you are insecure now, there is still enough of you there in them that you are able to maintain a high level of happiness and trust. You live in the world of “it is just a matter of time.”

For those who enter into a relationship already overweight, since they drag in insecurities they already are hiding a part of their true self. Relationships that are built off of false pretense never work. What if that was the only relationship you could ever build because you were that unhappy with who you are? If this sounds familiar then welcome to the courtship of obese dating.

Tips for surviving the world of obese dating:

#1-Lose fat…if you want to.

I am going to be honest, I have never met someone who wanted to be fat. I have met people who decided they didn’t want to try, that they were going to accept themselves for who they were, but at the end of the day would choose to weigh less. Maybe one day we will cross paths.

#2-Live as if you have achieved your goal.

If you live as a fatty, are depressed about it, cry about it, whine about it, then you are it. It is all you are and who wants to be around that. Sometimes you have to fake it until you make it. Your job is to live it until you are it.

#3-Demand respect.

I live my life by one motto. Demand respect. That doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole either, I am quite likable. I go out of my way to help people, I like people. I like the human race, sometimes. You don’t have to be a doormat to be liked, you don’t have to think the world is doing you a favor because you have short comings. Demand the respect you deserve and if you don’t get it then move on and fast.

Next up we will talk about Mixed relationships: For better or for worse

Breaking the Dogma of Meal Timing

20 Oct

Tags: 1 meal a day, 5-6meals a day, acient eating habits, America, BodyBuilding, dietary guidelines, fasting, Fit, health, healthy eating habits, history of eating, history of nutirtion guidelines, hunger, meal timing, more meals in a day, movement, Research, solution, Studies, unhealthy
Posted in healthy eating, history of food, meal timing | 36 Comments »

Being in the midst of the Big Meal Challenge has brought up a lot of questions of some people about meal timing. I thought we could take today to set the record straight on just how many times a day you should be eating and how we evolved to thinking of multiple meals as the only given option.

If you go back, way back into the history of man they guided by a very simple eating style which was “Food, OMG food, eat it!” Hmmm, I guess that isn’t so different after all. However, the huge difference was their cry for food was out of extreme hunger and to survive longer in life and movement. Our cry is at the smell of the decked out long lines of trays filled with chicken wings, pizza, and warm brownies topped with ice cream. This is no longer America I am speaking about, this is any developed and economic flourishing country. If we desire we can eat all day long, from wake to sleep, food is there for the taking and all we have to do is control our dietary habit of how much of it we eat.

At a point researchers, based on mostly EPI based studies, and a few various controlled studies, decided that people who ate multiple meals a day were in better health condition than those who, claimed, to eat 1-2 times a day a skipped breakfast. Let us now take a peak into how the science that governs our lives works…

*insert dream waving lines*

Doc with survey: So how many times a day do you eat?
Fat person who is unhealthy: Usually just eat dinner, sometimes a snack during the day.
Doc with survey: So you don’t normally consume breakfast?
Fat person who is unhealthy: No, I am not usually hungry.

Let’s note for a moment that the reason, usually, those who are largely overweight aren’t hungry in the morning is because they were going to town the night before.

Doc with survey: So how many times a day do you eat?
Skinny person with recycled tree print purse: Few times a day I pick foods from my garden, maybe I will have a light breakfast with some fruit or nuts. A night a larger meal with some wine.
Doc with survey: Well aren’t you the perfect human, did you know we hate you all?
Skinny person with recycled tree print bag: Yes, yes I do. I think you need some B12 for that.

Now it may appear that I am severely “type casting” but that is the point. If you think that your dietary guidelines came out of something a lot more deeper and prolific than that, then think again. The majority of you are eating based upon nothing more than a magazine quiz at a doctors office that you always lie on.

The truth is that meal timing is a very personal and individual based thing. Some say it could be heritage based. For example, if you have heritage of a more coast residing great grandpa then you might be, by genetics, more accustom to eating multiple meals as it was more readily available to you. Those living by the shore where fishing and imports flourished had more varieties and frequency of foods. However, if you were deep inland, it is not as if there were grocery stores all around. It could be days before the next kill, bread press, or delivery of the few foods that could travel came through, particularly in the winter time. For you it wasn’t even just one meal a day, it could be a one meal every three.

This isn’t to say that this was recommended but, the Greeks were certainly doing well in the power dominating category, however others proclaimed the classic phrase of “Hunger is the best sauce.” Fast forward again and our revolutions are televised and they are supported in hand with “Chester Chettah.” Someone had to save us, enter in diet and fitness authors of the 80’s. Not until the 80’s did a harsh look come in to the basis of meal timing. Sure it was in the underground before then but at the peak of bodybuilding, gyms for fun, and jazzercize people started looking at the cherry picked benefits of multiple meals in a day. People started noticing that the bellies were growing and their had to be a reason. The answer, and still seems to be today, was Sugar. Sugar highs, sugar lows, and sugar woes. What was the solution given to a nation of growing bellies and sugar crashes?

Eat more, and more often.

To be truthful this concept isn’t all bad, nor is it all good. As always with any dietary strategy nothing is ever that cut and dry nor does it fit with everyone. The problem is that we, as a people, don’t like the following words…

Maybe
Depends
Possibly
Likely
Unclear
Without Certainty
Could Be

We as a people need leadership and answers that are absolutes. We like black and white as it gives us a comfort and a place to rest our worries. The truth is that when it comes to meal timing there is only one absolute to how often we should eat.

Grab a snack to hold you over for tomorrow where you are going to find out…

What meal frequency eating type you are.
How many meals you should be having in a day/week.
What time of day is best to eat for you.
The tell-tale signs of when what you are doing is wrong.
How to best test the theories that have set the course of healthy eating as we know it.

Will milk fat kill me? Are all saturated fats bad?

01 Aug

Tags: cheese, dairy fats, egg fat, Frankeinfats, healthy fats, hormones, milk, milk fat, saturated fat, Stearic, unhealthy, weight loss
Posted in diet, fat, saturated fat | 7 Comments »

“when milk goes bad”

Question: Hi Leigh!

First off I loved your article on protein shakes, great info! My question is about saturated fats.

I find I don’t tolerate carbs well (bread, potatoes, etc.), anyhow I have been sticking to lean proteins, etc. When choosing cheeses and milk is it better to go higher fat? Or should i choose skim to keep fat down?? A bit confused?? I know fat doesn’t necessary cause you to get fat,but is it bad for my arteries??

-Tracey

Answer:

Tracey I’m going to answer your question in two parts. First I’ll tackle the question of “Are Saturated Fats Unhealthy”?

Not all Saturated Fats are created equal. Take your mentioning of dairy/cheese for instance. Most dairy and cheese saturated fats contain Stearic Acid. Stearic acids have been found to reduce blood clotting and could actually aid in preventing those arteries being blocked.

In general, if you’re going to stray from a fat or any other food stray from “Franken-fats” like trans fats. These are fats usually found in overly processed foods like those 1,000 calorie size-of-your-hand Cinnabuns.

In short just say “yes” to fat in milk (and an egg for that matter). Don’t be afraid of it.

That being said the second part is…

If you are trying to lose fat altogether you need to focus as much as you can on good carbs, protein, and a higher variety of fats. By all means you can get skim milks and light cheeses if it helps balance out your calories easier.

While you don’t have to be afraid of the fat, it still is double the calorie energy of protein and carbs, so if you need to cut some small corners that’s fine. Just makes sure you don’t cut too much because fats are key to the production of certain hormones.