Help me lose weight

[Harmon]

I swear, the science of food and diet has become the next "feng shui" or "accupuncture" of our day, hasn't it? You'd be spouting as much science if you told me that magnets help get rid of back problems.

As John Stossel would say:

GIVE ME A BREAK!

A closed mind is an unaccepting mind.

Used magnets for two years on cronic arm pain, worked well. Accupuncture worked for a time. Pills did nothing. Massage and the movement of energy ended the pain, nothing MDs could do did anything- "your just going have to learn to live with it."

My Dad has ALS- used alternative methods for ten years, he is still up and walking about. Doctors told him he would be dead in three years (99% chance of that) or in a wheel chair paralyzed completely (1% chance of that). That was twelve years ago.

 

[Shemeska]

"toxins"
"bad, undigestable things"
"crap"
"meat toxins"
"artificial radiations"
"synthetic junk"
"water fat"

WOW.

Don't tell me you guys believe this garbage? I mean, do you hear what you're saying? This is like believing that if you swallow bubble gum, it sits and festers in your stomach for 7 years. This is complete, and utter hogwash.

I swear, the science of food and diet has become the next "feng shui" or "accupuncture" of our day, hasn't it? You'd be spouting as much science if you told me that magnets help get rid of back problems.

Amen.

 

[Shemeska]

I take no credit for any of what Eolin added, which isn't to say I disagree with all of it either, but are you telling me that you don't believe that humanity has increased the levels of ambient radiation on the planet by an unnatural amount, or that we take in many more artificial food additives, than our ancestors from even just a century ago? Or is it that you don't believe that water is used in the bodily processes that flush toxins (like uric acid, for example) and other unhealthy materials from our systems?....

Gone to pee lately? Noticed the liquid consistency? Ever noticed that it smells funny if you eat Sugar Smacks? What's THAT all about?

Our ancestors also ate off of lead plates, snorted ground up corpses, etc. We're better off now...

"ambient level of radiation on the planet" what in the hell does this have to do with food or diet in any way?

Plenty of things that you eat are going to show up in your urine, but that doesn't mean it's unhealthy, it just means that it's small enough to pass through the nephrons in the kidney and that your body doesn't recover it (like salts, glucose, etc). If I ate nothing but fruit, or nothing but meat, or nothing but asparagus I can assure you that the smell of my urine would vary between each of those diets. It doesn't imply anything good or bad about those foods though.

*holds up the pseudoscience bashing hammer threateningly*

Anecdotal evidence means jack compared to actual research and real science. Googling for ten minutes or reading something in a nature food store isn't real science.

I don't have a closed mind, but neither am I so gullible as to believe anything joe crock mcflimflamartist is selling. Or perhaps that ground up tiger penis really will cure my cold? Or if I shoot the penguin I'll get a free Ipod?

 

[AdamBomb]

body for life?

I try to drink about 9 glasses of water a day, I eat 6 times a day (smaller portions mind you).
Every meal includes a portion of Protein(chicken, turkey, tuna) and a portion of Carbs(the healthy kind...like whole wheat, brown rice, veggies). When ever I get the urge to snack(which is pretty often) I chew on beef jerky and dehydrated fruit. I also lift weights about 4 times a week, and every other day do cardio for about 30 mins.

sounds like Body for Life?
I saw very good results when I used this program. Training with weights is a great way to drop weight quickly, especially if you've moved into your 30's or beyond.
The key with this program is to do /strenuous/ cardio. You really have to push yourself hard for those 30 minutes.

 

[Eolin]

"toxins"
"bad, undigestable things"
"crap"
"meat toxins"
"artificial radiations"
"synthetic junk"
"water fat"

Don't tell me you guys believe this garbage?

A year ago, I would have responded the same way. Hell, six months ago I would have said that talk about "toxins" was crap. Then I gave it a try.

Let me go through this part by part ...

"toxins"

By this I largely mean things that are TOXIC. Cigarette smoke, car fumes, insecticides, all of that crap. It goes into our bodies, and we don't know how to deal with it. So it builds up. Things that cannot be removed through the digestive system get put into the blood, and wind up residing in flesh. meat and fat.

"meat toxins"

Yep, the toxins that we put into animals. Do you know what we feed cows? Steroids. Do you know what we feed pigs? Steroids. Any guess as to what we feed chickens? You guessed it, steroids.

Animals steroids, which we wind up ingesting. And which, again, we cannot digest. Do you seriously think that ingesting that sort of crap isn't going have adverse affects?

"synthetic junk"

I'm not sure if I said this, but it sounds like the new me, so I'll run with it. I'm going to assume I was refering to, say, all the bizarre sugars we have. Like, for example, high fructose corn syrup. To get high fructose corn syrup, without going into the biochemistry, you effectively take corn syrup -- from corn -- and lower the amounts of sucrose and glucose while increasing the amount of fructose. This makes it sweeter and cheaper, but fructose is a simpler sugar that the body spends nearly zero energy digesting.

Result? You get fat, and have sugar rushes. You're blood sugar level is all over the map, and you might not even know that you feel that way. I didn't.

"water fat"

This refers to the amount of water stored in fat cells. Ask any woman, and they'll tell you about water retention. We do it to, its a natural thing for drought. It is *good* that we keep water in our bodies. It is the single most prevelant molecule on the planet and in our bodies -- do you really think human beings havn't been drinking water longer than anything else? (possible exception being human milk)

The Ph of water is seven. When clean, it is good at dissolving just about everything -- including most of the crap we ingest. The water can just take it away.


You're mocking what you havn't tryed. I did the same thing. For YEARS. Then, I tryed it. Go ahead, try it. Buy yourself seven lemons and eat them over a week. See if you feel different. I did.

Edit: Stupid chemistry error.

 

[der_kluge]

I take no credit for any of what Eolin added, which isn't to say I disagree with all of it either, but are you telling me that you don't believe that humanity has increased the levels of ambient radiation on the planet by an unnatural amount, or that we take in many more artificial food additives, than our ancestors from even just a century ago? Or is it that you don't believe that water is used in the bodily processes that flush toxins (like uric acid, for example) and other unhealthy materials from our systems?....

Gone to pee lately? Noticed the liquid consistency? Ever noticed that it smells funny if you eat Sugar Smacks? What's THAT all about?

What the heck is "ambient radiation", and yes, radiation levels have increased ever since we started testing nuclear weapons in the western deserts of Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. What does that have to do with how water can help me lose weight? And yes, we eat 100% more artificial food additives than our medieval ancestors did, who ate none at all. And *gasp* we live longer than they do, because we eat better than they do. Yes, medical science has a lot to do with it as well, but we're all taller and generally a heck of a lot healthier. Kids today develop faster than kids two generations ago did. Compare your average 12 year old girl today to 12 year old girls 20 years ago. Amazing stuff.

Here's the deal. My body and your body is already 98% water. There's all kinds of water in every food that we eat. Your body is an amazing machine that can deal with all kinds of impurities in food. It can siphon out the nutrients we don't need from the nutrients that we do. Simply put, if your body doesn't need it, you're just going to get rid of it. Drinking extra water is not going to help you get rid of stuff faster. There is no organ in the body which stores "bad stuff" until a torrent of water comes along to get rid of it.

Consider this: Most medieval peasants didn't drink very much water. Most of it was fairly unclean, and quite dirty and nasty. Ale, mead, and wine were far more common. Are you suggesting that if I lived solely on drinking, say, iced tea, that I would wither away and die? That somehow any alternative to water is not acceptable? Saying that I can lose weight by drinking 8 glasses of water a day is not unlike suggesting that I can lose weight by drinking 8 glasses of Diet Coke a day. Both have zero calories, right, or are there too many "unnatural" things in Diet Coke that would fool my body into beleving that it wasn't getting the right stuff in order to flush the impurities down the drain?

 

[der_kluge]

A closed mind is an unaccepting mind.

Used magnets for two years on cronic arm pain, worked well. Accupuncture worked for a time. Pills did nothing. Massage and the movement of energy ended the pain, nothing MDs could do did anything- "your just going have to learn to live with it."

My Dad has ALS- used alternative methods for ten years, he is still up and walking about. Doctors told him he would be dead in three years (99% chance of that) or in a wheel chair paralyzed completely (1% chance of that). That was twelve years ago.

Show me any scientific evidence performed by an objective research group using established scientific methods that shows that magnets (such as writstbands, etc) can relieve *any* kind of pain. I'll settle for just one scientific journal. If you find me one, I'll start wearing a magnetic bracelet tomorrow.

 

[Eolin]

*holds up the pseudoscience bashing hammer threateningly*

Anecdotal evidence means jack compared to actual research and real science. Googling for ten minutes or reading something in a nature food store isn't real science.

I don't have a closed mind, but neither am I so gullible as to believe anything joe crock mcflimflamartist is selling. Or perhaps that ground up tiger penis really will cure my cold? Or if I shoot the penguin I'll get a free Ipod?

Back off man, I'm a Philosopher. Of Science.

I've always wanted to say that. Blame Ghostbusters and me actually being a philosophy graduate student (well, in the fall ...)

I never claimed what I was saying was medical science. That'd be a false claim. What I have claimed is that I -- and others who have tryed this sort of thing -- have noticed a difference. I've lost weight, have more energy, and like myself more. I'm much more in shape than I've been in ten years. Its do to awareness of what I'm eating and, yes, drinking a lot of water.

My entire last post was about the benefits of drinking water. Are you going to say -- as Kludge has -- that water isn't something we should be drinking? Or do you just disagree with how I've phrased the goodness of water? Or that I've pointed to negative consequences of our modern indsutrial life?

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

I met a beautiful woman who once told me, "The key to dieting is shitting." (That's #2, as the naughty language filter will probably catch that word) Go to the bathroom a lot. She swears that this helps a lot.

I think you've got this covered with the fiber and water. Good luck!

 

[Torm]

If I ate nothing but fruit, or nothing but meat, or nothing but asparagus I can assure you that the smell of my urine would vary between each of those diets. It doesn't imply anything good or bad about those foods though.

Um, dude - the Sugar Smacks part was a joke. It IS weird, though - none of my other cereals do that quite that strong.

As to what the radiation level has to do with it, it has resulted in an increase in the number of damaging free radicals we interact with - which water can help neutralize.

And you're not talking to some fad-following health food nut. Acupressure is interesting, feng shui is for fun, and I lump magnets for your back in the same category as crystal magic. And I'm going to eat my Doritos even if the "cheese" on them was made from something that fell from space one day. But good, clean water is just plain OBVIOUSLY good for you - as long as you aren't exceeding the structural capacity of your bladder or some such....