The Health Improvement Thread

Mr ProgFreak wrote: Equality 7-2521 wrote: Mike maybe you know the answer to this. I've read that high cholesterol is much more likely to be caused by fat intake. Since the liver naturally produces cholesterol, and regulates its production according to the body's dietary intake, consuming food high in cholesterol (eggs are what I'm thinking of) is actually not that detrimental . Any truth to this? High cholesterol is a complex topic. For one, it's not all that clear that high cholesterol is always a bad thing. Typically what people are interested in when it comes to cholesterol is the risk for atherosclerosis and cardio-vascular disease. But there are actually much better indicators for that risk than total cholesterol - there's LDL, HDL, LDL/HDL ratio, LDL type (small dense vs. large fluffy), and triglycerides. As for your specific question: Yes, dietary cholesterol is not really important. If you eat less cholesterol, the liver will simply synthesize more, and vice versa. Cholesterol medication typically works by inhibiting this synthesis in the liver, so if you take those medications *and* reduce dietary cholesterol then your total cholesterol may go down. But, as I said above, that won't help you too much when all those other health markers don't change. As far as dietary fat is concerned: It depends a lot on which type of fat you eat. Some fats raise LDL, some raise HDL, some raise both, some have altogether different effects. Carbohydrates raise triglycerides and lower HDL (bad), saturated fats lower triglycerides and raise HDL (good). In a nutshell: Try to keep triglycerides low, and try to maintain a favorable LDL/HDL ratio. You can do this by lowering LDL (e.g. mono-unsaturated fats lower LDL), raising HDL (replacing some carbs with saturated fat raises HDL, but may also raise LDL), or both. My recommendation would be eat more healthy fats instead of some of the carbohydrate in your diet. As I already said, animal based fat is  a combination of saturated fat, mono-unsaturated fat and a little polyunsaturated fat - the saturated fat component would raise LDL and HDL, the mono-unsaturated fat would lower LDL, and the reduction in carbs would lower triglycerides and raise HDL. Sounds good to me. And if you're still skeptical, you can always change your diet for a month and then do a blood panel.

My blood work is fine. I actually diet a lot according to your recommendations. I eat lots of meat, very little carbs, with nuts and wild berries. Thanks for the input though. I'm wary of any health recommendations I read on the internet. Though I suppose I just read this on the internet.

OK, I'm officially getting healthy.  Reducing portion sizes, not eating absolute junk, more fish, a lot more veggies, a lot less carbs.  A bit of exercise a few times a week.  Wish me luck.

I heard a new study came out indicating that people who eat live longer!

I am always alternating between having a decent diet + exercise and having a crap diet and being lazy...
At least I have stuck with mainly drinking water.
I do hope to start exercising again (I always run but I want to more and hit the gym again) and finally tackle the diet.

Besides general health, I want to lose my cursed belly...any tips? Or just the usual better diet/exercise, and actually maintaining it.

So far so good, I've lost about 10 lbs. (maybe more) since I first posted.  Still a long way to go, but I've adapted pretty well to the lifestyle change.

Wow, you guys are doing great.  Yeah, not sure how much weight my wife has dropped but it's enough for me to notice that she's slimmer.

Well i just jumped on this thread.  Started a diet about 2 months ago.  I am pretty conscious about breads but my wife likes pasta dishes and with kids hard to avoid that easy meal during the week we try to balance it out with  not using heavy sauces but low cal marinara .  I found some very low cal high fiber bread that we use for hamburger buns and sandwiches (2-3 times a week) and that has helped a lot.  I also got a great blender to make whole food soups and juices to eliminate the processed foods of the same kind (I use fresh veggies and frozen organic berries mostly) I am also going to use it to make pasta sauces to eliminate the store bought. The biggest challenge for us is to cut down on the wine intake.  Lots of useless calories in that.  To counter act it i found a very low cal low carb beer in Becks Light.  (I know doesn't have much taste but still) that  I can enjoy 2 or 3 of a night and limit our wine splurges to once a week or once every other week.  So what is the bottom line?  I have lost about 15 pounds in 2 months!  Really have cut down on portions.  But thanks to some info here Mike I am going to start looking to get rid of some more carbs.      

I've been gaining a couple of pounds over the last two months ... I went off the low-carb diet even though I should have known better.

I guess I'll bump this thread with a report.

I have lost nineteen pounds since November.  My wife has lost twenty-one pounds since then.

Somewhat ironically, our impecuniousness has been paramount in our improved health.  Not being able to afford pizza three times a month or go to restaurants has certainly made a difference.  We eat meals consisting of beans or rice about three times a week.  We eat meat dishes about three times a week.  We eat a pasta dish about once a week.  I have been baking bread from scratch (the last loaf was bursting with flavor).  Unless it's cabbage or beans, our portion sizes are drastically reduced.  I still eat quite a bit of Ramen (but the way I cook it, most of the sodium and fat goes down the drain).  We're going to do a shepherd's pie tonight (comfort food for a cloudy day- it's supposed to storm here from 3pm until midnight).  I generally either skip breakfast or eat a bowl of grits.  My wife eats cold cereal.  Forty pounds between the two of us. 

I swear though, when I get paid in May, we're going to Red Robin and I am going to gorge myself on beer, burgers, and endless fries.  Mark my words.

My update:  have lost about 16 lbs. now, pretty much all due to daily caloric deficit.  During the work week I probably take in less than 1000 calories a day (sometimes a wine or beer in the evening will bump that over 1k, though).  The weekend I allow myself to "cheat" somewhat.