Health and life style

[kgun]

I have started to be more concious about health and life style. I have reached the conclusion that my life in front of the computer is not always good for my health. While on one months holiday on Gran Canary I discoverd how bad my physical health really was. Ten years ago I run the marathon. When I started swimming in the swimming pool it was hard to cross the pool ten times. Since I do not smoke, I have always been easily trained. When I left Gran Canaria, I had no problem corssing the swimming pool 100 times. I think I lost 3 - 5 kg wight while I was there. Now, my ambitions have increased and I intend to approach the condition I was in 10 years ago.

One thing that surprised me was that most of the people I met on Gran Canaria was concerned about their health more precisely health and physical training. I got in contact with a very interesting high school teacher that had decreased his weight and got in good shape by focusing on what is called the hunters (men as hunters) food also called LCHF, Low Carb High Fat. That implies that for some people the key to better health lies in reduced consumption of Carbohydrate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate) and not fat. What he told me was provoking. Potatoes, bread, sugar based drinks etc was like poisen to him personally. He could drink cream and loose weight if he controlled the level of carbohydrates below 20 grams daily.

He recommend a very interesting book written by a Swede: Istället för doping av Frank Nilsson - 9789172411753 - Bokia.se (http://www.bokia.se/bok/9789172411753/istallet-for-doping-frank-nilsson/)

English title freely translated by me: "In stead of drugs".

His focus is on controlling blood sugar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sugar) levels.

The hunters diet, the diet we are designed for (also called LCHF, Low Carb High Fat) offers new opportunities. It does not just make ordinary people healthy and slim, but it also gives the modern athlete an iron health, as well as a normalization of the endocrine system with increased levels of testosterone and growth hormone. In addition it also provides a substantial increase in performance!

Any thoughts?

[rah]

Being an American, I'm constantly bombarded by TV commercials about weight loss diets.

While I like the idea of controlling blood sugar levels through a Low Carb High Fat diet, I honestly don't believe that any of them alone is worth the time/effort. Yes it can help in overall health, but if you are going for weight loss a diet alone won't get you very far.

Personally, I have only seen sustainable results with old fashioned exercising everyday and cutting out fast food places like McDonalds...

[mjtaylor]

I haven't seen any sustainable results with anything ... but I believe if I would eat only when hungry and stop eating when full, all would be well!

[rah]

I haven't seen any sustainable results with anything ... but I believe if I would eat only when hungry and stop eating when full, all would be well!

Good point :p

I guess I overlooked the fact that people just keep eating and don't stop.

[danlefree]

Carbohydrates are a necessary component to respiration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiration_%28physiology%29). The "low-carb/high-fat" diet promotes a condition known as ketosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis) in the body - the body becomes poisoned by its own metabolic products.

Not that many people do, but you should consult your doctor or a qualified health professional before embarking upon any radical changes in your diet - particularly the exclusion of entire food groups or a radical change in carbohydrate/fat/protein intake.

[chandrika]

"The Hunters Diet" you mentioned, I am thinking it must be same as the Paleo Diet, where you only eat what Paleolithic man would have eaten. The premise being that the way we digest has not evolved since then and they say that maybe our bodies are not designed to eat so much grains as we have since the agricultural revolution. A guy called Laurence Cordain writes about this...and he specifically recommends the diet for atheletes. It is not a zero carb diet like Atkins, but much much lower carb and the carbs eaten are low on the glycemic index,so take longer to digest, keeping you full for longer.

[kgun]

Yes, well understood.

Juice is healthy, but it has a lot of carbohydrates. I can drink 2 liter a day. That alone should cover much more than that days need for carbohydrates.

As I have understood the Swede:

Before any fat is burned, the carbohydrates you have eaten that day have to be burned first.



While I like the idea of controlling blood sugar levels through a Low Carb High Fat diet, I honestly don't believe that any of them alone is worth the time/effort. Yes it can help in overall health, but if you are going for weight loss a diet alone won't get you very far.

Agree with your focus on alone.

[Grim]

im also concious about health, Workout and eat healthy diet

[Randycooper]

At your young age, it is very hard to quit junk foods. But avoiding it little by little will help you. Drink water instead of soda and include fresh fruits and vegetables in your meals. Having healthy foods to eat is much better that eating at fast food restaurants.