Is Rush Limbaugh right?

[manolo]

Folks,

Rush Limbaugh has argued that advice to eat a healthy diet and take exercise is a ‘left wing conspiracy’. Could there be some truth in his view?

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/07/11/ ... iracy.html

Alex.

[Hoosiernorm]

Well there is scientific evidence that a health diet and exercise is good for you so since there is "science" it must be a left wing conspiracy.


They use a lot of science to prove all that sciency stuff that common sense folks just dont believe

[manolo]

Well there is scientific evidence that a health diet and exercise is good for you so since there is "science" it must be a left wing conspiracy.


They use a lot of science to prove all that sciency stuff that common sense folks just dont believe

Hoosier,

I don't know much about fish but I know that I crave fat and salt, especially salty fat. The doc gave me this cholesterol busting diet and I lasted three weeks.

After that length of time (felt like decades) a seared sirloin steak and fries was like the first time.

Alex.

[Hoosiernorm]

I ate so healthy last year that my body went into shock and I got diverticulitis from all of the fruit and nuts that I was eating. I was eating so many fresh vegetables that my body couldn't handle all the roughage. Eating healthy is a lot harder than you would think. I'm still not sure I'm eating what I should and add a few things as treats to my diet as a motivator to do more physical activities.

Living was a lot easier 20 years ago, it didn't matter that I smoked or drank or ate cheeseburgers. At 44 I'm less active, heavier and starting to try and eat like I want to live a little longer. The problem that Limbaugh raises is that a large percentage of the population only understands marketing. Science is seen as hostile to a way of life that has been built on a lifestyle of unlimited calories and zero consequences.

[Marcus]

Eat by these guidelines, and eat what you like . . .

Michael Pollan Food Rules
1. Eat food
2. Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food
3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry
4. Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup
5. Avoid food products that have some form of sugar (or sweetener listed among) the top three ingredients
6. Avoid food products that have more than 5 ingredients
7. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce
8. Avoid food products that make health claims
9. Avoid food products with the wordoid “lite” or the terms “low fat” or “nonfat” in their names
10. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not
11. Avoid foods you see advertised on television
12. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle
13. Eat only foods that will eventually rot
14. Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature
15. Get out of the supermarket whenever you can
16. Buy your snacks at the farmers market
17. Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans
18. Don’t ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap
19. If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.
20. It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car
21. It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language (Think Big Mac, Cheetos or Pringles)
22. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves
23. Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food
24. Eating what stands on one leg [mushrooms and plant foods] is better than eating what stands on two legs [fowl], which is better than eating what stands on four legs [cows, pigs and other mammals].
25. Eat your colors
26. Drink the spinach water
27. Eat animals that have themselves eaten well
28. If you have space, buy a freezer
29. Eat like an omnivore
30. Eat well-grown food from healthy soil
31. Eat wild foods when you can
32. Don’t overlook the oily little fishes
33. Eat some foods that have been predigested by bacterial or fungi
34. Sweeten and salt your food yourself
35. Eat sweet foods as you find them in nature
36. Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk
37. The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead
38. Favor the kinds of oils and grains that have traditionally been stone-ground
39. Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself
40. Be the kind of person who takes supplements – then skip the supplements
41. Eat more lie the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks.
42. Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism
43. Have a glass of wine with dinner
44. Pay more, eat less
45. Eat less
46. Stop eating before you’re full
47. Eat when you are hungry, not when you are bored
48. Consult your gut
49. Eat slowly
50. The banquet is in the first bite
51. Spend as much time enjoying the meal as it took to prepare it
52. Buy smaller plates and glasses
53. Serve a proper portion and don’t go back for seconds
54. Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like pauper
55. Eat meals
56. Limit your snacks to unprocessed plant foods
57. Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does
58. Do all your eating at a table
59. Try not to eat alone
60. Treat treats as treats
61. Leave something on your plate
62. Plant a vegetable garden if you have space, a window box if you don’t
63. Cook
64.

[Hoosiernorm]

50. The banquet is in the first bite

Think that is my favorite

[Marcus]

Personally, I am as afraid of our current medical system as I am of disease. We live in a system designed to make us sick and keep us sick.

We try to follow Pollan's guidelines without becoming freaks about it . . never eat fast food, never eat out (just more industrial food), no high fructose corn syrup, no prepared foods to speak of, organic veggies, organic or wild meat, and so on.

Yes, we pay more, and maybe it's all for naught . . but you gotta do what you gotta do.

[manolo]

I ate so healthy last year that my body went into shock and I got diverticulitis from all of the fruit and nuts that I was eating. I was eating so many fresh vegetables that my body couldn't handle all the roughage. Eating healthy is a lot harder than you would think. I'm still not sure I'm eating what I should and add a few things as treats to my diet as a motivator to do more physical activities.

Living was a lot easier 20 years ago, it didn't matter that I smoked or drank or ate cheeseburgers. At 44 I'm less active, heavier and starting to try and eat like I want to live a little longer. The problem that Limbaugh raises is that a large percentage of the population only understands marketing. Science is seen as hostile to a way of life that has been built on a lifestyle of unlimited calories and zero consequences.

Hoosier,

Agreed! It was the same for me. The 'cholesterol' diet I tried brought back my IBS with a vengeance. A few boiled eggs and some cheese on toast and I'm pain free again.

Thing is, a healthy diet can be a 'regime' whereas just eating what you like is a pleasure. A few salads won't do any harm, but otherwise I'm going back. The other payoff is that I won't have to eat in those Frasier Crane type cafes any more. I can go back to truck stops with my own kind of people.

Alex.

[Hoosiernorm]

Yeah diners and salads just don't go together well

[Doc]

Well there is scientific evidence that a health diet and exercise is good for you so since there is "science" it must be a left wing conspiracy.


They use a lot of science to prove all that sciency stuff that common sense folks just dont believe

Hoosier,

I don't know much about fish but I know that I crave fat and salt, especially salty fat. The doc gave me this cholesterol busting diet and I lasted three weeks.

After that length of time (felt like decades) a seared sirloin steak and fries was like the first time.

Alex.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/3 ... 52799.html

Dark Chocolate Lowers 'Bad' Cholesterol And Blood Sugar Levels When Eaten In Moderation: Study

Posted: 04/30/2012 12:43 am Updated: 04/30/2012 3:42 am

Hooray! -- even more research shows why dark chocolate (in moderation) has heart-healthy benefits.

Researchers from San Diego State University conducted a small controlled study illustrating that eating dark chocolate has positive effects in lowering blood sugar levels and "bad" cholesterol levels and increasing "good" cholesterol levels -- all of which could have positive effects on heart health.

The study was presented at the Experimental Biology 2012 meeting.

For the study, researchers had 31 people eat either 50 grams of regular dark chocolate (70% cocoa), dark chocolate (70% cocoa) that has been overheated, or white chocolate (0% cocoa). The study participants ate their assigned chocolate for a 15-day period; their blood glucose, circulating lipids, blood pressure and blood flow were all measured before and after the study.

But while the researchers found a positive effect of eating the dark chocolate in the study, they cautioned that chocolate is also high in saturated fat and calories, and must therefore be eaten in moderation.

For more sweet benefits of chocolate, click through the slideshow:

Mine was under 30

[Nonc Hilaire]

White chocolate is almost pure sweetened cocoa butter (a saturated fat), and the more cocoa the less cocoa butter there is so the results are not surprising.

What seems to be missing from the scientific picture is a link between blood levels of saturated fat and arterial deposition. I even read an article by a heart surgeon who claimed the worst artery disease was found in people taking statins. He suspects the way they lower circulating blood lipid levels is by causing more rapid deposition.

In any case, it isn't as simple a relationship as big pharma and the vegan mafia make it sound.