# What do you think of my diet?



## mrichner (Oct 5, 2021)

Hello everyone,

My name is Michael and I am a food lover!

In recent months I have changed my diet and eat pescetarian.

I have made a small compilation of what to look for when eating. I can gladly explain these top issues even further. What do you think about it? Is there anything missing, or do you have any questions?

The topics are:

1. Why so many people are overweight

2. Which proteins, carbohydrates, and fats you should eat to lose weight and live a long and healthy life.

3. Are sweeteners healthier than sugar?

4. What does insulin resistance mean and how does it affect health and weight loss?

5. Low-carb vs. low-fat: What suits you?

6. Which drinks should you and should you not drink to lose weight and stay healthy?

7. What are the benefits of fasting for weight loss and your health?

Thank you for your Feedback !

Michael


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## AwesomeOpossum74 (Oct 6, 2021)

I'm not sure where to go with this?  The title seems misleading, in that it's asking what we think of your diet.  But then you don't say anything about your diet.

Then it's unclear to me whether you're actually asking your list of questions for others to answer, or are just listing things out for completeness, and for others to add to your list.


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## mrichner (Oct 6, 2021)

AwesomeOpossum74 said:


> I'm not sure where to go with this?  The title seems misleading, in that it's asking what we think of your diet.  But then you don't say anything about your diet.
> 
> Then it's unclear to me whether you're actually asking your list of questions for others to answer, or are just listing things out for completeness, and for others to add to your list.



Reading through it again, you're right, it's unclear.

I'll take a step back.

I eat fish 1-2 times a week, almost completely avoid meat, because I want to eat more plant proteins instead of animal proteins.

I eat every morning a müsli with yogurt, berries, 2 handfuls of nuts, flaxseed, and coconut flakes. 

Otherwise, I eat a lot of legumes, vegetables, salad, and dark chocolate from time to time.

In my opinion, the list I mentioned contains the most important questions that you have to ask and answer when it comes to a healthy diet.


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## blissful (Oct 6, 2021)

My question is: Is Boniswil the Boniswil in Switzerland, or it there another? Switzerland is known as the country that remains neutral and doesn't ever take sides, which in some respects is a good quality. 


quick answers: 

1. Why so many people are overweight? because they eat too much.

2. Which proteins, carbohydrates, and fats you should eat to lose weight and live a long and healthy life. Plant based whole foods.

3. Are sweeteners healthier than sugar? No they are hard on kidney function.

4. What does insulin resistance mean and how does it affect health and weight loss? It means that the glucose is not being allowed into the cells to be metabolized, and blood sugar goes up. I can't answer without writing 4 pages of answers and people are generally uninterested.

5. Low-carb vs. low-fat: What suits you? Low fat suits me.

6. Which drinks should you and should you not drink to lose weight and stay healthy? Should: water, green tea Should not: alcohol, juices, milk

7. What are the benefits of fasting for weight loss and your health? If people answer this question without defining fasting, it could mean a lot of things. Water only, intermittent, plant based, Daniel diet. Careful fasting and refeeding from a water only fast is usually weight loss and improvements in health, again, this is a short answer. The benefits for obese people are great.


I hope these answer your questions, I'm based in the US. Wisconsin, dairyland with lots of cheese and cows.


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## mrichner (Oct 6, 2021)

Boniswil is a village in Switzerland. In some cases Switzerland is neutral in other it isn't .

Your answers are interesting and full of conviction. I support them!

My question would be, if you want to lead a healthy, holistic diet, lose weight and live long as well as healthy, is there still a topic missing that I need to consider?


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## blissful (Oct 6, 2021)

Thank you, so glad to meet you, Switzerland and everything. It looks like a beautiful place.


Um, well I will think about that and just now I would say: 

How important is regular exercise in comparison to a healthy diet? 

(my answer is that weight loss is about 90% diet and 10% exercise, but to live long stretching, balance, some vigorous exercise like walking each day is important to avoid injury in old age.)



Now I'll think about that and if I can think of a better or more pertinent question I'll follow up. And welcome to the forum too.


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## mrichner (Oct 6, 2021)

Regular exercise is certainly one of them!

I would be happy to hear from you .

Thank you very much, I look forward to exciting disskusionen.


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## AwesomeOpossum74 (Oct 7, 2021)

mrichner said:


> Reading through it again, you're right, it's unclear.


Thank you for clarifying!

I take a simple approach to my diet.  I eat what I want, but in moderation, using calories as my primary metric.  I avoid special diets and diet plans, as they are too restrictive for me to enjoy.  And what's the point if I can't enjoy what I eat?  I do limit sugar and carb intake, in favor of proteins (plant or animal doesn't matter to me).

Diabetes runs in my family, and I was diagnosed pre-diabetic a few years ago.  Using the method above, Though I was never terribly obese (6'3", 240lbs), I reduced my weight by 50lbs, and am no longer pre-diabetic.

*1. Why so many people are overweight?*  What they eat, how much they eat, emotional triggers for eating (stress, habit, well-being, etc.).

*2. Which proteins, carbohydrates, and fats you should eat to lose weight and live a long and healthy life.*  I eat it all, just in moderation.

*3. Are sweeteners healthier than sugar?*  Sugar or natural sweeteners in my tea.  Sweets made with real sugar, eaten in moderation.  But I don't shy away from artificial sweeteners.

*4. What does insulin resistance mean and how does it affect health and weight loss?*  Diebetes is nothing to play with; it has serious ramifications for quality of life.  Lifestyle and diet play a major role, especially for those genetically predisposed.

*5. Low-carb vs. low-fat: What suits you?*  Both.

*6. Which drinks should you and should you not drink to lose weight and stay healthy?*  I have maybe 2 sodas a week (usually less), opting instead for unsweet tea or water.

*7. What are the benefits of fasting for weight loss and your health?*  If I'm hungry, I'm gonna eat.  Don't ask me to fast.  I've read a bunch of stuff on fasting, and I don't think it has a real affect on weight loss, other than they simply didn't take in calories.  In other words, they lost weight because they didn't eat, and it has nothing to do with WHEN they didn't eat.


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## WhateverYouWant (Oct 7, 2021)

I’ve been overweight for pretty much my whole life. My dad was overweight, and I was pretty much born a fat baby. My memories as a child include mom’s rule of having to finish everything on your plate in order to be entitled to dessert later. Not good behavior to instill in a child.

When hungry, my eyes often exceeded my appetite, but the “finish everything in front of you“ had me pretty much over eating in the majority of meals. I’m 5’10”, and at it’s worst I was almost 240lbs!

Since the pandemic I have avoided restaurants, many of which were fast food. In that time I have made all of my meals at home with very few exceptions. And I have learned to eat only until I am no longer hungry, as opposed to eating until I felt “full“ (or finishing everything in front of me).

I am now down to about 185, about 15-20lbs more than I should weigh, but it gets better every week. And this is with me making ANYTHING I want to eat, including pizza, fried foods, and desserts. I even make my own junk food at home.

So for me, it’s been about eating when you’re hungry, and stopping when you’re not… something I was not taught as a child. Obviously, YMMV, but that has certainly worked for me.


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## taxlady (Oct 7, 2021)

I do intermittent fasting. I allow myself an eight hour "window" for eating per day. Over a period of two years, I lost about 15 kg. I didn't really change anything in my diet other than being less strict about moderation. I like that my weight stays pretty much the same, while I eat pretty much what I want to eat.  I do prefer whole grains and I don't usually have a sweet tooth. I do listen to my body. If I eat too much fat, it stops tasting good. If I don't get enough vegis, I start craving them. That's just two examples of "listening to my body". The intermittent fasting did take a little getting used to, but it wasn't hard and didn't take long. I have the occasional cheat day, when I eat outside my regular "eating window".

There are studies showing health benefits to only eating during a period of 8-12 hours per day. Health benefits seem to start at 12 hours per day and increase until 8 hours per day.


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## blissful (Oct 7, 2021)

Looks like a lot of good information by members that have lost weight and have some good health or improved health. If each week or month we see such great improvement then it would make sense to stay on top of it to see what the next step will be until optimal health is found. Just breakfasts for this week, or no big snack fests in the evening, or the eating window, or just a little less xxxxx, or just a little more xxxx. Whatever way you do it, if you do it today, you've improved.



A few people are paying attention to how they are feeling. Is that hunger? Is it time to eat, for me, not just by the clock. That is an important aspect for me and I have the luxury of eating when I'm hungry.


My own personal experience was that when I had to eat by the clock, before 8 am for breakfast, 12-1 for lunch, 6 pm for dinner due to other constraints whether I was hungry or not, it was the only time for eating. When I was over weight I don't think I felt a strong hunger urge, mostly just boredom and eating by the clock. Now that I am at an ideal weight, one my body decided to stabilize at, I feel the hunger urge much more strongly. I'm approaching three years of eating whole food plant based, no refined or processed oil, in December. My weight doesn't fluctuate when measured at the same time day to day. It hasn't fluctuated in a year.


So I was thinking of a question we might want to ask ourselves in regards to health. Are we admitting or acknowledging our feelings, if not our boredom, our emotional feelings, at the very least our physical feelings with regard to diet and health? People will eat due to following a craving, boredom, anger, grief, mourning, stuffing down feelings, filling empty spaces of emotion, excitement, festivities, family dinner, and more. It's obviously a very important part of good health and long health and being human. So I think that question is important but it probably could be phrased better.


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## summer57 (Oct 7, 2021)

Like taxlady, I do intermittent fasting, with a 7 to 8 hour window for eating. In the beginning, I'd feel hunger, but these days, I don't.  Hunger is something that is caused by the hormone leptin, and it doesn't necessarily mean that your body needs food! I often wake up hungry in the morning, but the hunger goes away when I drink a big cup of water.

I mainly eat fish (I live on the coast so good fish is easy to get), carbs from whole grains like barley or quinoa, protein from  lentilsm yogurt mixed with powdered whey & sometimes blueberries, oat bran or flax, fish, and sometimes meat, usually chicken or turkey.  I use fats in cooking, and when I eat eggs or cheese.  

Sweets - I have a very sweet tooth but avoid sweets these days, though bittersweet chocolate is a special treat.  A bit of maple syrup goes a long way, and fruit.

Exercise, though - that's what I do every day, with a mix of power walking, weight lifting, Pilates, high intensity interva training (HIIT).  I'm careful to keep my protein levels high for that reason.
Before I changed my exercise and diet, I was fat.  It's not just eating too much, it's eating too much of the wrong thing, in my opinion.  Fast food, processed food, snacks, chips, soft drinks -- not good. Neither is sitting around lol.
So that's my diet, which fuels my lifestyle!


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## skilletlicker (Oct 8, 2021)

I generally agree with blissful's quick answers. Regarding insulin resistance, I've never heard the term in a doctor's office unless I brought it up. Pretty sure that I was insulin resistant for decades before a doctor first mentioned prediabetes. I'd bet routine insulin level testing regardless of age or weight could go a long way toward reversing the obesity and diabetes epidemic *IF* people were willing to make diet and lifestyle changes earlier because of it. Purty big if though.

As for living healthy, I'm constantly trying, with varying degrees of success, to improve. Don't think too much about living longer. Since you brought it up though, I'll list a couple of ways I try to improve those odds.

I don't mess with women who are crazier than I am and/or have jealous husbands.
Never assume any car's driver is sane or sober.


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## Vinylhanger (Oct 9, 2021)

blissful said:


> My question is: Is Boniswil the Boniswil in Switzerland, or it there another? Switzerland is known as the country that remains neutral and doesn't ever take sides, which in some respects is a good quality. [emoji38]
> 
> 
> quick answers:
> ...


So soda isn't on the don't drink list.  Awesome.  :grin:


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