10 foods you're probably not eating enough

[Reincarnate]

There are a lot of old people, and there are a lot of fat people, but there aren't a lot of old fat people

[Arch0wl]

my immediate thought to that was "well, there's my grandmother, but frankly I don't know why she hasn't died yet"

however it occurred to me that this would sound like I'm waiting on her death and I promise I'm not, just that with her physiology (obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure) the way it is I'd peg her at like 70 years and she's pushing 80

[tosh]

@OP: Chicken is my shit. <3
Though I can't regularly have fish because I have to watch my potassium.

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

There are a lot of old people, and there are a lot of fat people, but there aren't a lot of old fat people

I would say that depends on a variety of factors. I grew up in a small farming town in Nebraska and just about every elderly person was overweight and many would be considered obese.

[Reincarnate]

Sure, of course it depends. "aren't a lot of" != "are no"

My general point is that being obese really screws you over on a variety of levels.

[Syhto]

you could be "healthy" by all measures on a physical count but your stress levels could be through the roof and before you know it you have a heart attack at 35, you never really know. some of the oldest living people weren't necessarily healthy

but... who is to say if their quality of life would have been better, if they had better nutrition etc. I just think sometimes worrying is one of the worst things we can do for ourselves, which includes putting too much emphasis on doing what's "right" instead of what makes us feel good.

that being said there's a balance. you could say smoking cigs makes you feel good but I bet you'd feel better in general if you didn't smoke. idk. there's a give and take. so i think a lot of this health bs really isn't necessary. it's good to get all your vitamins etc so your body is functioning properly and has the means to heal itself, to keep up, to be the best it can be

but lol @ fruits being bad for you. there have been studies about like oranges and lemons etc not digesting properly for some people or something....

i just think that eating alkaline foods including acidic fruits (which turn alkaline during digestion or what have you) and have natural antioxidant properties, it's good for you. bottom line

like be reasonable. i think its fair to say no one knows everything about nutrition. that's the first time ive heard anyone say screw fruits drink fruit juice and take vitamins, lol. interesting

[cetaka]

Originally Posted by Arch0wl

my immediate thought to that was "well, there's my grandmother, but frankly I don't know why she hasn't died yet"

however it occurred to me that this would sound like I'm waiting on her death and I promise I'm not, just that with her physiology (obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure) the way it is I'd peg her at like 70 years and she's pushing 80

I'd peg your grandma too Arch0wl

[Arch0wl]

Originally Posted by Syhto

but lol @ fruits being bad for you.

[...]

that's the first time ive heard anyone say screw fruits drink fruit juice and take vitamins, lol. interesting

these weren't things I said; fruits aren't 'bad' for you, they're just not that great for the most part -- suboptimal, in other words, because you can get the nutrients elsewhere and with less sugar/calories

re: stress. everyone talks about stress levels, but I personally think that the effects of stress on health are overhyped. I know they're there, but I have to question how much stress food-related shit could possibly cause. I suspect that if you're susceptible to getting stressed out over food there are probably a lot of more general things that provoke stress for you, not food specifically. it's my understanding that the people who die from stress-related shit are people who experience intensely stressful situations on a daily basis, like trial lawyers, chefs and law enforcement.

some attempts to measure it have been made though. it'll be interesting when health science can get a more accurate picture of how stress is contributing to life expectancy.

"some of the oldest living people weren't necessarily healthy" -- this is true, but it has more to do with genetics, i.e. if you're one of those people who isn't genetically advantaged, you'll probably live longer by making healthier choices

there's one thing you mentioned that I don't think was a major point in your post but is good to talk about anyway and that's the naturalness of food. something being 'natural' doesn't necessarily make it better for you. dan dennett has a ted talk where he mentions several examples of 'supernormal stimuli', a term from ethology where you're overloading stimulation for some evolutionary response. sugar is this way, fruit and sugar in general tastes so amazing because we had so little of it in the past. now that human beings have a lot, decisions regarding the body need to be effectively 'unnatural' to be optimal; pursuing natural instinctive impulses will probably make you obese (also note that cavemen, despite being 'natural', probably didn't have optimal nutrition because of simple resource scarcity)

having said all of this

I am extremely pro-drugs and personally take great pains to ensure every life choice other than my reckless indulgence in substances I'm not going to mention on this forum is on point so that I can die at a nice solid 70 instead of, say, 50.