Reddy

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 07:37 PM) so the quaker 90 calorie granola bars are bad? i eat two a day as a snack. so what different bar can i eat? or string cheese and yogurt instead? and what about Smart Ones? >not looking for a meal replacement bar, just a snack bar just grab something that's lower in sugar and doesn't have things like high fructose corn syrup. low fat string cheese is good, yogurt is typically misleading in the same way as granola bars where it's usually made with crappy ingredients but labeled as "healthy". Green yogurt is better, but if you like regular yogurt just go low fat and again, skip anything with HFCS

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 07:02 PM) While it's not as bad for you as some alternatives, it's still NOT nearly as good for you as others. And WebMD is probably more credible than whatever pro natural foods website, backed by no scientific data, tells you about Coconut oil. Then again, I don't really need WebMD to show you the facts: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/coconut-o...ht-loss/AN01899 http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealt...375_Article.jsp http://blog.heartsecrets.org/?p=629 "The jury is still very much out on coconut oil. Multi-centric large randomized trials should be conducted with coconut oil to confirm or discard the suggestion that it can reduce body weight and cholesterol levels." "There are very few studies that actually look at the effect of coconut oil on the human heart. Here’s a rundown on three scientific studies on coconut oil. First, Brazilian researchers found women who used coconut oil had higher HDL (good cholesterol) levels than women who used soybean oil. Also, British researchers studies hamsters with clogged arteries and found that those fed olive oil had cleaner arteries than those fed coconut oil. Finally, New Zealand researchers fed volunteers with high cholesterol three test diets rich in butter, coconut oil and safflower oil. They found LDL, or “bad” cholesterol levels, were lowest in folks eating safflower oil, moderate in those eating coconut oil, and highest in those eating butter." Any/all current science claiming Coconut Oil is somehow good for you is backed by scant, if any evidence. Also, and most importantly, only virgin Coconut Oil meets these hardly studied conclusions. ...and last but not least, from Wiki, with references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil "As with dairy and meat products, the United States Food and Drug Administration,[2] World Health Organization,[3] International College of Nutrition,[4] United States Department of Health and Human Services,[5] American Dietetic Association,[6] American Heart Association,[7] British National Health Service,[8] and Dietitians of Canada[6] recommend limiting the consumption of significant amounts of coconut oil due to its high levels of saturated fat." While I agree that the US Government isn't always correct about what's good or bad, they do have some evidence backing their claims. But when it comes to this, you're also ignoring Canadian, British, WHO and ICoN recommendations. Not to mention the fact that a single tablespoon of it contains almost 120 calories. i gotta admit, you lose credibility by citing the FDA...... my LDL is 37. I use about 1 tablespoon of coconut oil/day. obviously anecdotal evidence means nothing, but cultures that subsist on coconut-rich diets are invariably healthier than we are. that said, they also don't eat processed foods. unfortunately it's tough to do real scientific studies with food given that there will ALWAYS be extra variables. I look at Japanese, Caribbean, Latin American, Australian, Indochinese cultures etc as my guide, more than I listen to the american medical machine. give me a tinfoil hat if you want, but it works for me.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 05:37 PM) So two people were wounded in the shooting. Oh the humanity. edit- one of them had a heart attack. So. Yea. Evil assault clips. lol this is a perfect example of why open carry is a horrible policy. people have an argument and instead of a fist fight it's a shoot out.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 03:59 PM) Liberals sure are falling in love with the military apparatus once they came around to the idea that they could use the military to kill anyone who doesn't go along with their plans. You've been seeing a lot of talk about it, especially after Sandy Hook. "You wouldn't stand a chance against drones!", "Your pesky AR-15 stands no chance against our superior firepower"... its pretty disturbing. you're pretty disturbing. in a few years you'll grow out of it though, which is encouraging.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 02:44 PM) Coconut oil is one of the worst oils you can use...it's so high in saturated fat that the American Heart Association says it's pretty much just as bad as butter is. Per Tablespoon: Coconut oil: 117 calories, 14 grams total fat, 12 grams saturated fat Unsalted butter: 102 calories, 12 grams total fat, 7 grams saturated fat The only thing Coconut oil does that butter doesn't do is raise your HDL (good) cholesterol...however, it raises your LDL (bad) just as much. ...but that's also why Coconut oil tastes the best. More info for anyone that cares to actually do some reading: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/coconut-oil-and-health coconut oil is high in saturated fat but it's GOOD saturated fat. I use it every day. WebMD isn't really the greatest source of information. (see the thread in the buster about the gov't and major medical not understanding nutrition)

QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 01:37 PM) Sure seems like mine is. how did you come to that conclusion?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 11:31 AM) Oh, like KyYle. how. did that. take. so. long? lol

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 01:17 PM) They just announced a test market (San Fran) for a tofu alternative... get to Chicagoland already. me want.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 01:24 PM) I try not to use oil whenever I can, but if I do use it, I use Coconut Oil I sub it for whatever oil a recipe suggests. If I'm making veggies, like kale or broccoli ill usually fill the sauce pan with just a little water and steam them that way instead of using oils at all. oooh nice.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 01:12 PM) I'm aware. I usually have Chipotle once a day. I'd love to have it twice, but then it feels kind of forced. just for s***s and giggles, i'd be interested to hear what your daily sodium intake is like. might be a fun experiment to track your food for a couple days. can be eye opening.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 12:44 PM) I stay away from Meat and Dairy (sans the occasional Pizza and Fish -- I'm not a hardcore Vegan by any stretch haha) No refined sugars (or HFCS obviously) No GMO's I try to stay away from Oil's and only cook with Coconut Oil if It's needed for a recipe Cut out bread and pasta... bread is the worst one for me haha Try and make all my meals at home and on rare occasions dine out -- It saves $$$ and you know exactly what is going into your food. I do eat lots of greens, and fruits. Fresh nut butters (Almond and Cashew in particular). Make lots of hearty vegetable based soups/chili. Whole grains and brown rice. And most importantly LOTS of Water... out of curiosity, what do you cook with if not oil? most, if not all, cooking sprays are a lot worse for you than just using real EVOO, coconut, or other good oils (hemp, pumpkin, grapeseed, etc, etc)

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 01:08 PM) I resort to the all-Chipotle diet. Chicken bowl, no tortilla, no dairy. Gets you full and around 600 calories. Somewhat healthy too, I'd like to think. Chipotle is the healthiest fast food there is. Free range chicken, grass fed beef, organic local veggies. Good stuff. only problem is that sodium content so... ya know... going ALL chipotle may not be the best idea.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 11:54 AM) One reason why I cant in the morning. I've tried to run without digesting a meal and I barely made it home before seeing stars. I wish I could, it would be really helpful, im up for suggestions. I don't do a full meal, this morning I did a homemade energy bar and a pear (250 cal total), waited about 30-45 minutes, then hit the workout. Your body can't digest food AND exercise at the same time very efficiently, because you're splitting your blood flow between the two, that's why it's best to work out on an empty stomach so all your blood is available for that task. I never used to be a morning workout person till I learned that.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 11:12 AM) At 212, especially if you were doing a lot of work in the gym, you may have been burning over 4000 calories a day. That would make your big weight loss make sense. A lot of 200 pounders will have a BMR of 3000+. When I was at my best physique, before injuries etc etc I was a lean 190 and had to eat 3500 cals to maintain weight. I was doing zero cardio at this point as well. Also, the best way to "awake" a metabolism is resistance training! Steady state cardio is great and something I will always do, but doesn't touch the body composition and metabolic effects of resistance training or interval training. Some mixture of course will probably work best. i think you're confusing TDEE with BMR

yeah nobody's BMR is 2000. but more or less the right idea

QUOTE (Jake @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 10:46 PM) Comes down to the last point you make IMO. Counting calories can allow you to work in some small amounts of those bugaboo foods, but for a lot of folks that's just way too much effort, stress, whatever. If you don't want to count, and I can understand not wanting to, I'd suggest like Reddy to completely abstain from the types of foods he mentioned. I would advise you to not worry about an occasional cheat, though. This can easily be overdone, but don't miss out on a fun time now and then. Likewise, I don' t want you to feel bad just because you have a bad day with eating -- in the long run, a single day/meal here and there just isn't a big deal. absolutely.

yeah GNC blows

QUOTE (whitesox901 @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 09:01 PM) I'm trying to lose weight. If it isn't a problem, can anyone give me some tips on what to avoid (similar to the small discussion about granola)? Thanks. if it's in a box, a can, a wrapper, a bag, etc - then you need to carefully look at ingredients and avoid: 1) High fructose corn syrup 2) High amounts of sugar period 3) Avoid most saturated fats (except for avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, nut oils, nut butters, etc) 5) Avoid partially hydrogenated vegetable oil basically a good simple method is this: 80-90% foods with ONE ingredient and 10-20% whatever else you enjoy, like, whatever. I go for 90/10, but most people aren't as health-nazi-ish like me. If you want to count calories, I can give you more detailed info

Quest is good. Pure Protein is too - but I dig the ingredients you mentioned in Quest. Nice.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 07:27 PM) If you need it. I pack on muscle without needing protein drinks, so for me they aren't necessary. I.E., drink protein supplements IF you need to supplement your protein intake. Not everybody does. not everyone, but generally speaking if you're looking to lean out, drop fat, build muscle, you need to go a bit lower (not low carb, but lower) on the carbs and higher on the protein INITIALLY, and that's hard to do without supplementation. obviously everyone is different though.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 06:50 PM) Is there some basic level of "drink this protein shake!" that actually is helpful/required? you should drink a protein shake every day, and some sort of post workout drink that's about 2-4:1 simple carbs:protein. chocolate milk sorta works, but isn't ideal - there are a lot of recovery drinks on the market. Endurox is pretty solid. the protein shake can literally just be protein powder, fruit, milk/water/etc, blend, done.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 06:14 PM) Steve wisely pointed out bodybuilding.com. Just ignore their supplement advice, they're trying to profit off of you. They think every weight program requires a good 100 bucks of products to make it work, but dont waste your money. at least.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 04:41 PM) After finally having a bit more money later this month, I'm going to finally join a gym. In the few years since I've stopped growing "up" I've started to grow "out." It's not bad or anything (I'm about 6'2" 195) but I want to nip it in the bud. So, here's my question: I want to just generally keep in shape; if anything specific maybe cut a little bit of my stomach fat down (little bit of a belly starting to form). Do y'all know any good websites where I can get a good sense of what to do when starting to work out from scratch? I worked out a bit in college, but I haven't had it in classes or anything since high school, and I forget all the basics. I'm sure I'll be that person at the gym you all hate. P90X!

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 04:35 PM) Time to sound silly...Benching with cinder blocks on the bar...does it add anything more than the 35 pounds they weigh? Not sure if the fact that they hang and wobble a little does anything. weight is weight. unless the bar itself is wobbly then you're also working stabilizer muscles - though that's also mucho dangeroso

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 03:58 PM) I need to get a food processor to make homemade hummus, it's one of my favorite foods. What do you eat it with? Veggies or pita bread? When I can find it, I buy Flatout bread as a Pita replacement. I was just doing it with veggies - trying to stay away from too much processed wheat products (yes I'm a crazy person)