Nutrition by Natalie (and Billy)
Recently I have been exploring the benefits of healthy eating. In my past, I have eaten like a typical American guy of my age: frozen pizzas, cheeseburgers, ice cream, cheese, BBQ ribs, salty snacks, etc. I am still struggling to get out of this phase of my life because I love eating some of those foods. One of the ironies for me of all this discovery is my perception that young liberals eat the healthiest. Young liberals appear to be more likely to be vegetarian or vegan and they appear to be more likely to accept a diversity of foods from around the world.
I have been learning a lot from a Texas gal named Natalie. Her website has a directory of about 50 videos that feature different subjects in nutrition.
This video is a general overview of what to eat on a daily basis. Natalie advocates following the Harvard Food Pyramid instead of the usual US Government’s pyramid.
In this video, Natalie distinguishes between whole foods and processed foods.
In the video below, Natalie discusses her list of superfoods: quinoa, goji berry, acai berry, wheat grass, spirulina, hemp protein, agave nectar, and stevia. She has other videos that give an in-depth discussion of other superfoods: buckwheat, flaxseed, coconut, and sprouts.
The best thing about these videos by Natalie is that she’s cute.
Does anyone have suggestions on websites, alternative food pyramids, or superfoods?
Comment by Brandon on 29 November 2008 at 12:13 pm:
Oh you just like this because she’s cute.
Comment by Segen on 29 November 2008 at 1:32 pm:
I’m happy to hear you are taking nutrition more seriously, Billy.
If you are interested in the dirty backdeals of nutrition laws and programs in the US, I highly recommend the book “Food Politics” by Marion Nestle…what a pageturner.
http://www.foodpolitics.com/
Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 29 November 2008 at 1:35 pm:
Thanks Segen.
Shoutout to Segen for being the first person to get me thinking about food health.
Comment by Brandon on 29 November 2008 at 1:55 pm:
I also take credit for getting you to agree with me that vegetarianism is more sustainable and morally superior. :-D
Comment by chrism on 29 November 2008 at 4:38 pm:
every time i pull a carrot out of the ground i hear a little scream
Comment by Todd on 30 November 2008 at 3:57 pm:
Glad to hear it. Eating may be a little bit less fun, but you’ll probably feel much better the other 95% of the time!
I did not watch the videos, so I don’t know if this is mentioned, but the government’s food intake suggestions are more than just out of date and influenced by business interests. They are also solving a different problem than the one you probably want to be solving for yourself. For instance, RDAs are primarily aimed at avoiding deficiencies, not achieving optimal nutrition. One would ideally like to get around 100% of some of the RDAs but far more than 100% for some others.
I do not have good websites to suggest to someone new to this game, but here are a couple of sites that are a bit more advanced that I’ve learned a lot from:
The Calorie Restriction Society email list, a collection of very bright people (including many involved in biology research) who obsess about optimizing nutrition for life extension purposes (as opposed to, say, athletic performance purposes).
The CR list is also good for discussion of supplements, but my favorite place for that is the forum at ImmInst
Comment by Joshua on 30 November 2008 at 5:06 pm:
Todd, Perhaps you’d be willing to take the time to give us some pointers on eating right and living longer. I probably need them more than anyone else on this blog, and I’d very much be in your debt.
Comment by What a Pig on 30 November 2008 at 6:18 pm:
Anyone needing proof that Billy Joe Mills is a sexist who treats women only as objects should just read this post. “The best thing about these videos by Natalie is that she’s cute.” The best thing about her is that she’s trying to help people, even bad people who would not find her worth watching if he did not want to hump her.
Comment by Todd on 30 November 2008 at 7:16 pm:
The most important stuff is stuff you all probably know already. I guess it’s a matter of motivating yourself and making health a higher priority than the everyday tasks that keep us busy. You’ll have to figure out how to do that for yourselves. Here are a few things that you might not all know, though:
1. Most of you already take a daily multivitamin, which is good especially if your diet isn’t otherwise already filled with nutrients (if it’s anything like a typical western diet, it’s not). But if you’re going to take just one other supplement, I’d suggest a large dose (perhaps 2000 IU) of vitamin D. It’s quite beneficial and very cheap. If you’re looking for an interesting supplement that you may not have already heard of, check out resveratrol. I wouldn’t suggest it for everyone, but it’s worth learning about, at least.
2. The vegetarians here probably already know this, but just in case you don’t – you’re likely to require some additional supplements to make up for the nutrients in meat that you aren’t getting. I’ll elaborate on this if anyone wants me to.
3. Consider the context of the advice you’re receiving. Optimizing for lifespan is quite different than optimizing for performance, sexual attractiveness, and well-being, especially for males. Most of aging is a collection of nasty side effects of metabolism, so to minimize aging, you want to consume and metabolize a small number of calories while still getting quality nutrition. Maximizing athletic performance usually requires the opposite approach – high calorie intake and lots of exercise. Losing weight also requires the opposite approach – you want to speed your metabolism up. With exercise, the story is the same – that which maximizes functionality is not the same as that which maximizes well-being or that which maximizes sexual attractiveness, though there’s often substantial overlap.
For those who have met me, in case it is not obvious, I’ve chosen a low-calorie, low-metabolism approach that leaves me quite thin and thus sacrifices some sexual attractiveness :)
Comment by Segen on 30 November 2008 at 8:16 pm:
OMG no…no…do not take vitamins…especially that much vitamin D…
Vitamin D is fat soluble (vs water soluble) and will stay in your fat cells until your body uses the vitamin. You can easily overdose on fat soluble vitamins and cause your body harm. You can eat/drink loads of water soluble vitamins like vitamin C because your body excretes what it doesn’t use in the potty…
Please, please try to get your supplements from food…and if you ARE going to take a supplement…I would strongly suggest sticking to Centrum or the generic equivalent because Centrum has done a lot of testing to make sure their products are “safter”.
DO NOT TAKE PILLS OF OTHER VITAMINS…because you generally could OD, or you could be taking some garbage chemicals along with that crappy, unregulated in the US vitamin. That’s right…totally unregulated in the US…what a crock…
DO NOT TAKE VITAMINS IF YOU CAN AVOID IT.
<3 Segen
Comment by Joshua on 30 November 2008 at 8:30 pm:
I’ve started taking something called “JuicePlus” that’s marketed to people who don’t always eat as many fruits and vegetables as they should. I like the idea of taking Todds approach, but first I’ve really got to drop some weight. I’m going to follow the JayBandit treadmill plan + only eating half portions when I’m eating out, and cutting out cookies and sweets, at least most of the time.
Comment by Brandon on 30 November 2008 at 8:37 pm:
I’m going to second Segen on the vitamin thing. A recent study actually suggested that vitamins might harm you.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16655168/
You need to get the right nutrition out of the food you’re eating because most of the benefits of vitamins and nutrients is derived from their complementarity with others found in many healthy foods.
There’s no hard rule for what makes a healthy diet, but in simple words: eat lots of variety, but not too much.
Don’t eat pre-prepared foods because they’re often loaded with chemicals and too much salt, sugar, and fat because those things are addictive. That’s right, make as much as possible from scratch (I make 3 cups of black beans a week and about four cups of rice, quinoa, or couscous). If it comes in a box, only needs you to add water, or can be prepared in the microwave, it’s probably bad. Eat whole grains rather than bleached grains because all the good stuff is taken out of the bleached grains. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, this really isn’t as hard as you’d think if you stop thinking of meat and bread as the centerpieces of your diet. Get as much protein as you can from plant foods like legumes (beans, lentils, etc), you avoid cholesterol and saturated fats.
Probably the easiest way to tell you to eat healthy is to not buy crap. If it can be found in the center aisles of the super market, eat as little of it as possible. All the prepared foods are in the aisles. All of the fresh fruit, meats, dairy, grains, etc are generally at the periphery. Get the vast majority of your stuff from the edges of the supermarket and you should be fine.
Comment by Todd on 30 November 2008 at 9:13 pm:
I suggested 2000 IU, not 10000 :) You can overdose, yes, on anything (even water and even C, but it’s very hard).
Always do your research first. The quality of products does vary greatly. Brandon’s article says the same thing Segen did – the quality of some supplements is very poor, but this article does not make a broad indictment of supplementation as a concept. If done correctly, you can achieve results superior to those that can be achieved with food alone, but if done incorrectly, you can harm yourself. This shouldn’t surprise anyone :)
Comment by Todd on 30 November 2008 at 9:16 pm:
Also, you can get a simple blood test to detect levels of various vitamins, nutrients, hormones, and other substances in your body. I would suggest doing this occasionally, as you’ll be able to detect deficiencies and overages. The results you obtain will give you a good idea about which substances to try to get more or less of (whether from food or [stopping/starting] supplementation).
Comment by Todd on 30 November 2008 at 9:23 pm:
Also, speaking of blood tests, FWIW, my D levels were suboptimal at pretty much anywhere under 5000 IU/day (but high enough to avoid deficiency diseases at just the 400 IU/day RDA). Everyone else’s experiences may be different.
Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 30 November 2008 at 10:19 pm:
I’ve been taking Centrum multivitamin every day. How do the people who know a lot more about this stuff than me feel about Centrum? If it is indeed bad, which specific and relatively inexpensive alternative can you recommend?
That MSNBC article that Brandon posted suggested that major multivitamin brands are more trustworthy. Do y’all agree with this?
Comment by Joshua on 30 November 2008 at 10:35 pm:
BJM – Let me know if you want me to sign you up for JuicePlus.
Comment by Todd on 30 November 2008 at 10:46 pm:
I have a favorable impression of Centrum as well. My impression is that the smaller brands do vary more in quality. Some of them (AOR and LEF for instance) are real quality freaks and offer fantastic products, but the prices are higher. Some small brands are crap. Again, do research before you take anything :)
Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 1 December 2008 at 12:03 am:
Top Ten Best and Worst Foods:
http://www.cspinet.org/nah/10foods_bad.html
Comment by Segen on 1 December 2008 at 12:24 am:
billy…in my original vitamin freak out comment…i mentioned that if i were to take a vitamin…it would be Centrum.
Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 1 December 2008 at 1:37 am:
Oh, thanks Segen. I actually did read that comment but I think that I was distracted by the CAPS LOCK SHOUTING!
:)
Here’s a great all-around website for healthy choices: http://www.health.com/health
Comment by Brandon on 1 December 2008 at 10:25 am:
This is great stuff.
The Times releases healthy recipes every week thorough its Well section in the Health and Fitness
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/health/nutrition/20recipehealth.html?em
Comment by Billy Joe Mills on 1 December 2008 at 11:11 am:
Thanks BK ;)
Comment by Isaac Gonzalez on 12 July 2010 at 8:14 pm:
research suggest that calorie restriction can also lengthen a person’s life span,’~
Comment by Eric Patterson on 10 October 2010 at 11:18 am:
as science suggests, calorie restriction diets are great for longevity;.~