5 portions a day!

[wafflycat]

The thing is that exercise (particularly cycling) does have fairly instant results but diet is what looks after you long term. If you do plenty of exercise but don't support it with a balanced diet then you're still putting your body at risk - in the short term the risk of injury, in the long term more terminal problems such as Wafflycat has noted.

On the five a day thing, I find it easy - I love fruit and veg (and I'm definitely not veggie either) and eat it at any opportunity. Fossyant - I'd be careful with that banana intake. The body can generally only digest two bananas a day and too much banana can mean too much potassium (in fact 9 bananas in a 24 hour period can lead to severe potassium poisoning). It's best to get as wide a variety as possible - I like to go for a banana, an apple, an orange/satsuma and one other fruit a day (whatever's in season) snacks of carrots, peppers and then I usually have a bit of lettuce and tomato with lunch and whatever I have with my tea.

Alas I've cycled for years and was still obese. Also loved fruit & veg too - never had a problem eating the stuff (apart from aubergine... blech ). For me, they key to not being obese is in the head, as from that follows what goes in the mouth. On the plus side, not being obese has made it a bit easier to cycle up any sort of hill, but that's about it as regards exercise being made easier.

Example of what I ate yesterday:-

Breakfast: Porridge (oats, water, sweetener) topped with fruit (peach)
Lunch: rice, with lots of tomatoes, chilli, peppers, broccoli. Fruit to follow (bananananananana).
Dinner: Huge pile mixed green salad leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, chives, onion, peppers, with lean pork loin (all visible fat removed before cooking). Fruit to follow (apples).
Snacks: 4 x oatcakes
Milk in tea & coffee.

I don't have a problem eating fruit & veg

 

[alecstilleyedye]

You're missing part of the point. Eating five a day is about more than any one individual aspect - it's about the totality of eating healthily. If you aren't getting enough fruit & veg in your diet then you aren't getting enough fibre inside you. You are missing out on the benefits of the fibre moving stuff through your innards quickly. If you don't get enough fibre, you don't sh!t often enough & when you do, it's too firm, so you risk constipation, piles, and increase your risk of bowel cancer (and that's a particularly nasty one to get). It won't do you any harm to up your fibre intake and it will do you a lot of good. As regards your cholesterol level, you may well be akin to the lucky smoker who doesn't get lung cancer but then goes on to die of a different smoking-related disease.

i must have a genetic resisistance to a crap diet, because that is never a problem

i admit that it's better to promote 5 a day as it will benefit everyone, rather than rely on joe public to make a sensible decision. however, rather than a series of vague aspirations (5 a day, elevated heart rate for 30 mins), encouraging people to eat healthier and exercise more as a combination would be much better.

and i should say that i do at least have an apple a day, so it's not all bad news on the diet front.

 

[wafflycat]

encouraging people to eat healthier and exercise more as a combination would be much better.

That's exactly what people are encouraged to do. Ask any doc, watch any 'diet' programme on the idiot box in the corner of the room. It's not just one message in isolation.

 

[domtyler]

Fossyant - I'd be careful with that banana intake. The body can generally only digest two bananas a day and too much banana can mean too much potassium (in fact 9 bananas in a 24 hour period can lead to severe potassium poisoning). It's best to get as wide a variety as possible - I like to go for a banana, an apple, an orange/satsuma and one other fruit a day (whatever's in season) snacks of carrots, peppers and then I usually have a bit of lettuce and tomato with lunch and whatever I have with my tea.

From Health A to Z - Mineral Toxicity

The normal level of potassium in the bloodstream is in the range of 3.5-5.0 mM, while levels of 6.3-8.0 mM (severe hyperkalemia) result in cardiac arrhythmias or even death due to cardiac arrest. Potassium is potentially quite toxic, however toxicity or death due to potassium poisoning is usually prevented because of the vomiting reflex. The consumption of food results in mild increases in the concentration of potassium in the bloodstream, but levels of potassium do not become toxic because of the uptake of potassium by various cells of the body, as well as by the action of the kidneys transferring the potassium ions from the blood to the urine. The body's regulatory mechanisms can easily be overwhelmed, however, when potassium chloride is injected intravenously, as high doses of injected potassium can easily result in death.

So it seems that one can eat as many 'nanas' as one likes.

 

[monnet]

Well assuming that you are 'normal' and vomit before pottassium content becomes a problem. It remains that they are still a problem to digest properly. Regardless, a number of doctors and trainee medics have told me that bananas are best consume in moderation.

Waffly, I wasn't saying that 'fruit and veg plus cycling' stop you from being obese. I was saying that to be truly healthy you have to combine the two (along with,as you say, the mental strength to overcome obesity, if that is an issue).

I'm one of those scrawny types that everyone hates - eats loads and still the same weight I was when I was 16. However, I feel awful after a few days of bad food/little exercise. Once I get good food and exercise into my sytem I feel great again. Even just taking one of these factors away (ie: good food no exercise or bad food lots of exercise) has a negative impact on the way I feel.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

That's exactly what people are encouraged to do. Ask any doc, watch any 'diet' programme on the idiot box in the corner of the room. It's not just one message in isolation.

that programme with gillian mckeith is imho counter-productive. when shown that huge table of greenery "that's your new diet", most lardies are likely to come back with "f*ck that" and ignore the very idea of changing their diet. much as they would if you told them to cycle 20 miles a day from now on.

so here we are, most of us above average in terms of fitness and healthy eating arguing over points of detail whilst there is a whole mass of maccy ds eating, couch potatoing, exercise = not having a downstairs bog people who will probably cost the nhs a fortune in years to come. yep, and guess who'll be paying for it?

should 5 a day and 30 minutes exercise be made compulsory for the obese who aren't working?

 

[wafflycat]

So it seems that one can eat as many 'nanas' as one likes.

Not quite. If you have kidney problems you can well find you are told to limit intake of foods high in potassium - including bananananananas - as my nearest & dearest was told (he is now okay )

 

[wafflycat]

that programme with gillian mckeith is imho counter-productive. when shown that huge table of greenery "that's your new diet", most lardies are likely to come back with "f*ck that" and ignore the very idea of changing their diet. much as they would if you told them to cycle 20 miles a day from now on.

so here we are, most of us above average in terms of fitness and healthy eating arguing over points of detail whilst there is a whole mass of maccy ds eating, couch potatoing, exercise = not having a downstairs bog people who will probably cost the nhs a fortune in years to come. yep, and guess who'll be paying for it?

should 5 a day and 30 minutes exercise be made compulsory for the obese who aren't working?

There's more than 'doctor' GMcK (who I'd love to strangle - can't stand the woman) on the box. You do have a penchant for looking at this in isolation rather than as a holistic view. Exercise alone does not prevent obesity. 'Healthy' diet alone does not prevent obesity.

As for lardies - being formerly obese I find your attitude to the overweight nasty and full of the usual prejudices about obesity. When I was obese I still used to cycle an average of 50 - 100 miles a week, week in, week out. No, I didn't sit on my arse all day stuffing my face with chocolate & crisps whilst watching Jeremy Kyle... yet I used to get all the usual offensive platitudes thrown my way.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

as an aside, david dimbleby was asked how he kept going all night during a general election without needing an extended loo visit, and he said that bananas kept things nice and slow for him.

this bizarre fact spawned banana time in a place i used to work, a bizarre practice of eating bananas, relating banana facts whilst listening to banana related music.

 

[Arch]

Have I ever explained my theory on how one Pain au Chocolat counts as three portions?

In terms of how much, I heard the other day that a portion is "as big as your fist" - which would make sense - bigger people with bigger fists need more food...

I'm still woefully short on my portions though, I know it. If someone could invent a fruit that tastes of chocolate, or cheese, I'd be well away...

 

[alecstilleyedye]

There's more than 'doctor' GMcK (who I'd love to strangle - can't stand the woman) on the box. You do have a penchant for looking at this in isolation rather than as a holistic view. Exercise alone does not prevent obesity. 'Healthy' diet alone does not prevent obesity.

As for lardies - being formerly obese I find your attitude to the overweight nasty and full of the usual prejudices about obesity. When I was obese I still used to cycle an average of 50 - 100 miles a week, week in, week out. No, I didn't sit on my arse all day stuffing my face with chocolate & crisps whilst watching Jeremy Kyle... yet I used to get all the usual offensive platitudes thrown my way.

i don't assume that anyone i meet that is obese is so because of bad diet and lazyness (mrs alecetc is overweight despite eating healthily and being active and quite fit), but there are people like that out there. i know that if i don't exercise (ie cycle regularly) i do put on the pounds.

this is coming back to my point about genetics; some of us are lucky enough to be able to eat what we like and exercise little and stay slim, others are unfortunate enough (like mrs alecetc) to do all the right things but still be overweight. most of us are somewhere in between. i'm lucky to be able to control my weight via exercise alone.

sorry if you thought i was referring to you waffles, i shouldn't have assumed that my assumption that as you are on here, then you are not sitting on your arse all day stuffing my face with chocolate & crisps whilst watching Jeremy Kyle, was obvious

 

[Blonde]

Have I ever explained my theory on how one Pain au Chocolat counts as three portions? ... I'm still woefully short on my portions though, I know it. If someone could invent a fruit that tastes of chocolate, or cheese, I'd be well away...

Chocolate fondue? (or indeed cheese fondue) Dip any old fruit into it and enjoy! Oh and before anyone says it, by 'old fruit', I do not, I repeat, do not mean Patrick!

 

[wafflycat]

sorry if you thought i was referring to you waffles, i shouldn't have assumed that my assumption that as you are on here, then you are not sitting on your arse all day stuffing my face with chocolate & crisps whilst watching Jeremy Kyle, was obvious

I didn't think you were referring to me specifically, honest But you did come out with the usual prejudices about obesity generally

 

[Blonde]

My Mum is overweight and it is her fault. It is in her power and is her responsibility to do something about it but she wont take responsibility for it - as far as I know she isn't doing anything about it. She eats anything that is put in front of her by my Father who cooks. If there is food left on the table she will eat it no matter how much she has had on her plate. I have witnessed her eat half of a meal my Dad prepared for six people - ie we ate half of what was there between five of us,and she ate the rest. Loved one suggested my Dad should stop cooking so much but IMO it is her responsibility to look after herself and I don't think he will ever stop cooking that huge amount of food unless she leaves some but she never does. My dad looks after her in every way basically, does all the housework DIY, gown vegetables on his allotment, cooks, sorts out the bills etc so she never has to take responsibility for anything - not even her own health. She does work - as a teacher in adult education and enjoys her job but even that will go if she gets to the stage where she cant go out the house (like her Mum did 20 odd years ago - I never went out with my Nana, she was always in the house. If we as kids went to the shop across the busy A road from their house, she would watch out for us for the door - we went on our own because she couldn't walk that far!)

It worries me because she is actually ill because of her weight (heart murmer, high PB and cholesterol and diabetes type 2, and sleep apnia - she has to wear a machine to keep her airways open in bed at night). I love her very much but don't half get irritated with her when I think of how I will end up having to look after her in old age, just as she is her Mother, who has had all the same problems and some more, due to weight for about 40 years, but has spent the last 20 years (literally) being waited on hand and foot by my parents, because she is so ill due to obesity. I don't want to be in the same situation, caring for my own Mum for 20 plus years. it really worries me. It seems to me that she is being selfish because we will both have to change jobs and move home to looks after her and it will effect our relationship and family in the same way that my parents have been effected by my Nan's problems.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

I didn't think you were referring to me specifically, honest But you did come out with the usual prejudices about obesity generally

i'm not prejudiced about obesity as, by definition, prejudice is a function of ignorance. i know perfectly well that obesity is not all down to chocolate and laziness and that people may have a genetic predisposition (my original point) to obesity, or it may be as a result of another medical condition etc. but that does not mean that there are not the type of people (disturbingly, many still at primary school) who should eat less and exercise more.

technically, this time last year my 30% bmi made me "obese", despite cycling 10 miles a day. that same 10 miles a day has, over a year, helped me lose that rather ridiculous tag and get my bmi down to 21%.

i would suggest that the rise in levels of obesity is due in greater part to the more sedentry, consumer lifestyle espoused by many than genetics etc, although i will concede that many people who do not regard themselves as "obese" (as i didn't), technically are.

you and i both know what our bodies are capable of and what affects them, there are a lot of people out there who don't know and, worse still, don't care.