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Almost like clockwork, hitting 40 years old seems to have triggered a series of alarms that I need to watch my health more. Blood tests show various things that I need to watch out for and I continue to be fatter than I should. I used to do low-carb diets when I got overweight, but it seems like a fat/meat diet right now wouldn't be good for my heart and other things.
I was discussing exercise plans and being fat with a friend of mine who recommended that I check out Eat to Live by Dr. Fuhrman. I googled around looking for more information. Wikipedia provided rather bland neutral results. Some people seemed critical of him, but in the comments were blasted by others who disagreed. I couldn't find anything authoritatively negative about this book or Dr. Fuhrman. (I didn't look TOO hard though.)
His website and the book come off a bit salesy, but I tend to expect that from mass market books in the US. I've just started reading the book. I apologize for blogging before I read, but I wanted to post this while I read the book in case anyone had experience with Dr. Fuhrman, his recommendations in his book or thoughts on his assertions.
It is pretty straightforward. Eat lots of fiber. Cut down on meats, fish, oil and carbs. He has a notion of health = nutrition / calories and the importance of focusing on foods that have a high nutrition vs calorie ration. Fruits are OK.
Anyway, I think I'm going to give this a try. It starts with a 6 week aggressive "detox" and then goes into a more forgiving mode that allows you to eat most anything, but requires you to take in large amounts of vegetables and fruits.
Well Joi, I don't know about the "Eat to live" diet, but I do know that exercise is good for you :) Especially low impact since we are getting older and eat too much yummy stuff. I installed a bike like this in our basement storage, and it REALLY works for me... (for mailing and WoWing + working out at the same time ;)
I have a more entrepreneurial solution: get a hardware engineer to hook up a running machine to WoW so that you'll have to run physically to run/ride/fly on Azroth. You'll end up slimmer and with a product line you can sell to gamers who are oddly health-conscious yet chair-bound.
BTW, welcome to the 40s Jon. ;-p
I'll second Don and raise him: what about adjustable settings for the Warcraft exerciser?
You would have increased load settings for the more effective modes of transportation, so that if you were in a big hurry to get to the Auction House, you'd actually have to pedal, or walk, or stretch more vigorously. . . .
Joi,
What's working for me is a bet with my dad that we'll each lose 14 pounds in 14 weeks. We're both on track and the final weigh in is next Wednesday! I'm blogging a weekly update with graph. : )
Luke
Exercise alone will do the trick. Sure you need to make time for it, but diet alone will make you thin but you may be still as unhealthy. Even if you lose no weight while exercising at least you will be fit and will feel better, and chances are that you WILL lose some weight.
Well, there is no trick to losing weight. It's really as simple as that you have to spend more energy than you take in, and you will loose weight. If you exercise you will spend more energy losing weight faster, and in my experience anaerobic exercise also dampens hunger.
It helps me to keep a structure to eating, so that I eat moderately every 4 hours and try to not eat 2-4 hours before going to bed. It doesn't hurt to take vitamins and "good fats" like Omega 3 either.
And maybe 1 meal a day consisting of a salad would help you get more green stuff into the system.
If you work a lot and travel I guess it can be hard to be very structured, but the things I listed above aren't too hard to follow. Good hotels have places to work out, restaurants offer salads and vitamins and Omega 3 capsules are portable.
I am so definently not an expert, but believe the above is a good way to keep healthy.
Maybe you should venture a social improve-or-maintain-your-health site? ;)
I also recommend checking out Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman, lots of good science.
I also turned 40 recently and understand your issue quite well. Diets are all bad. Eat whatever you like! But reduce the volume of food intake by 10-20% constantly. Especially reduce intake of rice and other carbohydrates. This will do miracles for your weight.
Well, I'm exercising too. I do realize that it is probably more important than the diet. I'm mostly swimming. Was doing 1000 meters 4 times a week until I got sick and started again yesterday.
While this diet that I'm starting is good for losing weight, I think just as important is the detox part. I need to lower various things like my uric acid level, my y-GTP and other things. I agree the exercise is important, but it seems to me that 6 weeks of no alcohol, meats or oil can't be BAD for me and it would be interesting to test the theories in the book. He's says I'll start enjoying fruit (which I rarely eat right now) and veggies (which I leave to last right now.) There isn't a calorie restriction. In fact, the goal seems to be more about trying to eat huge amounts of fresh vegetables.
Anyway, I like challenges, so I'm going to give it a try from today. I finished the book last night. Some bits were a bit tiresome, but his position was clear and not nearly as controversial or scary as Atkins.
I just realized that this diet is really close to traditional Japanese food. Other than the huge amounts of fruit, it's pretty manageable if I don't go eat at Western Restaurants like Morton's. ;-P
Spending a week in Germany after Christmas should be interesting...
Somebody told me that Japanese are short. Because of the food they consume or is it genetic?
Doc, you are basically asking whether it's the engine or the fuel that makes a car go fast when there is a lot more to a car than just engine and fuel. Personally, I think it's the racing girls that make cars go fast.
According to a BBC report today, people with a high IQ go veggie!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6180753.stm
Joi, if you've any interest in it, you may want to try a martial arts class for exercise. I lost about 35lbs in 2 months on one, and gained loads of flexibility. Also, lots of water and no soft drinks goes a long way.
Best of luck to you!
Joi,
Try the diet. It will change your life. My husband and I went on it almost one year ago. He lost 30 lbs and I lost 25. You will feel lighter and maybe other symptoms, like headaches, will go away. Be true to it and don't cheat and the weight will fall off of you. The beginning is hard, but after about a week it gets easy because you stop craving sugar and junk. Giving coffee is the hardest thing for folks and Dr. Fuhrman is understanding and says folks can have one cup a day (and so I do, altho I wish I didn't)
I found your blog by chance.
Good luck to you!
Oh, and read the book before you start. It's critical. It will blow your mind. If you don't read it, you won't be committed.
Kim
Read the book and started the diet 3 days ago. I am losing weight, but more striking is the sensation of feeling generally more energetic. The first day was tough, the second day was weird. Today is quite nice.
Also, smells and tastes seem to be much more... enjoyable. I never liked fruit very much, but they're great now. I'll write a proper post about my observations soon, because 3 days isn't such a great sample, but so far it's quite a change.
Quitting all alcohol (again) and exercising is probably amplifying the effect. I realize that doing everything at once isn't a controlled experiment, but doing all at once seemed like the right thing to do from my psychological perspective.
Get a good cross bike and ride a couple of hours at a time. Your weight is supported, you don't hammer your knees and you get to see something. The trip to Inokashira Park from Tomigaya along the river is a nice run and coming back along the Zenfukuji River is a great trip. Find a few routes you like and you will reset your body and it will stay off. At least that worked for me.
Don't ride a bike or run a treadmill behind a screen.
Good luck. Steady at 74 kg for the first time in 20 years.
Joi,
My guess is that your travel schedule plays into this. You'll have to think hard about what and how you eat on planes, in airports, in hotels, at conferences, etc. You travel more than any other blogger I've ever read!
I've been exercising every day except for one so far and continue to enjoy this thing.
Don, yes, it appears that the logistics of getting a pound or so of vegetables every single day is the hardest part of this diet. ;-)
as long as you go away from the bcc congress center into the town there will be sufficient veggie food available in berlin. stay away from the evil döner while rather cheap and accessible I guess it is no good for any diet. fruit on the other hand are rather sparse over here compared to about any other western country on the planet (so of course you get it as well just not the extreme variety everywhere). And I would suggest not to eat traditional german either except for maybe sauerkraut on its own - makes you surely loose some pounds on the first day :P so rereading my statement I think you are right - it might be not as easy as in japan to stay on a healthy diet but it surely is possible (so the influence from the geeks is also not very helpfull i guess). Maybe there should be a poster with veggie places around the congress center or a project "healthy geeks" or some such...
I would love to find a troop of Vegans at 23C3 to hang out with for meals. I wonder if there is an appropriate place to post it on the wiki...
Joi -- with you all the way! At ICANN meetings we can look for vegetarian alternatives and exercise opportunities. I think you'll find lots of companionship at all the meetings/conferences you go to - stealth geek vegans.
joi, I am doing the "Eat to Live" program. Lost 10 pounds the first week. I love it. It can be challenging at times, but definately worth it. GO YOU!!