Industrial Dieting: The Myth and the Madness

Couple of years ago I bought a pedometer and with great enthusiam had it around my waist the whole day to discover to my utter dismay that I have taken less than 2500 steps from the time I dressed us (which was 15 mins after I woke up:-) ) until I went back to bed..hardly a distance of 1 mile.
Lot of people have lifestyle like that...I can`t believe any kind of diet with such people until they change that habbit and move their butt a little. fortunately I was never overweight more than 15-20 lbs. but I did take it as warning and since then try to walk a bit more or jog or sit on the excercise bike.

last year I tried Atkins in a crude way - my way. I did not change anything other than no bread/roTi for about 6 weeks. That alone brought me in shape. but it is very hard for me to aprt from my naan and tandoori roTis at the local Pak joint. so slowly i have got that back. this time I relying wholy on excercising and cutting down on bread, naan and roTi to a level where I don`t feel I am missing anything. It is working slowly...I think this is more sustainable than aggressive over ambitious goal of last year.

Most people are fat because they are lazy, low self-esteem and lack discipline in their lives. They don`t need any special diet..they need discipline and excercise.

dullahbhatti #1 I agree - just diet control is not enough, you need to exercise as well. And (very important for aging duds like me) exercise not only helps burns calories, it makes you smarter (more nerve cells, and greater number of connections between nerve cells).

I just burnt 700 calories in 42 minutes on the eliptical just thinking about the above while sweating like the animal-that-cannot-be-named (as hamidm would piously say). :-)

Sis Saima,

Whatever did you do with parts 2 through 10?

More later, when I get a chance to read the article. :)

Smart indeed, but a bit too complicated. In todays faced paced world it`s not easy for an average person to organize his lifestyle and force himself to do things he is not comfortable with doing. Even if he does try to start a strict routine he would eventually get bored of the monotony and resort to his former lifestyle. Forcing yourself to follow a certain diet or exercise plan is a good way to discipline yourself, but it doesn`t always work. People should do what they enjoy doing. Dancing is an excellent form of exercise, and almost everyone enjoys dancing. Fashionable things like yoga bla bla can be good, but people don`t usually do it properly.

I usually tell people (through my superior common sense which happens to be a bit uncommon.. eh eh eh) that they should do what they enjoy doing, and not go on some crazy scientifico-complicato diet plan which they don`t even understand properly. For some people the word `diet` means simply to just loose weight, no matter what it takes to do that. They do all sorts of diet stunts and completely destroy their physical health by eating less food, not exercising properly, and worrying about it all the time. For some people a proper diet is a way of living... how, when, and what you actually eat coupled with your emotional well being and the kind of exercise you do. So it would be a better idea to make the doctors, the media and everyone else involved in the health buisness to educate people first about their bodies before they actually start prescribing health drugs, super foods and diet supplements.

The simplest and best way to live a healthy life is to eat balanced food everyday, and to exercise at least 15 minutes in the morning before breakfast or in the afternoon after you`ve taken your nap. The morning is a better time because that`s when your energies are at your peak and you feel fresher. Going out for a jog in the woods or the neighborhood park is a great idea because that gets your body started. A little bit of warming up is always essential before going extreme with your body, because you might damage those little tissues and tendons you never thought existed. Following a simple diet and a regular yet fun exercise routine will keep you happy and fit for life. :-)

I think it`s Ispaghol, not Isapghol. I don`t know why everyone misspells it :-)

Very informative article. There are way too many myths about the diet factor. I heard it from a wise fellow that the overall calories` intake should be less than the total burn. You may burn 700-1000 calories a day, but if you are eating 1500 cals then you are defeating the purpose of maintaining a healthy life. It`s simple math, but does require a lot of discipline.

I do want to come back on the naturopathic recommendations. Some of my colleagues have seen huge benefits with following a naturopath -- one was a cancer survivor who did not believe in going to a medical doctor. I think it`s been almost 5-6 years that he is alive and kicking. On the other end, I know of a dear friend who was a breast cancer patient, in her mid-40s and could not take any allopathic stuff for chemo and ended up relying on naturopaths. They did not work on her at all. She was gone in less than 2 years from her diagnosis.

In the end, health is the most precious wealth one can cherish. You can only enjoy life and its perks, provided you are healthy. The most important thing is to consider exercise part of life and not an accessory.

Thanks for the information.

Rest later...

i thought this article was about industrial dating..i was very puzzled and did not understand anything due to this.

Re: # 6 Don`t you think that if someone continued burning more calories than he actually took, then he would be nothing but skin and bones after some time?

Calorie intake varies for each individual. Kids of about 11 or 12 need more energy, even more than adults doing light work every day. It all depends on what kind of food you eat and your lifestyle.

Saima Shah,

[the label noting that a food has 200 calories is useless and even misleading since it lacks a/context b/relevance c/provides incomplete information.]

From the perspective of most users, the label is useless because they never read those labels.

Your attack on the FDA is rather unwarranted. Perhaps those folks do not police the drug manufacturers too well – but can one imagine where things would be without those agencies?! (Hint: in a certain small town in a certain country, once upon a time a certain babaji distributed a certain good-tasting “paachak” for certain stomach ailments at very reasonable price. The gesture was warmly appreciated by the general population – long after that babaji had departed – at least until it was discovered that the primary ingredient included dry, colored simian stool.)

I agree that diet is no solution to any problem and we should all listen to our bodies and act accordingly. The problem is that our bodies do not listen to us – the just listen to those advertisements for tasty treats! :(

More later! (Gotta run! (Not for exercise, though. )) :(

Re: # 9
Generally eating has original problem, original sin.
The problem is very simple and normally we can not solve simple problems.
All good foods are bad testing and bad foods are very good testing. Instead of wet reduction etc researchers shuld study how good foods will test good and bad food will test real bad. Suppose instead of fatty meats fodder will test better so we can eat fodder and all fiber and no wet problem. Or sugar smell terrible.
I have tried to improve health of cats when I give them good nurtious they just shunn and go away nonchalantly. Once I told my daughter let them starve little then they will start eating healthy diet short on fats. We tried for two day and they went on hunger strike and then I felt bad and felt they do not have to maintain figure like women and fed them bad foods devoid of neutrious stuff and full of fat. Mercifully men are not required to maintain figure.
Otherway is go for natural and organic foods. These are very costly and they are not produced too much in same land and need clean organic water. If food become costlier then people will be forced to eat less. Now many like my cats are addicted to food as a drug of choice, many feel bad they eat to feel better, when they are happy they enjoy food to good time and pour alcohol as putting throwing petrol on fire and lead to more eating. Over eating and becoming fat is disease and one should not feel guilty about that and people can treat as any uncurable disease.
One should not talk about these things as it is like discussing bad impossible disease. This disease once infects your body is fatal it can not be cured and can be enduded by eating more and watching exrecise videos.
I believe in diets but loosing weights on diets is like believe in miracles. Miracles are good but use to happen in old days atleast 400 years back and now a days they do not happen.
They say it depends on genes and but we can not pick up parents.
Hopefully this DNA type research will lead to effective drugs.

Re: # 10
I am against exercise as its very harsh on body such as running like horse on concrete footpath and busting knees etc. Or lifting weight and crushing yourself if it goes down. Many people say exercise never hurts your body and no body died due to exercise but prudent way of thinking is , it may not be dangerous or no body died due to exercise but why take chances with exercise.

Re: # 11 Madaniji

Hahaha, dhanya hain aap Gurudev! You are great.

- [8. Eliminate transfats such as margarine, vegetable oil and processed snacks (anything deep fried). Instead use butter, desi-ghee, coconut oil, olive oil and flax oil for cooking, sautéing vegetables and on top of salads. ]

I can understand the use of oils for salad dressings, but desi ghee and butter for any kind of cooking and sauteing seems too much to me. Yes, if you want your arteries blocked and other digestive system issues then that`s a different route. Olive oil is great. It needs to be used sparingly. Sprays work the best.

[4. Some kind of detox regimen every few weeks. You can make warm water and lemon a part of your morning ritual to help digestion.]

I have concerns here on using the term very loosely... some kind of detox. That`s a killer. There are too many over the counter detox plans available. Some of them are pure herbal plans. Not every body is cut out to take 100% herbs for the cleansing of their system. The labels can be misleading depending on the type of detox formula. Warm water by itself is good and so is apple cider vinegar and/or aloe-vera juice.

[1. Eating 3-4 meals a day using the bodies natural hunger scale, i.e., neither too full nor very hungry. ]

What I have heard from my nutritionists is to take 6 small servings than 3 huge meals. It all depends on your life-style and your system`s intake ability.

Not everyone can take huge breakfasts. Who has time to make a huge breakfast before heading out? Lunch is a possibility. As far as dinner is concerned, I have heard from reliable sources (GI Specialist and Dietician) to give at least 4-5 hours gap.

Re: # 8

Azure - Hi. I think my post was geared towards those who are trying to lose weight. Often times, people do well in their exercise program but diet intake is horrendous. Then they lose their momentum and spirit for workout. They think it does not work. In that case, calorie intake has to be observed and monitored against the total burn.

Re: # 11

Ahmedmadani Saheb - Fragile men should avoid any kind of weight in all circumstances. Thank you for letting the readership know about the latest trends from the Men`s World :)

Regards.

Re: # 13

Thanks ZahraJ for all your comments. The point of view was from the Naturopathic community.

1. There are some controversies over vegetable oils because of the following reasons: 1. Hexane 2. GMO crops corn and canola 3. Doubt whether polyunsaturated fats like vegetable oils can remain stable at medium to high heat, leading to chemical reactions that actually increase LDL (bad cholestrol) without a matching increase in HDL (good cholestrol). 4. Transfats (from food cooked in margarine; vegetable oil ghee) are more closely linked to heart disease than saturated fats. It is an interesting argument because the current rates of heart disease are higher than the times when people cooked food in butter 5. Sugar also has a closer link with heart disease than eating saturated fats like asli ghee and butter. It seems that eating fatty acids that are from the monu-unsaturates along with saturated fatty acids --in the critical balance is better than eliminating the entire family of saturated fats. My great aunts and uncles who were variously raised on Asli ghee, butter, coconut oil, animal fats like Ojri have sound heart health at 70-80 yrs. Yet, young people in their 30-40s have clogged up arteries in North America. Therefore the relationship between heart disease and food is far more complex than the vegetable oil industry would like to tell us.
2. Detox regime. You are right I should have explained what the Naturopaths call detox but because my article was already so huge, I skipped it. The most gentle detox means the following:
1. Done at a time when you are in perfect health and all the elimination organs are working well.
2. Eat only vegetables steamed or vegetable juice with a little brown rice that you make at home
3. Drink warm water with lemon.
4. Go for sauna or hot yoga
5. Take extra fibre, flax meal or oatmeal with lots of water.
6. You can do this from 1 day to several depending on how you feal.
7. Relax. Go for a gentle 10-20 minute walk, sleep and rest.

Since many people fast, the detox is the same or someone can use a detox kit but that should only be under medical advice. It is a great way to start a weightloss program and to periodically do it 3-4 times a year to keep your immunity and digestion at peak.