Meat Eaters Pack on More Pounds, Regardless of Calories

It's a classic vegetarian/vegan diatribe used to mislead and manipulate people.

There are vested interests on both sides of the debate.

I've been reading up on diet and exercise. The situation is more complex than might at first be apparent- a lot of the research is contradictory (of course, some of that may be due to the fact that often the research tries to find general rules-- I think people are often more different than the researchers realize).

Everyone's body is different and everyone's body has different requirements and needs.

I think that's a key point. And it never ceases to amaze me how so many people overlook that-- including some of the supposed "experts" who write popular diet and/or health books. I know a women who's approaching 60. Has a passion for sweets-- eats lots of cookies and cake. Doesn't exercise all that much. She's always been skinny-- says it "runs in her family"-- meaning, of course, genetics-- a tendency to stay thin. (If i ate all those cookies I'd be really fat!)

Many people also don't often eat decent balanced meals.

Very true. (I think that' one of the main cause of the current "obesity epidemic").

They also don't know how to judge their fullness. Another reason people gain weight is because they don't listen to their bodies. When you fill yourself to over-fullness you're stretching your stomach and that will not only make you sick but it's also downright uncomfortable.

A typical well-balanced meal consists of carbs and protein - protein to balance the carbs because carbs in addition to sugar are the fastest way to raise your blood sugar - and for most people that protein is made up for with meat - 3 to 6 ounces depending on the meat and its nutritional facts. Which is another thing that some people fail to do - read the nutrition facts on the package before they buy the product.

Some people will also claim fat-free food is good but it's not that great. Because fat - a decent amount - takes a long time to digest, it will keep you fuller longer so you're not tempted to snack a lot in between meals.

All true.
Actually, IMO, a balanced meal should contain protein, carbs, and fat.
One of the problems is the amount of carbs-- many people simply eat too many carbs! And the type of type of carbs-- the worst is High Fructose Corn Syrup-- which is now find in many products.

And some healthy fat (omega-3s. found in cold water fish such as Salmon and Sardines-- and monosaturated oil, found mainly in EVO , [extra virgin olive oil ]and avocadoes and almonds).

I had one of those V8's. It was okay but then I saw the massive amount of sugar added to it and I never bought another V8 after that.

I had the same experience!

I used to really like V-8-- tasterd good, plus I felt all those veggies were healthy.

But then I started reading labels more carefully.

I know a nutritionist who said:

Never buy any food with a label on it

The point he was trying to get across was its best to eat pure, simple, unprocessed whole foods-- as nature intended. Perhaps he was exxaterating a little. But the point is-- most products with multiple ingredients are bound to have both sugar (and especially the particularly insipid HFCS) added-- as well as unnecessary amounts of salt (excess sodium). And often tons of preservatives, food dyes, etc.

I have mixed feelings on "pure" and "whole foods" - like unpasturized milk - because they're not always that healthy and they're not very economically-friendly.

While, pasteurized milk may be an exception. But usually processing either adds chemicals of dubious health benefits (and which may be harmful)-- or breaks down beneficial substances.

And, of course, processing costs money-- the reason inprocessed food now may cost more is "economy of scale'-- as more people become aware of the values of pure, whole foods, the price will decrease.

Not soon enough for some people though.

True

There should, though, be more classes to educate the future generations on nutrition and health, and especially how to eat healthy even when you go out to eat.

Definitely.

But there are some obstacles. The meat industry has many people brainwashed into beleiving we are in dangwer of protein deficiencis, so we must eat tons of meat every day-- ditto the dairy industry with fears fo calcium shortaghes and drinking lots of milk (forgetting hormones in both). Much of the food industry wnats us to beleive High Fructose Corn Syrup and transfats are harmless....

And, even amongst experts, there's disagreement about what is healthy...and what is nopt. (there is even a controversy about coffee-- the latest is thta is high in hgealthy anti-oxidants).

Coffee may have some things in it that help to benefit and possibly improve one's health, but "healthy," I'm skeptical. I'll have to ask my nutritionist about that one.

On the plus side, If definititely has anti-oxidants.

The downside is caffeine-- although many "experts" disagree on various aspects of that. (My own view is that, as with so many things in the filed of nutrition, many "experts" neglect to noticer individual differences...they often try to generate "one size fits all" theories')

Actually, one of the most important potential negatives of coffee is unknown to many people-- a terpene (specifically a diterpene called "cafestol").

Interesting, it varies greatly based upon the brewing method. In fact, I had been using aa "French Press"-- which makes for high levels. In an effort to cut down, I bought a filter-- filtered coffeee is considerably lower.

The thick plottens:

The filter was gold coated with plastic. I am also trying to avoid toxins from plastic (especially prevalent when it contacts hot foods/liquids-- which is why, btw, you should never heat food in plastic in a microwave). So, just yesterday I went out and bought a Chemex!

Ugh! I hate that woman. I feel vegetarians/vegans act more on a moral point than they do on an actual health point.

I also find her personality to be a bit annoying! But she's not a vegetarian-- her diet has meat.

(I was browsing books in a local bookstore-- her's looked like one of the best on nutrition I've seen. I also looked at her exercise books-- I didn't like her plan very much-- and I know enough about that already).

I tried to go vegetarian for a couple of weeks. All it did was make me sick, plus my blood sugar was higher than ever.

I tried it for a while as well.

I think its actually a better way to eat for some types of people, but will actually create worse health for others. And many people don't do it right (the 3 most common problems if you dont do it right are lack of protein, lack of calcium, and lack of vitamin B12-- but these can be overcome if you know how).

I also lived on a yoga Ashram for several months-- it was strictly vegetarian. I felt great-- but it was a stress free environment in the woods, and I did yoga and meditated every day.

There's just something naturally calming about water.

I think that's true. (And especially for Pisces, Cancers, and Scorpios :-)

Unfotunately I'm a Virgo.

Attention to details? Rational, Analytical? Practical? Somewhat of a perfectionist-- high standards?

but maybe some planets in a water sign? Rising or Moon in water?