Comments on: Warning!

By: David Schleef

David Schleef — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:22:06 +0000

One of my favorite pithy sayings: The body is not a bomb calorimeter.
Good luck on getting in control of what you eat. In the times of my life when I felt in full control of my consumption of caffeine (in particular) were the times when I most enjoyed it.

By: cash back real estate

cash back real estate — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:21:43 +0000

Have you tried Olivio (Lee Iacocaa’s company)instead of butter. It is made of Olive oil, supposed to be good for you.

By: Leonardo Fontenelle

Leonardo Fontenelle — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:19:57 +0000

It’s nice to see people taking good care of themselves!
While excessive alcohol (and to a lesser degree caffeine) is notoriously bad for our health, cutting down sweeteners and carbohydrates is a very controversial subject. You can certainly live without sweeteners, but most health professionals (myself included) believe the Atkins diet is just crazy.

By: Vincent

Vincent — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:48:12 +0000

Luis: heh. This must mean I’m not a Coke tasting expert since to me, Diet Coke and standard Coke are quite similar
Or maybe it’s just that I never drink Diet Coke…

By: Luis

Luis — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:50:08 +0000

Well, plus, Diet Coke tastes vile. I’d think that would be enough of a justification.

By: Stormy

Stormy — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:24:52 +0000

On the calories in/calories out. Yes, I think by eating less and exercising more, you can lose weight. (As a teenager I went through a period where I kept myself at 1200 calories a day for long periods of time. Imagine me, current height, 40 pounds less. And if I could figure out what snapped me out of that phase, I would dedicate myself to helping people with eating disorders.)
But I think our bodies treat energy in a much more complicated way than calories in, calories out. That’s an oversimplification and science is just starting to figure it all out.
The example that really changed my mind when Gary Taubes (author of Good Calories, Bad Calories) pointed out that there are a lot of obese women in developing countries with starving kids. There’s no way they are eating food that would save their kids. Lots of other things play into the weight story and the way our bodies process energy.
http://www.stormyscorner.com/2007/11/book-review-goo.html
(Also, I’m not giving up Diet Coke to lose weight – but I think Diet Coke, as something I consume a lot of, is affecting me in one way, shape or form.)

By: Stormy

Stormy — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 06:30:27 +0000

Yep, I do think it’s a reaction to GUADEC and OSCON. Thanks for all the support.
As far as studies go, I like to read them and realize how many answers we don’t have yet. No one study is enough to make dietary recommendations. They all need to be confirmed in multiple ways, especially if you’re going to make recommendations on them. That’s one of the main problems with having a country or world wide recommended diet. You have to be extremely careful of making recommendations to millions of people. That said, I think a lot of conventional wisdom is now being tested. Not that I think we need lots of studies or tests to know the average amount of soda and high-fat, high-sugar, high-carb, prepackaged foods we eat (at least in the US) is not really good for us!
Oh – on the low carb thing – I’m still eating veggies and things. Primarily cutting back on baked goods, sugary things, etc.

By: David Adam

David Adam — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:19:42 +0000

The paper’s abstract is available from
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/138/6/1039 for those of you playing at home. I have some concerns about the methodology: my statistically-minded friends inform me that a sample size of at least 11 would be required for the effect size they’re trying to demonstrate.
Having spent two months on a bariatric surgical unit here in Australia, I can say without hesitation that the overwhelming majority of candidates for weight-loss surgery eat too much in absolute terms, and eat too many carbohydrates (in sugars or complex carbs) in relative terms. However, I don’t know how many people in this thread fit into the category of morbid obesity.

By: aa

aa — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:14:30 +0000

There is nothing wrong with fructose or glucose or sucrose when consumed reasonably! The problem is that highly processed foods contain insane amounts of sugars and fats. For example take a can of cola, 7up, or sprite. They contain about 35 .. 45 grams of sugars. Now, go take a scale and measure 40 grams of sugar. Sit back and look at that heap, impressive! It’s much better to drink water instead. Even juices have plenty of added sugar for better taste. Again, it’s better to drink water and eat fruits. A simple change in your eating habits can make already a big difference in your weight without doing any exercises.

By: Alberto Ruiz

Alberto Ruiz — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:07:37 +0000

Hey Stormy,
I’m actually kind of doing the same, I’ve never been into alcohol at all (which makes life at Dublin kind of hard btw). However, after a while a realized that caffeine was making me unable to sleep properly, so I had to leave diet coke, which is the drink that I used to have since I was 12.
Now I’m just drinking 7up or Sprite, which at some point I would like to replace for something less sweet. However is really hard to find popular drinks that are healthy at the same time.
Anyway, my point is, I support you!