How soon is too soon to be eating "heart healthy"?

[Beargryllz]

You should eat good food all the time. Except when you aren't hungry.

 

[King sns]

Haha...ok...that title's a bit of a misnomer. I know there isn't a "too soon" for that kind of thing. I mostly just want to know if there are other young'uns out there who take their diet to heart (har har).

I'm 21 and I try to watch my intake of saturated fats, sodium and cholesterol. Read labels, turn down high-fat, highly salty foods. All that good stuff. But I tell me friends about this (who are years older than I am) and they think I'm crazy.

I dunno. I guess I'm a real proponent of the phrase "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." I don't want to have to take high BP meds in my 40s for the rest of my life.

Amiright? *fist bumps all around*

My mom (dietitian) Just discovered this thing called "intuitive eating." It pretty much tells you to eat whatever you want, whenever you want. You gain weight at first and are unhealthy since you've been cutting calories and avoiding unhealthy foods for so many years.. (Basically, mentally you just really want them.) But then after a while, you start to crave fruits and vegetables and overall eventually balance your diet and lose weight. The actual book on it tells you how to read your bodies cues for real hunger vs. emotional hunger and decide what you want, and when you're full, etc.. Children are natural intuitive eaters; they don't have the mental training that society gave us to "diet", watch calories, lose weight, eat a perfect serving of everything. Parents get nervous seeing their kids only wanting spagetti, or only wanting one thing or the other. But that's kind of what it's all about. Just listening to your bodies current needs.

Not telling you to eat whatever you want, but I think it's an interesting thought to keep in mind.

 

[Thalassa]

I do the intuitive eating thing a lot. It does work. Like I crave healthy foods a great deal.

The only thing is that if you start doing intuitive eating after being on a very restrictive diet, like shortnsweet said, you will pig out on stuff you've been deprived of at first, probably.

But then you'll eventually get grossed out by that and want vegetables and stuff.

I don't know, though, some people really seem to not want healthy food. At all.

 

[King sns]

I do the intuitive eating thing a lot. It does work. Like I crave healthy foods a great deal.

The only thing is that if you start doing intuitive eating after being on a very restrictive diet, like shortnsweet said, you will pig out on stuff you've been deprived of at first, probably.

But then you'll eventually get grossed out by that and want vegetables and stuff.

I don't know, though, some people really seem to not want healthy food. At all.

Haha, yea. That's what makes me nervous about it. Nice to hear that someone else has heard of it too. I'm normally an intuitive eater, (except I often crave salt.... so, I guess everyone's different.)

(Look at us hanging out in a classy thread.)

 

[Thalassa]

shortnsweet, you and I are ballin', we're rollin' in the big time, it's like we're staying at the Trump SoHo...or actually, let's be honest, more like the Marriot but whatever

 

[FDG]

Yes, those are healthy foods.

Okay, healthy is different from "good for your health", IMHO. Olive oil is extremely caloric, red wine still has alchool which is bad for your health (I'm aware of the so-called French paradox, but plenty of statisticians are dubious about the methods used to support the arguments of the original study), eggs contain high levels of fats and can be contaminated. Obviously, I still eat plenty of olive oil, eggs and I do drink red wine, but I wouldn't consider my diet as particularly healthy, just average.

 

[King sns]

Okay, healthy is different from "good for your health", IMHO. Olive oil is extremely caloric, red wine still has alchool which is bad for your health (I'm aware of the so-called French paradox, but plenty of statisticians are dubious about the methods used to support the arguments of the original study), eggs contain high levels of fats and can be contaminated. Obviously, I still eat plenty of olive oil, eggs and I do drink red wine, but I wouldn't consider my diet as particularly healthy, just average.

One glass of red wine per day is very heart healthy. It is one of the few things that actually raises your HDL (good cholesterol.) HDL helps to eliminate LDL's or "bad cholesterol." Poly and monounsaturated fats are good for you in moderation, (just like a lot of other things) and you need a certain percent of fat in the diet to help run your body and brain and stay healthy. I think eggs are a good choice regardless of fat because they are so high in protein and vitamins. (So if you're going to get your fat, get it in eggs.) Are you in Italy? (or ANY OTHER country besides the US, for that matter?) An "average" diet there is a "healthy diet" over here because we ingest so much crap. Also, sorry if I'm preaching to the choir, just my opinion of why those are both good foods.

 

[Greta]

It's never too early. My mom has always been pretty health conscious when it comes to diet and I got used to eating well from early on. As a consequence, my favorite foods are more often than not healthy foods. (Of course, with college's pizza and beer land being the one long 4-year exception to the healthy eating rule.)
I can fully indulge in the not-so healthy stuff from time to time without feeling too guilty.

 

[Quinlan]

I've been increasing my fats (including saturated) and even salt intake lately and I'm losing weight and feeling good.

 

[burymecloser]

One glass of red wine per day is very heart healthy.

Some studies have reached this conclusion, and a roughly equal number of others have reached the opposite conclusion. Alcohol is generally a huge risk factor for heart disease (as well as innumerable other health issues), and this shouldn't be stated as fact.

I think eggs are a good choice regardless of fat because they are so high in protein and vitamins. (So if you're going to get your fat, get it in eggs.)

Noooooo. Eggs are high not just in fat but in saturated fat, and in cholesterol, and there's the risk of salmonella, yadda yadda yadda.

The avocado suggestion earlier was probably a better idea. I would suggest that "good" sources of fat, to the extent they exist, are things like avocados and olives, nuts and seeds, omega-3 oils (flaxseed, hemp, canola/rapeseed, etc)... It's extremely rare that anyone should go out of their way to get fat in the diet -- eat normally and you'll get plenty -- but if you're really analyzing everything you eat or making a conscious effort to limit fats, those are foods you can do it with. How do we end up suggesting EGGS of all things in a heart-healthy thread?

 

[funkadelik]

I really don't see the harm in eating a "heart healthy" diet. Can someone give me one good reason (ie. a reason that's not based on what you feel is right)?

It really, really easy to come across food loaded with sodium and saturated fats in this day and age. To err on the side of caution will probably spit you out at "normal intake" level for those sorts of things. Not "under." I don't think North America's big health problem is cause they're not getting enough fat, sodium and cholesterol in their diets.

And as for eggs, my grandmother ate them a lot when she was looking to lose a lot of weight and had a stroke. The doctor said it was probably the eggs that did it. Yeah, eggs every once in a while certainly won't kill you, but calling them heart healthy is misleading.

I know people say "you NEED unhealthy foods cause they balance you out" but this just sounds like a bunch of excuses to me. Need? Want, maybe, but not need. I just want reasons why we need potato chips and bacon and cheese on our everything?

But I guess I'm just not one of those "live to eat" people.

 

[Quinlan]

I really don't see the harm in eating a "heart healthy" diet. Can someone give me one good reason (ie. a reason that's not based on what you feel is right)?

Because a lot of "heart healthy" food is sugar and starch in disguise, and that's much worse than the fat and cholesterol.

 

[Thalassa]

A person without any kind of heart disease can eat an egg every single day with no dire consequences.

My grandfather ate a lot of bran and wheat bread, and took a lot of vitamins, and ate a lot of fruit as snacks since he was from an older generation (I was very lucky to be raised by my grandparents and to have essentially been given a sensible diet growing up as a result of the fact of their age, since people actually ate better in the 1950's and 60's than they do now)...but he still ate eggs, bacon, British style fried fish with vinegar, fried chicken, and other kinds of traditionally Southern foods and lived to be 80.

The problem is not the foods themselves but the ratio in which they are eaten, and often - like Quinlan pointed out - sugar is a HUGE FUCKING PROBLEM in our country, the consumption of cookies and other snacks, as though these treats were part of nutrition requirements. Also people consume too much sugar and high fructose corn syrup in beverages like soft drinks, Gatorade, etc...some people would lose weight if they simply stopped drinking these sugary beverages.

You're starting to sound kind of self-righteous, OP, so I'll be on my way.

 

[Beargryllz]

It isn't just what you eat, or how much you eat, it is what you do. The healthiest diet in the world is not going to lead to a healthy life if the dieter never exercises, for example.

 

[burymecloser]

A person without any kind of heart disease can eat an egg every single day with no dire consequences.

This is just completely made up. You're going to lose your license to practice medicine, Dr. Marm.

EDIT: It's not made up. It is debatable.

My grandfather ate a lot of bran and wheat bread, and took a lot of vitamins, and ate a lot of fruit as snacks since he was from an older generation (I was very lucky to be raised by my grandparents and to have essentially been given a sensible diet growing up as a result of the fact of their age, since people actually ate better in the 1950's and 60's than they do now)...but he still ate eggs, bacon, British style fried fish with vinegar, fried chicken, and other kinds of traditionally Southern foods and lived to be 80.

This is what is known as anecdotal evidence. You know what it proves? Nothing.

"My grandmother smoked a pack a day, lived until she was 92, and died of heart failure, so smoking doesn't cause cancer." That's me re-wording your story.

The problem is not the foods themselves but the ratio in which they are eaten, and often - like Quinlan pointed out - sugar is a HUGE FUCKING PROBLEM in our country, the consumption of cookies and other snacks, as though these treats were part of nutrition requirements. Also people consume too much sugar and high fructose corn syrup in beverages like soft drinks, Gatorade, etc...some people would lose weight if they simply stopped drinking these sugary beverages.

I'd love to see you reconcile the bolded section with the rest of your post. The problem is not the foods, it's ... the consumption of cookies and other snacks. Of course it's how much you eat, but it's also the foods themselves. I agree with you about sugar.

 

[Thalassa]

That's not "made up", and I think it's fucked up for you to suggest it is.

 

[Thalassa]

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/04.22/eggs.html

 

[Oberon]

Haha...ok...that title's a bit of a misnomer. I know there isn't a "too soon" for that kind of thing. I mostly just want to know if there are other young'uns out there who take their diet to heart (har har).

I'm 21 and I try to watch my intake of saturated fats, sodium and cholesterol. Read labels, turn down high-fat, highly salty foods. All that good stuff. But I tell me friends about this (who are years older than I am) and they think I'm crazy.

I dunno. I guess I'm a real proponent of the phrase "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." I don't want to have to take high BP meds in my 40s for the rest of my life.

Amiright? *fist bumps all around*

Not so much, IMHO. I don't think fat, cholesterol, or salt are serious issues in anyone's diet. I think that carbs and sugar are the things to watch out for, and overall calories.

Stay physically fit and keep your weight in check, and you can eat moderate quantities of any good healthy food that catches your eye. The only things I avoid as a matter of course are chemical additives and hydrogenated oils (Frankenfat). Right now my diet consists principally of meat, fruit, and vegetables, and I could pretty much live on it forever.

 

[Thalassa]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5705038.ece

Fucking arrogant NTs.

 

[Oberon]

This is just completely made up. You're going to lose your license to practice medicine, Dr. Marm.

The pendulum of professional opinion about eggs has swung back and forth multiple times in my lifetime. Personally I think eggs are good food.

You know what captive wild omnivores and carnivores do when you give them an egg? They eat the shit out of that thing, and so should you.