Who has read the book Fast Food Nation ?
What did you think of it and did it change your eating habits ?
I now completely ignore fast food restaurants and only eat organic meat. I don't eat meat in restaurants who can not guarantee the meat is organically reared. I have tried to cut out milk from my diet due to the fact it actually reduces your level of calcium in your bones resulting in higher chances of osteoroposis (sp?).
It annoyed me no end that I grew up beliveing all these myths that are put out by the meat/egg/milk indutries so they can line their own pockets.
I have not read the book, but since a multiple heart attack in 2000, I have changed my eating habits.
Here are just a few of the things I eat:
Skim milk, no fat yogurt
Organic beef
Lean pork
Skinless chicken
Fish fillets (never battered)
Fresh veggies and lots of them
Fresh fruit
Home made soups with low fat/low salt broth
All types of brown breads and Becel margarine.
Treats include the occasional piece of veggie pizza, low fat ice cream, and one order of fries per year. (I can't resist the "curly" fries at a summer music festival)
All meat portions are trimmed of any fat and are the size of a deck of playing cards, limited to two servings daily.
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I see you're from Alberta, what kind of reaction do you get from people because of your diet ?
I have a guy who sits next to me at work who puts up pictures of hamburgers and stuff just to bug me.....it's quite sad, but people seem to get very defensive about their food.
Loafer, when I go out for lunch with friends, I usually order soup with either salad or a roll. None of my friends make any issue of it at all.
I am also an avid RVer and camp all summer long. Oddly enough, most of the gang I camp with has taken to bringing along pretty much the same things as I do.
For example, no one brings packaged snacks anymore like chips, dips etc. They now bring veggie trays, cheeses (they even get under 20% milk fat so I can eat them) and make our own snacks from cheerios, shreddies and the like. Virtually all of them have tossed their salt shakers and we now use many other flavour enhancers. And everyone has a pepper mill grinder.
I think my requirements have changed their thinking and they seem to enjoy the experience. Oh, forgot to mention that all but one have also given up smoking, as I did four years ago.
I never asked one of them to change. I think they did it to support me and keep me from temptation. Pretty good friends, don't you think?
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You have some great friends there with you, you're a lucky guy.
I'm so glad I have finally started to take an informed interest in what I am eating because there is so much misinformation out there that really confuses people until really it is too late.
What was your lifestyle like leading up to your medical problems if you don't mind me asking ?
Loafer I was Exec VP and COO of a major Canadian newspaper group for ten years until I retired in 2001.
Travelled extensively, private jet, hotels, restaurant meals, fine wines, best of everything, smoked, stress, 12 hour days, no exercise, late nights, etc. etc.
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Basically my only major "food philosophy" is to eat what I call "real" food and avoid highly processed food. So, I choose mayonaise over Miracle Whip; real cheeze over Cheeze Whiz; butter over margarine, etc. I don't eat much fast food, but will have a Teenburger about once a month or so.
I eat pretty much any kind of animal protein (octoupus? bring it on), but usually in smaller quantities than most people. 3 ounces versus 8.
I'm not a milk drinker (never was) but I do eat dairy every day (cheese, sour cream perhaps, etc). I occasionally drink buttermilk though. A dozen eggs will take me a month to finish. I drink the red and purple juices like grape juice or cranberry juice. No apple juice. Too much coffee. Rarely eat desserts; if it wasn't for birthdays I wouldn't eat any.
I never use margarine; butter only. Having said that, a pound of butter lasts me a month or more. I keep table butter and unsalted butter in the freezer; and only take out what I need; the unsalted is for cooking and I use that whenever a recipe calls for butter.
2 colours of vegetables with every meal. Not much starch; more rice than potatoes. More, smaller meals rather than 2 or 3 large ones. For 4 months every summer, I eat fish every day. The rest of the year I will have ocean fish or perhaps pickled or canned herring a few times a month. No canned salmon or tuna.
Salads have some variation of the "oil and vinegar" dressing; no Ranch for me.
No bread, really. I do eat the occasional bagel and english muffin.
Never eat stuff like frozen "microwaveable" meals or anything like that. Fresh fruit and vegetables, or frozen, but not canned. I try (although it is difficult) to find tomatoes that don't taste like cardboard. It's a testament to how little we actually taste food when you bite into what passes for a tomato these days.
I choose the smallest fruits and vegetables at the grocery store (the opposite of most people who always buy the biggest). More vitamins, less water. Also, since so many growers are engineering the larger varieties, (more water = more money) you avoid those; since they are bred for size they may have dubious nutritional qualities (it's not a consideration).
I eat pretty much whatever I want; I don't really have "rules" about how many of this or that I can eat in a week or whatever. A varied diet and fresh ingredients are basically my only rules. If I want Eggs Benedict, I have it, but never more than once or twice a month (if that often).
I don't make any effort to avoid fat or cholesterol in my diet; I just eat far less of it than most people. As far as I'm concerned, if you don't overdo it it shouldn't be an issue. My goal is to not have my doctor say "you have to cut down on this or that" someday. Enjoy in moderation.
My only major health issue is low blood pressure, which used to give me problems when I was younger but is OK now because everyone's blood pressure rises as they age.
I get jokes from doctors and nurses when they take my blood pressure for the first time: stuff like "are you alive?". My doctor tells me that when I'm 60 I'll have the blood pressure of a healthy 18 year old male, but I'm not there yet.
However, because of the low blood pressure I am supposed to maintain a daily sodium level higher than most people are. In practice, that's still less than most people actually eat. With the stuff we eat in North America, that's easy to do.
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