You are going to die

[Oscar_Actuary]

Why do we want to eat in a more healthy fashion?
I’ll get to some of my personal motives later, but the obsession over it in here can drive me nuts. It’s as if one can live to be 150 if they just eat the proper diet

Sure, I’d rather not be fat and eating right will be a large part of that change. I like to be stronger, so, let’s make sure we have ample protein. But I’m not sweating over eating too much banana pudding, or Chinese take out, because it will increase my chances of dying by 6% of a particular Cancer.
Being out of shape sucks because I got out of breath easily and would have trouble playing with future kids. So, I’m not talking about completely forgetting about diet. I mean for otherwise, “healthy” – determined loosely by general feeling of well being and liberal tests of conditioning – individuals, if you die at 73 instead of 75, who the heck cares? (well, unless you are 72.5 now.)

Maybe I’d like to eat in a way that will direct me to die a less painful death but otherwise, I want to have good health to support my lifestyle, while not denying/worrying about the cheating.

The above does not apply to me now so much because I am trying to lose weight and should be more critical of deviating from a healthy diet. I just sense there are plenty of you healthy in shape folks that care way too much about the diet information out there. But, also, I am sure that it’s hard for me to distinguish between “here’s some info, take it or leave it, no biggie” and “OMG, you will die if you don’t stop eating SOY!!”.

thanks for reading.

[Jungledoc]

My reason is mainly to be more fit and happy for whatever time I have on earth. I joke that my main exercise goal is to be able to tie my own shoes when I'm 92, but it's not really a joke. I have seen more people disabled by obesity than by any other condition or disease I can think of. A person with MS and a measure of determination can live a pretty good life. But when you can't move without pain and shortness of breath, it doesn't matter what else is going on in your life. Yesterday I watched a middle-aged woman walking in obvious pain take an elevator up one floor rather than take the stairs at the public library. She may have arthritis, spinal stenosis, etc., and might still be in pain even if she were 100 pounds lighter, but I'll bet she would be able to cope with it a whole lot easier.

I don't know what health problems will come to me down the road. I already have significant osteoarthritis (has required one knee arthroscopy so far), and I don't know how fast it will progress. But whatever happens, I'll be able to move 180 pounds around a lot easier than I could 220.

[stuward]

It's not so much how long you live as how much healthy life you have left. It's not much motivation to try to extend life if you're going to spend the extra years in a nursing home. However, being more active, strength training, and eating properly can all extend your healthy lifespan, partly by making your existing life healthier and partly by actual life extension. I think just focusing on the near term health benefit is sufficient. Make your existing condition better and your long term condition will automatically get better.

[Jebus]

I want to live as long as humanly possible, as healthy as possible. That doesn't mean I can't indulge every once in a while but, there are still plenty of delicious treats that are still relatively healthy.

With all the technological advances and scientific discoveries being made everyday, who wouldn't wish to be born decades from now, or dare I say, live forever?

[TimD]

I think Doc hit the nail on the head. It's more about being able to function properly than living longer. As a proud member of the "old geezer" club, I too have osteoarthritus, in the right hip. Can no longer do Dl's or Squats with anything significant, but it's my firm belief, that if I hadn't been watching what I ate, and doing weight bearing exercise, I probably would be on a walker right now. I've been on a diet more along the lines of Berardi's 7 habits for so long now (probabably over 40 years) that I don't even have any great concerns to have have much of anything that's processed anymore. sure, an occasional ice ccream or something like that is fine, but I just don't even want crackers, cookies, breads, pastas. If it grows out of the ground or runs around, eat it. If it comes out of a package, throw it away.
Tim

[mark74]

But I’m not sweating over eating too much banana pudding, or Chinese take out, because it will increase my chances of dying by 6% of a particular Cancer.

If anything, eating your banana pudding or chinese take out is probably going to make you more healthy rather than less. One of those cases of mind over body. I've got pubmed links, I can prove it =)

but the obsession over it in here can drive me nuts.

They say people who get into strength training and especially body building tend to be addictive types. Can I link to you this fantastic article Berkhan wrote? http://www.leangains.com/2011/02/how-to ... -true.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Or, we all have some goals, some place we want to be that is not the here now, it's in some hypothetical future. We'll be strong, lean and beautiful. And obviously we want to get there as soon as possible. The here now sucks, so we're not really living. Just waiting. "Are there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet?"

And another one. People who have put so much effort into getting where they are now, now they're scared to death of losing control and have it all undone in matters of days or weeks. And OTOH, the ones who put in a little effort and got great results and think: "if so little got me so far, how far can I go if I put in just a little bit more? and a bit more? and some more?"

thanks for reading.

thanks for posting!

[NightFaLL]

I worry about what I eat because there is a direct relationship between my bodyfat percentage, my self confidence, and how often I get laid.

Just sayin'. ;)

[robertscott]

interesting thread,

i don't want to live til I'm 100, but I do like watching what I eat because I like being lean and looking good. It's more about vanity than disease prevention but that's definitely a consideration too. 90% of the time I eat really well but if I go out for dinner with my girlfriend I'll eat whatever I feel like, and if I'm with my pals I'll drink to excess and smoke a few cigarettes.

it's all about finding a balance, doing healthy stuff all the time is boring, but getting sick and feeling like $h1t all the time isn't much fun either. I care more about enjoying the years I have than having more years.

[robertscott]

I worry about what I eat because there is a direct relationship between my bodyfat percentage, my self confidence, and how often I get laid.

Just sayin'. ;)

haha yeah the better I eat, the better I look. The better I look, the hotter the girls I get.

So the better I eat, the hotter the girls. That's just physics.

[Oscar_Actuary]

I appreciate the responses

It's clear and predictable that we want to look good, feel good, and live in a comfortable condition while we are alive.

Maybe what gets me flustered is the real lack of control we have to overcome genetics and randomness. We debate saturated fat or to grain or not to grain. Heck, Corn is bad for you? I love corn on the cob.

It's more clear in my head than typing.

[Jungledoc]

Well, eating food that we enjoy is a contributing factor to quality of life, at least for some of us. Remember the 3 stages of life:
1. Youth, when nothing is more important than good sex
2. Middle age, when nothing is more important than good food
3. Old age, when nothing is more important than a good bowel movement!

[Ironman]

My great-grandma, who was not a health nut in any way, died last year at 101. She wasn't unhealthy, but not a health or fitness type person either. She was just your typical American. Longevity can have a big genetic component. With higher technology and better health I may do as well despite being a man. She spent more than 20 years unable to really get around much. I want to remain mobile and mostly pain free until the end. So that's my long term goal with this. When I'm old and retired, I'll still be able to do things and enjoy myself.

[teafan]

I want to get the most value for money out of my pension... thats my overall goal

[Jungledoc]

When Jack LaLaine died a few months ago, everyone assumed that it was his diet and exercise habits that got him to age 96. Buried in the news reports was the fact that his brother, who to the best of my knowledge did not follow Jack's diet and exercise advice, died a few years earlier at age 97. They never said what his health was like in his last years, though.

Having said that, I really think we can positively influence both length of life, and the quality of our "sunset years".

[RobertB]

It improves my quality of life, it relieves stress and makes me feel confident. But yea you are right to an extent, Im doing 3500-3800 calories now and im getting more breasty fat :) (not much but the definition in centre is fading blah blah) but I don't really give a $h1t as long as it doesn't get stupid - I know if I carefully carb cycled I could probably gain decent muscle mass while keeping fat off but... I can't be arsed... I use a lot of milk rather than cream and water, I had pasta and hallumi last night and it was nice, I had a big horlicks and am liking them as a before bed drink. There are limits.

But anyway yea, this whole lifestyle is IMO benneficial for feeling better now, not on some hope that I'll add 10 years - that will just be a positive side effect if it happens. I'm 6'4" and have upper end of blood pressure (not classed as high blood pressure but at 27 I'm nearly in that catagory), I dont see many 6'4 guys over 65 so I dont think I'm gunna be a 90 year old anyway !