http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/o ... outh.shtml (http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/o ... outh.shtml)

This is the page about the kids, but still...

Now that I have to shop for groceries, and can't eat just anything anytime from fast food joints, I've noticed something.

There are a LOT of fat people in the world, at least in this area.

The local paper ran an article about day camp here trying to teach kids to eat right, and how many of the campers were losing weight this summer. I've been tempted to write them some feedback and explain just why so many people are overweight: consumer groceries and fast food. Good grief - this processed ready-to-buy-and-eat shit will kill an elephant!

My God, the local grocery store is a circus sideshow! I've never spent that much time there before, and I don't want to!

It's not wonder that such health problems are on the rise at such an alarming rate. It's also no wonder that my pancreas went on vacation after all these years of abuse... It's no wonder that we're all cranky and falling apart.

While not actually related to eunuchism, I can attest to anyone here who feels bad, is overweight, has no energy, (Testosterone or not) just make a simple diet change while produce is easy to get and in season. Cut out the *carbs*, down to a maximum of 20g / day, and eliminate the fast food and sugar. Cut the caffeine in half for starters. Drink half your body weight in ounces vs. pounds per day - of water. Don't skip meals. Eat breakfast. Put 5 hours between meals, at least. Don't snack. Cut down to 2 packs of cigarettes a day and not 4 or 5!

Don't expect to go from 200 lbs. to 165 in 4 weeks like I did, but DO expect some weight loss and more energy. I have to say that I haven't felt this good since the college days of 1986 or so!

*excluding real food carbs. real vegetables and fruits, I don't count - so long as my glucose level stays stable.*

Paolo, as you know I spent the summer in Paris, France. Although I realized I would be doing a lot of walking, I had no intentions of chaning my diet because I wanted to enjoy French cuisine. However, as a result of walking and eating in French restuarants and buying groceries I ended up losing 35 pounds.

For the last ten years, I have suffered from acid reflux, take Nexium (the Purple Pill). I tried to avoid as much as possible fast food junk, but to no avail I still could NOT lose weight despite diet and exercise.

The food I ate in Paris tasted totally different and even the eggs were that beaitiful orange-yellow that I remembered as a kid. Interestingly, after the 2nd week in Paris, I no longer needed Nexium.

This leads me to believe that the food that is sold even is grocery stores in the USA is POISON. I have been back 3 days and alrady I am back on the Nexium. My first meal in the USA since my return tore my stomach to shreds.

Perhaps, European food is the closest we are going to get "to the farm."

My only choice now is to buy organic, spending 3 times the amount on groceries.

I am going to try carefully to watch what I eat and increase my exercise regiment, especially now that I am on Depo-Proera.

But it is a tragic shame that the USA being the richest nation in the world is slowly killing the people who eat here. I think cigarette smoking is less harmful (said with tongue-in-cheek).

Studlover

My biggest problems are with salads from restaurants, fast or otherwise. They are treating the lettuce with some form of preservative that keeps the lettuce pretty and green but causes me a need to rush home. I should be eating salads but they are tearing me up. I can relate to what Studlover has mentioned about Paris but my experiences are from visiting Quebec City. While in Quebec I am eating french cuisine and walking and I lose weight. The salads we are served are not the perfectly green lettuce we seem to demand here but I have no digestive emergencies. We can have lunch and board a tour bus without fear. I wish I could enjoy a salad when in a hurry at one of the drive thru windows but knowing the results I order a sandwhich.

For good health I need to learn to cook and buy healthy snacks. I think I will visit the farmers markets more than the grocery store. Maybe I will try to live like the french.

I have to say that when I am eating right and eating light I have much more energy. If I have a lot to do in a day and I sit down and eat a big breakfast with some of the wrong foods for me you can bet half won't get finished. I also find the wrong foods can bring on a slight depression. Too much sweet and I turn sour.

tugon (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:53 pm My biggest problems are with salads from restaurants, fast or otherwise.

Tugon, it will be impossible to live like the French in their food/diet unless one is in Quebec or France or Europe for that matter. Buying from the Farmer's Market is a good idea, however, you are still going to find the insect sprays and preservatives as such. As for healthy snacks? Hmmm...many are still filled with chemicals and preservatives.

Studlover

I have the same problem with fast food salads. Not so much with restraunt salads in larger places, such as buffets. Wendy's salads blow through me like a sewer clearing service!

I was also lucky in the fact that the local mom-and-pop pizza shoppe here makes a 'wholesome' pizza that I can eat, without shooting my glucose into orbit or making me sick. I don't know what they use, but I'm going to find out!

As for acid reflux, and needing the purple pill, try a couple teaspoon fulls of white vinegar. Hold your nose. I have friends who do this, and it completely eliminated the need for the pills.

Paolo wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2006 8:18 pm As for acid reflux, and needing the purple pill, try a couple teaspoon fulls of white vinegar. Hold your nose. I have friends who do this, and it completely eliminated the need for the pills.

I've tried that. Doesn't work. I've done just about everything. Only rememdy is move back to France.

SL

Studlover (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:04 pm This leads me to believe that the food that is sold even is grocery stores in the USA is POISON.

All you have to do is read the labels and you can confirm this.

If it's not loaded with sodium, it's loaded with fat. If not that, then it's loaded with sugar. If not sugar, then it's still full of complex carbs...filler.

Another interesting thing I have noticed, living in a rural community with easy access to larger cities is this:

On the south end of the county, most of the kids live on farms or mini-farms and mainly consume what they grow. That, or the small local grocery store stocks local produce and meats. The kids on the north end of the county, where most of the fast food places and bigger grocery-chain stores are, eat mainly grocery store-ready-to-serve stuff and fast food.

The kids - especially boys - on the north end of the county are generally larger, fatter, have more health problems, and attain full height earlier than the kids on the south end. Meanwhile, the smaller kids from the south are generally more active and much healthier than their northern counterparts, albeit smaller.

The old country doctor recently retired on the south end of the county, creating a huge void in medical care. He knew it, but no one listened to him. But as I spend a lot more time down there, either socially or with work, the difference in health and build of the kids is shocking. Even if you line up the seniors from each graduating class, you can see the difference. Even in the adult population, you don't see the obesity problem that you do in the small-city-end of the county.

Feeding people is big business. There's a LOT of money to be made in the grocery racket, and cheap fillers are a fast way to high profits. More chemical preservatives to make food last longer on the shelf, less returns, longer due dates on products, and less employees stocking and checking also leads to reduced payroll, thus generating more profit for the company.

Also, what's in that fast food meat that isn't cooking out, or even the grocery store meat? Drugs? Preservatives, who knows?

If you stop and think, we didn't have all these rampant health problems years ago before corporate America began running amok.

There was one asthmatic kid in school when I was a child - me.

There was one diabetic kid - Krissy. Her's was genetic.

We had 4 kids with glasses in our class, K-12.

Being out sick usually happened during the big cold/flu season. Then it passed.

Broken bones were a rarity, and we were much more active and had more dangerous playgrounds and toys.

Big ordeals with the dentist were not common. A filling here and there, and that was it. No one had metal caps on baby teeth.

One thing also mentioned by an old retired barber of mine was the infrequency of haircuts. Does hair grow slower these days? Don't know. But haircuts were the bane of our existence as kids back in the early 70's, and the old man's business was good.

Then again, we didn't have all the chemicals/junk in our food, either. I grew up living in a small rural area, and eating what was mainly grown in the huge garden and meat that came from real animals butchered and packaged at home. For the other half of the year, when I lived in the city when school was out, Mom came "home" and did her grocery shopping through Grandma's cupboard. It was as the teen years approached that all that changed, but still, the foods you bought at the store, even then, weren't nearly as toxic as they are now.

I remember I had a serious weight gain problem while living with mom in the summers in town. And it wasn't that I was inactive; we were always out for the day doing something. There were no video games or computers. The only factor was the pre-packaged food and fast food. When I'd leave town, I'd lose weight.

However, it seems that this is the world we live in. Even if you can find healthy stuff, it's still going to be "contaminated" by something. The best you can do is try harder to avoid the worst stuff, and hope for the best.

Paolo wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:59 am All you have to do is read the labels and you can confirm this.

I'm in total agreement with you, Paolo. I remember those days. I have been questioning acid reflux for ten years now, asking why this word is now in our vocabulary. After eating in Europe the answer is evident. Our food is poison. I am even leary of organic food.

What is the answer to this problem we have?

Studlover

S.L.,

I don't know.

I really don't.

I can only give advice that seems to have worked for me.

Go out of your way to find the purest stuff you can, and hope for the best.