In just a few generations we have lost so much... my great grandparents were making healthly bone broth soups, eating goose, duck and so many other great things for you.

Now somewhere in a room the food processing industry and the health industry are laughing all the way to the bank, with a quick stop to buy influence and power in DC. One the way back, grants to universities facilitate their 'education'.

I agree....I try to avoid as much of the processed food as possible. Do I still eat them yes but I make an effort not to. In CT you can still find farmers markets. My mom raises chickens it started as just something to do (now that her kids are all adults), but now she has over 50 birds and does fresh eggs everyday. I haven't bought eggs in over a year and her's are the best tasting i've had. My brother also plants a 3 acre property across the street (no pesticide use) from my parents and grows cucumbers, tomato, squash, peppers, and sweet corn. My wife and I take as much fresh produce was we can and we make home made baby food for our 7 month with it (saves money and we know whats in it). While this isn't available for everyone I take advantage of it as much as possible. There is a noticeable different in the quality. It becomes difficult in winter months but she does canning to preserve as much as she can.

Here is some interesting watching its gets a little doom and gloom but it makes some pretty compelling points.

The Future of Food
http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878

You are lucky.. I think raw milk is legal to buy up in CT too... sounds like you are well informed. If more people are educated about what real food is, the demand will increase at those farmers markets.

The old saying, an apple a day keeps the Dr. away is completely true. The key is to eat the whole apple, most importantly the seeds. They are very high in b17. b17 is a natural form of cyanide.. don't let that scare you, it's nature's anti-cancer. It's a ph balancer and blood cleanser. But don't just eat the apple seeds alone, eat the whole apple with them.

Here's a list of other foods high in b17
http://www.vitaminb17.org/

Well today is my last day of our 7 week biggest looser contest at work. I have only been one of the few to take it serious. Weigh in is in the morning. Several other guys talking about flushing their systems an quick loss methods to try to catch up and win the money. I think I am going to win but don't know for sure until then. Having the fun of jury duty today. Going to just drink water all day just to see if I can maybe knock off one more pound. I'll share final results Friday.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Does anyone else have a bad habit? I am trying to kick soda. I don't drink coffee so I've had a Mt. Dew every morning for the past 10 years. I used to need a Dr Pep in the afternoon but I kicked that habit... so finally the Mt Dew throwback is available which uses real sugar in the soda instead of corn syrup which better but I need to get off the stuff.

So Tues and Thurs I'm drinking my apple cider vinegar concoction instead of soda in the morning... man, I am really jonesing for a Mt. Dew right now!!!

I drank dr pepper 2-3 times a day before I started this. First two weeks killed me but now i don't even miss them. I've had 4 in the last 7 weeks.

I'm all good except beer :thumbsup:

I give it up for a month once a year or so, but I love a cold one.

It's not quite as bad as they make out, here's an article on alcohol
Apoligies about the muscley blokes all over the article, T-nation add stupid images to all the articles

I have all kinds:

choc chip cookies

sweet tea

coke -maybe one every other day

and lots of others but i do it in moderation.

But I am definitely aware of it and control it. But I like to enjoy life and I run 30-40 miles a week and work out, so i can handle it.

get to a sauna or find a way to sweat it out real hard tomorrow morning and youll lose some water weight too.

for me thats the most realistic way...
cutting out thing you enjoy completely will cause you to eventually back step(hard)
and drinking apple cider vinegar as opposed to dew seems like a fail waiting to happen...but then again i f-in HATE apple cider vinegar!;) just thinking about the smell makes me sick. luckily for me i have always been a water/tea drinker even as a kid , never been crazy about anything carbonated...

for me i know i will fail if i cut out junk foods completely... so Ive learned ways to just make them a lil better for you... so if im at work and i want fries and fingers i just bake it all, and taste wise its really not that much different,when i crave chicken wings i just have grilled chicken and cut it up and toss it in buffalo sauce... but even with those i only do it once a week.

i totally agree with my team driver senor akes, as i see it all the time that when people go fully extreme INSTANTLY the chances that they will give up or back step are pretty high. i cant even imagine the number of Americans that probably have the P90x or insanity DVDs under their TV that only the first months is even opened. lol

It's not the refined junk off the shelf! It's Braggs ACV, I mix it with one part cranberry juice and 2 parts water... I actually crave it. I got my father in law hooked on it too.

I know I can do this... no Dew for me today... tomorrow I will have one. And next week and cut it out on Tues and Thurs again... I'm slowly weening myself off the stuff.

I think this weekend I am going to get crazy and buy a fountain 32oz Dr Pepper though! :lol:

One important thing to remember, it's not always going to be smooth sailing even with a great diet and excercise program. My runs and workouts have been really tough this week. I think I may be fighting off a cold that's going around my office. As bad as I wanted to quit both days with a mile to go, I pushed through the mental block and finished all my work outs.

This week is boiler plate for a back slide in life. It would have been too easy to skip days and get back into those old excuses and routines. It doesn't matter if it's excercise, diet, relationships, finances, business, etc... you are going to have tough days and weeks. The key is to stay on the path and realize that life is never perfect. Endure the tough days and your new, good habits, will be stronger than ever after you cross the hurdle.

This is exactly where most people fail. They give up too easy and slide right back into their old comfort zone. Don't be one of the weak.

Sweet Jesus this Mt. Dew throwback taste good.

:captain:

I tried...

you can eat some junk and still be healthy, trying to cut it out completly may lead to binges

http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-n.../#printpreview

in this article Alan Aragon explains it all

Well its official I won first place. 186.2 from 216.6 in 45 days. Its was based on percentage so a smaller guy like me could compete with the 300plus guys. Not only did I win by percentage but only one guy lost more pounds than me and it was only 3 more. He started at 290. I went right to Grandy's for a hot cinnimon roll after weigh in. :lol: It was gooooood!!

thats great!! now just keep it off. Its fine to indulge, just in moderation...
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

That is awesome man. :thumbsup: My only concern for you is the rate of weight loss. Your metabolism may be in a slower state than you realize. Gradually increase your calorie intake and excercise so your weight loss is sustainable, not simply a process that won you a competition.

Trust me I know that. I'm not going back to anything like I was. I'll do a little celebrating this weekend and then back to the same routine. I'm in it for the long hall now.

Good job! Allow yourself one celebration meal... don't throw it all away. :thumbsup:

one? you can have 3 cheat meals a week and still be healthy and maintain...

now the new key for you to easily maintain would be to speed up you metabolism, eating at least 5 small meals a day.

It depends. :D On your age, goals, excercise program, and tolerance with how you look in the mirror.

im not talking large amounts, just "dirty" foods. theres plenty of professional body builders that do it when there not cutting for a show. but i agree with you on the age and exercise factor. as long as your steadily exercising and your metabolism is kicked into high gear and you eat that cheat meal at the proper times of the day it should be fine, that is unless your goal is to always live at say 5% body fat! (or trying to cut weight)

while were on the subject , i had my first cheat meal today since last Thursday and i tried five guys burgers n fries...


damn that was good!!!! i then lifted weights for about 45min right after though...

Ran 17.5 today in 2:46. Burned over 2000 calories. I totaled 40 miles this week. A big deal for me. But I gotta turn around and run 20 next sat. I am going to pig out today!

wow!:yes:

Weighed in at an even 207 this morning. I’m down 24.8lbs from my starting point and on track for meeting my initial weight goal.

I had a sobering thought pass through my head today. I don’t have an exercise regimen in place so I try to get it in where I can. We just stocked up on softener salt so I decided to carry the bags to the basement one at a time. I put our 18lb 6mo old in one arm and a 40lb bag of salt in the other. This was an extra 58lbs on me. I carried the weight fine but it dawned on me that the combined weight was my all-time high of 265. I can’t imagine having that weight on me again. Thoughts like these really remind me of why this needs to be a lifetime change.

Since I was so heavy when I was young I got a lot of compliments when I first got down into the 220-30 range. It was pretty easy to accept that as good normal. I carry my weight all over so it took loosing 15lbs this time around for many people to see it on me. It feels good to be getting positive reinforcement again but I’m not stopping this time. My current goal is to hit 199. After that I’ll revaluate things and make a new plan.

Thanks to all of you for contributing great info! :lateral:

That's awesome Ed. I've been enjoying the same fruits of my labor. I've had more compliments on my physique in the last 30 days than I've had in a long time. I like your talk of a lifestyle change. That's really the key.

Over the last couple months I've seen my broker walk in with fast food for breakfast multiple days. I kept telling him the same thing, " We need to talk". He came in my office last week and wanted to go to lunch and talk. I put together a document going over the basics of getting him on the road to weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. I named the document, "Tim's health plan that rivals his business plan". He's a great business man that makes plenty of money. I looked him right in the face and told him that I felt he was a great business man but he's taking care of everything BUT himself. He's mid 40's, 5'9" and 238 lbs! I later found out he's diabetic. Anyway, he set a goal of losing 13 lbs in 6 weeks at lunch. I sent an email out to the entire company stating his desire and to keep him accountable. I've outlined a winning game plan for him. I hope he takes the bait and chooses to make the postive changes to his life.

One of my favorite changes in my philosophy is the joy of investing life into life. Six months ago I wouldn't have tried to change his life. Whether it works out or not, I tried....

yeah^^^^ for me whats mad it so much easier to eat better and exercise often is the results im see in the mirror and feeling, and my family and others see the change and mention it!!! and as the results progress and you see the "fruits" its get easier and i even get excited about eating clean and exercising!!! its crazy to see pics of me when i was nearing 230 and at the time i just thought i was average size now when i see them i think "damn i was fat, why didn't anyone say anything to me!" lol

Todd, I read a statistic somewhere (i cant remember the number) where if you have somebody "Encouraging" you, your chances of success are way more higher.

I do the same thing at my company, try to get everybody to eat well, including myself. We have seven employees and everyone is in their target zone for height/weight, But still, eating is what fuels us.

Remember guys, "If you've got your health, you've got your wealth", now lets build upon that...

the 5 small meals thing makes NO DIFFERENCE to your metabolism. What makes a difference is your total food consumed during the day.

It's really the difference between how much you eat versus how much you use!

I agree, but eating it spread over 5 meals will have no benefit over eating it spread over 2 or 3

Not to sound like a Jerk but welcome to the Early 80's thought process

Yes 5 small meals a day will help you lose weight.

The more you eat in one sitting the harder it is for your body to digest all of the food. What your body doesn't digest for energy it will store as fat for future needs.

Just think of a diabetic they need to eat 5 or 6 small meals. If they don't blood sugar levels and insulin levels go crazy. So simplely put 5 or 6 meals a day is what you should strive for.

Also talk to any body builder and ask them how many meals they eat a day. Or for that matter ask any professional athlete they all eat many small meals.

Other tip that is pretty simple. Toss out your large dinner plates and switch to a 9" plate it's a simple way to control your portions.

thanks for the insight, i just did a search on this and did find many points that there is not real scientific proof it does speed up your metabolism and what makes it work are other reasons, like curbing cravings and binges ,and by your body feeling "fed" all day encourages you body to be in a fat burning mode. (which is confused with speed up metabolism)

i still intent to stick to eating 6-7 meals a day since for the other stated reasons its been working for me. also i feel weight down when i just have 2-3 large meals, buts good to know its not a big deal to do it that way when i have super busy days and its a hassle to eat multiple small meals. thanks for the knowledge legend, otherwise i wouldnt have ever even questioned it as the people recommending it are clients of my wife a : nutrionist and competing body builders (husband and wife) who have awe inspiring physique's.

To all. I have tried something new the last few months and it is working GREAT!
I didn't get this from any plan, just good old common sense.
First I wanted to begin losing weight. I knew from past experience, it was easy to get discouraged and go back to my old ways. So here is what I did and do.
1. I eat smaller portions. Not super diet food, just smaller portions. Example ( a real one that I do): At Arby's instead of a triple roast beef, I get a single. I still get the fries. When I finish the sandwich and fries, I'm full and not hungry. Before, I was stuffed. I eat a banana for breakfast instead of a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. NOTE: when I do get hungry....I eat. It is very important that your body does not stay hungry as it will start to preserve fat.

2. I exercise Mon, Wed, Fri. EVERY WEEK. My exercise....I burn 300 calories on my treadmill. Another important piece of information!! I DO NOT LET MY HEART RATE GET OVER 145. This is what the book that came with the treadmill instructed to do.

RESULTS???? A consistent 2 lbs a week. I started at 225. Am now at 201 and expect to break the 200 mark within the next day or so. My ideal weight is supposedly 145. That seems a little skinny, but we'll see when we hit 170.

PEOPLE, THIS WORKS, DOES NOT TURN YOUR WORLD UPSIDE DOWN, AND IS SOMETHING SOMEONE COULD DO A LONG TIME WITHOUT GETTING DISCOURAGED.

PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND! Every brick building you see has had the bricks laid one at a time. After thousands of years, it still has to be done, one brick at a time! We went to the moon, and are still laying bricks one at a time!

The same with many things, including weight loss.....one pound at a time!
Just my two cents worth.

Message of the day: Crap in, crap out. That is all. :lol:

edit: Good job Impala Man!

LOL

Here is my message of the day

Chemo in, Bio-Hazzard Out -- That is all

dammit Marty.. I hope you're not having to do that!

Here's another topic...

Who drinks diet soda?

Not me. Not only does it taste bad, it's not good for you. Your better off drinking reg coke. It s funny to see people ordering these with their big macs etc

Good job that's basically what I have done too with great results so far.

Yep - started Chemo 4 weeks ago only 5 months to go

Diet Soda - now that is just as scarry as Chemo in my book