Here in the US, so much obesity. I work in healthcare and it seems like I’m stuck in the land of 300lb lard butts. Shouldn’t they know better? But, as a late-blooming marathoner, I play and socialize with very fit people.

Some of them have come from very bad situations. My buddy M was a 300lb tub of lard at age 40 with a two pack/six pack a day habit. This morning he finished a 100 mile ultra-marathon at age 51. Could he have imagined his future, back before he decided to get in shape?

I failed a stress test 12 years ago. Not surprising. I’d given up smoking 15 years earlier and put on 50 lbs. A few years later I started walking 4 miles a day and the pounds melted away. Walking led to jogging led to running led to marathons and a whole new life-style.

I don’t worry about fat vs non-fat. I try to eat lots of different food and avoid processed food. But I don’t think that really matters very much. The rules a pretty simple- don’t eat too much crap and break a sweat most days a week.

I’ve never had an issue with my weight, but I’ve made a number of dietary changes since last fall, and I’m finding that when I’m good about sticking with the plan, I notice that the few extra inches I do accumulate from time to time just seem to melt away. The key point is to reduce exposure to refined carbohydrates (particularly refined flour and refined sugar) and to include more healthy fats in my diet. I try to eat as many vegetables as I can (which would be easy if I didn’t have to clean and prepare them myself), and fruits are good, too, but you have to be careful not to overdo it with fruits because too much fructose isn’t good for you, either. It sounds complicated, but it’s really not, once you get the hang of it. And if you stick with the plan most of the time (I manage it about 3/4 of the time), you can still take breaks and enjoy less healthy snacks on occasion.

The most important key for me is remembering that some foods I had learned to think of as bad (such as butter) aren’t really so bad at all, and they can be more satisfying than loading up on foods that really are bad (refined carbs).

http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5675/

Michael Savage -who is banned from traveling to Britain-has been saying something similiar about how weak Americans have become.

This is really what it’s about isn’t it. Americans are gluttons and see any kind of sacrifice as something to avoid at all costs. Pathetic. This is why we’re doomed.

I for one welcome our new insect overlords….

Cut the carbs, eat everything else.

I could eat broccoli three times a day, or even with all five meals. (The Hobbit blood will out.) It’s only a food substitute when I am dieting and can’t have anything else.

Whey protein stimulates insulin release. That’s why the body builders use it. It is not for the rest of us, as it leads to more hunger, and insulin is a food storage hormone, not a calorie burning one. Syndrome X guys need to avoid milk and it’s permutations. Who knew that on this one thing, my late father would be right? I have the milk-fed gut to prove it that he was.

Asparagus is pretty wonderful, too, and garlic doesn’t hurt that, either. Also, if you stay in one location for three years or more, you can get your own asparagus bed going, and serve it two or three times a week, if you want it, and who would not?

Garlic, in general, does not belong in chocolate cake or ice cream. Beyond those, I have trouble thinking of much else that garlic does not improve.

*insert sound of gagging here*

I’m with SgtMom (whom I now envy like crazy for her home cheesemaking): Real food in modest quantities. I’d rather have one small scoop of Ben and Jerry’s than an entire carton of Arctic Freeze.

Michael, broccoli is real food. With butter it’s even better! Throw in a little sauteed garlic and you have a real winner.