Comments on: A different kind of diet

By: Occam's Beard

Occam's Beard — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 01:09:59 +0000

It’s not really junk – it’s just high calorie food, which for most people equates to junk, but when you seriously need calories, you need ’em in a dense form.

By: Dan D

Dan D — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 01:00:56 +0000

Before my knees got burned out from excessive mountain biking, I used to routinely ride three to five hours daily, hard rides in steep mountain terrain. Occasionally I rode a particular route that was a day-long trip, seventy miles, over several good sized mountains.

After that long ride, dinner was a salad, a large pizza, two beers, and a huge chocolate milk shake, containing at least a quart of ice cream. Invariably, I lost weight because that was all I could handle eating that day and the calories were insufficient to replace what I had burned.

Once my knees gave out, riding had to be cut back sharply, and with advancing age I now have to watch what I ate. During the ten years I was most avidly biking, I ate whatever appealed to me, and simply could not gain weight as I wanted to with weight lifting exercise.

Friends who were much more serious about their biking than I was were the type who rewarded themselves with a bowl of Grape Nuts… not my style at all.

By: J.J. formerly Jimmy J.

J.J. formerly Jimmy J. — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 21:49:25 +0000

This level of caloric intake does not surprise me at all. Many years ago I was one of the adults who accompanied a Boy Scout troop on a one week, 60 mile backpacking trip in the Sierras. 8.5 miles a day with a forty pound pack will burn a lot of calories. We tried to plan the food so each boy would get at least 5000 calories a day. At that time, the easy keeping, high calorie foods were raisins, nuts, Spam, hard cheese, oatmeal with sugar, and hard candy. Not a diet you woulld want to eat for extended periods. It all turned out well. Although a couple of the adults lost some weight our boys all stayed energetic and lost no discernable weight.

A high level athlete’s energy expenditures would be on the same or larger scale. However, they have much better choices in foods, not having to worry about spoilage. With my voracious appetite, I can only dream of being able to eat like that. My days now are nothing like walking 8.5 miles on mountain trails.

By: foxmarks

foxmarks — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 18:14:49 +0000

Junk is also quick. All that training time doesn’t permit sitting down to a table full of delicious calorie-dense Creole-Soul food.

By: SteveH

SteveH — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 17:38:57 +0000

I think i keep a decent weight because i’ve never really found an interest in food. It would be interesting to know if that’s an inherited trait. I think it is.

By: expat

expat — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 17:20:04 +0000

Here is another piece I stumbled on:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090309104710.htm

Sounds like those boring 50s family dinners were good for you.

By: expat

expat — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 17:02:06 +0000

Via Real Clear Politics, here is a piece that shows how complicated we are:

http://www.livescience.com/21902-diet-epigenetics-grandchildren.html

Blame those extra pounds on granny.