Is my metabolism slow or what?

stevek

Carbs are hard to get without grains. I have been trying to sport gels. I found I need two hours before my ride with them.
I know my diet is not ideal but it is not horrible. I was eating three pieces of fruit because it took so long to give me energy I thought I needed that much. Now that I Know I need to eat 3 hours ahead of time I will try less.
But the facts of nutrition in the US are a joke. The food pyramid is not based on any medical fact it was based on corporation pressure and control. Look down the cereal isle to know who pushed the hardest.
The low fat idea was never started by doctors but it was a advertising gimmick that doctors fell on the bandwagon. I mean logic dictates eating fat has to make you fat. It hs to clog your arteries.
But low carb diets are starting to prove it wrong. Hell the world eats a lot of fat and is fine. What they don’t eat is a lot of processed carbs and fat.
All we have to look at is all the fast food places to see what causes a bad diet. That and we don’t move.
Fat is fine if you work it off. It has been a part of human diet since we were humans. But grains and such only since we started cultivating. And since then we are discovering all these new heath problems humans started having and of course our teeth started going bad.
Low carbers have posted on here they have more energy doing it then eating a low fat diet.
But as soon as the snow clears I will try less fruit and see.
But what I eat now just keeps me full. If I push harder on my bike I need more. Without fat in the diet you don’t stay full. It’s far easier to eat less fat calories and stay full over carb calories and always feel hungry.

jmcmillanut

I found some useful info searching the old threads. Enter "carbohydrate" and "Atkins" as key words and you will find tons of information. Some content is from medical/nutritional professionals. The stuff posted above is good too, but there's alot of info about carbohydrates and low-carb diets (since you seem to have an allergy to certain types of carbs).

Hope this helps.

JMc

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2LAP

The weight loss thread, as big as it is, has lots of information on this topic. There is definately a balance to be struck in nutrition; so why eat low carb or low fat, rather include both in the diet.

Its unusual that you say you need to eat 3 hours prior to riding; because I find that my energy levels are very stable throughout the day. I can only think that this is because you are not eating enough (hence the weightloss; obviously desirable), not eating frequently enough or not eating enough carbohydrates.

I disagree (and I do research in nutrition) lots of research is unbias and not funded by co-orporations. The pyramid represents good and simple advice for the general population, that is... too much dietary fat leads to heart disease and refined foods and salt should be avoided most. It is likely and perhaps obvious that every person needs 'their own' food pyramid depending upon their situation. One fault with the pyramid is that it doesn't identify good fats or bad carbohydrates well enough; I don't think this is too great a problem as most western people eat too much fat for health. The link between high fat intake and heart disease is well established by Epidemiology. Finaly the pyramid is not a means for weight loss but a guide for healthy eating that most people can get something from.

Be aware that much of the information and hype around very low carbohydrates is created by companies like Atkins which are perhaps more guided by profit than many of the universities doing nutrition research!

I doubt any doctor would suggest that eating fat would make you fat, as weight gain/loss is a simple equation of energy used and energy expended. It doesn't matter what source the enrgy comes from.

As for clogging up arteries, the particles that fat is carried in in the blood (the lipoproteins) are linked with the formation of plaque in the arteries. Furthermore, they increase after eating a fatty meal (perhaps as much as 200%) and the magnitude and duration of the increase is related to your risk of developing atherosclerosis (heart disease).

They are? Atkins has fallen out of public favour very quickly; almost as fast as its rise. Didn't you know people are now on the GI diet!!!

You've hit the nail on the head - people are eating highly processed foods that are low in nutrients and high in calories. Hence low health and high body weights. With little exercise people don't use that energy they eat.

Yes, but we are also omnivours so are designed to eat a variety of foods. Historical data is not very useful for proving that carbohydrates are bad, because people do lots of things they didn't hundreds of years ago like smoking, lifestyle, etc. People also live longer so more diseases and different diseases can be seen. People have cultivated grains for hundreds of years, so these don't explain the recent increase in obesity, heart disease, diabetes, etc.

Tooth decay is caused by refined sugars not grains or unrefined foods made from grains. Tooth decay is also less than it was when Humans were first Humans.

And thats great for them... until they start exercising and get the knock (i.e. glycogen depletion) which is a dangerous state to be in!

Don't give up the fruit! Its an important source of nutrients, try eating more and spreading them over the course of a day.

Excluding fat from the diet would be bad advice, but high fat consumptions should also be avoided (particularly bad sources of fat - red meats, cheeses, animal fats, etc.). Avoiding carbohydrates is also poor advice, particularly when you are cycling so much.

Perhaps you are a very hungry person, but I am vegetarian and eat a balanced diet but rarely get hungry. (Balanced diet was 28% of calories from fat, 15% from protein and 57% from carbohydrates during a recent dietary analysis).

You probably know all this already and have considered it already; its just I feel what you have written about your diet and your response is extreme and far from ideal for someone who is a regular cyclist. Therefore I think you should consider an altenative view.

If you are so concerned about the effect of coorporations on nutrition information, then you should consider going to primary sources and basic texts on nutrition and dietetics. These at least will be free of bias.

Finaly, when using historical data try to put it in a modern context - most of it you will see is interesting and sometimes amusing, but of very little use!

Eating is easy, everyone knows whats health... they just choose not to eat it!

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2LAP

Good advice, it would be interesting to know if some of the posters are still on the same diet or have changed and what the effects of the different diets are in the long term

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stevek

I very much doubt animal fat is going to kill us. we have survived on it longer then any one thing in our history. but the combo of fat and high amounts of carbs that are usually processed will.
We will find that fats are not bad if not eating with lots of carbs and exercise will make all of the difference to what you can eat. The harder the more fat you can eat.
The food pyramid was never writing by doctors. That’s easy to look up and find out. The cereal companies have pounced on it. Like a bowl of grains that don’t have a lot of nutrition some milk (full of carbs) a little bit of fruit is a good food.
Low carbers are doing fine with exercise. They burn fat as fuel. I know on days I eat more fat for lunch I go faster on my bike.
Low fat was a marketing ploy that we fell for hook line and sinker. Other people of the world sure don’t eat that way. Low fat tents to promote eating more grains and sugar.
Low carb will promote eating more processed garbage.
I can’t eat grains and I don’t shy away from carbs. I want my carbs to come from good sources.

tomdavis80

I think you're missing a little bit of information here, researchers have found that humans prior to agriculture did eat a good helping of carbs and most of the time, the women and children were the ones who got them. That was part of the hunter/gatherer society. The men hunted for the meat, the women/children got the carbs. It's not reasonable to think that humans subsisted entirely on meat and besides most primates are omnivores to begin with, especially chimpanzees.

Danneh

I think you need to get yourself down to the docs mate, there are many eating disorders. The way you are sounds very much like:

Celiac Disease is an auto-immune disorder. Ingestion of a common protein called Gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, rye, and oats causes damage to the small intestine, resulting in many serious health problems.

The damage will prevent the body absorbing the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs to stay healthy.

I know someone who had a mild form of it and it took ages to diagnose (they suffered weight loss and had loss of appetite as well), maybe your problem could be solved by simply removing gluten from your diet.

Do a google search see what you think

Chemicalanarchy

From what I see the diet consists of sugar and fat. Might as well drink coke all day.

Nobody looked up the glycemic index of those fruits?

Yea, bananas take 3 hours to get into your bloodstream which is why we eat them while racing for that slow release.

Maybe if it was coated with peanut butter...................

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stevek

After some research to get tested I have to eat grains for several days. if I do that will be nice and sick for a couple of weeks. so I think it is easier to try cutting all of the gluten out and see what happens. sure will be less misery (G)

stevek

Yea, bananas take 3 hours to get into your bloodstream which is why we eat them while racing for that slow release.

figures the most practical fruit is slow (G) well been eating a grapefruit a day and that seems to help. now if I could eat veggies as easily as fruit.

Chemicalanarchy

maltose which is primarily what a banana is made with has a real slow GI?

That was SARCASM about the banana taking 3 hours. If it did take more than 15-30min we'd all be bonking.

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2LAP

Steve, have you seen a doctor yet? Try reading over your posts and see if they (or your diet) sound normal to you!!!

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stevek

of course it is not normal. but several people have given me some idea's. running to the doctor may not do anything but drain my already empty wallet.
I did cut out the power gel they did not do much and i have had more energy latly.

Beastt

Stevek,

Doctors aren't trained in nutrition. The average medical school in the U.S. provides 4-hours of nutrition training for every 4-years of school. If you want to know about nutrition or what the numbers in a blood test are telling you, see a qualified nutritionist.

The idea that we evolved eating mostly meat is the stuff of 1960s and 1970s Hollywood caveman movies. A quick look at human physiology will reveal that humans don't possess the kind of bodies that true carnivores and omnivores possess, (i.e. canine teeth suitable for holding prey, claws, relatively strong stomach acid, and short, fast digestive systems). We're not natural hunters so before we developed weapons, we had little choice concerning what we had to eat. Natural hunters have natural weapons capable of taking down prey, (teeth, claws and the speed and power to catch and hold prey animals).

If you check any nutritional source you'll find that carbohydrates provide 4 KCals per gram, proteins provide 4 KCals per gram and fat provides 9 KCals per gram. If you want to feel full you have to place a certain mass into your stomach. If you want to lose weight you need to make sure that mass contains fewer calories per gram. Eating to satiety, (feeling full), with fats will put more than twice as many calories into your system. This isn't a good recipe for losing or controlling weight.

Quote: "That kidney thing about meat and protein has not been fact for most people."

Tell me which of these three disorders you're familiar with;

1. Kidney disease/stones
2. Osteoporosis
3. Kwashiokor

Kidney disease and osteoporosis are on the rise in the U.S. and osteoporosis is already at epidemic levels. I'm willing to bet you've never heard of anyone who suffered from Kwashiokor which is caused by a protein deficiency. The other two are caused from protein excess, (not to say that kidney disease doesn't have other causes). Doctors will tell you that osteoporosis is caused by a calcium deficiency despite the fact that people who eat lower protein diets don't suffer from osteoporosis even though they may consume far less calcium.

Nutritionists will tell you that osteoporosis, along with kidney failure, kidney stones and a number of other health problems, are caused by excess protein. Studies have repeatedly shown that calcium suppliments don't help. In EVERY instance, high-protein diets have lead to a negative calcium balance and low-protein diets have lead to a positive calcium balance despite the presence or absence of calcium suppliments.

Please listen closely to what 2LAP is trying to tell you. His advice falls directly in line with some of the most recognized and successful nutritionists in the country. I'm not talking about just financial successes. I'm talking about people who run clinics which are curing the incurable. Doctors and the AMA will tell you that the progression of heart disease can be slowed but not stopped. These nutritionists are reversing heart disease in their patients and they're doing it through reduced fat diets.

I've been reading through your posts and I'm genuinely worried about you. You're on the road to a calamity. I know it's difficult to change ideas concerning diet. I found myself in a position to make my own changes about a decade ago. I didn't want to think badly of what I'd grown up to believe but I started doing some research and found that there really was no option.

When doctors tell you that your cholesterol level is within an average range, what they're telling you is that you have a 1 in 2 chance of dying from a heart attack. That's what having an average cholesterol level means in the U.S. Doctors don't usually worry until after the cholesterol count rises above 200. People are dying of heart attacks at a frightening rate who have cholesterol counts of 160, which is "normal" for Americans.
Carbohydrates don't build up and cause blockage to coronary arteries, fats and cholesterol do.

2LAP knows what he's talking about and I believe he has an honest concern for your welfare. Please, for your own sake, listen to what he's telling you. I've worked heart attack calls as an ambulance attendant. You have to see the fear and foreboding in those eyes to understand. They can feel death overtaking them and there is nothing they can do. They know. You don't want to be the one on the gurney and I can guarantee you, that's where your diet is taking you.

Should I ever have the pleasure of seeing you on a climb I want to drop you because I'm working my butt off to do it, not because you're clutching your chest and gasping for your last breath. Hang in there with us. The world needs more cyclists.

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Truncated list of studies concerning the osteoporosis/protein connection:

"Effect of calcium intake on calcium balance of young men given 500mg calcium daily" - Journal of Nutrition 104:695, 1974

"Urinary calcium and calcium balance in young men as affected by level of protein and phosphorus intake" - Journal of nutrition 111:53, 1981

"Calcium retention of young adult males as affected by levels of protein and calcium intake" - Trans New York Academy of Science, 36:333, 1974