Watcha eating?

[jinman]

I took the kids to Steak and Shake tonight. We all left still hungry so we also got a dozen chicken wings from the Wal Mart hot foods dept. on the way home.

Don't you have a McDonalds close so you could also get a bag full of fries to go with the chicken wings? :laughing:

I keep fruit in the house all the time. I have apples, oranges, tangerines, bananas, and even "no sugar added" canned and frozen fruit. I just polished off a small Navel Orange, tangerine, and ripe banana for breakfast.:licking: When I get out of bed in the morning, I crave stuff like biscuits, sausage, and gravy. I force myself to eat fruit and find my appetite for greasy and high fat foods goes away. Actually, "force" is not the best word. I should say I choose to eat fruit. Eating right is as much about choice and habit as anything. I still have cravings for the wrong foods, but feeling healthy and fitting into my 'skinny' clothes is some really good positive feedback.

On the subject of heredity. My mother had terrible veins in her legs. She wore support hose, but in the summer she would always get open ulcers on her ankles from necrosis of the tissue as a result of poor circulation and fluid pooling. My oldest brother was over 400 lb, and had joint problems, but didn't have vein problems. My brother just 4 years older than me had blood clots and several pulmonary embolisms leading to a collapsed lung. He has circulation problems so bad that his legs never heal and has to have constant wound care. He ends up in the hospital almost yearly with infections. I was in the US Navy and had deep vein clots and vein stripping when I was 27 years old. The problems continued to re-occur and finally I was disability retired because of my problems. I can control my problems by keeping my weight around 200 lb. Last year when I was up around 265 lb, I quarter sized ulcers on both ankles. Dropping the weight has caused my ulcers to disappear. That's strong, strong, motivation to stay on my diet.

I also know that if I have a very bad cold, flu, or minor pneumonia (Is any pneumonia minor?), I can have problems with my heart. My heart attack that led to my having a stent occurred when I had a terrible time with pneumonia. When I get a cold, I try to head to the doctor before I get to the pneumonia state because I know what comes next. In many ways, my minor heart attack and my trouble with my veins keeps me ever-alert to my diet and overall health. I know what happens when I don't take care of myself.

 

[JDgreen227]

Jinman, I admire you for being able to resist the temptation of eating the wrong foods. Sad thing is, most of the stuff we consume that tastes the best is the worst for us nutrition and health wise. As for myself, the only way I can resist eating sugary stuff like cookies and candy, or salty processed snack foods is not to buy any of them in the first place. If I don't have the foods here, I cannot consume them. And as far as fast food goes: To my knowledge the last time I went to a fast food place (Mickey D's) was in early September of last year, I recall how shocked I was at the cost of two meals there and it wasn't anything fancy. I really enjoy eating well but sometimes it is hard to eat healthy at the same time.

You mention consuming a lot of fruit, so tell us, how do you get your protein intake? As for me, I try to concentrate on boneless, skinless chicken, ground chuck, frozen cod and perch fillets (unbreaded) canned beans, and tuna packed in water. I often wish more veggies had a high protein content. As much as I crave fast-food chicken strips or nuggets, I prepare my chicken strips at home, always baked and never fried. I must be doing something right because at age 61, I am within 15 pounds of my weight at age 21.

 

[txdon]

Congratulations JDgreen27. You have asked the #1 question, the most asked question, the first question that every meat eater ask anyone who eats very little or no meat. In fact I asked the same question. 2 years ago? Even my parents doctors ask me the same question. It is an incredibly important question most on people's mind. It is the one question that people will never understand the answer to and will disregard because it goes against everything they have been taught about nutrition.

In fact after 2 yeas of no meat or animal products(cheese/eggs) and no protein supplements my blood level protein results are exactly right in the middle of the normal range. How can this be????

There is only three explanations:
1. We are mutants.
2. We are aliens.
3. There is plenty of protein in fruit, grains, greens and vegetables.

I'm a Mutant, I don't know which explanation Jim will give.

 

[jinman]

They said I'd lose muscle tissue if I didn't eat lots of meat and proteins, but how much muscle tissue do you really need? I can lift a 50 lb bag of deer corn up to the feeder with one hand while standing in the bed of our Kawasaki Mule. Using both hands, I had no trouble moving 93 lb golf cart batteries recently. I can pick up big rounds of bucked firewood and toss it onto the splitter or on a pile. If anything, my problem is not strength as much as stamina. I think if I walked more, I'd get the stamina back, but my circulation problems don't get better with lots of walking. I have to have my weight low and approach walking very carefully to move into it slowly.

Unlike Don, I'm not anywhere near to being a vegetarian, but my intake of red meats is almost nil, and I don't eat eggs anymore than once every 6 months. I eat low-fat low-sodium soups with some chicken, and I eat mostly salads with roasted chicken when I go out. My local Mexican food restaurant has a roasted chicken chipotle salad with lettuce, tomato, avocado, roasted chicken with chipotle sauce, and a small amount of crumbled feta cheese on top.:licking: I also love every kind of bean on the planet and keep the Beano company solvent with my purchases. Earlier this week, my wife fixed both eggplant and chicken parmigiana with a baked instead of fried recipe. The chicken had crumbled cornflakes for the breading. Actually, I preferred the eggplant. Its flavors and textures are far more interesting than the chicken. Don't get me wrong. The chicken was good and I had some, but not nearly as much as the eggplant. Eating that was a big splurge for me. Mostly, I eat fruit, beans, and soups. Those are my staples.

So, unlike Don, I'm not a mutant. I'm just the guy who could be happy eating almost the same diet during the week and the same dish every time I go out to eat. I do admit that the salad bar at Golden Corral is a favorite, but I average maybe once every 6 months there. My biggest money and calorie saver is not eating any fast food. Rather than get an Egg McMuffin at McDonalds for $3, I'll heat up a Jimmy Dean Delight at home for $1 and have egg white and turkey sausage that's around 250 calories. The cost of eating fast food is more than many healthy meals in a sit-down restaurant.

Next week, I go for my annual physical and blood test. I will bet that my cholesterol is extremely low and my blood sugar low. I do take cholesterol meds, but I don't rely on them to do 100% of the work. In my opinion, the key to healthy eating is to eat the right things 90% of the time and splurge 10% or less. Unfortunately, the diets of most people in this fast-paced world are just the opposite. Also, people who are thin are not necessarily healthy. Don is one of those folks who looked terrific and exercised regularly. He still had a heart attack. For him, he needed to make extreme changes to his diet. I suspect we all could benefit from his diet. I'd bet he still eats plenty and doesn't go hungry. He just won't buy the 'stuff' the food industry is trying to sell us.:thumbsup:

 

[econometrics]

Bout to go get me some Chick-Fil-A! :cool2:

 

[mjarrels]

My wife was born and raised in the Philippines... now a US Citizen (yes can legally be done). Just fixed her a grilled cheese sandwich, who would have thought she would eat a grilled cheese without rice?

mark

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Mexican restaurant "Cantina Burger" with jalapenos and bacon and 2 pattys.

:licking:

David

 

[whistlepig]

Just put some chicken wings in the smoker.

 

[JDgreen227]

Just put some chicken wings in the smoker.

WP, not to be critical of your choice but I for one have never understood the appeal of chicken wings. To parody Clara Peller: "Where's the meat?" Unless of course, you are referring to boneless chicken wings... but to me a real chicken wing is mostly skin and bones.

 

[whistlepig]

Eating a chicken wing without the bone would be like eating corn on the cob without the cob.