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Keith Sinclair

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About 3 years ago got a full blood test. Everything good for my age at the time 68. Yrs old Except pre diabetes. Researched & changed my diet. Cut out processed foods. Cut down quantity of rice, gotta have some rice. Fresh fruit, vegetables, mostly seafood & some chicken. Once in a while pork. Lots of ice green tea & water.

just had a blood test blood sugar levels perfect. One of my best friends around same age as me takes medications for various things but will not change eating habits. He often drinks those big bottles of mountain dew.

Type 1 is deadly & not because of eating habits an infant can be born with it. Type 2 has become huge in USA because of poor eating. Even younger people are getting it if ate fast food all their life.
 
About the same time as you the VA told me I was over the line into diabetic. They blamed my exposure to Agent Orange as I had already been through the cancer thing in 2006. I've cut out almost all rice, pasta, potatoes, and most deserts. No soft drinks but that wasn't much of a problem. Wheat bread very sparingly. Lots more vegetables and reasonable amounts of chicken, pork, seafood and beef. Different diabetic docs will give you different recommendations on the right amounts here. But- I'm still on insulin shots every day plus other meds.
P.S Noodle Soup really doesn't eat noodle soups anymore. :confused:
 
Poor eating may be causing the problem but it is the effect of larger problems. Several things can contribute to the poor eating habits from social changes in the USA to cost and availability but the big one I see is education.

I once ate dinner with a person who ordered a double cheese burger and chili cheese fries who proceeded to also order a salad because they needed to eat healthy. The salad consisted of a sprig of lettuces covered in bacon bits drown in ranch dressing.
I ate lunch with a separate individual who ordered a large meal minus the drink because they were on a diet and where going to have a Slimfast with their lunch.

We have a failing education system in the Unites States and the high obesity is one of the many effects of the failing system.
 
Take care that Agent Orange is nasty stuff. A lot of Vietnamese our age & younger suffer from after effects.
 
Take care that Agent Orange is nasty stuff. A lot of Vietnamese our age & younger suffer from after effects.
I seem to be the poster boy for the effects of it
And for all those that think diabetics are way over weight, I was wasting away do to it. Dropped down to around what I was in the Rangers and thought it was great until they told me why.
 
With Smartphones information you need is there. Education is key. In low income areas there is often just processed & fast foods available.

I knew that some things eating not that healthy like my weakness for potato chips. When I googled what to eat & not eat if pre diabetic it was a learning experience.
 
Good job! I am younger, but made the decision a few years ago to exercise a lot more and try to reduce processed food, after dealing with chronic insomnia and being obese. Getting healthy is one of the best decisions someone can make. Wish society, particularly with COVID going, would emphasize just how much better quality of life is, even taking the time to improve your diet a little bit and go for a walk a day.
 
Good to start young. Was always active in younger years so was never obese. Working in production kitchens would put on weight liked to drink beer too. But still never too heavy because surfed.

Too many years in the sun now have to go dermatologist every six months had skin cancer now walk up in the valley at night coming back all uphill so gets heart & lungs going.
 
Type 2 has become huge in USA because of poor eating. Even younger people are getting it if ate fast food all their life.
I have a friend with prediabetes just cut all carbohydrates altogether and his A1C went back to about normal in 6 months. We really don't know a thing about our optimal dietary requirements as a species....
 
We really don't know a thing about our optimal dietary requirements as a species....
The Japanese and some Mediterranean communities seem to have a fairly good handle on it if life expectancy is anything to go by.
 
The Japanese and some Mediterranean communities seem to have a fairly good handle on it if life expectancy is anything to go by.
Yeah, I think it has to do with omega 3 intake. High LDL is only bad if your HDL is low and triglycerides are high (as far as I can tell based on newest evidence) and olive oil/fish are fantastic for that.
 
It's more a matter of what you eat and how much of it than what you don't eat, our physical activity level has gone down in the past 30 years while our food intake stayed the same and calory intake went up. Just watch some old movies from the 60ies- 70ies, then FF into the 90ies first you hardly see any obese people in the street, suddenly all look chubbier.
I try stay clear of processed food, as Pollan ( I believe) said ; stay away from food your grandmother would not recognize', mainly because I hate the flavors and textures but also because I don't like what they think they need do to it to make it 'crowd pleasing' adding loads of cheap ingredients like salt, sugar, modfied starches, processed fats etc.

Last development in processed food seems to be adding MSG to about anything, aside from replacing added sugar with added apple juice concentrate (equalling sugar) and stating 'no sugar added'

Put it this way, the color beige is the worst color to eat
 
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A lot of that is definitely true especially concerning the fattening you're referring to and I think its attributed to the "food pyramid" telling people the majority of their calories should come from carbohydrates and sugars.

Though one point of contention I have to voice is on MSG. It's a fake boogeyman; if you salt a tomato, you've basically got a bomb of msg in your hands. It's just a flavour enhancer and really doesnt do anything to already flavorful foods.
 
Put it this way, the color beige is the worst color to eat
Au contrare (unless its Taramasalata)
download.jpg
 

Thanks Bradda :cool:

Age is another factor for less activity. Try to walk in the valley evening time.

Plenty others walking too as we went to another shutdown cuz Covid cases were going up quite a bit. Esp. Pacific Island people three generations in same house hold & community gatherings.
 
Thanks Bradda :cool:

Age is another factor for less activity. Try to walk in the valley evening time.

Plenty others walking too as we went to another shutdown cuz Covid cases were going up quite a bit. Esp. Pacific Island people three generations in same house hold & community gatherings.

🤙🤙🤙

Yeah man, it's tough. I tell patients all the time that pre-diabetes can be reversed, but a lot of people never get around to making changes until it's too late. Even then, some people just ignore insulin and eat chocolate bars till their limbs rot - they just don't care.

It's real hard to make permanent changes as I'm sure you know, but always great to see someone make it through. What island are you on by the way?
 
Grandad had diabetes, although it wasnt what killed him. Mother is pre-diabetes, making changes and doing pretty well. She was always super activeand fit, but a vulnerability to diabetes can be genetic I guess. Given that, although I'm only 30, I try to be mindful and cautious. I have a strong memory of my Grandad trying and failing to give up tomatoes. He did the processing foods and sugars easy, but boy did he love tomatoes.
 
Yeah I'd take fat, salt and natural sugars over processed sugar and candy any day.
Natural sugars and processed sugars are metabolized by your body the exact same way, unfortunately :/
 
I thought fresh fruits & vegetables much better because of fiber helps digestive system. Not like drinking fruit juice.

That and cutting down just eating small amounts of carbs. Lots of salads with flaked salmon on top as a meal. Olive oil and vinegar dressing.

I can't live without fresh tomato's either will never give them up.

Did above cut out processed foods, chips, drinking lots of juice. Blood sugar went to normal.
 
I thought fresh fruits & vegetables much better because of fiber helps digestive system. Not like drinking fruit juice.

That and cutting down just eating small amounts of carbs. Lots of salads with flaked salmon on top as a meal. Olive oil and vinegar dressing.

I can't live without fresh tomato's either will never give them up.

Did above cut out processed foods, chips, drinking lots of juice. Blood sugar went to normal.

The soluble fiber in fruits slows the absorption of the sugars and blunts the insulin spike. Now if you're diabetic, even that amount of sugar is not recommended, but if you're healthy and moving around, your body can usually process that amount of sugar.
 
I'm low-carb but don't fanatically preach it, and it's awesome for reversing type-2 diabetes, but if most people just at real/whole foods and stopped the refined carbs, industrially-processed seed oils (Canola, etc.) and ditched fruit (juice, especially) they'd be vastly better off healthwise. Diet is such a driver of health it's ridiculous.

But there's no profit in a healthy population, thus the lobbying involved in keeping the USDA food guidelines the same.

And like Diabetes Associations (worldwide) - they're not out to put themselves out of business, although I see the head of the American DA is using low-carb to control her blood sugars, but they're still not pushing it, although they now do list it as an option, which is a pretty big change.
 
Diet is such a driver of health it's ridiculous.

But there's no profit in a healthy population, thus the lobbying involved in keeping the USDA food guidelines the same.

We are what we eat....I don't think profit for the food giants is making us fat, we make the choices

Profit? I'd say this all begins with education, adults can educate themselves but changing habits is hard, so that journey will have to start with our kids both at home and at school, educating kids about food and giving them things that are NOT bad for them and having them taste a wide variety of foods to they develop a palate and know there are many options to work with and create nice dishes.

My 4 year old loves greens, olives and olive oil (dipping some nice artisanal bread in a good extravirgine is one his favorites), eats smelly artisanal cheeses, he also favors water as drink simply because we consistently gave him water rather than juice or anything else..
 
We are what we eat....I don't think profit for the food giants is making us fat, we make the choices

Profit? I'd say this all begins with education, adults can educate themselves but changing habits is hard, so that journey will have to start with our kids both at home and at school, educating kids about food and giving them things that are NOT bad for them and having them taste a wide variety of foods to they develop a palate and know there are many options to work with and create nice dishes.

My 4 year old loves greens, olives and olive oil (dipping some nice artisanal bread in a good extravirgine is one his favorites), eats smelly artisanal cheeses, he also favors water as drink simply because we consistently gave him water rather than juice or anything else..

The problem is, there are many places where its significantly less economical to eat healthy unprocessed foods. Food giants have something to do with that. People like me, who have a decent salary, live in a middle or upper middle income neighborhood, can afford in both time and money fresh foods make the choice to be healthy everyday. I choose to eat nutritious food or fast food. If I choose to eat unhealthy, I choose whether to not to exercise extra to try and mitigate some of that. My parents had the resources to introduce me to different foods and expand my palate as a kid. My income and circumstances I was born into allow me that choice.

However, if you live in a food desert and/or make significantly less than the average income, eating habits are much less a choice. In those areas, grocery stores have higher prices for produce, often times than even a upper end store like Whole Foods, for much less quality. At the same time big agri is one of the most subsidized industries, and the crops that get subsidies tend to be cereal grains used to make either high sugar foods OR go into animal feed, which in turn subsidizes red meat. These in turn get combined to make things like a Big Mac,, with high salt, high fat from the subsidized meat and cheese, and often deceptively high amounts of sugar from sauces. High salt, fat, and sugar contents are also addictive to our brains.

A child brought up in that environment, is very likely, even if they can escape it economically as an adult to have their brain chemistry tied to it. Parents in that environment are both less likely to have the resources to cook for their kids, and the time. That's not to say personal responsibility plays no role. I very much believe it does, and we have an ethical obligation to try and fix things we can control, even when dealt a bad hand. But I think it'd be naive not to acknowledge for a very large portion of the American population (and probably many others), our food system stacks the deck against them being healthy. Some will overcome it, many won't.
 
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