h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm not obese, though I am overweight (according to the chart in the doctor's surgery) - its important to get saddled with the right term To lessen my risk of a heart attack I have been dieting and researching.

The diet is easy - intermittent fasting - and is working well for me, and the other h2g2 researchers using it (search for "JUDDDD" Johnson's Up Day Down Day Diet http://www.johnsonupdaydowndaydiet.samsbiz.com/)

The researching alerted me to the massive increase in obesity in the last thirty years being linked to the amount of sugar (particularly fructose) in the diet - http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2007/1969924.htm

Dr Robert Lustig says that consumption of fructose (in the US) has gone from less than half a pound per year in 1970 to 56 pounds per year in 2003. That amount of fructose is bad for your liver, and affects the ability of the body to use insulin appropriately - leading to obesity.
I have also discovered that many sugar replacements are just as bad for you as fructose (see for instance http://www.splendaexposed.com/)

Hope others find these links as interesting as I did

I'm in agreement with Pimms on the importance of limiting fructose, especially in the form of high fructose corn syrup, sucrose and artificial sweeteners in our diets. It's all about insulin, folks. The links he gave are to good articles. If you're seriously concerned about your weight and health, then you should read them.

Everyone worries about the fat in their diets because the medical establishment has pushed low-fat diets for so long. And trans-fats certainly are harmful. But I think the sugars and refined flour products are the real culprits in our obesity epidemic, not fat. These foods create massive releases of insulin which creates not only fat but increases hunger. It's a vicious cycle.

Pimms also mentioned intermittent fasting. I'm living proof that it works. I'm currently down 36 pounds, 22 of those with intermittent fasting. If you need to lose weight, please check out Pimms link to the Johnson Up day Down Day Diet. It works and lets you enjoy your life at the same time.

Recently hubby and I bought some pate from our local supermarket. They had a standard pack and a 'healthy living' pack. The 'healthy living' pack had appreciably less fat than the standard pack, but 3.6g of carbohydrate - 2.2g of which was sugar.

How is it healthy to cut the fat but increase the sugar? And yet this is common with 'low fat' products. If you lose one thing, it seems the manufacturers force you to have the other. Why?

>>>If you lose one ...(unhealthy)... thing, it seems the manufacturers force you to have the other.<<<

i don't have that problem because i don't buy prepared foods. I buy ingredients.

in the early 70s my family decided to eat natural. Because there was no health food store in our town, what we did was shop around the perimeters of our food store... ie the walls. Most basic ingredients are found on the walls rather than in the aisles: vegetables and fruits, meats, dairy... we only went into the aisles for coffee, vinegar and oil, condiments and spices. Once a month we made the trek to the faraway natural food store to buy whole wheat flour and other grains, dried fruits, tea, maple syrup, tamari, peanut butter and honey in bulk.

Although what we bought in the natural food store was more expensive, it lasted much longer than its grocery store counterpart. Buying ingredients and avoiding prepared foodstuffs in the grocery store saved us money there. That preparation costs money and they charge for it.

After eating this way for a while we were surprised and delighted to discover that we were spending less money on food and yet we had more in the larder, so to speak. Because we lived in an area that has brutal winters, we learned to can and put up other foodstuffs we grew in our garden in the summer.

We were very poor; my husband was awol from the vietnam war and so he had to work under-the-table. But we and our three children lived very well, ate very well, and had a good life. I still eat that way. I cannot afford not to.

Nowadays natural food stores are abundant and you can buy all sorts of prepared foods in them with good ingredients. But i still don't buy the prepared foods because they give me no choice on the ingredients and their proportions.