Health nuts- weigh in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.

Michael Pollan. It’s simple. eat food means eat REAL foods that you know where they came from, not laboratory conconctilns. Not too much (don’t overeat in general, but also don’t eat too much of one thing). Mostly plants. Have a balanced diet, but fruit veggies beans unprocessed grains are the most ideal.

Came to say this, too. You don't need gimmicks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:daily exercise even if it's just a walk for an hour. Drink lots of plain water (use a pur water filter), shower daily, don't smoke, drink or do drugs including weed which is crazy popular around here. Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day eat some at each meal, 3 meals a day NO SNACKS. Deep breathing a few times a day. No scented anything, no candles, air fresheners, nothing like that.

I eat very healthy, exercise, drink water and very little to no alcohol but I do take a gummy every night. I sleep so much better at 48. It helps me be healthy in every other way after I have gotten a full night of restful sleep.

Sleep is so important, but just a heads up from personal experience - while the gummy helps me fall asleep and stay asleep, the sleep quality is always so much worse per my watch. You might have your dosage dialed in better than me, but I always get non-restorative sleep scores if I take a gummy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:daily exercise even if it's just a walk for an hour. Drink lots of plain water (use a pur water filter), shower daily, don't smoke, drink or do drugs including weed which is crazy popular around here. Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day eat some at each meal, 3 meals a day NO SNACKS. Deep breathing a few times a day. No scented anything, no candles, air fresheners, nothing like that.

I eat very healthy, exercise, drink water and very little to no alcohol but I do take a gummy every night. I sleep so much better at 48. It helps me be healthy in every other way after I have gotten a full night of restful sleep.

Sleep is so important, but just a heads up from personal experience - while the gummy helps me fall asleep and stay asleep, the sleep quality is always so much worse per my watch. You might have your dosage dialed in better than me, but I always get non-restorative sleep scores if I take a gummy.

I might wear my watch a few night to see what it says, but I feel very rested the next day. If I don't take it every little noise wakes me up and then I can't go back to sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have realized that there is something to be said for “health nuts” - they look good, feel good, and don’t age as much. I want to hear from the health nut out there what their advice is. What is your biggest piece of advice on getting healthy and making yourself feel good? Diet, supplements, exercise, meditation, acupuncture, etc?

Whether I look good I will leave to the judgment of others

I am indeed a health nut though. My advice is plant-exclusive diet. And I mean plant-based WHOLE foods - beans, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, oatmeal, black/brown rice, etc. Not processed and/or plant junk food like plant-based "meat."

This. 100% the reason I look and feel 10 yrs younger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have realized that there is something to be said for “health nuts” - they look good, feel good, and don’t age as much. I want to hear from the health nut out there what their advice is. What is your biggest piece of advice on getting healthy and making yourself feel good? Diet, supplements, exercise, meditation, acupuncture, etc?

Whether I look good I will leave to the judgment of others

I am indeed a health nut though. My advice is plant-exclusive diet. And I mean plant-based WHOLE foods - beans, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, oatmeal, black/brown rice, etc. Not processed and/or plant junk food like plant-based "meat."

Do you find that you have enough protein in your diet? I honestly think we are an over protein population, but as I get older, I do worry about losing weight if I don’t have adequate protein. I am a mid 40s woman for what it’s worth.

Not this pp, but I eat this way and yes I get plenty of healthy plan proteins. Completely adequate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have realized that there is something to be said for “health nuts” - they look good, feel good, and don’t age as much. I want to hear from the health nut out there what their advice is. What is your biggest piece of advice on getting healthy and making yourself feel good? Diet, supplements, exercise, meditation, acupuncture, etc?

Whether I look good I will leave to the judgment of others

I am indeed a health nut though. My advice is plant-exclusive diet. And I mean plant-based WHOLE foods - beans, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, oatmeal, black/brown rice, etc. Not processed and/or plant junk food like plant-based "meat."

This. 100% the reason I look and feel 10 yrs younger.

With all due respect, every vegan I know looks pretty bad. I'm not saying your health has not improved since I don't know, but being vegan does nothing for your looks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have realized that there is something to be said for “health nuts” - they look good, feel good, and don’t age as much. I want to hear from the health nut out there what their advice is. What is your biggest piece of advice on getting healthy and making yourself feel good? Diet, supplements, exercise, meditation, acupuncture, etc?

Whether I look good I will leave to the judgment of others

I am indeed a health nut though. My advice is plant-exclusive diet. And I mean plant-based WHOLE foods - beans, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, oatmeal, black/brown rice, etc. Not processed and/or plant junk food like plant-based "meat."

This. 100% the reason I look and feel 10 yrs younger.

With all due respect, every vegan I know looks pretty bad. I'm not saying your health has not improved since I don't know, but being vegan does nothing for your looks.

This is so true!!! Why though?

[Anonymous]

I will echo other posters - plant based whole food. Consistent exercise. Sunscreen. Limit fragrances. Regular bloodwork to adjust your diet and add any supplements if needed based on that. Good quality sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Diet.

Very little animal fat, very little added sugar, low salt. Those 3 criteria eliminate most processed foods and other unhealthy foods.

My son’s birthday is coming up, and I will make and eat a glorious strawberry mousse cake… so I do make exceptions. My baking is much less sweet than the average American dessert, however.

Off topic, but can you share your strawberry mousse cake recipe? My vegetarian teen loves strawberries and so many of the strawberry cake recipes online have strawberry jello (not vegetarian, plus pretty fake tasting).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have realized that there is something to be said for “health nuts” - they look good, feel good, and don’t age as much. I want to hear from the health nut out there what their advice is. What is your biggest piece of advice on getting healthy and making yourself feel good? Diet, supplements, exercise, meditation, acupuncture, etc?

Whether I look good I will leave to the judgment of others

I am indeed a health nut though. My advice is plant-exclusive diet. And I mean plant-based WHOLE foods - beans, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, oatmeal, black/brown rice, etc. Not processed and/or plant junk food like plant-based "meat."

This. 100% the reason I look and feel 10 yrs younger.

With all due respect, every vegan I know looks pretty bad. I'm not saying your health has not improved since I don't know, but being vegan does nothing for your looks.

This is so true!!! Why though?

They are missing essential nutrients. There any many essential minerals and nutrients that are mainly in animal products. You just can’t get enough with plants alone. Even with supplementing, it isn’t the same as getting nutrients from food sources and you still may miss trace elements that are needed for optimal health.

Personally, I think for optimal health, you need to consume at least one animal product daily. For me, this is usually yogurt, eggs, sometimes cheese. I have fish and chicken maybe 2-3 times per week with dinner. Otherwise, I eat lots of beans, lentils, vegtables, fruits, nuts, whole grains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diet.

Very little animal fat, very little added sugar, low salt. Those 3 criteria eliminate most processed foods and other unhealthy foods.

My son’s birthday is coming up, and I will make and eat a glorious strawberry mousse cake… so I do make exceptions. My baking is much less sweet than the average American dessert, however.

Off topic, but can you share your strawberry mousse cake recipe? My vegetarian teen loves strawberries and so many of the strawberry cake recipes online have strawberry jello (not vegetarian, plus pretty fake tasting).

Ooh, I'd love to help you.

I combine different recipes together, and the mousse recipe I use contains gelatin (so not vegeterian), heavy whipping cream and fruit purée. You could play around with agar-agar, which is an algae gelling agent - although I'm not sure how it would behave with these ingredients. I use a gelling agent when I need to stabilize cream that has too much added liquid from a fruit purée, so that it doesn't run on me. This makes it become a mousse.

But sometimes I do without the gelatin, when I use my secret superpower ingredient: freeze-dried strawberry powder! The strawberry powder flavors and tints the whipped cream, and is a great stabilizer, especially if you also add powdered/confectioner's sugar, which also contains a stabilizing agent in the form of cornstarch (because the strawberries are acidic). Technically, the resulting flavored whipped cream is not a mousse.

For the cake part, I do either a pâte sablée, or a génoise. If you beat the yolks and whites separately then combine carefully, you get an east-Asian style very fluffy texture of génoise. Then on top I spread sugar syrup, then real fruit pieces, then mousse flavored with that fruit (or the flavored whipped cream), and sometimes, if I have extra time, a jellied glaze of concentrated fruit to cover the cake, but that's annoying because you need to attach a plastic liner to the cake so the glaze doesn't run before it sets (this also required gelatin or agar-agar). My son likes strawberry, my daughter likes mango. I always have to do the mousse variety for mango, since I can't find freeze-fried mango powder.

This is the mango mousse recipe I tweaked for this and other fruits; this one does not use a génoise cake, but a crunchier sablé crust. I do a normal crust, no coconut.
https://www.abakingjourney.com/mango-mousse-cake/#recipe

Here is a recipe for the quintessential east-Asian strawberry cake, originally developed in Japan from French patisserie techniques, but now famous in Korea and China too. I flavor and stabilize the whipped cream with freeze-dried strawberry powder.
https://drivemehungry.com/japanese-strawberry-shortcake/#wprm-recipe-container-7491

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have realized that there is something to be said for “health nuts” - they look good, feel good, and don’t age as much. I want to hear from the health nut out there what their advice is. What is your biggest piece of advice on getting healthy and making yourself feel good? Diet, supplements, exercise, meditation, acupuncture, etc?

Whether I look good I will leave to the judgment of others

I am indeed a health nut though. My advice is plant-exclusive diet. And I mean plant-based WHOLE foods - beans, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, oatmeal, black/brown rice, etc. Not processed and/or plant junk food like plant-based "meat."

This. 100% the reason I look and feel 10 yrs younger.

With all due respect, every vegan I know looks pretty bad. I'm not saying your health has not improved since I don't know, but being vegan does nothing for your looks.

This is so true!!! Why though?

They are missing essential nutrients. There any many essential minerals and nutrients that are mainly in animal products. You just can’t get enough with plants alone. Even with supplementing, it isn’t the same as getting nutrients from food sources and you still may miss trace elements that are needed for optimal health.

Personally, I think for optimal health, you need to consume at least one animal product daily. For me, this is usually yogurt, eggs, sometimes cheese. I have fish and chicken maybe 2-3 times per week with dinner. Otherwise, I eat lots of beans, lentils, vegtables, fruits, nuts, whole grains.

So you folks have done a scientific study of all vegans around the world and found that they all look bad?

Perhaps the ones you know are eating plant based junk food, rather than plant based whole food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:daily exercise even if it's just a walk for an hour. Drink lots of plain water (use a pur water filter), shower daily, don't smoke, drink or do drugs including weed which is crazy popular around here. Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day eat some at each meal, 3 meals a day NO SNACKS. Deep breathing a few times a day. No scented anything, no candles, air fresheners, nothing like that.

I eat very healthy, exercise, drink water and very little to no alcohol but I do take a gummy every night. I sleep so much better at 48. It helps me be healthy in every other way after I have gotten a full night of restful sleep.

Sleep is so important, but just a heads up from personal experience - while the gummy helps me fall asleep and stay asleep, the sleep quality is always so much worse per my watch. You might have your dosage dialed in better than me, but I always get non-restorative sleep scores if I take a gummy.

Same here. Low deep sleep score and elevated HR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have realized that there is something to be said for “health nuts” - they look good, feel good, and don’t age as much. I want to hear from the health nut out there what their advice is. What is your biggest piece of advice on getting healthy and making yourself feel good? Diet, supplements, exercise, meditation, acupuncture, etc?

Whether I look good I will leave to the judgment of others

I am indeed a health nut though. My advice is plant-exclusive diet. And I mean plant-based WHOLE foods - beans, sweet potatoes, green vegetables, oatmeal, black/brown rice, etc. Not processed and/or plant junk food like plant-based "meat."

Do you find that you have enough protein in your diet? I honestly think we are an over protein population, but as I get older, I do worry about losing weight if I don’t have adequate protein. I am a mid 40s woman for what it’s worth.

I’m a late 40s man and I wrote the previous post. In my view you can get all the protein you need from plant foods. Beans, nuts, peanut/almond butter, etc have tons of protein. Even foods we don’t think of as protein heavyweights like sweet potatoes have some protein. In truth there is protein in many things we eat. I have found plant foods to be plenty of protein for me.

I know there are those on this board who will stridently disagree, I am just sharing what works for me.

DP:

You can easily get protein from nuts, beans/legumes/chickpeas. But you have to make sure you do that and don't fall into a carb heavy diet if you are vegetarian/vegan.

I personally could never be vegan/vegetarian as I love beans/legumes/chickpeas but they are highly inflammatory so I have to limit how much I have (same with nuts). So I do a balance with a heavy plant based diet along with lean proteins (fish/lean red meat/chicken) to ensure I get enough protein.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's exercise. That's the piece people are missing.

Exercise and WHOLE foods. Cut out sugars, processed foods, and carbs that are not from fruits and veggies. You don't need bread/cookies/crackers/etc. You will feel much better if you get the carbs from sweet potatoes/fruits/etc.