Health / Food / Blood Pressure (merged)

It’s a bit unfair to quote foie grass as it is not something most people eat every day. It is eaten more on special occasions.
What is interesting is that Gascon farmers who make some of the foie gras eat a very rustic, old fashioned style diet. But does include what was called in the UK “bread and dripping”, although in the case of the Gascon farmers it is duck or goose fat. It has been noted that these farmers and their families have very low cholesterol levels. In many cases zero LDL. They are also not noted for the general population being overweight. This phenomenon tends also to be noted amongst Tuscan farmers who might have a very different diet.

Peter wrote:

If you are a woman and your bloke likes to eat stodge (from what I see, this is the more common situation because in general women look after themselves better than men – particularly pre-marriage ) then are you going to cook two different dinners? The other way round, you have a bloke who either doesn’t cook so has to eat whatever the woman puts on the table, or in the rare case of him being a competent cook he very likely cooks stodge (and eats a load of statins, which “makes it all ok”). I say “very likely” because cooking healthy food isn’t really “cooking” – as the link I posted above shows.

The kind of food isn’t the only factor – portion control also makes an enormous difference. If you at least manage to cut out junk (i.e. McDonalds, crisps and sweets) then even if what you’re eating at mealtimes is ‘stodge’ then it doesn’t have to lead to obesity if you keep the portions reasonable. Admittedly stodge is comforting, especially in cold weather, so there is a tendency to eat it until one is actually uncomfortable.

Take a typical British ‘stodge’ dinner: sausages and mash. My girlfriend and I actually have this for dinner reasonably regularly – in fact we’re having it this evening. Sausages, mashed potatoes, peas (or some other green veg) and gravy. It is very definitely stodge – you would not get @Peter eating it. But if you keep the portions sensible then having it for dinner isn’t going to make you obese. Where it will contribute to making you obese is where you totally overload your plate (3-4 sausages, huge pile of potato) and/or have it for dinner with a massive bag of crisps 1hr beforehand, a sugary pudding/dessert afterwards, and then perhaps some cheese and biscuits. I suspect this is what many do.

If you keep your daily calorific intake to something sensible (the type of food not being that critical) and get some good exercise, you won’t be obese.

Peter wrote:

Also it is basically impossible to get overweight on veg

Chocolate is in essence a veg and so is chips.

Here in Norway it is hard to get enough vitamin D during the winter season because it is so little sun shine. The only natural way to get enough is to eat lots of fat fish. I typically eat a can of mackerel at lunch Lots of marine oil. I sometimes replace it with a can of cod liver and fish-egg paste, called “Svolværpostei”, and the occasional herring and some other tiny canned fishes. My wife drink fish oil every morning. It’s called “tran” and it’s made from cod liver. This is something we have done for millennia I think. I used to do that since as early as I can remember as well as eating caviar, but canned mackerel and cod liver/fish egg paste taste better

To this day I have never heard of anyone getting fat by eating/drinking marine oil. Quite the opposite in fact. Marine oil is also very good for the heart system (or so they say, omega 3). Too much sugar on the other hand, and too much animal fat … But, I know of several that drink coke and these Red Bull’ish drinks, several liters per day. They stay super skinny, drinking what literally is pure sugar-water.

People from the inlands typically say that meat is food and fish is fish. Meat, potatoes and bread is all they eat, and they do get fat and pale and die from heart attack in the early 70s if not earlier.

Peter wrote:

This thread is denial, denial, denial

You are simplifying enormously. Three times in my life I’ve lost 20 kg of weight, so no one can say that I’m not able to. But the hard thing is to keep the lower weight. In all cases the lost kilos crept back over the course of 10 years, or so. When I do the annual medical all stats except the weight are just fine. Sure, it would be nice to have some kg of extra useful load when I’m in the aircraft but I have a good quality of life and is quite sufficiently fit for e.g. mountain hikes, so I don’t have the motivation anymore to try to reduce weight drastically.

Btw, I agree with Mooney_Driver.

Peter wrote:

You can get Vitamin D as a supplemen

I know, I have even had it prescribed from my doctor at one time (got sloppy with my fish) You can get just about anything as supplement, no need to actually eat anything except a minimum amount of pure protein, fat and carbohydrates (which is pretty much what meat and potatoes/bread are )

Our bodies have evolved through hundreds of millennia to live long healthy lives eating a certain variety of sustenance. Obviously marine fat is a key element, no adverse effects, so why fight it are my thoughts. Anyway, there are so much nonsense regarding food. Way too many “experts” all the time, as well as so called “new research” telling us what is good for us and what is not. I basically eat whatever my wife cooks and she believes in “natural food” made from real ingredients, so “natural food” it is whether it is good or bad for me.

A 50 to 60 years old person in good health condition and without running related injuries should be able to run half-marathon. Anything below is simply justifying current condition and searching for excuses.