In my attempts to do better by my body, I have tried everything from soy cheese to soy ice cream to more fruits and vegetables to everything. Some things are better than others. For example, the imitation meats they have generally aren’t that bad, and though shaped oddly, tofurkey actually tastes about the same as real turkey. I really only use it for the fact that I love turkey and cranberry sandwiches. But for that purpose and for other purposes, it tastes almost exactly the same. This being said, I really can’t say the same thing for soy cheese. It’s partly an allergy to milk that drives me to do this. But while I’m just picky about soy milk and it’s hard to find a good one, it’s literally impossible to find a good soy cheese. So if you need cheese that much, just keep eating the real thing. This being said, soy ice cream is exactly the same way, it’s just not worth it. But recently, I have discovered that they have these ice cream sandwiches that you can’t buy the soy ones, the soy ones are bad. But there are some that specifically in bold letters say “tofu” on the front. That’s how you differentiate them. They are these small little sandwiches and to be honest they taste exactly like the real thing. I was skeptical when my friend first introduced me to them, because I’m picky. But honestly speaking, there is some hope for the world of milk and ice cream!
Archive for September, 2009
Soy Replacements
Friday, September 25th, 2009Vaccinations & Gluten
Saturday, September 19th, 2009There has been some debate about using vaccinations on your kids. Some health nuts of sorts don’t want to do it, because they believe it will cause autism. Now while I don’t agree with the mercury content often found in certain types of vaccinations, and I do think it will cause harm, I don’t agree with not getting them and I definitely don’t agree with the idea that it causes autism. Frankly, your kids are at greater risk not getting them for diseases that have basically been eliminated in the United States because of them. This being said, there are plenty of things to blame vaccinations for. Some would even blame the greater obesity epidemic for them. Of course, more archaic vaccinations can’t be blamed, because countries in which they have been still used and when they were used in the United States, we did not have a huge obesity epidemic. But anything to avoid the fact that lack of diet and exercise could contribute to obesity rather than anything else like vaccinations for example. This being said, many have found that gluten free diets help to improve the condition of autism. Of course, it’s hard to find good gluten free foods as I’ve found out from a friend with Celiac’s disease. Apparently, they assume that if you don’t want gluten, you’re also a health nut in general not wanting dairy, eggs, or anything else, and things that you wouldn’t expect like soy sauce apparently have gluten. So it’s something to consider, and gluten free diets, especially if going health nut, can be quite healthy for weight loss as well.
Men In Their 40’s
Friday, September 11th, 2009Men in their 40’s have gone over the hill and they have reached certain health risks and problems that they may not even be thinking about. Now if you have been obese before, then obviously some of these risks have been there before. But for some reason, at the age of 40, your risk factors substantially increase over time. For one thing, heart disease is quite a common risk factor. It is the leading cause of death both in men and women in this age group, and it destroys the arteries and hardens the walls, making it narrow and blocked in general. It just occurs earlier in men. Likewise, strokes are common when the oxygen getting to the brain is limited. Prostate cancer and type 2 diabetes are far more likely, especially with obesity, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is common. In essence, you have to remember especially at this time to eat well, exercise, and all in all improve your body. The same goes for another known as hypertension, erectile dysfunction, kidney disease, and high cholesterol. For the most part, these can be largely controlled and prevented using the right diet methods and healthy lifestyle changes. But many forget.
Planning Ahead
Friday, September 4th, 2009It helps to plan when you are trying to lose weight or in your daily life in general. Not planning often leads people to go into fast food chains and restaurants and get the biggest burger they can find or a salad that is often misleading in the case of fast food chains. But if you plan right, you may be able to take an actual lunch break to go to a restaurant that gives you greater options, which are not that high in calories and otherwise. Or even better, you could have time to actually pack your own lunch or create your own dinner and skip takeout or restaurants all together. This will help you to actually properly measure the amount of food that is going into your diet along with seeing what kind of foods are going in. For example, you could have a fruit salad somewhere else that has tons of extra sugar added without you knowing it. However, if you make your own fruit salad at home, you know if you’re adding extra sugar or not and you can therefore properly assess the real calories and nutritional benefits. So planning is key in really losing weight.