Pilot Health

[slick1537]

Hello everyone, for those of you who haven't seen me before, I usually post in the flight training forum, as I wont be beginning training until july. However I figured that this topic could be useful to everyone so I am posting it here and hopefully more people will provide their tips and input.

 

I was thinking about it, and basically a good long career in the helicopter field relies on one thing, above all other, its must be met or you won't be flying. The flight medical. So while I am still young (20) I figured I would start trying to ensure I will be able to get a medical as long as possible as my career will depend on it. Please this thread is for anyone to add input so others can benefit. I will start...

 

Reason to loose commercial medical: Hearing

Solution: Hearing damage is cumulative so start wearing hearing protection while you are young (if you still are ). Even if a sound is only medium volume, but constant, such as wind noise on a motorcycle it will slowly damage your ears. Simple solution is just to wear hearing protection whenever you are exposed to loud sounds or a constant medium volume sound.

 

Reason : Kidney Stones

Solution: I have seen a few different websites , most of them stating conflicting opinions. One will say that yada yada stops kidney stones while the other will say yada yada promotes their growth. The one thing they all agree on is to urinate more often and drink more fluids. Water being the safest bet as it probably doesn't promote kidney stone growth.

 

Again, guys please add any personal tips you may have.

- Slick

Edited April 29, 2007 by slick1537

[bqmassey]

Hello everyone, for those of you who haven't seen me before, I usually post in the flight training forum, as I wont be beginning training until july. However I figured that this topic could be useful to everyone so I am posting it here and hopefully more people will provide their tips and input.

 

I was thinking about it, and basically a good long career in the helicopter field relies on one thing, above all other, its must be met or you won't be flying. The flight medical. So while I am still young (20) I figured I would start trying to ensure I will be able to get a medical as long as possible as my career will depend on it. Please this thread is for anyone to add input so others can benefit. I will start...

 

Reason to loose commercial medical: Hearing

Solution: Hearing damage is cumulative so start wearing hearing protection while you are young (if you still are ). Even if a sound is only medium volume, but constant, such as wind noise on a motorcycle it will slowly damage your ears. Simple solution is just to wear hearing protection whenever you are exposed to loud sounds or a constant medium volume sound.

 

Reason : Kidney Stones

Solution: I have seen a few different websites , most of them stating conflicting opinions. One will say that yada yada stops kidney stones while the other will say yada yada promotes their growth. The one thing they all agree on is to urinate more often and drink more fluids. Water being the safest bet as it probably doesn't promote kidney stone growth.

 

Again, guys please add any personal tips you may have.

- Slick

 

Good idea for a thread. Health is very important when you're a pilot, especially when you're flying passengers or in an urban area where a forced landing could hurt people on the ground. You need to be at the top of your game. Good health improves mental function, helps you deal with stress, and will reduce chances of cardiovascular problems that can result in incapacitation. NOT taking care of your health is negligent.

 

Eat right and exercise. It's as simple as that.

[Voluptuary5]

Scientists have been looking for the “magic bullet” for years and years and still haven’t found it. Whatever the “fade of the month” is, red wine (resveratrol), green tea (ECGC), or pomegranate juice (polyphenolics, tannins, and anthocyanins) the ONLY constant that keeps showing up over-and-over again as the best way to improve outcomes of disease, or more importantly, preventing their onset in the first place, is eating FRUITS & VEGETABLES and EXERCISING.

 

THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET!!!

 

Here is an excerpt from the website of the place I work, The Linus Pauling Institute. They call it their “Prescription for Health”. It is based on the scientific literature but really it just says what our Moms and Grandmothers have been telling us all these years.

 

---------------------------------------------

 

PRESCRIPTION FOR HEALTH

The recommendations below are meant for generally healthy individuals interested in optimum health and preventing chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke), diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis. More detailed information regarding deficiencies of and requirements for specific nutrients is available in the Linus Pauling Institute's Micronutrient Information Center.

 

Healthy Eating

Eat at least five servings (2½ cups) of fruits and vegetables daily, but don't include potatoes in your tally. In fact, the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that a person who consumes 2,000 calories a day should aim for nine daily servings of fruits and vegetables (the equivalent of 2½ cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit).

 

To increase your omega-3 fatty acid intake, eat fish twice weekly and eat foods rich in alpha-linolenic acid, such as walnuts, flaxseeds, and flaxseed and canola oil.

 

Use oils rich in unsaturated fats, such as soy, corn, safflower, and olive oil.

 

Reduce your intake of saturated and hydrogenated (trans) fat, such as butter, cheese, animal fat, stick margarine, and vegetable shortening.

 

Reduce your intake of potatoes, white flour, and white rice by substituting whole grain products, such as whole wheat flour and pasta, whole grain breads and cereals, and brown rice.

 

Avoid foods and drinks that are high in sugar and low in nutrients, such as soft drinks, sugar-coated breakfast cereals, and candy.

 

Limit your intake of overcooked or charred meat, and eat meat or fish with ample portions of vegetables.

 

Healthy Lifestyle

Aim for a healthy weight. Becoming overweight (BMI of 25-29.5) or obese (BMI of 30 or more) increases the risk of many chronic diseases. Having too much abdominal fat (waist circumference greater than 40 inches for men and greater than 35 inches for women) also increases disease risk. If you are at risk of obesity-associated diseases, even a relatively small weight loss (10% of your current weight) can help lower your risk.

 

Accumulate a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise most days of the week. Most people can realize additional health benefits by increasing the duration of moderate-intensity exercise to an average of 60 minutes daily or by engaging in more vigorous physical activity. To improve muscular strength and balance and minimize bone loss, include strength-building activities, such as weight lifting, at least twice a week.

 

If you smoke, make every effort to quit. Even if you have smoked many years, quitting will result in dramatically decreased risk of chronic diseases.

 

Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases, but increased risk of some cancers. If you drink alcohol, limit your consumption to one alcoholic drink per day for women and two for men. Avoid alcohol if you have a personal or family history of breast or colon cancer or alcoholism.

 

SUPPLEMENTS

 

Multivitamins:

Take a multivitamin supplement with 100% of the Daily Value (DV) for most vitamins and essential minerals, keeping the following suggestions in mind: More on multivitamins

Iron: In general, men and postmenopausal women should take a multivitamin without iron. More on iron

Vitamin A: Look for a multivitamin containing no more than 2,500 IU of vitamin A, or, if unavailable, a multivitamin containing 5,000 IU of vitamin A, of which at least 50% comes from beta-carotene.

 

Vitamin C:

Aim for a daily intake of at least 400 mg. Multivitamins usually provide 60 mg of vitamin C, and five servings of fruits and vegetables about 200 mg.

 

Vitamin E:

Take an extra supplement of 200 IU of natural source alpha-tocopherol (d-alpha-tocopherol) daily with a meal.

 

Calcium:

No multivitamin supplement contains 100% of the DV for calcium. If your total daily calcium intake doesn't add up to 1,000 mg add an extra calcium supplement (with a meal) to make up the difference.

 

------------------------------------

 

-V5

 

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/

[Gomer Pylot]

What usually gets us is heart problems, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Hearing loss isn't really a problem, because you can use hearing aids. You can wear glasses as you start to acquire senile presbyopia, but you need to do what you can to prevent the first three. I see pilots lose their medicals all the time from these.

[Voluptuary5]

What usually gets us is heart problems, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Hearing loss isn't really a problem, because you can use hearing aids. You can wear glasses as you start to acquire senile presbyopia, but you need to do what you can to prevent the first three. I see pilots lose their medicals all the time from these.

 

Gomer,

 

The first two are disqualifiers for sure but don't they let you fly if your high blood pressure is under control medically?

 

Pardon my ignorance,

 

-V5

[cctk2]

Yes you can fly and maintain yer medical, (concerning med controlled hypertension,) though you want to avoid meds if possible just due to the fact that you will come under the microscope of the Aeromedical boys in OK with any additions to or changes in prescription meds. Do yer homework before starting down any roads leading to prescriptions/medications (both prescribed as well as over the counter) to avoid nasty surprises.

Chip

[slick1537]

Any tips to help avoid the first three? I know diet and exercise but any specifics?

[kodoz]

Any tips to help avoid the first three? I know diet and exercise but any specifics?

So...I work for the pharma industry and do a bit of analysis and writing in these areas. The key here is to avoid chronic lifestyle disease (like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure...) because the treatments really aren't as good as you think they are. And one problem usually leads to another (blood pressure + hyperlipidemia>heart disease + hyperglycemia>diabetes + stroke + heart attack), so slipping on one has a good chance of getting you an appointment with the cardiac surgeon and diabetologist down the road.

 

Basically you have to make a life for yourself that is healthy, and it really is as simple as diet and exercise. If you can't recognize what plant or animal your food comes from, it probably isn't good for you. If a caveman couldn't club it, pick it, or plant it, your body probably wasn't meant to use it for nourishment. If it isn't water (or beer) you shouldn't be drinking it. Most of your intake should be from things grown or picked, not clubbed. And since we don't hunt, pick, or grow our own foods, we need to expend calories in other ways during the day to keep from accumulating them (and getting fat). So find a way to exercise daily in some way you enjoy. Don't use the minimums (20 or 30 minutes, 3 days a week); sweat your ass off daily if you can.

 

Be rigorous about your health. Yeah it's probably fine to have a coke a day, but better if you don't. Make up for a missed day at the gym. Worry about 5 pounds...it soon becomes 10, then 15 (creeping obesity is what the docs call it).

 

Don't fall into the chronic drug trap. Pharma loves it, but drugs (most of them anyway) are subsidies to keep you doing something humans weren't meant to be doing. High blood pressure and cholesterol drugs? Use the drugs as a bridge between getting your numbers down and maintaining your numbers through lifestyle changes. Asthma? Move. Already on a bunch of drugs, work hard now with your doc to get off them, but don't rely on him to hold your hand. It's easiest for him to just keep writing scripts.

 

Fast food and smoking are about the worst things you can do to yourself health wise. Quit them anyway you can. Refined (sugar) and processed stuff probably isn't that good for you either. Sitting on your butt watching TV isn't helping.

 

As a disclaimer, always talk to your doc before starting an exercise program, and definitely before doing anything with your meds. But above all, take control of your health.

[Voluptuary5]

Very well put, Kodoz!

 

PREVENTION is the key!!! The way I find it works best is to incorporate those things into a DAILY routine and stick to it. It's not a diet (i.e., temporary) but rather a lifestyle (i.e., permanant).

 

Here's a little math for fun. If you can remove only 200 calories out of your day (eat less or exercise more) that's 73,000 calories/year. If you assume 4000 calories in a pound of fat, that would be close to losing 20 pounds a year by doing nothing else. What does 200 calories/day look like? It is 16 ounces of coke, OR 4 Tootsie Rolls, OR only 1/2 of a burger. On the other side, a 2 mile walk (~30 min) or 2 mile run (~20 min) will burn 200 calories. Now just imagine if you could cut out an entire burger AND walk an hour every day. That's an 800 calorie swing or 292,000 calories/year or more than 70 pounds/year.

 

Just an example of how doing something little over-and-over can add up to something significant!

 

 

-V5

[Sparks]

EYES. For the love of god cherish these!

 

I have had 2 close encounters with my eyes. One in which the doctor at the hospital was "amazed i could still see". Now thats scary when your dream in life is to be a pilot. After the incident i never do anything that could damage my eyes. This includes stupid things like not wearing safety goggles in a workshop environment etc.

 

Im lucky to have my sight so be careful.

[67november]

I'm reviving this old thread as its still relevent today.

my issue is high blood pressure and methods to get it down "naturally" .

 

any and all thoughts, suggestion, or ideas would be appreciated, other than the obvious diet and exercise, flying a desk tends to reduce the exercise during the day thing.

 

Thx

[RockyMountainPilot]

I highly recommend reading the book "The China Study".

 

It is the most comprehensive study on nutrition ever conducted. (Says so right on the cover!) Around 700 references and it has been peer reviewed extensively. The researchers were able to turn on and off cancer with diet alone! They were able to reverse heart disease cure type II diabetes, and greatly improve the life of type I diabetics.

 

Stop consuming all dairy, all eggs, all meat and all processed foods. Eat plenty of raw, whole foods such as fruits and vegetables (more leafy vegetables for weight loss, more fruits for calories), whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, etc. Your diet should be around 80%+ carbs for the healthiest diet. Low fat, low protein. I went from 240 to 165 following this type of diet. I also included some exercise, but it wasn't until I lost most of the weight that I began exercising consistently. Hard to exercise with 75 extra pounds.

 

Potatoes and rice are fine, but the reason they have a bad rap is that they are high in calories without a lot of nutrients. Always eat the skin, and don't use high fat toppings such as sour cream or cheese. Kethcup and mustard are my favorites. Avoid them if you want to lose weight, but if I am going to be burning 4,000 + calories in a day, I go right for the potatoes and the rice. Steamed or boiled, not baked.

 

I am a Certified Nutritionist, so feel free to ask me any questions.

[67november]

thanks RMP, bought a copy from buy.com.

 

it'll be a good winter project, i need to lose about 25 pounds that alone should get the blood pressure back under control.

Edited October 24, 2008 by 67november

[RockyMountainPilot]

67november,

 

You can lose 10-15 pounds in a month if you go 100% raw fruits and vegetables. That is what I did and the weight melted off. I recommend keeping track of your calories on a website like fitday.com. It helps you see from where your calories are coming. 1,000 calories of fruit and vegetables is a lot of food, and I often found myself not eating enough calories a day. I would get tired of eating and had to throw in some nuts or eat more fruits instead of vegetables. And when I say vegetables, I mean plant parts, or non-fruits. However, most fruits that are labeled as vegetables are low in calories such as cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, etc.

 

Everyone in my family has high blood pressure but me. Mine was creeping up when I was younger, but now I am always 110-120/70-80. My resting heart rate is 38, and I am not some uber athlete. In fact, I wouldn't say I am very athletic at all. I do some aerobics, weight lifting, yoga, etc, but most of the time it is at most an hour a day. I take no supplements except B12 because I don't need any. I get everything I need in the food I eat. B12 would be in my diet as well if I ate foods right off the plant. But because they are washed repeatedly by the time I get them, the B12 is washed away. If I didn't take B12 supplements, I would have about a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of developing a B12 deficiency. Compare that to a 1 in 2 chance of having a heart attack, or 1 in 3 chance of developing cancer for people on the standard American diet (SAD).

[67november]

I flucuate(sp?) between 180/190 that part is easy to fix to stay at 180, its the stubborn 180 down to 165 that won't cooperate damned belly fat ya know.

[heli.pilot]

67november,

 

You can lose 10-15 pounds in a month if you go 100% raw fruits and vegetables. That is what I did and the weight melted off. I recommend keeping track of your calories on a website like fitday.com. It helps you see from where your calories are coming. 1,000 calories of fruit and vegetables is a lot of food, and I often found myself not eating enough calories a day. I would get tired of eating and had to throw in some nuts or eat more fruits instead of vegetables. And when I say vegetables, I mean plant parts, or non-fruits. However, most fruits that are labeled as vegetables are low in calories such as cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, etc.

 

Everyone in my family has high blood pressure but me. Mine was creeping up when I was younger, but now I am always 110-120/70-80. My resting heart rate is 38, and I am not some uber athlete. In fact, I wouldn't say I am very athletic at all. I do some aerobics, weight lifting, yoga, etc, but most of the time it is at most an hour a day. I take no supplements except B12 because I don't need any. I get everything I need in the food I eat. B12 would be in my diet as well if I ate foods right off the plant. But because they are washed repeatedly by the time I get them, the B12 is washed away. If I didn't take B12 supplements, I would have about a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of developing a B12 deficiency. Compare that to a 1 in 2 chance of having a heart attack, or 1 in 3 chance of developing cancer for people on the standard American diet (SAD).

 

Hey RMP - my blood pressure is a little high (often 140/85) but my pulse often seems crazy high (over 100 at rest?!) Any suggestions? I'm 5'8" and 175# currently, should be 160-165# but had some medical issues past 12 months and unable to exercise.

[1badz32]

I am a Certified Nutritionist, so feel free to ask me any questions.

Well then, i have ?

How come i can sit and eat a hole bag of apples or orange's or bunch of banana's in a single sitting and still feel hungery??

[Spierman]

All of the above is great stuff!

 

My 2 cents - All things in moderation.

 

Portions should fit in the palm of your hand. When you eat at a restaurant, the portions are usually too large; eat only what would fit in your hand. Some people ask for the "doggie bag" when they order their meal. Fill the doggie bag with anything in excess of what would fit in the palm of your hand. When you order your meal, order a fruit juice smoothie (no sugar added) or water. Suggest drinking a glass of water for each palm sized portion; this will control appetite and aid your body in digestion and nutrient absorption. Salads are great until we add dressings and such. Order oil (olive or other organic) and vinegar is great!

 

Fast and processed foods are the harbinger of trans fats. This is poison! Soda pop, soda, pop, soft drink, coke, etc. even diet, poison! Even the energy drinks and gatorade and snapples and canned/bottled teas are bad! Water, tea, coffee, milk, fresh fruit juice. You have control over what/how much sugar and other stuff is in it.

 

Dairy gets a bad rap. Eggs, Milk, and cheese are good...in moderation.

 

Ideal weight...numbers are hog wash pushed by the diet and medical industry. Ideal weight is reached when you can perform 20-30 unaided pull-ups, 50 or so push ups, 100 or so crunches, and run/jog 2 miles in 18-20 minutes. Of course, many people can perform better than these numbers, but for a lifetime these are reasonable. If you can do this in a 45 minute period, you are on your way to enjoying life.

 

Don't let injuries become excuses. When we are injured, we need to change the excercise/activity, not reduce the excercise/activity.

[RockyMountainPilot]

All of the above is great stuff!

 

My 2 cents - All things in moderation.

 

Portions should fit in the palm of your hand. When you eat at a restaurant, the portions are usually too large; eat only what would fit in your hand. Some people ask for the "doggie bag" when they order their meal. Fill the doggie bag with anything in excess of what would fit in the palm of your hand. When you order your meal, order a fruit juice smoothie (no sugar added) or water. Suggest drinking a glass of water for each palm sized portion; this will control appetite and aid your body in digestion and nutrient absorption. Salads are great until we add dressings and such. Order oil (olive or other organic) and vinegar is great!

 

This is a common myth. It is not about how much you eat as it is about what you eat. If I ate portions the size of my hand, I would starve. That is not enough calories in what I eat. Yet, someone else even more active then I am might become obese eating portions the size of their hand if they eat nothing but high calorie processed foods. You need to know what you are eating and how many calories it has if you are interesting in losing weight.

 

Olive oil is very very bad. All oils are bad as they are 100% fat. You don't need any extra fat in your diet. Plant fat is considerably better than animal fat as it is all unsaturated and doesn't increase cholesterol as much, but it is not healthy and should be avoided or eliminated. Many studies that show olive oil or other vegetable oils are heart healthy use subjects who consume the standard American diet. They are simply replacing some saturated fat with unsaturated, which shows an improvement. However, if you take someone who consumes a low fat (less than 10% of total calories) diet, and increase their intake of vegetable fat, their cholesterol will go up, and they are more likely to gain weight.

 

 

Fast and processed foods are the harbinger of trans fats. This is poison! Soda pop, soda, pop, soft drink, coke, etc. even diet, poison! Even the energy drinks and gatorade and snapples and canned/bottled teas are bad! Water, tea, coffee, milk, fresh fruit juice. You have control over what/how much sugar and other stuff is in it.

 

Trans Fat is poison, and has been made illegal in many countries. Avoid products with hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. Partially is worse and that is what trans fats are, but both are highly processed and not good.

 

Drink water & caffeine free tea only. Coffee is horrible for you. The caffeine causes a lot of biochemical problems and inhibits weight loss in the long run. It may cause a small short term weight loss, but without a proper diet and exercise, the body compensates and will add more weight in the long run.

 

Fruit juices are also bad. If you want fruit, eat the fruit, or drink a fruit smoothie made from 100% fruit. Fruit juices are all the sugar and none of the fiber. It causes blood sugar spikes and makes people eat more in the long run. Drinking a smoothie made from fruit doesn't significantly increase the sugars absorption into your bloodstream, and all the fiber is filler and makes you feel like you ate something. Also, natural sugars are fine. It is the processed and highly refined sugars you need to avoid.

 

Dairy gets a bad rap. Eggs, Milk, and cheese are good...in moderation.

 

Dairy gets a bad rap because it is the worst "food" you can consume. We consume the most dairy int his country, yet we have the highest rates of obesity, osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other auto-immune diseases in the world. Dairy is loaded with pesticides, anti-biotics, hormones, cholesterol, and saturated fat. Cow's milk is for a baby cow to grow. If you want to maintain your weight, why on earth would you want to consume something that is designed to take a calf from 100 pounds to over 1,000 pounds in a matter of months? The same goes for eggs. It takes a single cell and turns it into a small chick that is millions of time larger then it started. And moderation is a very very obscure term. Who defines moderation? Is moderation once a day, once a week, or once a year? Trust me on this. If you eliminate dairy and eggs from your diet for many months, the next time you consume them, you will not feel well at all. Eliminate dairy and eggs. Eliminate anything with saturated fat or cholesterol.

 

Ideal weight...numbers are hog wash pushed by the diet and medical industry. Ideal weight is reached when you can perform 20-30 unaided pull-ups, 50 or so push ups, 100 or so crunches, and run/jog 2 miles in 18-20 minutes. Of course, many people can perform better than these numbers, but for a lifetime these are reasonable. If you can do this in a 45 minute period, you are on your way to enjoying life.

 

Don't let injuries become excuses. When we are injured, we need to change the excercise/activity, not reduce the excercise/activity.

 

How can ideal weight and number of reps be correlated? I know many underweight or on weight people who can't do 3 pull ups. Ideal weight is when you are happy and healthy. 10% body fat for men, 15% for women is a good target. If you eat right and remain active, it is easy to get there.

[RockyMountainPilot]

Hey RMP - my blood pressure is a little high (often 140/85) but my pulse often seems crazy high (over 100 at rest?!) Any suggestions? I'm 5'8" and 175# currently, should be 160-165# but had some medical issues past 12 months and unable to exercise.

 

 

What is your diet like? Do you eat a lot of animal products? Coffee? Any stimulants such as no doze? When I switch to a low fat, whole foods plant based diet, my resting heart rate went from the mid 70's to the mid 40's in a matter of months. My blood pressure was creeping up before the change, but now it is always perfect. (Unless they are going to draw blood, then it is very high until after they draw blood.) LOL However, diet is only a portion of blood pressure and rate. Do you get enough sleep? Are you generally relax throughout the day?

 

You need to exercise no matter what. You need to work around medical issues with your Doctor. If it is an injury, then work out parts that are not injured. If it is something more severe, there are low impact, meditative exercises in which you can engage. Yoga is an example. Some Yoga is pretty intense, and others are very relaxing and mild.

[RockyMountainPilot]

Well then, i have ?

How come i can sit and eat a hole bag of apples or orange's or bunch of banana's in a single sitting and still feel hungery??

 

Good question, easy answer. It is very common in our culture to mistake not full for hungry. You may not feel fill after you eat all of that food, but you are not hungry. If you actually feel hungry, which is a physical pain in your stomach, then you might have a medical problem. Because fruit is loaded with fiber, it takes a while for the carbs to be delivered into your blood stream. Those carbs work to shut off or reduce the desire for food. Fat and protein do not do this. In fact, fat and protein inhibit feeling of satisfaction. You eat substantially more when you eat fat and protein with carbs, then if you can mostly carbs alone.

 

Because foods high in fiber take longer to get into your blood stream, you are much better off eating smaller meals more often throughout the day. A piece of fruit here, a salad there, some nuts(warning, high in calories and fat) for a snack, etc. Eating large meals are a social thing, so limit it to only social setting. Otherwise, spread your meals out. Don't eat 4 small meals throughout the day only to have a big meal in front of the TV at night. Go for a walk instead while eating some fruit.

[Spierman]

RMP -

All things in moderation means just that. Everyone, just about, knows when they are gorging themselves.

The excercise goals - If you can do this you are probably not obese or very much over your weight goals. Trying to find something people can shoot for without spending 2-3 hours in the gym every day. Most people do not need a gym, unless they are professional athletes. Your own body weight is a good measure for resistance training. Also, these goals are for maintaining health over a life time...post adolescent through old age. If you are skinny and can not do this you are probably too skinny

Dairy is OK in moderation, maybe 2 servings a day. Certainly not during a weight loss period.

Portions of any food should not be bigger than the palm of the hand. No myth.

We have the highest rates of obesity in the USA for several reasons:

1. We have the highest amount of disposable income per capita.

2. We also consume the most processed food per capita.

3. We consume more trans fats per capita.

4. We have a very sedentary society. We spend more time in front of the television than other societies.

Modern pharmaceutical companies and the modern medical community are stealing our health.

Coffee, Tea and alcohol are not as good as water. They also do some harm. But, they are of the earth and some people enjoy these things. 1 or 2 cups/day or 1 or 2 drinks is not going to hurt...moderation.

Enjoying life is just as important to living healthy as anyhting.

Fats are necessary...trans fats are not. The food processing industry is regulated by the same people as the pharmaceutical industry. Something to think about.

[DieselBoy]

Hawthorn Berry will help reduce your blood pressure, 1000mg daily is usually all someone needs. They come in pill form and you can find them at most stores in the vitamins and supplements section.

[RockyMountainPilot]

Spierman,

 

All things in moderation eh? How about a little weed? That is from the earth? Cocaine? People enjoy those? If you want to be healthy for the long term, you need to eliminate dairy, eggs, and meat. Dr. Colin Campbell was able to switch cancer on and off simply by changing the amount of animal protein in a rats diet. This was done 100% of the time. That is some pretty strong statistical evidence that cancer and animal protein are related. The animal protein he used was casein from dairy. A couple of servings a day could cause someone with foci to develop full blown cancer.

 

I have been studying this for years and I have read hundreds of studies. Not just articles about studies, or abstracts of studies, the studies themselves. Tens of thousands of pages. I know when a study's data taking is flawed, and I know when a study uses sound scientific principles. This is not something I do because I enjoy it, I do it because I am trying to counter all the misinformation spread around by the industries. They have millions of dollars to spread lies about their products. Have you ever read one study by any industry group that recommends NOT using their product? Independent scientists don't have millions and millions of dollars to spread the word about their studies. So, most of what you have been inundated with to believe is a complete lie supported by fraudulent science.

 

Let's look at history. The rich, have always been more obese then the poor. This was before processed foods and TV. The rich ate animals products in large quantities, the poor did not. And why is it that most people on "diets" gain more weight then they lose? They eat "healthy" by American standards. They eliminate processed foods, yet they still remain overweight or obese unless they restrict themselves severely. I don't restrict myself of how much I eat, I only change what I eat. If you compared the physical amount of food that I eat to what you eat, I bet my pile is 2 or 3 times the size of yours.

 

If you care at all about the environment, you need to stop consuming animal products. One class of dairy takes hundreds of gallons of water. One pound of meat takes over 20 pounds of grain. Animal agriculture is the leading contributor to water pollution, air pollution, carbon emissions, and deforestation. You could feed twenty people on the resources that go into feeding one American. How responsible is that to our fellow humans? Shouldn't we strive to make this world better instead of just doing what we enjoy despite its consequences? We need to start taking actions to change our course, or we will have no resources left for our children.

 

DieselBoy,

 

Supplements, even natural supplements do not work over the long term. A short term effect may occur, but the body will compensate and return to its original state. Many times, a supplement causes more problems then it helps. The only long term solution is a healthy diet and exercise. No magic pills exist.

[DieselBoy]

DieselBoy,

 

Supplements, even natural supplements do not work over the long term. A short term effect may occur, but the body will compensate and return to its original state. Many times, a supplement causes more problems then it helps. The only long term solution is a healthy diet and exercise. No magic pills exist.

 

I understand and totally agree. I guess I should've been more specific in my post and stating that someone can use them if they need a "fast otc fix."