Dead Monky - 22 February 2011 08:12 AM

Just to throw a little more grease on the kitchen fire, here is a link to an article on a study showing many people stick with fast food even after a heart attack.

More targeted post-surgery counseling is needed to change dietary behavior

Somehow I doubt that would help.

My sister’s gf is a nurse that works in the post surgery care of heart surgery patients. So, these people having JUST had major heart surgery often very much want burgers and stuff. They have relatives sneak them in. Now, I’m not saying all, but there’s enough of them that it’s a problem.

C

Bees Mom - 22 February 2011 11:53 AM

My sister’s gf is a nurse that works in the post surgery care of heart surgery patients. So, these people having JUST had major heart surgery often very much want burgers and stuff. They have relatives sneak them in. Now, I’m not saying all, but there’s enough of them that it’s a problem.

C

And I can tell you that each one of them is matched by a person who not only had an epiphany, but is seeking -like a fundamentalist- to convert the masses. President Clinton is one such person. He went from a burger addict to a vegetarian after his open heart surgery. Most people fall somewhere in the middle.

asanta - 22 February 2011 01:40 PM

And I can tell you that each one of them is matched by a person who not only had an epiphany, but is seeking -like a fundamentalist- to convert the masses. President Clinton is one such person. He went from a burger addict to a vegetarian after his open heart surgery. Most people fall somewhere in the middle.

I don’t think it’s fair to compare vegetarians, vegans, and advocates of healthy eating to religious fundamentalists. There are a wide variety of reasons people go vegetarian or vegan, including political, economical, environmental, ethical, nutritional, and yes, sometimes religious. There are also non-vegetarian and non-vegan advocates for better eating. But unlike religious fundamentalism, which is the pushing of an agenda dealing with subjective interpretations of faith-based texts, advocacy for better eating has facts on its side. We do know for sure that animals are killed so that humans can eat their flesh. We do know the negative impact that the meat industry has on the environment. We do know the cruelty with which animals are treated. We do know the benefits of eating a mostly plant-based diet and the negative effects of eating in an unhealthy way. We do know that healthy eating now likely reduces costs for medical treatment later.

Of course, people are free to enrich or destroy their bodies any way they want to. It’s just sad that adults end up damaging children with unhealthy eating, too.

She wasn’t calling veggies, vegans, and whatnot fundies.  She was saying that some people, post-heart attack, turn to vegetarianism or veganism or whatever with the fervor of a fundie.  There’s a bit of a difference there.

Apologies, I misread the analogy. I thought the equation was “heart attack victims sneaking burger” = “vegans, vegetarians, & healthy food advocates” = “religious fundamentalists.” I guess what was being referred to was heart attack victims who become healthy food advocates.

There is definitely a mindset which sees advocating healthy eating as some sort of bad thing. Michelle Obama is getting a lot of flack for it.

dougsmith - 21 February 2011 07:22 PM

Firstly, there is no evidence that given a choice people will tend to choose healthy alternatives over fat, salt and sugar. It’s just too difficult to fool our biological heritage; the mouth and stomach have fat, sugar and salt sensors that are quite good at telling us what we’re eating.

This has been my personal experience.  When I started trying to eat healthful and was going to a gym I noticed that no matter how hard I tried the foods that tasted the best had either fat, salt, or sugar in them.  The foods that were good for my workout regimen didn’t have those tastes in them.  I came to the conclusion that I had to do two different kinds of eating, one for nutrition and one for pleasure.  I failed to be able to combine the two.  Also, I believe it is now commonly accepted that humans have a fifth sense of taste besides the original four of sweetness, bitterness, sourness, saltiness.  The fifth sense of taste is a taste for meat.  By weaning myself off the unhealthful tastes I don’t have the cravings for them I used to.  If I eat enough of the healthful foods, that also reduces my cravings for the unhealthful stuff.  If I don’t eat, the cravings come back.  Basing what I eat on what tastes good to me would be a disaster.

That fifth taste is called umami.  It’s a loanword from Japanese.  It’s the savory taste, not meat.  Though meats trigger it more than anything else.  Mushrooms have umami as well.

Helps to eat healthy fats like olive or canola oil, and unprocessed meat rather than processed. (Steak is generally healthier than sausage, since it has less fat and less salt).

And exercise, of course.

Umami is a separate taste, so far as we can understand these things, but we also have sensors for fat, salt and sugar. IIRC they’re in the stomach and bloodstream as well as the mouth. People have been trying to mask ‘fat free’ with flavorings for years without success.