Americans would easily lose a few pounds every month by solely eliminating white sugar from their diets. But they won’t do it, because they don’t want to “starve” themselves. How did it happen that a normal diet 30 years ago is equated with suffering today?
People think of him as the old TV fitness guy but don’t realize how many cutting edge advances he made in fitness. He was a real genius.
Read his wikipedia entry-fascinating. A couple of interesting points- as you would expect doctors opposed his idea of fitness gyms saying it was unhealthy. when Lalanne was 15 he was inspired to get into the fitness lifestyle when he heard a talk by Paul Bragg of Braggs ACV fame. Lalanne did his daily fitness routine up until the day before his death at age 96!
Read More: Jack LaLanne at 80 Years Old
“Americans would easily lose a few pounds every month by solely eliminating white sugar from their diets. But they won’t do it, because they don’t want to “starve” themselves. How did it happen that a normal diet 30 years ago is equated with suffering today?”
Is it really true that they think not eating white sugar is “suffering” or “starving yourself?” I doubt it. The problem is that a lot of food (well, processed/pre-packaged food) has some sugar, so it is difficult to completely eliminate it.
When I became more concerned with my health, I started making an effort to eat LESS sugar. Not none, but I avoid things that use lots of it. So do most people I know who care a lot about health or who want to lose weight.
It’s probably true that simply swearing off sugar and sweeteners would lead to weight loss for most Americans, but…
Lots of thin countries eat a lot more sugar than Americans. Brazillians and Russians eat a lot more. Cuban sugar consumption went way up after the soviet union fell, because it was so locally abundant. Health measures improved.
Stephan Guyenet very convincingly lays out the case that Americans are fat simply because the variety and potency of flavors in readily available modern foods are too tempting for most. The processed food is just too tasty. We are adapted to much more monotonous and lower flavor diets, as were the norm 50 years ago.
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/search/label/Food%20reward
Given this perspective the way to lose weight is to eat blander food and limit your menu to a few dishes.
Another problem is probably that Americans are stressed and sleep deprived, leading to food addiction as a psychological issue.
Anyway, it’s not as simple as pointing to a macronutrient (sugar, fat) as the problem.
I’m working on this myself – I’ve undertaken the white sugar challenge for this week – I forgot it was Halloween today. I may have to try this challenge again, next week.
I wonder if Jack LaLanne ever shamed fatties. It’s disappointing when legit helpful advice gets taking as “hurtful” or “shaming” now.
I had no idea. Thanks for the lead, I’m going to look into this.
Jack is a genius. I love guys who are decades ahead of their time and ignore the conventional wisdom of the day.
Roosh – what year was the video made?
Jack was a badass. Dude was in better shape at 80 than a lot of 20 year olds that I know.
I was kind of surprised when he died at 96. I thought this guy was going to live forever. But hell, pneumonia can kill anyone.
“Brazillians and Russians eat a lot more.”
Here in Brazil there’s been a surge of obese and diabetic people, it’s depressing. Just another 20 years we will be just as bad as America.
The best advice to eliminate simple sugars (and other high glycemic carbs) from your diet is this: only eat single-ingredient foods. Eat things like fish, broccoli, sweet potatoes—only food which is comprised of one ingredient (with herbs/spices for taste of course if you want). When you go to the store and look on the food label, if you see more than one or two ingredients then put it back on the shelf. Foods with multiple ingredients are processed foods and are far more likely to contain simple sugars and other high-glycemic carbs that you really don’t need at all.
Here’s another 2 people who were ahead of their time in terms of exercise and nutrition:
Joseph Pilates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Pilates
Maximilian Bircher-Benner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Bircher-Benner
Maybe Jack Lelanne was ahead of his time but corporations better meet our times expectations:
http://postimage.org/image/xyivr5lw5/
Jack LaLanne was amazing. Search out his motivation vids on Youtube. Also, there’s a series of 30 daily exercises to tone the facial muscles – this WORKS, especially if you’re starting to see the jowls. Just try it for 30 days.
Legend!