Sunday, August 10, 2014

Fish oil: the new snake oil?

Fish oil: the new snake oil?  Reader and friend Simon M. passes along this article (caution: link goes to Slate, which may cause conservatives' heads to explode) and comments:
“I enjoyed your drink when you're thirsty blog. Makes perfect sense to me.

Eat when you're hungry works too. :)” 
I totally agree, but I'll extend it a bit: eat when you're hungry, and eat whatever you want to – in moderation.  Most of what I eat is relatively healthy (according to nutritionists), because that's what I like.  But ... there are plenty of things I like – and eat – that most nutritionists (at the moment, anyway) would call unhealthy: rare (or raw) beef, premium ice cream, Braunschweiger, etc., etc.

Back when I was still employed, I was 40 or 50 pounds overweight.  Every time I went to my doctor (who has known me for 25 years or so) for a physical, I asked him if there are things about my diet I should change, or if I should be making an effort to get more exercise.  His answer was always the same: there was nothing wrong with me, so whatever I was doing wasn't causing any problems, so don't worry about it.

Now that I'm retired, I'm getting much more exercise, sitting around far less, but my eating habits haven't changed at all.  I've dropped about 40 pounds, and I think my weight is still headed down.  At the time of my last physical, I'd dropped about 20 pounds.  My doctor, upon hearing about my change in lifestyle, was sure it was due to the exercise – and once again, he found nothing for me to worry about.  It's much easier now to go up stairs and to hike, and I feel better in general.  But ... absolutely none of that is down to diet.  It's entirely due to exercise, so far as I can tell.  I'm tracking my weight now, though (at my doctor's advice), just to be sure that it's not changing in some way that's not in sync with my level of exercise.  He warns me that come wintertime, when likely I'll be sitting on my butt a lot, I should expect that weight to pile back on...

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