Joely

Yes exercise is very important as well, it's why my running shoes are the first thing I pack. But I would argue that you aren't recommending a healthy diet, at least not scientifically speaking, and I certainly don't understand how cutting out meat, something we have evolved to eat over millions of years can be considered the route to good health.

Its funny you say in one breath that you should cut out sugary foods but in the next suggest high carbohydrate intake which is contradictory as both are sources of the glycogen that will flood your system and lead to high trigs, poor blood lipids, insulin resistance and all the dangers thereof. If you are saying that high glycogen is a good thing then you should really eat lots of meat as then you can get your glucose from the protein via Gluconeogenesis.

borofergie

If you suspected that you'd be wrong:
http://mendosa.com/stefansson1.htm

I eat a 80% Fat, 17% Protein 3% Carb diet. Mainly because I'm a T2 Diabetic, but also because I'm in marathon training. I've lived that way for over 3 years, I have excellent blood pressure and blood glucose control. My only problem is that my Cholesterol is too LOW (so much for the argument that fat is bad for cholesterol).

I only eat the 3% carb because it's hard to avoid some in broccoli, spinach and kale.

borofergie

This is wrong. Carbohydrates are not an essential nutrient. You don't NEED to eat them to live. You don't NEED to eat them to thrive. Your metabolism can generate all the glucose it needs (~25g a day) via gluconeogenesis from protein and fat.

I don't eat carbs. I am healthy. Lots of healthy people never exercise.

Yup I'm shoving grass fed meat down my throat, just like 2.5 million years of my ancestors.

How many animals do you think die to produce the intensively cultivated grain and soy that you eat? Are you turning a blind eye to those?

lemira

As a pretty decent (and quite experienced) marathon runner myself, I'm quite surprised to read that.

I don't know much about diabetes but where does the glycogen come from with no carbs?

lemira

That is a ridiculous, playground level argument.

borofergie

Not at all. It's an argument called "the principle of least harm". More animals die (per kcal) in the cultivation of grain and soy crops than in the production of grass fed meat (for which the number of animals dying tends to one - the slaughtered animal itself).

As a vegan, I would have thought you would have wanted to minimise the total number of animals killed, rather than just worrying about the fluffy cute ones. Ploughing, and spraying with chemical fertilizers and pesticides is hugely harmful to field animals, birds, insects and other fauna. A meadow full of grass is a much more biodiverse environment.

KevinTheB

As this seems to be developing into a fatties Anonymous, I have to join in.

Hello. I am Kevin. I am overweight.

(room goes "Hello Kevin)

My weight is more than I want it to be.

This is because

a) my partner is an amazing cook
b) I have no will power
c) despite walking to the Old Bailey and back from Waterloo everyday, I don't get enough exercise
d) when I was young, I couldn't get above 13 st due to tha amount of sport I played
e) now I'm getting on and cannot do the amount needed due to other issues, I'm putting on weight purely because I consume more than I burn.

Thanks for letting me share.

(Sits to polite applause)

KevinTheB

PS I can eat my weight in fish and asparagus.

borofergie

I'm not a decent runner by any standards, however there is a growing movement of athletes and sports scientists who are rejecting the "carb loading" philosophy.

The reason why runners often "hit the wall" during marathons is that they exhaust their muscle glycogen supplies, and have to fuel the last six miles or so with fat oxidisation. This is basically just hypoglycemia, and the transition between a glycogen burning and fat burning state is difficult in the middle of a marathon.

The alternative is to train your metabolism is operate in a fat burning state from the start. This has the following advantages:

1. You use up your muscle glycogen supplies at a much slower rate (using fat as their principle fuel supply at much higher intensity than a sugar burner).
2. You train your brain work on ketones rather than glucose, making your resistant to hypoglycemia.
3. You have limited capacity to store glycogen, but (even in the leanest athletes) and practically unlimited supply of body fat. This means you do not have to worry about in race fuelling.

The net result of this is that you should be able to avoid hitting the wall.

The approach is used by a growing number of ultra runners, including Western States Winner Tim Olson. It's based of scientific research by Volek and Phinney.

Tim Noakes, who is probably the most prominent sports scientist in the world, and the guy who literally wrote the book on carb-loading is also an advocate of this approach.

In my case it suits me, because as a diabetic I don't want to be consuming lots of "energy gels" in order to get me through the Berlin Marathon.

LondonElite

I'm just curious when a moderator is going to suggest that this has gone way off topic and that a health discussion should be followed in OMNI...hmm...

Travelreviewguy

Yes completely off-topic but interesting though.

I think it is pretty obvious now that more and more scientists, dieticians and doctors are all in agreement that carbs = sugar = very bad for you and that fat is essential and actually not as bad as people used to think. Which brings me back on-topic: BA should provide food that people actually want to eat. The current offerings in Galleries Club is absolutely ridiculous: carbs, carbs and nothing but carbs. And don't get me started on the afternoon-tea service in Club Europe!

Joely

The flounge isn't a whole deal better and has gotten worse since the pork belly et al was removed and replaced with bangers and mash and pies. On board isn't a whole deal easier, if you fly down the back at least, but on long-hauls I usually grab a plane food picnic (antipasti, beef, cheese) and have that on board along with whatever meat I can dig out of the main course.

LondonElite

But tagliatelle with wild mushrooms in a cream sauce is just lovely.

hillrider

Scientists usually opine that we have evolved to be omnivores and focus on portion size to control total calorie intake.

"Dieticians" want to sell more books/products/articles etc. and will rotate through all the food groups over the span of decades, driven by the need to find something new. Carbs were completely fine under the "Mediterranean diet", then it was fats being OK, then it was ... who knows what.

While I don't like BA's lounges food at all, I don't eat everyday there (as most here), and the fact that it's heavy on a food group is not going to make any difference in my overall food intake. The quality, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired.

BA5E

love it love it had a very quiet chuckle