gaining weight by eating healthy

[gib65]

This is kind of a hypothetical question, so don't read anything into this about my actual life style:

 

I'm just wondering if it makes sense to talk about being overweight yet healthy at the same time. I'm thinking particularly about snacking on health foods - fruits, whole grain breads, low-fat dairy products (milk, yogurt, I don't know about cheese), low-fat meats (particularly fish), etc. If one was always hungry and always wanted to snack, could he/she maintain his/her health by snacking on healthy foods such as these? Let's add a bit of exercise in there since I know exercise is essential for any healthy lifestyle, plus good quality sleep, abstaining from drugs and alcohol, and all the other good stuff... or would you say there can be too much of even the healthy stuff such that it actually deteriorates your health?

[Janus]

This is kind of a hypothetical question, so don't read anything into this about my actual life style:

 

I'm just wondering if it makes sense to talk about being overweight yet healthy at the same time. I'm thinking particularly about snacking on health foods - fruits, whole grain breads, low-fat dairy products (milk, yogurt, I don't know about cheese), low-fat meats (particularly fish), etc. If one was always hungry and always wanted to snack, could he/she maintain his/her health by snacking on healthy foods such as these? Let's add a bit of exercise in there since I know exercise is essential for any healthy lifestyle, plus good quality sleep, abstaining from drugs and alcohol, and all the other good stuff... or would you say there can be too much of even the healthy stuff such that it actually deteriorates your health?

 

If you eat take in more calories than than your body uses, you will store the excess as fat, and carrying too much excess fat is unhealthy no matter what foods you eat.

[Marat]

It is also often found that overweight people are also, ironically, malnourished, since they eat only the wrong foods. If they eat only the healthiest foods this problem at least would be avoided, though they would still be carrying too much fat. Keep in mind that the higher the body mass the greater the cancer risk, and fat people run about double the lifetime cancer risk of people with a normal BMI.

 

Longevity tables show that both overweight and underweight people have shorter life expectancies, and the data suggest that being too thin may in fact be a worse problem than being too fat.

 

Experiments with mice which were kept on very low calorie diets while growing up show that they experience a large boost in life expectancy. There are also some islands off the coast of Japan where it is a cultural usage to leave the dinner table only 80% full and thus still hungry, and these thin people have a significantly better life expectancy even than mainland Japanese.

[insane_alien]

I know someone who, according to BMI standards is verging on morbidly obese (he even got rejected from the police based on this alone) he's pretty much a solid wall of muscle.

 

he is over weight for his height but its pretty much all muscle. he was a soldier and could run 10miles carrying 50kg of stuff through a desert no problem so i'd call him healthy.

 

if you're talking about high fat content and being healthy i'd disagree.

[Hal.]

If you want to maintain a high body mass and have a low proportion of fat on your body you have to eat a high proportion of protein and as little fat as you can get .

 

A balanced diet is the recommended thing to do though for living ' normally ' .

 

 

[The Peon]

I know someone who, according to BMI standards is verging on morbidly obese (he even got rejected from the police based on this alone) he's pretty much a solid wall of muscle.

 

he is over weight for his height but its pretty much all muscle. he was a soldier and could run 10miles carrying 50kg of stuff through a desert no problem so i'd call him healthy.

 

if you're talking about high fat content and being healthy i'd disagree.

 

 

Heh I know exactly what you mean. BMI is such a stupid system. Just go off bodyfat, it's a much more accurate measure of health. Average adult should be no more than 15%.

 

 

If you want to maintain a high body mass and have a low proportion of fat on your body you have to eat a high proportion of protein and as little fat as you can get .

 

A balanced diet is the recommended thing to do though for living ' normally ' .

 

 

It's a little more involved than that, but that is generally correct. Your body needs a certain amount of essential amino acids to build muscle tissue. But protein alone is not healthy either. An average adult male that does not work out does not even need that much food proteins. A body builder however, needs a LOT more protein for muscle growth and repair. I would say a normal person needs no more than 20% protein of their total calories, while a bodybuilder would need upward of 40-50%.

 

It's also unhealthy to ingest little or no fat especially if you are bodybuilding. I would say about 20% of your total calories while body building should be fat. Thus a body builder would need about 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% fat for a good balanced diet. Ideally the fats should come from nuts and poly and mono unsaturated fats. Your carb sources should ideally be low glycemic inducing high fiber foods like sweet potato, veggies and the like.

 

The average joe could do well with 20% protein, 60% carbs, 20% fat.

Edited June 16, 2011 by The Peon

[Hal.]

20 % of the energy from fat in a diet sounds like a medium amount to me !

 

Let's say I needed 2250 Calories for a day . Then the fat from this rule would account for 450 Calories . If I'm correct in thinking that 1 gram of fat gives 9 Calories of energy then this 450 Calories would be from 50 grams of fat . If I was aiming for a low fat diet , I would be trying to lower this 50 grams of fat to under 20 grams of fat per day . I'd try to transfer the other energy that 30 grams of fat gives to protein and carbohydrates instead .

 

I'm no dietician , I've just tried to put on good weight and lose fat a few times and this is what suits me .

 

 

[The Peon]

20 % of the energy from fat in a diet sounds like a medium amount to me !

 

Let's say I needed 2250 Calories for a day . Then the fat from this rule would account for 450 Calories . If I'm correct in thinking that 1 gram of fat gives 9 Calories of energy then this 450 Calories would be from 50 grams of fat . If I was aiming for a low fat diet , I would be trying to lower this 50 grams of fat to under 20 grams of fat per day . I'd try to transfer the other energy that 30 grams of fat gives to protein and carbohydrates instead .

 

I'm no dietician , I've just tried to put on good weight and lose fat a few times and this is what suits me .

 

 

My question is, why do you feel a low fat diet is beneficial?

[Hal.]

The component of a persons cholesterol in their body which depends on their diet of fat is reduced if they avoid the wrong types of fatty foods . Cholesterol reduction from fatty food sources becomes very important as someone gets older .

Edited June 16, 2011 by Hal.

[zapatos]

Heh I know exactly what you mean. BMI is such a stupid system. Just go off bodyfat, it's a much more accurate measure of health. Average adult should be no more than 15%.

 

Sounds a bit low...

 

Healthy Percentage Body Fat Chart

 

This body fat percentage chart is based on World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health recommendations. To get and stay fit and trim, aim for the healthy body fat percentage (Healthy %) age column below.

 

Women

Age Range ..Too Low % ..Healthy % ..Too High % ..Obese

20-39 yrs. ..Under 21% ..21-33% ......33-39% .......Over 39%

40-59 yrs. ..Under 23% ..23-35% ......35-40% .......Over 40%

60-79+yrs. .Under 24% ..24-36% ......36-42% .......Over 42%

 

Men

Age Range ..Too Low % ..Healthy % ..Too High % ..Obese

20-39 yrs. ..Under 8% ....8-19% .......19-25% .......Over 25%

40-59 yrs. ..Under 11% ..11-22% ......22-27% .......Over 27%

60-79+yrs. ..Under 13% .13-25% ......25-30% .......Over 30%

 

http://commonsensehealth.com/Healthy-Living/Healthy_Percentage_Body_Fat_Chart.shtml

[Biks]

Healthy Percentage Body Fat Chart

 

This body fat percentage chart is based on World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health recommendations. To get and stay fit and trim, aim for the healthy body fat percentage (Healthy %) age column below.

 

Women

Age Range ..Too Low % ..Healthy % ..Too High % ..Obese

20-39 yrs. ..Under 21% ..21-33% ......33-39% .......Over 39%

40-59 yrs. ..Under 23% ..23-35% ......35-40% .......Over 40%

60-79+yrs. .Under 24% ..24-36% ......36-42% .......Over 42%

 

Men

Age Range ..Too Low % ..Healthy % ..Too High % ..Obese

20-39 yrs. ..Under 8% ....8-19% .......19-25% .......Over 25%

40-59 yrs. ..Under 11% ..11-22% ......22-27% .......Over 27%

60-79+yrs. ..Under 13% .13-25% ......25-30% .......Over 30%

[Hal.]

Here's some fuel for the fire !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage

http://www.livestrong.com/article/436005-guidelines-for-percentage-of-body-fat/

http://www.thinreport.com/healthy-range-of-body-fat.html