Russian Diet: Time to Return to Basics

The rest of the world may be getting fat (like us) but it is worth saying again...the western diet is to blame. Interesting to me that in a time of financial stress we choose processed foods saying, "eating healthy is too expensive!". If we follow a few key things we know to be true, eating healthy wouldn't be so expensive.
1. fill your diet with fresh fruits and veggies
2. fill your diet with (buy from the bulk section and cook them the old fashioned way!) oats, brown rice, beans, peas, and lentils.
3. eliminate all soda, diet or not, fruit juice, vitamin waters and energy drinks. Drink water!
4. eat single portions of meat at a meal (which is actually 2-4 oz! far less than most think!)
5. eat small, calorie light meals and live longer.
Eating healthy isn't the expensive way...eating poorly is the lazy way!

People should just skip all and go straight to main course. Do we actually need the whole set of soup, salad, meat, fish, desserts, cocktails and etc? Just go straight to the main course, add lots of fresh vegs (no dressing) and a glass of wine or two - that should be right. Why must we have a calorific desserts after our meal? :/

Interesting. When I was in Ukraine, I noticed that most of the cuisine was definitely NOT low calorie. Lots of potato-filled dumplings, borscht, sour cream dishes, etc. Yet most of the people I saw were not really fat. I noticed that most of the people ate very small portions of the rich food and were satisfied. I was in a really small town, so I didn't see too many fast-food places or anything, but in Kiev we ate at a TGIFriday's and a McDonald's, so I suppose they're getting their foot in the door over there.

Mexico tried to PAY it's citizens to slim down and it failed? Wow how does THAT work. "here lose a few lbs and have free money"

Astounds me. I bet that it would work in US and Canada... recession + people are money driven (accept in Mexico it seems) should work well.

Wasen't it Bill Phillips who gave away one of his Ferraris as the ultimate prize for the best transformation? They need to do something like THAT. But in today's world, give away the Tesla Roadster. You know... keeping with the green theme!

I think I'll give away a Lambo to my best transforming client. It'll be awesome, to-scale and everything ;)

That failed Mexico stunt just goes to show that weight loss motivation needs to come from within. If a person doesn't want to lose weight for health reasons, the diet's probably not going to last.

I know the Western diet gets a lot of flack for causing obesity (rightfully so), but I also wonder how much of the obesity problem stems from technology allowing us to rest more during the day.

My daughter studied in Russia last year. She noticed that food there is very rich in olive oil and real cream. The US concept of "low fat" just does not exist. But most everyone is thin. After reading Taubes book, I'm inclined to think that our "healthy food" USDA recommended life style is mostly failed, with most everyone in the US gaining weight as they eat less fat foods.

I was in Russia in 1990. There food was absolutely awful bar their ice-cream and caviar (and their champagne was delicious). I didn't see many fat Russians but just thought that was because their food was just plain awful.

Also, the lines to buy food were around the block. We were told it took the average Ruassian women 5 hours a day to just source and buy enough food for her family. I could believe it. The shopping went something like this: You saw a line and joined it because it meant there was something to buy. Whatever was in the shop windows - you did not take it to mean that was what was actually available. When you finally made it into the door, you then got a look at what was on sale... you then paid one person and joined another line where you would then pick up the goods if they hadn't run out - if they had, well too bad.

I remember a sort of sour bread served at breakfast with a fish mousse that was shudder awful...(and you had the dubious pleasure of washing that down with sour tea). And I distinctly remember being served a white looking kebab with thin brown lines in it.... turns out the white was fat and the thin brown lines the actual meat. And this was in a hotel for tourists only where they apparently served the good stuff. So heaven forbid what the locals ate.

P.S. They'd just opened the first Macdonalds, apparently Russians queued for up to 6 hours just to buy a hamburger. Wouldn't they be envious of the 11 minutes it can take us to order, eat and depart!

It's pretty sad when you pay people to lose weight and they still don't do it!

It makes me wonder what the effects of diet/not dieting are on our economy though. Would be interesting to see if there was a way to research/test it. (Are there studies on this? If so someone please let me know!)

People need to drink more water!

I once read that a human needs to be about 60% dehydrated before we feel thirsty. And, most of the time when someone feels hungry, they are really thirsty.

So, when you feel hungry, just drink a big glass of water before you decide to eat something. You might just be thirsty.